It was a girl's night in, and since Anzu's parents were out of town that weekend on a little trip together for their anniversary and Anzu had the house to herself, she'd invited Mai over for some girl talk and bonding. It was pretty late already, and both girls were wearing tank tops and itty bitty pajama shorts.

"He's such a dear," Mai sighed as she rested one foot on the coffee-table and crossed her other leg over it. "I can see why all the girls at your school like him so much."

"Sometimes I'm afraid they like him too much, if you know what I mean." Anzu sat beside Mai and curled her legs up under herself on the couch. "I try to spot the stalker ones and scare them off before they do any damage, but I don't know how many of them get by me." She opened her can of orange soda, took a sip, and sighed again. "I think that's part of the reason he gets pushed around so much at school. All the girls like him, so all the guys get jealous and lash out, as if that will make him less popular with the girls."

"And it doesn't?" Mai asked in surprise, looking up from her magazine.

"Not at all, and I know he wishes that both groups would just stop, but he doesn't know how to make that happen."

Anzu looked disheartened, so Mai decided to change the subject.

"How about we play Screw-Marry-Kill while I make the popcorn?" She set down her magazine and stood up, going back to the kitchen where Anzu had just been.

"The other cheerleaders call it Bed-Wed-Dead, but sure, let's play." Anzu thought for a moment as Mai took the popcorn bag out of its plastic wrapping. "Okay, how about: Duke, Tristan, and Kaiba."

Mai laughed aloud. "Oh, that's just too easy! I'd kill Tristan, screw Duke, and marry Kaiba. After all, you can't get a piece of that massive fortune unless you marry him. He's probably not bad in bed, either," she added with a naughty smirk. Now that was something Anzu'd never considered before. "What would you do?"

"I'd probably... screw Kaiba, marry Duke, and kill Tristan. I'm sorry, but I just can't stand Kaiba's arrogance! I could not spend the rest of my life with him!"

"You wouldn't have to. I got one word for you, love: Alimony." She winked at the teen before continuing. "Marik, Joey, and Ryou," Mai proposed as the microwave nuked their popcorn to life.

"I'd... screw Marik, marry Ryou, and..." She sighed with regret. "Kill Joey. He's too much of a goof for me."

"He's... playful," Mai corrected with a smirk. "I'd screw Joey, marry Ryou, and kill Marik." Her voice became bitter. "After the time I spent in the Shadow Realm, I'm not going to take the risk that his dark side comes back."

"Fair enough," Anzu conceded. "Valon, Rafael, and Yugi."

"I'd kill Valon," Mai answered immediately, without hesitation. That was something she didn't need to think about. "Marry Rafael, and screw Yugi. You?"

"I'd screw Rafael, marry Yugi, and kill Valon."

"Oh! How about this: Yami Yugi, Yami Bakura, and Yami Marik." Mai seemed quite pleased with herself for having come up with this proposition.

"I'd marry Yami Yugi. That one's easy. Hmm..." Anzu felt stuck with the other two. "If, hypothetically, we could kill the yami without hurting their host, I would kill... Oh, bother, this one's too hard." She flopped down onto the couch, staring at the ceiling with a troubled expression. "I feel like Yami Marik is the most dangerous one, so I'd want to kill him before he killed me, but if I could free Ryou from the Spirit of the Millennium Ring by killing him, I would. I can't answer this one, I need a pass."

"Nope! Can't pass! That's against the rules." The microwave beeped, and Mai opened the little door, the smell of fresh popcorn filling the room. As Mai looked for a bowl to put the popcorn in, Anzu heard a knock at the door and went to answer it. She was very much surprised by who she saw standing there.

"Oh, hello Ryou," she greeted, her cheeriness fading quickly as she noticed the faint splatter of blood on his cheek. "Are you alright?"

"I didn't know where else to go," he said, sounding strained, his eyes wide with what she could only term fear. "You said I could see you when this sort of thing happens, so..."

"When what sort of thing...? Oh! Yes, of course!" She remembered now that she'd told Ryou when he woke up from Bakura's control and didn't know what to do with himself, or just wanted some company, he could come to her.

She opened the door for him, and as he entered, she took him in with a glance: the long black coat whose sleeves hid his hands; the ripped jeans; the dirty sneakers; the light blue v-neck shirt with a blood stain on his stomach.

"Oh my god! What happened, are you hurt?" Anzu sounded nearly hysterical as she questioned him, and her hysteria alerted Mai and drew her out of the kitchen back to the main living area. She was just as startled as Anzu by the sight.

"I-I don't think it's mine," he answered numbly, staring down at the stain as Anzu closed the door behind him. He didn't know if he was glad of that or not. Some part of him would have preferred that the blood was his, simply because it meant that the blood wasn't somebody else's.

"Let's get you out of those clothes and into something clean." Anzu grabbed Ryou by the arm and dragged him upstairs. She released him by the entrance to the bathroom, then ducked into a bedroom and flicked the light on. "My older brother's at college, so you can borrow some of his clothes," she called as she rummaged through a few drawers to find what she needed. She reappeared with a t-shirt and a pair of sweat-pants in dark colors. She held them out to him, saying, "Here you go."

He lifted his hands to reach out, but pulled them back, looking down at them with concern. Anzu lowered the clothes so that they no longer blocked her view of his hands, then gasped. They were covered in blood. No wonder he'd hidden them in his sleeves. His face was starting to look green, so Anzu stepped into the bathroom, turned the light on, set the clothes down on top of the toilet lid, and pulled him inside. He was shell-shocked, and she took it upon herself to help him in every way she could. After all, that's what friends were for.

She helped him out of his coat, draping it over one arm before turning the sink tap on for him. She picked up the soap bottle and said, "Hold out your hands." He did as he was told, and she pumped some soap into his hands. "Wash up, get changed, then come back downstairs and we'll talk this out, okay?" He nodded without looking at her, and although she was a bit worried about leaving him alone, she didn't have much choice. She took his coat downstairs with her, where she found Mai nibbling on some popcorn.

"What are we going to do?" she asked, still holding the coat. There was probably blood on it too, and she didn't want to put it down lest it stain something.

"We'll let him stay with us, of course," Mai answered matter-of-factly.

"No, I mean about... the evidence."

"Evidence?"

"If the blood's not his and it's someone else's, it's entirely possible that the Spirit killed someone," she whispered, starting to panic.

"Anything with blood on it, we burn." Mai shrugged nonchalantly, as if this should have been obvious to Anzu. "Evidence destroyed."

"Will that really be enough?" Anzu asked worriedly.

"I have no idea, but it's the least we can do to protect him. Put his shirt and his coat in a plastic grocery bag, and I'll take care of it tomorrow when I leave."

Anzu obeyed, although she didn't have his shirt yet, so she'd simply add it to the bag later.

"We can't get in trouble for doing this, can we?" Anzu asked worriedly as Mai carefully tucked the open grocery bag into her duffel bag.

"The first amendment protects freedom of association. Friendship counts as association. Also, the fifth amendment protects us from incriminating ourselves in the obstruction of justice."

"How do you know all that?"

"Netflix, babe." Mai grinned at her. "There are plenty of studs in those crime shows."

Ryou pumped more soap into his hand and plunged them back under the burning water as he tried to wash the last traces of blood from his hands. It was still there, he could feel it, even though the water no longer ran red and pink.

He'd dressed in Anzu's brother's clothes after washing his hands the first time, but after that, he found himself staring at his hands again. There was still blood under his fingernails and he couldn't get it out. He'd probably been washing his hands for a solid five minutes now.

"Ryou? How are you doing?" Anzu's voice was preceded by a brief knock on the door.

"I'm fine," he muttered, but she couldn't hear him over the sound of the water running. Tentatively, she cracked the door open and looked at him with concern.

"What are you doing?"

"Washing my hands."

"They look clean to me."

"It's still there."

"What?"

He held out his hands and showed her the blood crusted under his fingernails. Anzu turned the water off before he could immerse his hands again and dropped a hand-towel on them, patting them dry herself.

"Mai can help with that," she assured, trying to sound calm so that he calmed down too. She studied his expression as he watched her dry his hands, noticing for the first time that his hair was rather messy, as if it hadn't been brushed in a couple days. "Can I... brush your hair for you?" she asked, and he nodded, not really caring. She dropped the hand-towel on the sink, grabbed her hairbrush and a spray-bottle of leave-in conditioner, and took him by the hand to lead him downstairs.

Mai was on the couch with the popcorn and an extra bottle of water for Ryou. Anzu seated him in the middle of the couch, saying, "Mai, can you get your manicure kit? He needs help with these." She held out Ryou's hand with the fingers extended, Ryou limp like a marionette in her hands.

"Of course, love."

Anzu sat beside Ryou, grabbing a remote to turn on the TV, switch to Netflix, and put on a sitcom. She thought something light-hearted would be best for him right now.

As Anzu wet his hair with the detangler and gently brushed out all the knots, Mai carefully cleaned the dried blood out from under his fingernails using her sharp tools. She didn't seem fazed by it at all, and once he realized that the dangerous looking utensil in her hand wouldn't hurt him, he wasn't fazed by it either.

"How do you feel, dear?" Mai asked after a few moments of silence.

Ryou shrugged. "Tired, I guess. Kind of... hungry."

"You should have said so!" Anzu dropped the hairbrush and popped up off the couch. "What are you hungry for? I can make you anything you want. We could order in pizza, or Chinese."

"A peanut butter and jelly sandwich is good enough for me, thanks," he replied, looking grateful. "Well, maybe two."

"Not a problem!"

"There, your left hand is done," Mai said as Anzu left, reaching for Ryou's right hand. "So, aside from hungry and tired, how do you feel?"

"Guilty," he admitted softly.

"Nothing's your fault," she said firmly, looking up at him with earnest eyes. "You know that, right?"

"But isn't it, though?" Ryou countered, clearly feeling awful about whatever had happened. "I should have—"

Mai silenced him with a kiss, not wanting to hear another word about how he thought he was to blame. Ryou was hesitant to reciprocate; this was a new kind of kiss for him and he didn't know what to do. She pulled away and lifted a hand to his cheek, smiling at his stunned expression.

"Don't blame yourself for it anymore, okay?"

He nodded a little and let her put her arm around him.

Ryou ate his sandwiches while Anzu finished brushing his hair and Mai tried to explain the basic premise of the sitcom they were watching. Mai offered to give him a proper manicure, which he politely turned down. Then she offered to pierce his ears for him, which he also politely refused. By the time she was offering to give him a make-over, he had caught on that she was teasing him and was actually laughing a little at the way she tried to persuade him.

"Are you not done with my hair yet?" Ryou asked, tipping his head back to look at Anzu, who'd moved to sit on the cushion behind him on the couch as she work on his hair. "It never takes me this long to brush it."

Anzu sighed adoringly as she finally put down the brush and combed her fingers through his hair. "I'm sorry, but I just love your hair. I remember when mine was this long, but I never knew what to do with it, so I got it cut." She moved out from behind Ryou and plopped herself onto the couch beside him. She toyed with her hair for a moment, looking worried. "Sometimes I wonder if I should have kept it long."

"I like it short," Ryou said suddenly. "It suits you."

"Aw, thank you. That's so sweet of you to say." Ansu looked positively smitten as she pecked his cheek and lay her head on his shoulder. He put his arm around her and smiled a little, starting to feel warm and normal again. Mai, not to be outdone, leaned against his other shoulder, and he put his arm around her too. With a woman snuggled under each arm, Ryou relaxed into the cushion behind him.

They watched episodes of the sitcom until they couldn't keep their eyes open any longer. Ryou opted to sleep on the couch, but Anzu wouldn't dream of it. Ryou then offered to sleep in Anzu's brother's room, but that wasn't good enough for her either. She disn't want him to be alone, for his own sake. She was worried about him, and rightfully so. When she insisted intransigently that he sleep in her room with her and Mai, he seemed a tiny bit relieved.

That's how the three of them came to be tucked into Anzu's queen-sized bed with Ryou in the middle, just like last time. He was much more aware of himself this time, though. He was much more aware of the attractive female bodies on either side of him, and his hormones were quite aware of them too.

The moment he closed his eyes to sleep, he began to remember, in a vague, hazy, dream-like stupor, why his hands and clothes had been so blood-stained.

A dark alley…

A contorted face leering at him the shadows…

The squelch of a knife sinking into the gut of the man in front of him…

His hands, now slicked with crimson, digging into the man's body in search of something…

Ryou jerked awake with a gasp, feeling disoriented, as if he'd been falling. He panted softly, feeling sick to his stomach as he tried to block the images from his mind. Disgust and fear overwhelmed him and he started to tremble all over as his breathing grew labored. His hands gripped the covers tightly, as if that would make him feel better.

"Ryou? Are you okay?" Anzu asked through a yawn as she tugged off her sleeping mask to peer at him. She was a light sleeper, and his visceral reaction to the revelations of his dream was enough to rouse her. She could feel him shaking beside her, and it was worrying. She checked her alarm clock and murmured, "It's only been two hours since we went to bed."

"I'm scared," he whispered, sounding every bit like the child who ran to his parent's bedroom after a nightmare. His terrified tones made Anzu melt, and she put an arm around him to press their bodies together. She cradled his head against her chest, letting him bury his face into her breasts as she stroked his hair. She understood that he had a good reason to be scared.

"You're safe," she assured softly, not knowing what else to say. Ryou had been determined not to cry in front of them, but now, wrapped up in her kind warmth, he broke down.

"I just want to be free from him," he whispered, his first tears being soaked by her t-shirt. "When he hurts people, it's my fault, because I can't stop him."

"Nobody thinks that," she protested softly, but it didn't seem to help.

"It's true though, even if you don't believe it," he continued in despair. He sniffled, the tears heavy on his eyelashes and obscuring his vision enough to make her cradle his head close again. "He killed a man, which is as good as me killing him."

"No, it's not!" Anzu refused to let him believe that he was responsible for the actions of the Spirit. "You are not guilty. You've done nothing wrong. You should be proud of yourself for being so strong in the face of all this."

"But I'm not," he whispered, tearing up again. He didn't have the heart to tell her how he'd considered ending his own life more than once. The logic for it was airtight as far as he knew: if the spirit needed him to survive, and he died, then the spirit died too. He couldn't upset Anzu by saying that, though, so instead he sobbed, "It's so hard to hold on. Some days, I don't feel like it's even worth it."

"Come and talk to me on those days." Anzu was crying too, now. "Whenever you're struggling, come to me, and I'll stop whatever I'm doing to help you. I promise." She tilted his head back a little so that she could look him in the eye with a weak smile. "You know that nothing's more important to me than the wellbeing of my friends."

"You shouldn't have to, though," Ryou sighed as he saw himself interrupting Anzu at the most inconvenient times without meaning to. "Oh, I miss my mum," he cried suddenly, more tears flowing as he pressed into her again. "I miss my sister…"

"You have a sister?" Anzu was surprised. Why hadn't he ever mentioned her before?

"Had," he corrected in anguish, his voice muffled. "I had a sister. I had a mum. If they were still around, maybe none of this would have ever happened…"

"Oh. I'm so sorry, Ryou. I didn't know…" She couldn't bear the thought of losing her mother and brother, left only with her dad. That sounded awful, and she was starting to understand his hopelessness a bit better.

"Sometimes I just want to run away from it all, you know? Run far enough away that I can't hurt anyone."

"The next time you're at your wit's end, just give me a call. My parents have a mansion as big as Kaiba's, and it's just as well staffed, so if you really need to disappear for a few days, or even a week, I can take you there, and you won't have to worry about being in anyone's way."

Mai's voice startled them both, but Ryou more so. His heart throbbed in his just as he tried to calm his nerves.

"Goodness, you two. Do you plan on crying a river and dying of dehydration? No more crying. Tears aren't going to help anyone." She reached out to put an arm around his waist, forcing Anzu to release her hold on him as Mai pulled him across the bed. He was lying on his back now, his eyes widening in shock as she sat up a little to strip off her tank top, then used the soft hem of it to dab at his tear-stained cheeks. His breath caught in his throat as blood flowed from his head to his groin. Even in the dim light, he could still clearly make out the rosettes on her leopard-print bra and the crease of her cleavage.

"Mai!" Anzu exclaimed indignantly, sitting up too and gathering Ryou in her arms to pull him away from Mai, who was puzzled by this behavoir.

"What?"

"Don't strip in front of him! He's innocent!" Anzu seemed fully convinced of her statement, which made Mai giggle.

"Sweetie, your faith in him is astounding, but honestly, there's no such thing as an innocent teenage boy. I bet even Yugi's seen porn."

"He has not!" Anzu seemed insulted by the accusation, but Ryou remained silent, his face turning hot and red.

"Ryou, has Yugi seen any porn?" Mai asked, turning to the only one in the room who had a shot at knowing the truth of the issue. Ryou swallowed hard, unsure he really wanted to answer this question.

"Tristan showed it to us," he admitted shamefully. "We told him to turn it off."

"See? It's nothing he hasn't seen before. Besides, have you ever considered that this might be exactly what he needs?"

Ryou was starting to grow more embarrassed by the moment, and he carefully extracted himself from Anzu's arms so that he could sit up too and pull his knees up to his chest to hide his growing erection. He could feel a squabble coming on, and he hated the idea of being in the middle of this.

"What are you talking about?"

"Oh, don't play ignorant with me," Mai said with a roll of her eyes. "You know what I mean. He needs a relationship. He needs intimacy. He needs us." She reached across the bed to hold Anzu's hand in hers. "He needs to feel connected and he needs support. We can do that, so let's stop pretending that we're all just friends."

"But we are friends!"

"We're more than friends, and you know it." Mai turned her head then to look at Ryou, and Anzu did the same. The startled teen swallowed hard, feeling trapped. What were they talking about? He was so confused.

"We love you, Ryou," Anzu murmured, her eyes going soft as she spoke the sweet words.

"And we want to show how we love you, if you'd let us. So, what will it be?"

Please review!