Disclaimer: Same as on other pages. Although Jaesai does own Derek Boltra, and i'm posting with his knowledge of course. So don't take his character either.
Special notice: Thanks again to BMK and Jaesai.
It hadn't even been a day since Kara, Yugi and Yami had found out about the terrible secret that Ryou had been keeping for about two months. Ryou had been wearing long sleeved shirts and long jeans to cover up said secret. The secret being that Bakura, his darker half, was beating him. They'd been shocked but put the shock aside in order to help him. He'd made Kara promise not to go near Bakura but he hadn't yet been able to make his friend Yugi and Yugi's Yami promise the same thing.
He was currently resting at Yugi's house with his grandfather while the others were still in school. He'd woken up only minutes ago and felt more refreshed then he had in a long time. He glanced over at the clock on the bedside table. 4:00, the others would be back any minute now. He sighed as he sat up and turned himself so that his legs were dangling over the edge of the bed. He stayed there for a minute or two before standing and grabbing his coat, which he'd left on the nearby chair. He calmly put the coat on and did up the buttons before grabbing his bookbag and heading downstairs to wait in the livingroom for Yugi and Kara to get back. No doubt they'd bring Joey, Tea and Tristan along. Ryou just prayed that they hadn't told the three what had happened. Joey and Tristan would probably attack Bakura no matter what he said and Tea would be overprotective and motherly as usual. He didn't mind the other two millennium item holders knowing but he didn't want anyone else to know if it could be avoided.
He was right for only twenty or so minutes later, he heard the bell above the game shop door ring and familiar voices laughing. Two were light and female, and three were deeper and male.
"Anyways," he heard a voice comment as the five stopped obviously to change out of their outdoor shoes to their indoor ones. "This guy tells the other that he's going to beat him in his next turn, hoping to draw this next card. He needs a monster with at least fifteen hundred attack points and he draws his weakest monster, the Petite Dragon." That had to be Joey saying that, and the others laughed.
"Are you sure that wasn't you Joey?" asked Tristan as they walked into the living room.
"No ya moron," Joey growled. "It wasn't me."
"Hey Ryou," Yugi chimed seeing his friend turn to look at them. "Did you sleep well?" He smiled at him and sat down beside him as Kara perched herself on her the easy chair to his other side.
"Yes, I did. Thank you for letting me stay here," Ryou said glancing at the other three. It was clear to him that they hadn't yet been told his secret. He felt releaved and smiled at them slightly. He thought about heading home before Bakura got angry but decided that he liked it much better here with those who cared about him.
"Did anyone happen to collect my homework or anything from the classes I missed?" he asked calmly. He'd always been a good student and homework help to keep his mind off of Bakura and his troubled homelife. Kara grinned and disappeared for a moment, only to appear with a booklet of paper. She walked over and settled it on his lap.
"Our coursework for Science," she told him. "You'll be pleased with the result."
"Oh and Mrs. Kayani wants us to read the next section of Romeo and Juliet in our books," Yugi told him. "That's about it really."
"Yeah," Joey laughed. "Our home economics teacher locked her work in the car along with her keys, so we had a free period and in art class there was such a fuss over what we could do that the teacher just said do what you want and left us to it."
"Yeah, explains why you have blue streaks in your hair," Tristan smirked as he pulled some dried paint out of Joey's sandy blonde hair. Ryou chuckled slightly glancing at Joey's hair and shoot his head, "You're supposed to put the pain on paper not in your hair," he then glanced at Yugi and Kara smiling, "Thanks, I'll get to all that as soon as I get home I guess."
(Meanwhile)
Bakura paced the room waiting for Ryou to get home. He was already a half hour late and he didn't like it. Ryou knew to come home right away after school, what was taking him so long. The ancient egyptian spirit growled as he headed for the phone.
"Probably went to that pathetic excuse for a pharaoh's house," He stated as he grabbed the phone and roughly dialed the Kame Game Shop. Ryou would get it if he was there. He knew the rules. He agreed to let his hikari hang around with that lot at school but out of school Ryou was his.
Ryou was actually sitting with Kara leaning over beside him, looking over their A graded science coursework. Kara had been right, he was pleased with the work they'd done. The teacher had been to, especially to have given it an A.
"I think your writing got half of the mark," Kara told him as she motioned to several detailed notes on the biology area. While they talked, Yugi and the others were busy laughing at the funny sight that had been their home economics teacher trying to open her car door. Yami was watching Ryou quietly in his spirit form, as he sat on the arm of the sofa.
{Yugi} he called interrupting his hikari mid laugh. {I think Ryou's worried about going home later}
[Wouldn't you be if you were him and Bakura was beating up on you?] Yugi countered turning his attention to him.
{True I would, but this is simply wrong, Ryou shouldn't have to put up with this}
[It's not his fault] Yugi responded. [Bakura's much stronger and has stronger shadow powers on his side than Ryou does. I guess he feels he has n choice]
{Hmm}
As they were talking, the phone rang in the shop and was answered after a couple of rings by Yugi's grandpa.
"Kame Game Shop," he chimed politely. "Oh yes just a minute." Yugi's grandpa put the phone down and walked into the living room.
"Ryou, someone's on the phone for you, I think it's your dad."
Derek had decided to cut the rest of the school day, just to reinforce his appearance as a delinquent. On his way out, he got into three more fights. One with the same bunch of juniors he had nearly killed earlier, out for revenge. He stuffed them into a few trash cans after he finished with them. The next one was with a kid who tried to mug him. He ended up hanging out the window. Lastly, Ushio and a few goons attacked him. He laid out the goons, but had a bit of a problem with Ushio. They fought for 10 minutes before Derek could knock him out after fainting. With his jacket over his shoulder, he walked around the neighborhood before deciding to work on his newest deck. He went around, asking about the nearest game shop. Everyone looked at him incredulously before pointing him to the Kame Game Shop. He walked in the door, and the first thing he noticed was that the old man behind the counter bore a strange resemblence to... but no... he couldn't be... Then, as if to confirm his doubts, Yugi came out to take the phone in (for Ryou).
"Hey Yugi!" he called, walking closer to the counter.
Yugi stopped momentarily to acknowledge the older boy with a nod, then disappeared into the back again to make sure Ryou got the phone.
"Here you go Ryou," he whispered as he leant on the back of the chair and slid the hands free set into the white haired boys hand. "Although I doubt it's your dad." By then Yami and even Kara were on edge, and Yugi soon picked up on it. Ryou closed his eyes for a second as he held the phone. He slowly brought it up to his ear and quietly mumbled, "Yes?" He knew who was on the other line and he knew he was in trouble. He glanced up for a second and saw the confused looks on Joey, Tea and Tristan's faces. They didn't quite understand why their three friends seemed so nervous about a silly little phone call.
-I suggest you get home now and quickly. I'll give you ten minutes and if you're not here by then... well... we'll deal with that if it comes up won't we?- The angry voice on the other end said with a slight growl. Ryou bit his lip stood up and dropped the phone on the couch. He grabbed his bag and headed towards the door,
"Bye." He brushed past Derek not even seeming to notice him, a look of fear on his face.
Tea, Joey and Tristan all stared at each other in shock as Yugi picked the phone up. He put it by his ear, but the line was dead so he hung it up. He gave Kara a worried look, when a thought struck her. She got up and dragged Yugi out of anyone elses hearing range.
"Yugi," she whispered. "Ryou made me promise not to go near Bakura, but he didn't make you or Yami promise. Go after him."
"I don't know if I should," Yugi argued softly.
"Yugi, Ryou looked frightened out of his wits," Kara argued back. "Please for his sake." Yugi turned his head as Yami appeared in spirit form beside him, and he nodded his head to his hikari. Swallowing his own fear, Yugi allowed Yami to take over and his physical features changed immediately. Kara was now staring into Yami's sharp crimson eyes, as the former pharaoh stared back at her. Turning his attention to the door he strode past her and switched into the boots he and Yugi wore, before turning his attention back to her.
"Kara, be on stand by if you're needed," he told her. "And keep the others on hand as well."
"Ok," she responded as Yami strode out of the door. He walked past Derek without a second glance, just as Kara peered around the door.
"Where have Ryou and Yugi gone in such a hurry?" asked Yugi's grandpa who was in the middle of serving Derek.
"As of yet, I won't hazard a guess," Kara responded and went back to talk to the others.
Ryou ran down the street towards his house, his Yami's words still fresh in his mind. He could hear Yami's footsteps behind him but he ignored them and kept running. He knew well enough that it would be worse if he got there late.
[Flashback]
"You're late again. I told you to be home by 4 on school days," Yami Bakura growled to his young Hikari as he held him firmly again the wall by the collar of his shirt. Ryou whimpered slightly and clenched his eyes shut.
"I'm sorry, I'll be faster tommorow I promise," he mumbled meekly, "It'll never happen again."
"Oh you're right about that. This will 'never' happen again," Yami Bakura growled.
[Flashback]
All he remembered after that was waking up on the hallway floor with every part of his body hurting like it had never hurt before. His blood stained the carpet and he'd had to spend the rest of the night cleaning it up. Ryou winced at the memory as he turned a corner and continued to run.
Yami slowed his pace a tad, not wanting to crowd Ryou. He'd make sure things were ok first although he was very sure that if Ryou didn't make it to his house he'd be in trouble. He'd got that just from seeing Ryou move so quikly earlier, and truth be told he was scared for Ryou. He didn't want to see a friend hurt, that would hurt him, Yugi, the others and especially Kara who was his best friend.
[Yami] Yugi called softly. [Bakura's going to hurt him again, I can feel it in my heart]
{I know Yugi, I know} Yami panted as he saw Ryou quickly walk up to his front door.
Ryou gasped for air as he fumbled with the doorknob and walked inside the house. The moment he got into the house he felt a pair of hands grab him and shove him against the wall. With a slight wince as his bruised back hit the wall he looked up at his angry dark half. Yami Bakura growled as he kicked the door closed and glared at his hikari,
"What were you doing at his house?! I told you to stay away from them. You're lucky I allow you to go near them durring school."
"I wasn't feeling well and I didn't want to bother you," Ryou murmured as he shook with fear. He knew Yami Bakura wouldn't care why. He just care that he had broken the rules. Ryou knew that Yami had followed and prayed for help just this once. He was tired of this though he was still afraid for his friends.
Yami Bakura growled and grabbed Ryou's arm and flipped him over so that he was facing the wall and twisted his arm as far as he could. Ryou let out a scream of shock before bitting his tongue and clenching his eyes shut, tears dripping down his cheeks.
"Does it hurt?" Yami Bakura smirked as he pushed Ryou's face into the wall with his other hand digging his nails into Ryou's scalp, "I can break it and it'll be over with if you like. Crying again? Weak little coward. You dissobayed orders and now you have to face the concequences."
Yami frowned as he saw the door slam shut, he didn't like that one bit. How could he get a message to Kara from here? Yugi never carried a cell phone with him like Tea did, wait the Millennium Items were linked if he could somhoe contact her that way. Closing his eyes he sent a message through the power of the millennium items, hoping Kara would understand. It had been near enought six months so she do.
Meanwhile, Kara had explained everything to the others, and as expected Joey and Tristan were furious and Tea was worried sick. She was the first one to notice Kara's necklace glowing, and pointed it out to her. Closing her eyes, Kara felt Yami's and Yugi's increased concern and without a second thought she left the room with the other three teens close behind her. All of them changed into their outdoor shoes and took off towards Ryou's house, saying a hurried goodbye to Yugi's grandpa and a quick hello and goodbye to Derek before disappearing out the door like wisps.
{No!} he yelled harsly making Yugi's spirit form jump. {It's stuck}
"Yug' what's wrong?" asked Joey.
"The door's stuck," Yami growled as he threw his weight against it.
"Hang in there pal," Joey called as he walked up. "Two d'is better d'an one." They both began to throw their weight against the door, whilst Tea, Kara and Tristan looked on worriedly.
Yami Bakura growled glancing over to the door. Ryou's ears were ringing and he couldn't hear but he could feel his darkhalf let up a little for a moment before twisting him around, grabbing his wrist and glaring at his hikari, "Tell them to go away." He growled and Ryou nodded wipping his face. He could hear them banging at the door and didn't think it would be a good idea to open it. Instead he walked into the livingroom, took a deep calming breath and opened the window and glancing out at them,
"Umm, I don't think it's a good idea to break the door down." It was all he could think of at that moment. He took another deep breath,
"What are you doing here?" he asked trying to sound confused. It was Kara who answered him, as Yami and Joey continued to try and get the door open.
"Ryou," she responded softly, hoping that her voices tone would make him undertsand. "We know what Bakura's doing and you know it, please, let us help. Please." She looked up at him pleadingly, her eyes going wide even for her as they were normally quite narrow. Kara wasn't stupid, she'd seen this coming just as Yugi had. Ryou was about to refuse again when Yami, who'd grown tired of trying to knock the door open stepped backwards and pushed Joey behind him. Yugi's spirit form sensed what he was going to do, and hid hurriedly behind his spirit friend. Yami raised his hand, and with a small burst of shadow magic the door came open relatively easily. Yami Bakura growled as he stood behind Ryou in the shadows. Ryou tensed as the door was thrown open and bit his lip. He was about to run for it when he felt Bakura grab him from behind and drag him to is knees. He winced nervously as Bakura put his dagger to his hikari's throat,
"Lets see how the pharaoh deals with this."
Derek, after buying a good number of packs, finally got what he wanted. "Finally," he mumbled. He felt stupid standing there all afternoon buying a stack of packs. He now had another couple hundred or so commons, and he was not interested in bringing them home.
"Do you want to keep these?" he asked Sugoroku hopefully. Grandpa shook his head, laughing. "I have enough of those as it is." Derek groaned. He looked around, then noticed that everyone was gone. "Hey, where'd everyone go?"
"Everyone went to accompany Ryou home."
"Is Ryou the white-haired one? The one who fainted earlier?"
"Yes. I wonder why he's so hurt." Sugoroku said musingly, but he looked up to find the door swinging shut. "Young people have no patience," he said to himself as he put the money Derek had left away.
Yami stopped and stared at Bakura in horror as Bakura placed the edge of the blade against Ryou's throat, so it was within centimeters of his skin. He wouldn't be able to do anything in time if Bakura was going to use the knife, and Ryou would be in trouble.
"Bakura," he growled viciously. "You release him right now!" He heard a gasp as Kara and the others appeared behind him, and glanced back at their horrified faces.
"I mean it Bakura," he warned. "You even dare that action and you'll be banished to the shadow realm faster than you can blink." Kara watched all this with quiet concern, and her eyes fellow onto Ryou's. They were filled with terror, and she wished she could do something to get him away from Bakura, but what could she do?
"Get out," Yami Bakura growled, "We all know what happens if he dies. I go with him but if I have to I will kill him. Now get out." As a warning that he was serious he brought the dagger down and sliced through Ryou's clothing and into his upper arm. Ryou yelped and tried to pull away, sobbing uncontrollably.
There's too much energy around those people, thought Derek as he trudged through the streets, following the trail of Millennium Energy, detected by his Millennium Book
'Its like the same energy coming from this book' he thought interestedly.
"Maybe there's a connection...?" he thought aloud.
All too soon he reached Ryou's house, and hiding behind a bush, he heard almost no sound coming from within. That's funny, he thought, didn't they all bring him home?
"Again," he thought aloud, "Maybe I'm at the wrong house..."
The whole group winced, even Yami couldn't hide how he felt about what Bakura had just done. Kara felt tears forming on the rims of her eyes, why was she crying when Ryou was in danger? A single tear hit her Millennium item before she wiped her face and suddenly remembered the gold item was still hanging around her neck. Then she had a thought, if she could find things with it, why couldn't she hide them to?
"Bakura you're going to regret that," she told him as she raised her hands to surround her necklace. "Ryou hold still."
The eye on the crescent lit up momentarily, and under her command the air seemed to shimmer around the group and as the magic worked Ryou's form wavered and dissipated till it looked like Bakura was holding thin air. Kara lowered her hands, but the necklace was still glowing.
"And to think I once saw you as a friend," she chided.
Derek was scaling the side of the house, and trying to find a foothold on the windowsill, he stretched his leg so far above him that it looked in danger of popping out of its socket.
"Almost... there..." Derek grunted as he probed with his foot. He got a firm hold, and relieved, he pulled himself up.
Yami Bakura's eyes had gone wide as his hikari had dissapeared then they narrowed as he heard someone upstairs, or so he thought.
Meanwhile, Ryou was staying deathly still as he saw the others through a sort of haze. He could see the others expressions and somehow knew they couldn't see him and neither could his Yami. Unfortunetely his Yami still had his arm around him so he knew his Yami knew he was still there.
Derek tried to open the window, then ended up losing his footing and snapping off a bit of the sill. Now hanging from the top edge of the window. It took a moment for the others to fully comprehend the noise they'd just heard, but recovering from the surprise the quickest, Yami raised his hand again and using a stronger blast of his shadow magic threw Bakura into a wall. The dagger fell with a thud to the carpetted floor, and instantly Kara called her item's magic back. Ryou fell onto his hands and knees, blood trickling down his arm and chest, coating his clothing so it was turning black. Joey ran forward hurridly being the strongest and lifted Ryou up quite easily in his arms, and steped backwards to join the others behind Yami and Kara.
Yami Bakura growled then glanced up at the noise then back at the others. Seeing as they now had his hikari there wasn't anything else he could do since he was outnumbered and he knew he couldn't win against the pharaoh so he narrowed his eyes and ran up the stairs to see who was there.
"Stay here and see to Ryou," he told the others sternly and ran off after Bakura. Joey lowered himself to the ground, cradling Ryou in his arms. The white haired teen was ghostly white as blood continued to seep from the injury to his arm, which Tea tried to stop by untying her uniform blue neck tie and placing it over it. His face was soaked with tears as well, and they mingled with the sweat to.
"Tristan, call an ambulance or something," Joey snapped out to him.
"Right," Tristan nodded as he ran off to find the phone. Kara gently reached out and took hold of one of Ryou's ghostly white hands, holding it warmly in her own.
"It's ok Ryou, everything will be fine soon," she comforted.
Derek, hearing someone running up the stairs, whirled his head around, then thinking quickly, dove into the bathroom. He caught a glimpse of Bakura as he ran past, and now he was confused. He was sure Ryou had not looked so... whole, and nor with that glint of evil in his eyes. Not to mention the strange golden object hanging from his neck. Yami raced in after the Bakura a moment later, seemingly trapping him up in the corridor.
"Bakura turn and face me!" he yelled at him.
Downstairs, Tristan had finally found the phone and had called an ambulance. It was now taking Tea's and Kara's blue school ties to supress the blood seeping from Ryou's arm, and that barely.
Derek then jumped out, surprising Yami.
"What's going on around here?" he asked, confused. "This guy was all beaten up last I saw him..."
Ryou winced slightly as his vision slowly became more hazy then it had been when he was invisible. His arm still hurt but somehow it seemed far away as if it were someone else. His head was swimming and all he could hear was the sound of his beating heart. He was so tired and weak. He knew his friends were there and that it would be ok now.
"Look," Yami growled, trying his best not to yell. "I appreciate you doing what you did, intentional or not, but right now is not the time for explanations. Now move aside, I don't want to put anyone else in danger."
[Try not to send half or Ryou's house to the shadow realm] Yugi warned worriedly. Yami simply nodded as he heard the sound of a siren, the others had called an ambulance from the sound of it.
Back downstairs, Tristan waved them men in and the one hurriedly lifted Ryou from Joey's arms and down to his waiting colleague.
"Kara you go with him," Joey suggested. "We'll go and back Yug' up." Kara nodded and went to catch up with the ambulance, managing to hop in before th doors closed. She sat down as it moved off, and reached to hold Ryou's hand whilst the paramedic tried to bandage his arm.
"Ryou try talking to me," Kara urged. "It'll help."
Yami Bakura growled as he heard the pharaoh's voice. he smirked as he reached the window which had been broken. He knew he had to retreat for now and that's exactly what he did. A second later he'd jumped out the window and down the street.
Ryou opened his eyes and glanced up at Kara a weak smile crossing his lips,
"I'm sorry for worrying you."
"It's ok," she responded softly as the paramedic finished securing the bandage. She carefully brushed a bang of his white hair from his eyes, staring down at him.
"You'll be ok, i'm just glad your awake, you had us worried there for a minute." Her other hand was still holding his, and quite tightly at that.
"We'll be at the hospital soon," the paramedic told her. "You'll have to wait in the waiting room when we get there."
"No problem," Kara told him.
Back at Ryou's house, Yami ran to the broken window as Bakura ran and slammed his fist down on the windowsill, hardly noticing the tiny prickles of glass that has scratched the edges of his fists.
"Coward," he muttered under his breath.
"Hey! There he goes!" roared Derek, running at the window and pulling it open, jumping after Bakura with Yami looking on in amazement.
Ryou tightened his own grip on Kara's hand as much as he could and closed his eyes again. He couldn't seem to keep them open. He was so tired and so weak. Weak, just like his Yami always said he was. He couldn't even take a little scratch.
Back in Ryou's house, Joey, Tristan and Tea had since bumped into Yami who was coming back down the stairs. He was shaking his head and muttering about how some people and things were so strange, when he bumped into Joey.
"Hey man, any luck?" asked Joey.
"Bakura bolted through a window and that new student went after him," Yami responded and gave control back to Yugi.
"How's Ryou?" Yugi asked now he was back in control.
"On route to the hospital," Tea responded. "Kara went with him."
"Then let's go and catch up." With a nod they ran to find a bus to take them to Domino Hospital.
They arrived at Domino Hospital half an hour later, jumping off the bus as they got there. All four strode into the into the hospital and began looking around the main entrance foyer, wandering where Kara would be. She'd surely be here by now.
"Yugi, guys!" Kara called waving to them. They turned to see the crimson and gold haired girl walking towards them, with conern and worry written all over her face.
"How's Ryou?" Tea asked.
"I don't know yet," Kara responded. "I've been here for nearly twenty minutes, and I don't know much yet."
"I'll find out," Joey offered, and just as he said that a doctor came walking down the hallway.
"Excuse me, who's the young lady who came with the white haired boy in the ambulance?" he asked seeing the five teens.
"I am," Kara responded immediately. "Is he all right?"
"We've bandaged the injury to his arm, he has a few bruised ribs and several minor cuts and bruises, but other than that he's fine and currently resting." The look of relief on all their faces was amazingly evident.
"Can we see him?" asked Yugi.
"Yes, but only for a few minutes," the doctor nodded. "The loss of blood has exhausted him."
"You and Kara go," Tristan told Yugi. "We'll wait here." With a nod Kara and Yugi followed the doctor to Ryou's hospital room.
Ryou was already half asleep by the time the two came in though he shook himself out of it slightly and glanced over at them with a weak smile then bit his lip,
"What happened to," he stopped for a second then took a deep breath and finished, "my yami?"
"He bolted," Yugi told him as he leant on the bed. "Right out of a broken window, don't ask. That new student Derek, went after him. Only the gods no why."
"You shouldn't worry about that right now," Kara told him as she smiled down at him. "Bakura knows he's outnumbered right now anyway." She placed her hand on top of his gently, all the time smiling reassuringly.
"We can only stay for a few minutes," Yugi told him. "Doctor says you need rest."
Neither Derek nor his quarry were slowing down, or even short of breath. Bakura made a sharp turn that nearly threw Derek off his trail, but he changed his direction quickly and was on his heels once again. This chase isn't likely to end soon, thought Derek.
During this time Ryou had gone back to sleep, leaving Yugi and Kara to say quiet good byes to him before they left. Yugi patted his hand gently, before exiting the room.
"Get well Ryou," he whispered closing the door. Kara left last, placing a soft kiss on the white-haired hikari's forehead before she to left him to sleep.
"Night Ryou," she whispered and hurried to join the others.
She soon caught up with Yugi, who was letting the others know how Ryou was getting on, and they all looked relieved.
"Well we know the doctors will take care of him from here," Joey smiled. "Let's go home, we could all use a bit of sleep ourselves."
"I heard that," Tristan agreed. The group of five waved good bye to the doctor looking after Ryou, and left to catch a bus home.
"I am going to end up sleeping in my uniform when I get home," Tea groaned. "I'll be too exhausted to change."
"Yeah," Joey agreed with a yawn as they stepped onto the next bus and flashed their bus passes to the driver. "Hey what exactly happened to Bakura?"
"Haven't a clue," Yugi responded. "Probably still being chased across the city by Derek."
"That's probably a spectacle to anyone watching," Kara laughed. The others nodded in agreement, before all of them yawned from their own exhaustian. Having to stop of at Yugi's first to grab their things, Joey, Tea, Kara and Tristan got of the bus and retrieved their bags.
"See you at school Yug!" Joey yelled as he and Tristan ran off one way.
"Yeah, if they get up, bye Yugi," Tea smiled.
Kara hung around a while longer before she left, talking to Yugi and Yami through Yugi about Bakura. Both decided it was best not to try and find him, he'd have enough trouble with Derek who appeared quite formidable.
"See you Yugi," Kara chimed as she ran to get home.
"Yeah," Yugi waved before closing and locking the Kame Game Shop door.
{You're troubled Yugi} Yami stated. {What's wrong?}
[Just hoping Bakura will leave Ryou alone now] Yugi responded as he headed upstairs.
{He should for now} Yami confirmed. {If not we're all here and Ryou knows it} Yugi nodded, changed and sat on his bed.
[Oh well, i'm going to see how much of Romeo and Juliet I can get through then try my other homework then bed] Yugi chuckled.
{Have fun} Yami joked lightly. Yugi smirked and pulling out his copy of Romeo and Juliet, began to read.
Bakura soon lost Derek and hid himself in an old abandoned building, "Who was that and why in the world was he running after me?" the spirit growled crossing his arms as he sat on a crate. He was exhausted and had no idea what to do now. The pharaoh and his friends probably wouldn't allow him near his hikari after what he'd done. He growled to himself as he rested his head on the wall and closed his eyes. Just a few hours sleep. That was all that he asked.
He slowly opened his eyes and looked around. It was pitch black. He couldn't tell where he was but he did know he wasn't in the abandoned building anymore. This seemed more like the shadow realm to him. He reached for the millennium ring to help him but found that it was no longer around his neck. He tensed. Without the ring he knew he was in trouble. He clenched his teeth and began to walk through the black abyss before him.
"Hello? Hello!? Is anyone here?" Came a voice suddenly. The spirit of the ring found he recognised the voice and began to walk towards it. It couldn't be him though. Could it? But how did his hikari end up here, and better yet, how did he?
"Ryou?" he mumbled as he saw the figure looking around nervously. He walked towards the young white haired boy. A second later Ryou twisted around to see who was there then yelped and backed away. He looked so frightened. He'd done this. He'd hurt him. He'd scared his own hikari for life physicly and emotionally. But why did he seem to care all of a sudden? He hadn't cared before. He'd never cared when he was doing it. Why now?
"Please don't hurt me," came a whimper from his light half. He walking towards the boy and backed up a bit. They needed to get out of here. They needed to find out where they were. Then he noticed Ryou had the millennium ring dangling from his neck, his neck which seemed to be bleeding. His eyes went wide as he looked Ryou over and realized that the boy was suddenly dripping with blood. What was going on. Was this some kind of trick?
Ryou began to shake as he looked at his hands which were drenched in his own blood. He backed up some more shaking his head in fear and whimpering before choking slightly and spitting out blood. He fell to his knees and wrapped his arms around himself as he sobbed. Yami Bakura began to shake as well. Had he done this? He couldn't remember. He slowly walked towards his aibou putting out a hand and placing it on the boys shoulder only to have him pull away in fear. The tombrobber closed his eyes for a moment then whispered,
"I'm so sorry."
- - - - -
Yami Bakura opened his eyes slowly and looked through the dark building before him,
"Just a dream? Hmmm, but why can't I get that out of my mind? It felt so real. Damn it what have I done." He growls and gets up punching the wall,
"It was real. I know it was. That was the shadow realm. It was showing me what i'd done. It was showing me the pain I caused my light." He sighed then pushed off the wall and turned towards the door,
"I can't go back. I'm so sorry Ryou. I hope you can forgive me."
R&R There's a special surprise in chapter 5.