Disclaimer: The characters of Yu-Gi-Oh are owned by Kazuki Takahashi, but this story belongs to me.

The Realm of Ghosts and Cookies

"Anzu's ALIVE?!"

Ryo sighed and shook his head sadly. "No, Jonouchi ... perhaps I phrased that badly. Anzu did indeed die. I... I was there when it happened."

"I'm confused," Jonouchi ran his hands through his hair in frustration.

Jonouchi and Honda happened to be with Yugi Mutou at his grandfather's when Ryo finally gained the courage to tell him what had happened to their dear friend. Yugi simply stared at Ryo with heart breaking hope in his eyes. Waiting.

Ryo hung his head in shame.

His hope was that Yugi, or even his grandfather, may have some idea on how to guide Anzu to the other side. Perhaps they could contact Yami Atem, the way he was still in contact with Bakura, and maybe he could lead her to the other side. But telling the tale was more difficult than he had anticipated.

Likely that is why it had taken him so many months to seek them out.

"I was there when Anzu... when she passed. I... I..." He looked at his friends and felt sick. He was going to lose everything. Jonouchi, Honda, Yugi, and Anzu had been a tight knit group. Yes he was their friend, but not as close to them as they were to each other. And he had done something unforgivable to their beloved Anzu. They would hate him. Though they could never hate him as much as he hated himself.

"You what?" asked Honda in a sharper tone than Ryo had ever heard him use.

Tears started to run down Ryo's face, but he didn't care. "I was with her when she passed. I could not bear to see her go. I called to him..."

"Who?"

Instead of looking to Jonouchi, Ryo lifted his eyes to Yugi's face. "I called to Bakura. I asked him to take her soul. It is her soul that resides in the Shadow Realm."

Chaos erupted, and Ryo resigned himself to his fate. He stood stoically to await the punishment he knew he deserved.

He only hoped he lived long enough to beg for a favor.

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"Ouch," Anzu grimaced. "That had to hurt."

"Yeah."

"Think we should... I don't know... DO SOMETHING?"

"Nah."

Anzu slapped at Bakura's shoulder. "What do you mean 'Nah'? He's not even fighting back!"

Bakura lazily opened one eye from where he was reclining. Somehow Anzu had created a grassy area in a patch of sunshine for them to sit while watching Ryo. He could ACTUALLY FEEL the warmth of the sunshine. It made him sleepy, too sleepy to make her pay for slapping him. Maybe later.

Sure, he may have been irritated at first that Anzu was somehow able to manipulate the Shadow Realm in ways he could never have imagined... but he wouldn't trade the world she was creating for anything. Well, maybe complete and utter revenge... maybe. One thing was for certain though, there was no way he was helping Ryo try to get rid of her.

The Realm of Happiness and Freakin' Sunshine wasn't so bad after all.

Anzu pulled up her knees and rested her chin on them. "I feel bad for not talking to Ryo. Maybe I was too mean."

Well now, who knew the girl had a sense of humor?

Too mean? She had no idea what 'mean' was. That also used to be irritating, all that cheerfulness and unfailing kindness. Until she brought ramen and cookies into the Shadow Realm. Cookies! How had he lived without them? It was like everything good in the world in a single bite! He would have brooded over being born in the wrong century if Anzu hadn't brought along a picnic basket that included some of those ooey gooey chocolate chip cookies he had started craving.

She looked over at him and he pretended to ignore her again. "How DO you talk to Ryo?"

"Hm?"

"I haven't tried since I've been here. How do you talk to him? I mean, I could if I really wanted to, right?"

"You are NOT apologizing to him for ignoring him."

Anzu blushed and looked away. "Of course not!"

"Right." He debated reminding her that because of Ryo she was stuck in the Shadow Realm with him. Then he decided that maybe it would be best if he didn't make that sound like a bad thing, and decided he'd just pass on the opportunity to cause a little distress. "Besides, you have talked to him. A lot."

She looked at him in confusion as she tucked her hair behind her ear. "No, I haven't."

Bakura laughed. "How else do you think he knows how miserable you are? You think I told him?"

"Well... if you thought it'd torture him you might."

She did have a good point.

"Wait... does this mean he can SEE EVERYTHING I DO?"

A white cloud passed over the picture of Ryo lying on the ground in from of Yugi's place sobbing. He blew at the cloud and it broke apart and disappeared. He would have continued watching Ryo beg for forgiveness if Anzu hadn't started shaking him and talking all hysterical.

"What are you doing? Let go!"

"HE SEES EVERYTHING I DO? HEARS EVERYTHING I SAY?"

Laughter erupted. He hadn't laughed this much in... well... ever quite frankly. Never had a reason to. But since Anzu became trapped here there was laughter and sunshine and delicious food and music... and RYO was planning to take it all away from him to make him live back in a world of shadows... alone.

The laughter stopped.

"He hears some because sometimes when you are upset you are screaming at him. When you think at him it is like you are talking to him. Until you make the connection like that, he can't see you and you can't see him. Once the connection is made you can choose to show yourself or not. Just see it in your own head."

"You make me sound like a ghost."

"Darlin', we're both ghosts. I've just been a ghost longer."

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Darlin? DARLIN? Did Bakura just call her by a pet name?

Was he messing with her? Was this a trick? He didn't seem to notice that he said anything... Should she react? Just ignore it?

Anzu knew she was blushing so she turned her attention back to Ryo. She felt bad for him. Really, the anger just wasn't there anymore. And all things considered, this place wasn't so bad after all. Strangely Bakura made an interesting companion. And Ryo was her friend. She hated seeing her friends fight.

Darlin?

Stop thinking about that! She pinched her leg. Then she pinched it again. It had hurt. Actually HURT! So logically, the next thing to do was to pinch her arm. Hard. Her fingers moved to pinch again when Bakura grabbed her wrist.

"What do you think you are doing?"

Darlin?

Her cheeks heated up and Bakura eyes widened as he dropped her hand like it burned. "It hurt," she told him simply.

"Of course it hurt! You were pinching yourself like a fool!"

"But it HURT!"

"I KNOW!" He turned her arm, possibly looking for bruises, and frowned at her. "What were you thinking? I always thought you were the sane one."

She smiled. "If I were just a ghost it wouldn't hurt. I can feel. Being here... its... its like still being alive. Just in a different place." Without thinking she lifted her hand to his face and felt his cheek with the back of her hand. "I can feel your warmth." She felt her own cheek, "And mine. I don't feel dead here. I don't feel like a ghost..." Her smile faded into a frown as she looked at their friends. "Something's going on."

Ryo was bowing to Yugi and saying thank you as the others glared at him. One word turned her world upside down... again.

"Yami."

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Author's Note:

I hope you are enjoying the story. Thanks for reading and for your reviews!