Hi, everyone :D I updated :D Aren't you proud of me?

Anyway, please review when you finish :3

~oOo~

"Are you warm enough, Bakura? I have some extra blankets if you need them."

Bakura shifted, letting his back face his Landlord.

"I'm fine. I've slept in colder places."

(Both of them made a point to not acknowledge what happened earlier. Neither of them wanted to bring it up.)

"Right. I'll just be out there if you need me, so-"

"No!"

Bakura grabbed hold of Ryou's wrist. It twisted painfully in his grasp, prompting a cry of pain from the other.

"AH! Bakura, what the hell are you-"

He trailed off when he noticed Bakura was trembling.

"Not alone…don't leave me here alone." So quiet. Almost pitiful. "Not again…"

I've been alone for far too long. I've been on my own…lonely. Please, don't leave. Just stay until I fall asleep.

"Bakura, what's wrong?"

"He's dangerous! You're an idiot if you keep him here!"

No. there's no way. Besides, he's far too confused to do anything dangerous.

Bakura tried to compose himself. When he next spoke, at least a little of his self-assured, overconfident demeanor returned.

"The bed's big enough for two people. Besides, it's your house, Landlord. It'd be rude of me to make you sleep out there."

"What do you think I did the whole time you've been here?" Ryou raised an eyebrow. "It's fine, really. I'll sleep on the couch."

Bakura yanked down on Ryou's wrist, pulling him down onto the bed.

"Hey!"

Ryou glared halfheartedly at Bakura before realizing it was pointless. He clambered under the covers and turned out the light, leaving his glasses on the bedside table. He settled down onto the pillow and closed his eyes.

"I have to get up early, Bakura," he said. "Don't freak out if I'm gone when you wake up."

Bakura made a little noise of acknowledgement. Then, he asked the question he had been dying to have answered.

"Landlord, why did you change houses?"

"Huh?" It took a few moments for the realization to dawn on Ryou. "Oh, I stopped letting my father pay my rent. I wanted to take care of myself, so…yeah. Here I am."

That smile again. God, Bakura hated that fake, hollow smile. (He also hates the fact that he himself put it there.)

"Goodnight, Bakura. Wake me up if you need anything."

...Silence.

~oOo~

Fever raging. So hot, cutting off breath. Killing him, wasting away...

Reality is fluid- hallucinations leave him screaming. Horrifying, faces with no eyes, flesh melted away.

"Bakura, will you die with us?"

"No...I don't want to die..."

"Won't you keep us company? It's so lonely here."

"No, no, no! Leave me alone!"

(They look so horrible, was that really his mother? There, that one, was his father, and his little sister.)

"Amane...what have they done to you?"

"Won't you die with us, big brother?" So horrible, barely human. "Come with us, it's better here. The Pharaoh can't touch us here."

"NO!"

Bright red eyes behind him, glowing, horrible fanged teeth clicking, ready to kill him. It's dark, so dark, please...

He would be shaken, hear other voices yelling, calling out to him. And yet, all he could see, all he could feel, were his family.

He emerges from this fever dazed and confused. He has to remind himself of what happened- what he had to do. He barely noticed the woman tending his wounds, fretting, losing sleep over him. It takes a week before he's able to perceive the world with any degree of clarity.

The woman's husband calls him mad- a demon, a monster. No matter how she pleads for Bakura's sake, it doesn't reach his ears.

But Bakura did not forget.

That's why, when he finally comes back to himself, he decides that, despite the revenge he must exact, he had a debt to pay.

He stays and works, despite the ridicule from others. Despite the laughter he gets for his scar. The glares and blows he gets as an outcast- the lonely orphan boy who refused to speak of his village. The woman tries to protect him, she really does. But it's not enough. Her valiant efforts never spared him any suffering.

That's why, the night he sets the village on fire, he kills the woman last.

~oOo~

Bakura is alone when he wakes up. Even though it's early in the morning, Ryou had left long before. He sighed and got out of bed.

He turned the television on, the volume up high, to banish the nightmares from his mind.