Chocolate eyes slowly fluttered open. The first thing Ryou noticed was that he felt a familiar warmth. Bakura! His eyes widened and he looked up at his yami in disbelief. "Y-you're back!" The boy grinned, throwing his arms around Bakura's neck and hugging him.

Malik moved to stand by his own hikari, watching silently. The moment was very sweet. It almost made him want to gag.

Bakura held Ryou tighter, careful of the now frailer body. "I missed you so much Koi..."

Marik rolled his eyes at Malik, enjoying the highly sweet moment, that seemed out of character for Bakura, but was still nice.

"I missed you, too." It felt so good to be back in Bakura's arms after so long. He loved this feeling. He felt like he was loved and everything was warm and good with the world. It was perfect.

Bakura set Ryou down and turned to Marik and Malik. "Thanks."

Marik smiled, "No problem!"

The pale boy continued to lean on Bakura, weak from the recent events. That and he didn't want to be apart from Bakura at all, not for one moment.

Malik nodded in response, face blank.

Marik glomped Malik, "C'mon, let's go home. They've got 'catching up' to do." Marik giggled.

Malik jumped a little in surprise, then smiled a little, wrapping on arm around Marik. He simply turned and started heading towards the door.

This was too good to be true. Bakura was back. It felt like a dream. Ryou looked up at his yami. "Please... Kiss me. I need to know that this is real."

The door closed behind the two Egyptians and Bakura gripped Ryou's chin gently. "You don't need to ask me, just take it. I'm yours and yours alone."

Slightly nervous, Ryou leaned up to touch his lips to Bakura's. He did it slowly, fearing that once they kissed, the dream would disappear and Bakura would be gone again.

Bakura kissed back, wrapping his arms around Ryou tightly. ~I'm not going anywhere.~

Gasping slightly, Ryou deepened the kiss, leaning closer. This. This was heaven. Bakura's arms felt warm around him and his lips just seemed so soft.

Bakura took advantage of Ryou's gasp to slowly push his tongue inside the frail boy's mouth, he could taste the tart broth from Ryou's soup mixed with a sweeter taste, it was brilliant and he never wanted to let go.

Unsure of himself, Ryou pushed back a little against Bakura's tongue. He had never really kissed anyone like this before and he was hesitant. Though he found that he really did enjoy doing this with Bakura.

Bakura moaned softly, this is what he'd wanted since he'd been sent away, and now it was real. He could taste Ryou, and touch Ryou, and love Ryou. Their bodies pressed closer, thier kiss becoming more intimate, until finally they parted for air.

"I love you so much Koi."

Ryou whined softly in protest when they parted, but still stared up at Bakura with loving brown eyes.

"I love you, too," he whispered, wanting to kiss Bakura again. "Don't ever leave again. Please." The boy was actually begging.

"I won't leave you. I'm sure now that there isn't a single person who would want us apart now. I'm here." Bakura said, pulling Ryou into his arms. The taller boy breathed the vanilla scent again, savoring every bit, loving it, loving Ryou.

Ryou nodded into Bakura's chest. He hoped that Bakura wouldn't feel really how thin he was, or feel how greasy his hair was. He felt so self conscious now and he wanted to go bathe right at that moment. The boy felt grimy and nasty... But he didn't want to leave Bakura.

When Bakura opened his eyes, the vanilla scent was gone, replacing it was a smell that wasn't so pleasant. Had the vanilla been a memory? He stepped back a moment. "You stink. C'mon." Bakura picked Ryou up again, carrying the boy upstairs to the bathroom. "You'll probably feel a lot better with a bath." Bakura laughed.

Ryou blushed bright red. Bakura had noticed the smell. And now that he was in his arms... He would surely notice that he was as thin as death. Or he would notice when Ryou got in the bath. Swallowing nervously, the hikari nodded in agreement. A bath would be very nice.

They reached the bathroom and Bakura set Ryou down, carefully removing the smaller boys clothes. What he saw surprised him, all of Ryou's ribs could be seen and his stomach was a lot smaller. Bakura frowned in thought, he placed a hand on Ryou's stomach, feeling the bones there and shadow magic crackled around Bakura's hand, sending some of the yami's energy to Ryou until the hikari's features filled out. It left Bakura a little weak, but he'd get over it soon.

"There, much better." He smiled and turned to the tub, twisting the knobs and filling the basin.

When his clothes were removed, Ryou kept his eyes to the ground, ashamed of himself. He hated that Bakura had to see him like this. Then... Bakura did something. He felt his old weight return and felt some of his old energy return. Bakura had... Fixed him? His yami had made him how he used to be, how he should be. Ryou smiled brightly at Bakura.

"Thank you, Bakura! I feel a lot better!" He watched his yami as he drew Ryou's bath.

"You're very welcome." Bakura said with a smile, the water became warm and Bakura placed Ryou in it, taking a seat next to him. "I take it you're still out of clothes huh?"

Ryou sighed. "Yeah... I've um, been wearing yours... If you can't tell." He laughed a little. "I was pretty messed up for a while. Oh, and there's glass in your room. Watch out for that."

"It's not that big a deal. I don't mind if you wear my clothes." Bakura stood. "Well I should clean that, I'll be back in a minute." He said, leaving the room.

Ryou bit his lip, nodding as Bakura left. He didn't want to be alone anymore... He didn't want Bakura to leave... He tried calming himself by taking a deep breath, then reached over and grabbed the lighter that he kept on a little table by the tub along with some candles. He lit a lavender one then reached for his vanilla shampoo.

Bakura cleaned the mess quickly and returned to where Ryou was bathing. He sat down again and watched, the scent of vanilla coming back to him.

The boy was so focused on the scents around him, he didn't even notice Bakura come back in. The vanilla mixed with the lavender oh-so perfectly and the bathwater just relaxed him so. Ryou began humming a random tune that came to mind as he washed his greasy hair. This, he noted, will have to be washed twice. Once to get it untangled enough to brush it and again to get the spots that were tangled up... He continued lathering his hair, still not realizing Bakura was there.

Bakura smiled at the boy, he didn't seem to realize that Bakura was there, but that was fine, Ryou often did that. Bakura was happy for the familiarity of it all. He leaned against the wall, breathing in the mixing scents like oxygen wasn't good enough. It's so beautiful, just like Ryou. He thought, sighing.

Once his hair was sufficiently washed, the boy leaned back in the tub, a small smile on his face. He opened his eyes and jumped a little in surprise at seeing Bakura. "Y-you're back! That was fast." He smiled at his yami. "Oh, and could you do me a favor and hand me my brush? Just right there?" He pointed to it.

"It doesn't take that long to clean up broken glass. I didn't have enough energy to send it to the shadow realm after fixing you up... but hey, it's alright." Bakura reached up ang grabbed it. But instead of handing it to Ryou, he scooted over an started gently brushing the tangles out of Ryou's hair, making sure that he wouldn't pull too hard.

"Oh, okay..." Ryou now felt a little guilty that he had drained Bakura's energy... He had just gotten that back! What right did Ryou have to take it away? But Bakura said it was okay...

The boy smiled at Bakura, letting him brush his hair. He felt so important right now... And he was in Bakura's eyes.

Bakura continued, busy with the task he'd given himself. His tongue poked out the corner of his mouth as he focused on brushing without hurting, but the knot was huge! It had matted together making Ryou's fluffy hair not so fluffy. The yami hadn't done this before, not even to his own hair, but Ryou's hair had to be fluffy or it wasn't Ryou's hair! And Bakura couldn't have that could he?

Ryou couldn't help but giggle at the look of sheer concentration on his yami's face. It was adorable! ... Until he started pulling at a giant knot. He cringed slightly in pain, but didn't say anything. Then Bakura accidentally pulled on it extra hard and he couldn't help but yelp.

"B-Bakura? Could you please let me get the big ones out? Then you can do the rest," he said.

Bakura nearly dropped the hair brush when Ryou cried out in pain. His eyes widening, he'd hurt Ryou!

"I-I'm sorry!" He said, handing Ryou the brush and scooting back.

Ryou looked at Bakura, concerned. "It's okay, Bakura. I'm fine. It just surprised me. There's a certain way you have to get tangles like that out. You have to start from the bottom." He took the brush and began slowly working at it, keeping a firm grip on the hair above the spot so as not to hurt himself. "And when you do something like that, you need to hold on to the hair above it so the person who's hair you're brushing doesn't feel anything!" The tangle was really quite bad... He even cringed a little when he tried to get it out himself.

It took a good ten minutes, but Ryou finally handed the brush back to Bakura. "Here. I got all the bad ones out. It shouldn't hurt anymore." He smiled reassuringly at his yami.

Bakura nodded, taking the brush from Ryou and brushing the hikari's hair out again. It was all smooth and tangle free now, he enjoyed doing it and Ryou seemed to like it. The smaller boy purred and continued washing himself as Bakura brushed.

"That feels good..." Ryou continued washing himself, eyes closed and enjoying this. He still had to shampoo it again, but that could wait... This felt too good to stop right now.

"Isn't it supposed to?" Bakura said, putting the brush down, his arm was getting tired and he could always brush Ryou's hair later. "I remember you used to sit in front of the TV and brush it for hours."

Ryou smiled. "It is. And I did that because it did feel good." Since Bakura stopped, Ryou decided this was a good time to wash it again. He picked up the shampoo and squirted some into his hand, once again filling the room with the wonderful scent of vanilla.

Bakura nodded, sniffing the air happily and watching Ryou more. He smiled and leaned back on his hands.

The boy's eyes drifted closed once again as he lathered his hair. He used the vanilla because it was very calming and he liked it. Especially mixed with the scent of his lavender candle. He ran his fingers through his hair as he continued lathering it, imitating a brush to keep it from tangling again.

Bakura just watched, wanting Ryou more and more each passing moment, the boy was beautiful and Bakura longed for prolonged physical contact.

Once again, Ryou leaned back into the water to rinse his hair, a relaxed look on his face, his lips slightly parted. He had no idea what this was doing to Bakura.

Bakura kept still, he really wanted Ryou now, but he wouldn't do it if Ryou didn't want it. No, he still held to that and it didn't matter to him how much he really wanted to, he wasn't going to hurt Ryou.

Ryou's cheeks were tinted slightly pink from the warmth of the water and he just stayed layed back for a few minutes, letting the water rinse his hair. The boy was still unaware of how his yami was taking all of this.

Bakura couldn't take it anymore, he got up and opened the door. "Let me know when you're done. Okay?" And he closed the door behind him.

Ryou frowned and sat up, looking after him. The last thing he wanted for for Bakura to leave. ~Bakura? Is something wrong? Did I do something wrong?~ Ryou bit his lip, fearing he had upset Bakura in some way.

~Of course not, you can't do anything wrong, you're perfect. I'm just tired is all.~ Bakura responded.

Ryou knew he was far from perfect and he blushed. ~I'm not perfect, Bakura. If I were perfect then... I wouldn't have neglected myself.~ He began to drain the tub and get out, grabbing a towel and wrapping it around himself. He wanted to surprise Bakura that he was walking all on his own. Which, he actually owed to his yami for fixing him. It was no longer hard to walk, no longer a workout for a few simple steps.

He made sure that he was dry enough to walk on their carpet before exiting the bathroom still in just a towel- neither had thought to grab more clothes- and heading towards Bakura's room.

Bakura removed his shirt and tossed it onto the floor. He'd get it later if he needed to. The sheets were ruffled and used. Something tells me he slept here the whole time. Bakura thought with a smile. He crawled into bed and didn't even notice when Ryou entered the room.

As Ryou walked in the room, he decided he'd just go without pajamas. He'd slept with Bakura naked before, why should now matter? Plus he didn't feel like getting dressed... The boy dropped his towel and climbed in next to Bakura, getting as close as he could for warmth in the cold room.