Chapter 11

"Ow! Ra dammit, Ryo!"

Ryo sighed. "Shut up, you know it'll heal faster if it's tight."

"I know, but shit!" complained Bakura.

The yamis had all healed their hikaris and now the roles were reversed. Sharing the first aid kit between them, the hikaris were cleaning and bandaging the worst of their darks' wounds. Bakura was sitting on the kitchen counter while Ryo wrapped bandages around his broken ribs.

"If you can bitch and complain like that than you must be fine," said Yami as Yugi cleaned a cut on his chest.

"Asshole, you shut the fuck up," snarled Bakura through clenched teeth. Ryo pulled the bandages painfully tight and with a hiss of pain Bakura shut up.

"Aww, c'mon, Yami. Let him bitch," said Malik. "He's funny when he bitches."

Bakura shot a glare at them. Malik had long since given up trying to care for his persistent dark and was now sitting on Marik's lap as Marik caressed him.

Ryo gave the bandages one more painful tug and Bakura cringed. "There, that should do it."

"If you didn't break more trying at heal the two," snapped Bakura angrily. He didn't notice Ryo back away a bit, his eyes flashing with hurt and concern.

Yugi rolled his eyes and glared at Bakura. "Oh, shut up, tomb robber."

"Pharaoh, stop teaching your hikari to talk like you! You're the only one who calls me 'tomb robber' and I'd like it to stay that way."

"Tomb robber," said Marik.

"Gah, you spiteful bastard!" growled Bakura.

"Couldn't help myself, Fluffy," replied Marik with a grin.

Bakura facepalmed himself. "You are so lucky I'm injured, otherwise I'd maim your ass so bad."

"What's the matter, Fluffy? It's not good to get so angry," said Malik.

Bakura growled and turned to Ryo. "Please, koibito, let me annihilate the psycho's brat."

"No," said Ryo flatly.

Bakura grumbled and pushed himself off the counter. "That's enough, I'm done," he said coldly.

"But, 'Kura," started Ryo hesitantly, "you still have a ton of cuts for me to look at!"

"Let them bleed," he snarled, glaring over his shoulder. He turned at stalked out of the room, gingerly holding his ribcage as he walked. "I'm going to bed."

Ryo stared after his yami before sitting down and burying his face in his knees.

"Well, that was dramatic," said Yami after an awkward silence.

"I wish I knew what was up with him!" Ryo yelled into his knees. His voice shook. "He's beginning to scare me. He's hiding something, I know it! He's always so calm and content around me and now he's snapping at me every other minute and switching between happy and angry and depressed faster than if he were PMSing!"

Yugi stood and sat next to his fellow hikari, wrapping an arm around the whitenette's trembling shoulders. Ryo turned and buried his face in Yugi's shoulder.

"He might be drunk," suggested Marik. "When he's drunk he jumps between the I Hate You Guy and the I Love You Guy faster than I can keep track. And sometimes he's the M'ere Guy."

Yami rolled his eyes. "He's not drunk, idiot."

"He's scaring me," Ryo repeated in a whisper.

"So tell him that," said Malik. "It's not like he's never scared you before, he scared you for two years before he got his own body."

"Malik," said Ryo. He turned towards the blond. There were tears in his eyes, but he held them back. "This time it's different. He has scared me before when he was in the Ring, but those times it was fear my own safety or the safety of one of you. It's not like that this time. I'm scared because I don't know what to do. I'm sacred because I don't know what he'll do."


Bakura silently got out of bed. It was late afternoon and he was certain that was the only one awake. Ryo protested in his sleep at the loss of warmth and snuggled towards where his dark had just been. Bakura shoved his warm pillow in Ryo's path and Ryo clung to it, frowning slightly as he wondered in his sleep why it didn't feel like Bakura's well-muscled chest.

Bakura reached down and lightly brushed his fingers over a certain spot on Ryo's neck. He knew from experience that it was one of Ryo's sweet spots, and Ryo shivered at his touch but didn't wake. He kept his fingers poised on the spot for a few seconds before deciding to do it later. Ryo protested in his sleep as Bakura's cool fingertips were removed from his warm skin.

Bakura silently stalked into the room that Yugi and the Pharaoh shared. Them he could do it to. He jabbed Yami in the neck at an angle, in the same place he had touched Ryo. Yami groaned as Bakura repeated the motion on Yugi. They wouldn't be moving until the effects wore off. Bakura stalked downstairs, deliberately passing by the room Ryo was sleeping in. Malik and Marik were both on the couch, embracing. Bakura repeated the nerve pinch on both of their sleeping forms.

Finding himself unable to do this to Ryo, he began the next part of his plan. Now that he was sure that he wouldn't be interrupted, he started ensuring their protection. Stepping outside, he started work on a barrier of Shadow Magic around the entire house. Anything that touched it from the outside would instantly be repelled, and it was too strong for anyone other than him to break it from the inside.

Left dizzy and weak-kneed from the extensive use of Shadow Magic, he propped himself up with the dark purple wall he had just made. Panting slightly, he whispered under his breath in Coptic, praying to Ra to keep Ryo safe in his absence.

"Going somewhere?" asked a cold voice behind Bakura.

Bakura froze and turned around slowly. He hadn't thought that his sweet light's voice could sound so angry. But it was Ryo who was leaning against the doorframe with his arms crossed. He was visibly trying not to cry from hurt and anger, and his body was very tense.

"Ryo? What are you doing? Go back to bed."

"Only if you come with me," snarled Ryo in that same cold voice. "What are you up to?" Bakura was silent a moment too long. "Answer me, Yami Bakura!!"

"N-nothing, baby." Bakura had hesitated. A mistake. Ryo's eyes filled with angry tears and he slowly sank to his knees, rage and pure hurt flashing in his eyes and flowing through the mind-link.

"Why don't you trust me!?" he cried. "Why can't you tell me what's bothering you!? Why don't…why don't you…why?"

Bakura rushed over and crouched in front of Ryo, hugging him tight. "Ryo, baby, calm down."

Ryo buried his face in Bakura's shoulder, now crying in earnest, beating Bakura's other shoulder as hard as he could. "You asshole! You prick! You royal jerkoff! I hate you!"

Bakura knew that deep down Ryo didn't mean his last statement, but it still stung. It stung worse than any physical pain he had endured through this entire ordeal. Had he really upset Ryo that much? "Shh, shh-shh-shh-shh," he shushed, rubbing Ryo's back. "I'm sorry, I know I suck."

"Is it so hard to tell me what's worrying you? I thought we were a team," Ryo whispered, the fire leaving his eyes as his rage died away, leaving only dull sadness behind. "I have no idea what you might be planning. I'm scared to death…because I just don't know."

"Me too, tenshi. Me too," Bakura whispered. He felt a very unfamiliar prickle in his eyes; he didn't understand what it was. "I've been terrified this whole time that something will happen to you. And now I'm terrified because I don't know what you'll do if…if something happens."

Ryo didn't reply but continued to cry quietly into Bakura's shoulder. Poor kid, he thought. He's cried so much in so little time. All because of Zorc.

"Ryo, I want you to listen to me," said Bakura, a slight waver in his voice. "I…may not be around for awhile. Wait for me. No matter what happens, no matter what you think, no matter what things seem, I want you to wait for me. Just for a week…then you don't have to wait anymore if you don't want to. Just give me a week."

Ryo tilted his head and looked Bakura in the eyes. His own eyes were red and tears still flowed down his cheeks. He said in a dead serious and perfectly level voice, "I would wait for you forever if I had to."

Bakura felt the strange prickle in his eyes grow stronger and he tightened his and Ryo's embrace. "Thank you, koibito," he whispered into the soft, white hair.

"What if you don't come back?" asked Ryo. "I…I don't want to be alone again. Don't leave me." Ryo tightened the hug instinctively, seeking comfort, and Bakura's ribs seared painfully. Bakura smirked; he had almost forgotten they were broken.

Effectively ignoring the pain, Bakura said sternly, "I will never leave you. I'll always be here to protect you. If I have to I'll come back as a ghost to be with you. But hopefully it won't come to that."

He kissed Ryo on the forehead and stood up. He placed a hand on the wall of Shadow Magic and created an opening just big enough for him to walk through. As it started to close, Bakura looked behind him. Ryo was still kneeling on the ground, looking ready to die of sadness right there. Bakura was no longer able to ignore the prickle in his eyes, and Ryo's tear-filled eyes widened in shock as Bakura tried to blink the burning away. "Bakura…"

"I love you, Ryo. Wait for me. Goodbye." The barrier closed up and Ryo was gone.

Thunder boomed overhead and it started to pour, the icy rain drenching Bakura in seconds. Bakura wondered if the heavens were reflecting his mood. His eyes still burned for a reason he did not know.

The burning abruptly lessened and amid the cold water on his cheeks he felt something warm trail down it. Bakura hesitantly touched his cheek and tasted his fingertip. It tasted salty and Bakura realized that it was a tear. The first tear he had shed in over three thousand years.


Ryo screamed in frustration as he tried again to break the barrier. But his own limited Shadow Magic wasn't strong enough and the wall wavered but did not break. Ryo sank to his knees with his hands still pressed against his target and rested his forehead against the dark purple mass. He felt empty but didn't cry. He had just stopped and didn't want to start crying again.

Ryo still hadn't gotten over his surprise though. Now he knew that Bakura was really torn up. When the yami who felt almost no emotion except anger had looked back, his eyes had been filled with unshed tears.

Ryo screamed again and beat his fist against the barrier. "Ryo?" came Malik's sleepy voice from inside the house. It was almost immediately followed by a loud, scared, "What the fuck!?"

Ryo rushed back inside to see Malik awake and visibly fighting panic. "Ryo! What the hell? Why've you been crying? This is fucked up! I can't move, Ryo!"

Ryo understood what Bakura had done. He had used that same pressure point on Ryo in Duelist Kingdom to keep him in his soul room. He had then proceeded to teach him that nerve pinch as well as a few others during Battle City. He jabbed the nerve and Malik went limp.

"Thanks, Ry," gasped Malik, rubbing his neck. "What was that?"

"A pressure point Bakura likes to use," said Ryo dully, wiping his wet cheeks. His heart ached as he said his yami's name. "It cuts off the brain waves to everything below the point, immobilizing everything from the neck down. It freezes you. It'll wear off on its own, but not for a long time. When Bakura used it on me in my soul room I was frozen for a few days."

"So it's that bastard Bakura's work. Wait'll I get my hands on him," growled Malik. "Where is he?"

The surprised Malik wrapped his arm around the whitenette as Ryo broke down again.


Bakura walked briskly with his head held high. His eyes showed his grim determination to what he was about to do. He knew it would happen tonight. He didn't even need to look. They would find him.

His heart was full of fear and grief, but neither were for himself. He had already died twice, why should he fear Death's touch anymore? He was afraid of what Ryo would do if he were left alone. His grief was for and shared with Ryo. He could sense Ryo crying again through the link. He felt a pang, each stronger than the last, each time Ryo sobbed.

Bakura turned a corner and looked at the building next to him. He continued looking for a long while. It was the house he and Ryo had shared before all this. The roof and part of the wall had been beaten in, the pouring rain drenching the inside. Repairable, but disheartening nonetheless. He shivered, both from the chill caused by his sopping wet clothes and the thought of what the inside looked like.

With a sigh, Bakura turned back to face forward and froze. What looked like every one of the remaining four hundred demons crouched at the end of the street, waiting, wings plastered to their wet bodies and red eyes glowing in the dark and stormy night. They didn't move, and neither did their target.

Bakura smirked and shook his dripping bangs out of his eyes. He gripped the Millennium Ring, which glowed and Shadow Magic wavered around it until he let go.

"Forgive me, Ryo," he whispered. He reached inside his trenchcoat and drew his knife. Raising his voice to a shout, he screamed at the army, "Alright, you sons of bitches!" He held the knife out to the side at arm's length…and dropped it. It landed with a clatter on the road, the red and black blood on it quickly coloring a puddle under the blade. He spread his arms wide. "Come and get me!"
~~~

A/N This chapter is dedicated to Bakura because today, November 10th, I celebrate his birthday as one of my sources tell me that this is when Ryo got the Ring. Bit of a depressing birthday present to be honest, since most of you will be able to put two and two together and figure out what I'm gonna do. Also, that part where Marik said maybe he's drunk and named the three Guys is a reference to Gabriel Iglesias's show Hot and Fluffy.

This is my favorite chapter of the fic :D

I don't own YuGiOh, and if I did there would be more moments like this where Ryo has a backbone and Bakura isn't a selfish bastard.

Bit sad. this is the first scene of this fic I thought up, and I'm so glad it's finally written down.