As I promised, here is the sequel to "Fading Light". This is where the time line ends. I'm not planning to write another fic to this entire series, unless like in the distant future my muse bites me again. *glances at Ryou*

Ryou: Nope. No planned bites here.

I have some comments to people so please read them if you reviewed the last chapter of "Fading Light" ^_^

Borath and Juvi, thank you very much! I've always appreciated what you two have had to say! In this story and the others I've written.

BANDIT KEITH'S LITTLE SISTER - You need help, like serious help. It's just a story, and if it makes you so angry I'll write another one where Ryou dies, or better yet, Bandit Keith. And I'm afraid that my friends are not afraid of an insane little flamer, we had a great laugh at what you wrote and I'm not even going to delete all your reviews because they are just so humorous! I love it when people can't discern reality from fantasy. Oh, and the last time I checked, Ryou belonged to Marik and Malik. I didn't see anything about a little girl with a bad aura wafting off of her, sorry.

ShadowSpirit, you made Yami drop Bakura!!! *Glares* Ah, but then you made Bakura cry!! *giggles insanely* I think most would call you mean for that, but I love it when Bakura cries!! *L* I can't wait until you continue Itsumademo Naito!!!

Myloko, thank you very much! I really like it when I make someone feel something, and since a lot of people wouldn't even review because Ryou actually died (*rolls eyes*) I know they felt something. ^_^

Ginny, I'm sorry you hate me. And I know a lot of people bring back a character after they've already offed them. I'm not one of those authors because I think that totally ruins the fic a lot. So sorry, but I can't bring Ryou back. Death is eternal.

Chang Meiling, *pulls Ryou in front of her* Okay! Here's the next part! Don't through the veggies! ~_~ Note to self, kill ChibiQuatre Muse.

Zoe Moto, well. . . guess you'll hafta read the fic, ne?

Aiko, thank you, when I read your review, the line about 'I think the way it ended was great and if Ryou hadn't died it wouldn't be as good.' It made me so happy because everyone else was mad at me!

FOG, of course I'm mean! Especially to Ryou! We hurt the ones we love the most remember.

Nelara, no offence, but I hate Sailor Moon, after the first season when they found out that Darien was actually a prince and Serenia (Don't know the spelling, sorry) was the Moon Princess it just got weird. -.-; Mini Moon's voice is soooo annoying and she's the chick from YTV. . .

Now, ChibiQuatre Muse? Go for it.

ChibiQuatre Muse: Here's the last part, hope you enjoy, Spyder doesn't own anyone except me.



Warnings: Yaoi obviously, Bakura angst.

Pairings: (Yami) Bakura/Yami, mention of Ryou + Seto, but if you read "Fading Light" then you'd know the pairings.

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TWO HALVES OF A WHOLE

- - -

The sky was beginning to darken.

Yami Motou quietly entered the darkened house and closed the door behind him. He remembered a time when the house was brighter, warmer and a person would feel welcome. Now, the building had a dark air to it, and it felt abandoned, and in a way it had been. At one time the place had had a balance between dark and light, but the light had been extinguished and so the dark remained.

"Bakura?" Yami asked as he walked through the dark living room toward the stairs. He climbed them quietly and went down the hall to the darkened room at the end of the hall. He knocked, and when he received no answer he opened the door, only to find the room empty. At a lost at where his partner could be Yami sighed and sat on the bed after flipping the light on.

Bakura, a spirit much like himself, had been fine the day before. Shaking his head, Yami looked to the wall where pictures had been hung along with a calendar. Today's date had been circled and Yami narrowed his eyebrows, trying to figure out why.

Then it hit him. Shit.

It had been a year to the exact date.

Sighing to himself, Yami got up, no longer wondering where Bakura had gone. Leaving the room, the spirit of a long dead pharaoh walked down the hall to another room where the door was slightly ajar. Peeking in, Yami saw the white-haired fiend sitting on the floor in the middle of the room, staring at a bookshelf that housed a golden item.

The room had not been touched since *he* had been there. The Ring sat on a shelf, untouched and seemingly abandoned by both spirits. Bakura had finally found the courage to face what he had just accepted.

Ryou was dead.

Yami didn't move as he studied the mourning boy. But he did finally enter the room as he saw Bakura wipe his hand across his eyes. Yami knew he'd been heard, but Bakura didn't do anything to make it known. He didn't even move when Yami sat down beside him.

They sat in companionable silence for a while before Yami spoke up. "You didn't show up for school today. The others and I were worried." He said softly, not wanting to break the soft atmosphere that had built inside the room.

"I couldn't today." Bakura spoke just as softly as Yami had as he continued to stare up at the Millennium Ring, which in turn, seemed to be staring back down at them.

Yami nodded though he didn't know if Bakura could see it or not. "You should call Kaiba sometime today. . .he didn't come to school either." He said softly, looking up at the Millennium Ring.

"I will." Bakura nodded, then sighed as he moved, lying across the floor, resting his head on Yami's thigh. Yami automatically began to run his fingers through the soft white hair as he thought about the passed year. A lot had happened since Ryou's death, and a lot had changed.

Bakura had been introduced to Ryou's father at the funeral, but the older man had somehow already guessed about him. Needless to say, Bakura had been welcomed and the archaeologist was only sorry that it couldn't have happened sooner and at a better time.

Kaiba had taken Mokuba and the two had been gone for about three months. Yami figured it had been Kaiba's way of mourning. And when the two brothers had returned, they had both seemed happier and ready to live again.

Everyone had gotten closer, even Bakura and Tea. Yami just wished that Ryou were around so he could see all that had changed, all because of the boy's death. Snorting mentally, Yami realized what a 'Change of Heart' everyone had had, and all because of Ryou. Corny as it sounded, Yami wished he could have shared it with the brown-eyed boy.

Bakura himself had changed too. He had become quiet and didn't fight as much. He even tried to be nice to people, and had started to attend school with the others. Though Yami believed that the latter was because Bakura didn't want to be by himself the entire day.

"Do you want to go to the cemetery later tonight?" The pharaoh asked softly.

"Sure." Came the muffled reply.

Sighing to himself with the lack of conversation, though he really didn't mind, Yami gently rubbed Bakura's back. "Have you eaten anything at all today?" He wondered. A small shake of a head was all the indication he received. "Alright. How about if I go downstairs and make something and then we'll go. Do you want me to call anyone?" He questioned, "Marik maybe?"

"No, can it just be you and I?" Brown eyes looked up at him. The piercing gaze was till there, though it held no promise of doom now, as his eyes had softened considerably.

Yami smiled gently, "Of course." He nodded as Bakura sat up, allowing him to move again. "I'll come and get you when it's ready." He said, brushing a few strands of hair out of the tomb robber's eyes. Bakura only nodded silently.

Yami got up, a little reluctant to leave. He watched Bakura stare at the Millennium Ring for a few minutes before slipping from the once forbidden room and making his way to the kitchen. He looked in the cupboard beside the fridge, the place where Ryou had always kept the pasta and things. Pulling out a package of seashell noodles, Yami went to another cupboard beside the stove and pulled out a pot for the water.

Within the hour he had finished with the pasta salad, complete with dill flavoured dressing, one of Bakura's favourites. He set out two plates on the table, and then went up the stairs to get his lover. Bakura had moved from his spot in the middle of the floor and was standing by the desk, slowly flipping through Ryou's dueling deck.

"Do you think he's happy?" Bakura asked, his voice so low Yami almost didn't hear him. The spirit of the Millennium Ring stopped on one of the cards and Yami could only guess which one it was; though by the small smile on the other's face, he knew it was the Change of Heart.

Yami leaned against the doorframe. "I like to think so." He said as Bakura placed the entire deck except for that one card back on the desk where it had been before.

"He's alone." Bakura whispered, "He was never happy when he was alone, he was always scared. . .and it's my fault." He mumbled, closing his eyes.

Yami moved now, closer to Bakura and he saw that it was in fact the Change of Heart held in his hands. "It wasn't your fault Bakura, you were trapped for a long time within that Ring, the dark power of the Shadow Realm had caused you to act like that [1]. Ryou didn't blame you, and you shouldn't blame yourself either." He said as he placed a hand around Bakura's waist.

"It doesn't matter anymore." Bakura's voice was strained and before Yami could stop him he had ripped the card in half, right down the center of the dark half and the light half. "Dark isn't whole without a lighter half." He whispered as a tear slid down his face.

Yami looked at the two pieces of the card lying on the floor, both halves staring up at him. He moved Bakura and hugged him tightly, Bakura only happy to bury his face into Yami's jacket. "I think you've been in here too long." Yami said and then slowly walked backward, leading Bakura.

***

The two spirits casually walked hand in hand through the large cemetery, which was almost exactly in the center of the city. It was a very peaceful place and it was well kept. The headstones and grave sights were kept up well by the staff that worked there.

"Does it feel weird that we'll never join them?" Bakura wondered softly as they turned a corner along the cement path that had been built.

Yami looked at the sights and slowly shook his head. "No, not at all."

They finally reached the familiar sight under an old cheery blossom tree. The tree itself was special; it had never blossomed until Ryou had been buried beside it.

Bakura stood at the foot of the grave and read over the headstone, which had been long since memorized. 'Here lies Ryou Bakura, may your light continue to shine'. The two spirits moved to the head of the grave and Bakura knelt down and Yami soon followed suit. Both boys gently laid two roses each on the bottom of the headstone.

Yami placed a rose with pale blended colours, which represented his friendship with Ryou. The other he placed was red, representing his love and respect for the boy.

Bakura placed a white rose, which represented Ryou's purity and innocence, while it's counterpart was a black rose, and it represented Ryou's other half, dark and mourning and yet at the same time, stunningly beautiful.

Though Yami doubted Bakura thought of the stunningly beautiful part.

The spirit of the tomb robber sighed softly as the tip of his finger traced the carved words of the headstone slowly, as if each detail meant something to him. Yami, knowing that Bakura would rather be alone at the moment, gently kissed his partner's cheek. "I'll be over there for a little bit." He said and let go of Bakura's hand and moved away.

Bakura smiled softly to himself as he gently touched a pedal on the red rose. He looked at the name on the stone and bit his lip. "I miss you hikari." He whispered to the cold slab. "When I went to bed last night I promised myself that I'd be okay. . .but when I woke up this morning, in that empty house it was just another reminder that you were gone." He said and closed his eyes. He opened them again and looked down at the flowers. "Kaiba's stopped asking me to live with him and Mokuba. I think it was his way of proving that a part of you was still alive, but we're so different. . ." He muttered quietly, shaking his head.

"Things have changed so much, and I only wish you could be here sharing it all with me." He looked back at the stone, then glanced over to Yami who was sitting on a bench along the path. On his shoulder sat a crow. "I'm getting soft, you know." He said to the grave, though he was still looking at Yami. "I feel it more and more every day and I can't help but think that it's you causing it." He whispered. "Or at least the memory of you."

He forced a smile, though it wavered slightly. "I even went into your room today, first time since. . .well, you know. Nothing's been touched, with the acceptation of the Ring. And. . .and your dueling deck. I ripped up your card today and I can't even say why. The Change of Heart reminds me so much of us that it hurt seeing it, I'm sorry." He said.

He sighed and finally stood, having to force himself up. "It's hard without you, but we're all surviving." He spoke low. "You will always mean everything to me hikari." He said then bowed slightly, moving away from the plot and walking toward Yami.

Yami looked up from the crow as Bakura approached and he stood, the crow cawing once and then flying away. "You okay?" The pharaoh asked softly, automatically taking Bakura's hand in his own and locking their fingers.

"Hai." Bakura nodded as the two began to walk away, back down the path.

***

When they got home, Bakura called Kaiba while Yami talked with Yugi through their link. He told Yugi that he'd be staying with Bakura over night and that they'd both be at school the next morning. When Yugi asked if Bakura was all right and insisted knowing why he hadn't come to school, Yami only had to mention the date for Yugi to understand.

He was just saying good bye when he heard Bakura yelling from Ryou's room.

"Oh holy Ra!" The spirit shouted in a panic and Yami was quick to reach him only to stop dead in his tracks.

He could feel it. . .Bakura wasn't the only one in the room. And the presence was familiar, along with the giggle that seemed to echo through the room as well. Tilting his head he looked round but could see no one else. Finally, he looked at Bakura, who was standing by the bed. "What is it?" He asked softly, joining his friend by the bed. He following Bakura's gaze and looked at the pillow.

On the pillow lay the Change of Heart, which had been put back together. Below it was a note that read 'Dark isn't alone because we are two halves of a whole.' And Yami knew exactly who's writing it was.

"Yami?" Bakura whispered after a long moment of silence.

"Yeah?"

"Does this mean what I think it means?" He asked softly, not daring to hope for fear he'd be wrong.

"I think it does." Yami nodded as he wrapped an arm around his friend's waist.

As the two stood in silence, staring at the note in wonderment neither noticed the translucent figure sitting on the desk just across the room from them. Brown eyes sparkled with amusement and love and a soft smile appeared on the apparition's face. Turning away from the two, a hand gently reached out toward the wall where pictures hung and fingers slowly traced the features of a smiling CEO with brown hair and deep blue eyes.

Then it was gone.



[1] If you have read 'Manipulate Me' Bakura kind of thanks Yami for saving Ryou's soul when he was 'crazy'.

- - -

Yep, that was it. Now to go work on the time line for 'Yours Completely'.

Hmm. . .forgot something, there's also some fan art to go along with this.

http://www.geocities.com/spyderswebb04/art/twohalvesbaku.jpg