Alrighty, folks. This is it: my first official shonen-ai fic. I'm so proud!! X3 Coincidentally, this is also my first songfic. ^^ The song is Audioslave's Like a Stone. Very good song. I was listening to the radio when it came on, and I was like, "Yes! I'll use this song and finally write the follow-up fic everyone was asking for!" … Heh. Speaking of that, sorry this took so long. This is for AmberVoice, Halacanno, firedraygon97, Ame Tenshi, and Merrina Sugar Girl for asking for a fic to go with the poem. And to R Amythest, who wanted something from Yami no Bakura's point of view. Thanks, guys!! (By the way, this is definitely more angsty than the poem it … sort of evolved from. Gomen. Comes from getting the idea from the lyrics, instead of finding lyrics to match your idea …)
Disclaimer (which isn't on the previous chapter because I didn't use anyone's name in the poem, and because I forgot ^^;): I don't own them. If I did, Anzu would have been squashed by that crate when Jou and Yuugi dueled (later in Battle City), Ryou & Bakura and Yami & Yuugi would constantly be making out with each other, and the dub names (and voices) wouldn't be so royally screwed up. (What did they call Rishid? Odin? Otis? For God's sake …) The song is Audioslave's, and I don't own that either. If the lyrics seem off, it's because I found several different versions of them, listened to the song far too many times, and finally chose both what I thought sounded closest, and what fit best for the fic.
~*~*~
{Yami ….}
[Shhh, Ryou. Don't speak. You … you'll be okay.]
{No, there's something I have to tell you. Before I -}
[No!! You have to stay! You can't leave me!]
A smile ghosted the lips of the light lying in his darkness' arms, rain sliding down his face like tears. {I love you.}
An anguished cry rose from the tormented soul, as he felt half of himself slip away into the sky.
~
On a
cold wet afternoon
In a room full of emptiness
By a freeway
I
confess
I was lost in the pages
Of a book
Full
of death
Reading how we'll die alone
And if we're good
We'll
lay to rest
Anywhere we want to go
~
Bakura felt himself
slip into his soul room. No … no, I'm supposed to die!! I want to die with
him. He can't leave me by myself. No …How could one half of a soul die, and
leave the other to continue on in painful life? The gods must surely hate him.
And yet … Ryou loved him. He had said so, right before he … no. Bakura would
not, could not think of what had happened. But surely the gods were not so
cruel as to hate his hikari? No, that one of light was innocence itself.
Perhaps they knew that separating the two was only a kindness to Ryou. After
all, the boy had never seen kindness from his darker half.
~
In
your house I long to be
Room by room patiently
I'll wait for you there
Like a stone
I'll wait for you there
Alone
~
The yami stood, finally, and crossed to the door of his soul room. He had to see …
The door of his hikari's soul room still stood across the hall, like a mocking echo of what he could not, could never have had. How could he ever have … loved me? I did nothing to deserve it. I pushed him away from me, was cruel to him. I'm …worthless. He choked back another sob, and slowly pushed open the door. It creaked slightly, as if from disuse, and Bakura suddenly wondered how long it had been. He had immediately lost track of time when he was pulled back to his soul room, with no living soul to connect him to the outside world. Oh, gods…
The room was as it had always been. Perhaps a
bit faded, not in color but in existence, as though it had started to
disappear. Will I too disappear? Or will I linger on here, forever? He
felt a sudden chill. What if he never died? What if this Ring trapped him here,
denied him the death he so desperately sought? Ryou…
~
On my deathbed I will pray
To the gods and the angels
Like a pagan
To anyone
Who will take me to heaven
To a place I recall
I was there so long ago
The sky was bruised
The world was black
And there you led me on
~
He crossed to Ryou's bed, noticing his light's smell on the sheets as he buried his face in the pillow, and finally allowed the tears he had been holding back to fall. The smell reminded him of something he had long forgotten. He and Ryou had once gone to the park, just the two of them together. His light had somehow convinced him to come out of the Ring, and so Bakura was sulking under a tree.
{Yami, aren't the cherry blossoms beautiful?}
[…Hn.]
Ryou wrapped his arms around himself, looking
around in delight. {You know, they only bloom for a short time each year. There
is a national festival when the cherry blossoms come out. I've always thought
it was wonderful, that we celebrate the beauty they bring to our lives for
those short days, rather than sitting around wishing the trees bloomed longer.}
Bakura looked as his hikari as the boy smiled at him, and felt his heart lurch.
Looking away, he slipped back to his soul room.
~
In your house I long to be
Room by room patiently
I'll wait for you there
Like a stone
I'll wait for you there
Alone
Alone
~
Why couldn't he have swallowed his pride, and admitted – at least to himself – how he felt about his hikari? Clutching at the sheets, he sobbed to himself, "Ryou … Ryou … why did you leave me? Gods, Ryou, it hurts so much …" Bakura knew that only his hikari would make this awful hurt in side of him go away. But Ryou couldn't come back. He had gone away forever. No, he wouldn't want to come back, even if he could. When have I ever given him happiness? Ryou … [I love you.]
~
And on I read
Until the day was gone
And I sat in regret
Of all the things I've done
For all that I've blessed
And all that I've wronged
In dreams until my death
I will wander on
~
Suddenly there was a flash of light above him. Looking up, Bakura's breath caught in his throat. What …?
Ryou was there, smiling down at him. {I knew you would do it. You couldn't come with me until you had realized what you were feeling. Now we can finally be together.}
Bakura felt his tears being brushed away as his hikari reached down to him. [How … how is this possible? You died.]
Ryou smiled. {I couldn't rest until you were with me. I could feel your pain, and I knew that you felt the same way that I did. I'm only sorry I didn't tell you sooner.}
Bakura smiled, and felt himself being lifted up towards Ryou as the room around them faded. [Yes. Now we'll always be together, my beautiful hikari.]
~
In your house I long to be
Room by room patiently
I'll wait for you there
Like a stone
I'll
wait for you there
Alone
Alone
~
The Sennen Ring flashed brilliantly, and then went dark. It no longer seemed to shine as brightly as before.
~*~*~
O.o Right. That's it. Sorry it turned out so depressing. I may write another one, not in the same timeline, that's more what you'd expect from the poem … where're they're both still alive, you know. ^^; Anyway, that's the end of the second installment of my Bakura/Ryou … saga … thingy. Heh. Please review, minna-chan!! ^.~ ::duck rotten vegetables being thrown for killing every character (all two of them) in the fic:: Oh, sorry for the random spaces in the lyrics, too. Couldn't find a way to get rid of them. ^^;;