Ryou was running. To where, he didn't know. But he knew that when he got there, he'd be safe. That is, until *it* found him…

"Ryou," called a raspy voice, laced with taunting, "You can't keep running and hiding forever. Eventually, you'll get hungry. Or thirsty. Or you'll have to go to the loo. And when you do, I'll be waiting…"

Ryou didn't falter in the least. What he did do, though, was turn a sharp turn into the next gateway he saw. Fortunately for him, it was a deserted park. 'Oh great,' he mused to himself, 'Bakura'll never find me in such a big place…'

He crawled into a little tunnel, and thanked whatever God(s) were up there that he was skinny for his age. He watched through one of the tunnel's holes, and saw Bakura walk right past the park. He let out a sigh, and exited the contraption.

'I gotta find somewhere to hide, and fast, before Bakura finds me…' he gulped, worried about what would happen to him when…'No,' he corrected himself, 'Not when he finds me…If he finds me…which he won't.'

* * *

"Thanks for letting me hide here, Love…" Ryou smiled as he hugged his boyfriend and walked through the door.

Yugi smiled his big innocent smile as he returned the gesture, "It's no problem at all…you know you're always welcome here."

Then, there was a knock at the door. Both of the Lights turned their heads but made no motion as to get the door. Soon, though, Yami came jogging down from upstairs and answered it.

"Baku-chan! I'm so glad to see you!" Yami smiled as he opened the door and led his boyfriend in.

Bakura smiled at his lover's perkiness, but it quickly changed, "I'm glad to see you too, Yam Yam, but if you call me Baku-chan ever again I'll have to hurt you." He grinned as he told Yami his empty threat.

"Yeah, whatever, I love you too." Yami smirked and jumped into Bakura's arms who carried him over to the couch and deposited him there as Ryou and Yugi snuck up the stairs unnoticed and eavesdropped on their conversation.

"So, I came here looking for my hikari… you haven't seen him, have you?"

"Nope, not since yesterday anyway. Why are you lookin' for him?"

"Oh, we're just playing a little game, is all."

That was all the little hikaris heard as they dashed up the stairs to Yugi's bedroom. Ryou started to climb out the window as Yugi frowned at him.

"Ryou…why don't you just face Bakura? Once it's all done and over with, you'll be a lot happier."

Ryou smiled at his little love's concern. "I know you're right, Yugi, but I'm just not ready to face his wrath…soon, though, I promise." He vowed and climbed down the ivy wall ladder going from Yugi's window to the ground and made his way back home.

* * *

Ryou unlocked the door to his house and entered, then looked around warily. 'Good…no sign of Bakura…' But he thought too soon, as Bakura jumped down from the planters shelves that lined the wall and stood up in front of Ryou and looked down menacingly at him. Ryou smiled innocently.

"Hey, Yami, what's up?"

"You know very well what's up…" He tapped his foot on the ground, still smirking down at him. Before Ryou could say another word, Bakura had pounced on him and started tickling him until he was red from laughing so hard.

"You're it!"

Ryou was panting as he sat up. "I guess Yugi was right…now that the horrible torture of tickling is done and over with, I'm a lot better off."

"Damn right you are…and if you ever decide to cheat again at Hide and go Seek, make sure you close the mental link, okay?"