Chapter 10

*gulps* Am I dreaming…? *rubs eyes* Nope… doesn't look like it… but 100 REVIEWS for nine chapters?? Can't believe this…! Thankyou to everyone!! *tackle glomp* Anyways, *wipes tears* I would like to say… the story will have 13 chapters in all, and chapter 13 would be an epilogue. Hehe! ^^;; But I already have another B/R ficcie in hand, which is a little on the 'humour' side. - -''

Bakura: *high 5's to Ryou* Yes! No more torture for us!

Ryou: Yeah! *high 5's back* Finally!

… V__V;; I guess you don't want to know how you two kissed in this chapter. *starts to erase paragragh*

Bakura: *jumps up* What!? You mean, you mean, we kiss each other!?

^^;; Yup. Right in this chapter.

Bakura + Ryou: NNOONONO Don't erase it!! *starts to tell Celes how great she is* You know, you write extremely well, and that I totally like the story! Don't make it end! … *goes on for hours*

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  3 days has passed since Ryou and Bakura's confrontation, and both were trying to adjust to their new style of life, one without the other. Bakura had recovered from his distress; however, Ryou has not. He locked himself in his house, wondering what his yami was doing at the time, wondering if Bakura was thinking of him at the time…

But no, Bakura was not his yami anymore; there really was no point for Ryou to think about him. The thoughts were stuck in his heart, to love or not to love…? It wasn't a choice, Ryou told himself. It was more like… fate. The events that happen were fixed, and no one could change it. Even if Ryou could reselect on how to treat his yami, he wouldn't have any intention to do so.

Malik and Marik were fun entertainment to Bakura, but no matter how much festivity there could be with them, it would never replace the position of the moments spent with Ryou. It was never quite the same with Ryou, nor would it ever be the same.

'Don't think of Ryou!' Bakura would tell himself. They were no longer yamis and hikaris, no longer bonded or connected in any way. Ryou would never care about him now, he had declared clearly that he hated Bakura and that he had wanted to throw the ring away.

Bakura wiped the water in his eyes, with his sleeve. 'Since when was I so weak? I should be happy for Ryou. He must be at home all by himself, enjoying his freedom, having the entire house for himself. There was no one to fight the television with him, no one to lecture about his cooking… Yes, I should be happy for Ryou.'

Bakura once again wiped the water in his eyes with his sleeve. 'Nope,' he told himself. 'I am not crying! It was… only dust in my eyes. Yeah, dust in my eyes.'

Unaware of the people beside him as he walked down the streets of Domino, someone tripped and fell onto Bakura all of a sudden. "Watch it!" Bakura yelled, catching the person.

"Sorry!" Ryou quickly apologized. Before trying to lift himself out of the person's arms, Ryou felt warmth around him. Ryou's eyes widened. He could feel it; he had experienced this same warmth before. This, this person was Bakura!

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Bakura glanced down at the lump clinging onto him, and saw that the 'lump' had silver, ragged hair. "Sorry!" The person apologized. Bakura's eyes widened. Oh no, oh no. It was Ryou.

"Ryou?" Bakura called to him. He picked his head up, and Bakura saw what his Ryou, his light, his love; had become. His eyes were in a plain dull brown, and his hair slightly messier.

"YAMI!!" He sobbed, though unable to bring his arms around the other.

Bakura snorted. "I'm not your yami anymore. Since the thing that connected us were thrown away by SOMEONE." He snarled, as if blaming the fault on Ryou.

Ryou gulped and took a look at Bakura. Bakura had gel in his hair, making it looked slightly spikier and shinier. His eyes were lined with black, making it sharper and more or less frightening. The spirit was dressed in leather, with the first few buttons of his shirt undone and leather pants hanging on with a belt that which fastened diagonally on his waist. (A/N: Like Yami's! ^^) It also appeared that Bakura had tips of his silver hair dyed black, giving him an overall look of gothic.

Ryou stared in disbelief. Yes, these, indeed, were Malik and Marik's clothes. But with the smirk on Bakura's face, and the way he was standing, hands in his poket and his foot tapping on the ground; Ryou didn't understand why he never knew Bakura could look so… hot.

With this new style of clothes and his new sort of personality; his yami looked happier. Way happier. As though he enjoyed being alone, no longer having to take care of his rather annoying little hikari.

"Are you going to stand here and stare at me all day?" Bakura smirked, with a hint of proudness of his look in his voice.

Ryou wiped his tears and forced a small smile. "I should be happy for you, shouldn't I? You seem to like your new life."

"Of course I do," Bakura mocked. "I regret not leaving earlier, Ryou. Now is when I finally feel how I should live – by myself, and without you."

Ryou narrowed his eyes as anger rose. Bakura was just hungry for pride. Pride to prove that he could live without him. Fine, he will join the game and play his opposite part. "Oh, I'm feeling the same way, Bakura. It was a real pain with you around."

Bakura's eyes shined. "When did you start talking back at me?"

Ryou smirked, acting very Bakura-like. He shrugged before replying. "Just now. You taught me it, actually. To talk back and refuse to be a coward who admits everything. Well, I thank you, Bakura, your lessons are certainly coming to great use."

Bakura would have slapped him. He wanted to, and needed to, No matter what, Ryou was his hikari. His hikari can never, ever, turn back on him. But he resisted the urge to do so. After all, he secretly didn't want to harm Ryou anymore… Ryou had suffered from him long enough. But how could Ryou have changed so much during a few days? "Welcome, Ryou. But have I ever taught you never to disrespect your yami?"

Ryou snorted. Oh yes, he was enjoying this, Ryou smiled secretly to himself. "First, you are no longer my yami, so I can do whatever I want to you anytime, any day, anywhere. Second, I must tell you to stop lecturing me, because I am no longer something for you to order about."

Good one, Ryou thought to himself. He couldn't believe he was saying this, using Bakura's own tricks against him.

Bakura clenched his hand to resist the urge to slap Ryou. So what if Ryou wasn't his hikari any more? Once his possession, always his possession. And his possessions should never disrespect him like that. Sighing to himself, Bakura used the last trick he had. Sweetness.

"I'm absolutely sorry. I have only wanted to talk to my hikari. Not you."

Ryou stared at him. Was this another one of Bakura's tricks? "You don't have a hikari."

"I do. In my heart, Ryou would always be my hikari. My Ryou, my hikari, my aibou, my love. Mine. Ryou is mine. He is everything to me, and I was only hoping to see him, not you."

Ryou narrowed his eyes and bit his lip. Was he really that much of a thing to Bakura? "I am Ryou." Ryou hissed shortly.

"Now, hissing is not what my Ryou does. My Ryou is gentle, sweet, innocent and beautiful. You are perhaps Ryou… but not the Ryou I love. And I only have interest to talk to him." Bakura spat, and started walking away.

Ryou felt his heart ripping apart, as if he was falling head over heels for Bakura all over again. But he was right. Ryou is gentle and sweet, not this arrogant mocking moron. Tears ran out of his eyes uncontrollably.

"Yami…" He whispered.

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Bakura stopped almost instantly as he heard Ryou's voice in his ears. Bakura smiled to himself. Success, his plan worked. It was easy to capture Ryou's soft side.

"No this is what my Ryou normally sounds like." Bakura said, smirking as he spinned around to face Ryou.

Ryou ran over to him, he didn't want any gap between him and his yami. He held Bakura's arms in his hands. "'Kura… please… come back and live with me!" He pleaded in between tears.

Bakura just smiled and shook his head. How could he live with Ryou after all that he did? "No. I ain't your yami anymore. I have no reason to live with you."

"But you said I was your hikari in your heart!" Ryou let his tears run out freely, hoping to capture more of Bakura's concern. Besides, he needn't have to hold it any longer.

"You are." Bakura said with a smile. Then the smile faded as he looked away. "But you said you hated me, didn't you?"

Ryou shook his head and threw himself onto his yami, swinging his arms aroud his neck and burying his face into the soft locks of Bakura's hair. "No! I don't hate you! Never did, nor will I ever do! I love you with all my heart… although the love was buried deep within…"

Ryou looked up into the brown eyes that were very much like his own. Ryou blinked his tears out, as he slowly tiptoed up to reach the height of his yami. He slowly lowered his face onto Bakura's, so close that their lips brushed. Ryou pressed his lips onto Bakura's. He kept his lips there, waiting for Bakura to devour them completely.

Bakura squeezed his eyes shut, forcing himself to enjoy the kiss as less as possible. He wanted to, needed to push him away. He had to. Up his arms went, trying to push Ryou away. But the feelings, the emotions, the sensations… they pulled him back. Was this what love had made him into? Love, plain love, has turned the Thief King Yami Bakura into a love-sick weakling!

Yami Bakura was not made to love, Bakura told himself. His past has shown him clearly that he was born to be alone, born to have no one caring for him. And all those years in the ring, they were years that he was all alone in a void, cold and covered by eternal darkness. He was meant to be alone, unloved and unloving.

Yet he loves and is loved by such mortal named Ryou.

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AWWW!! They kissed! Finally! Yesh! Only 3 more chapters to go! Alright, lets answer some reviews…

Ancient Angel: ^^;; Yah, I don't think Bakura knows the signs of love yet! Maybe because he's too dumb. (Bakura: HEY! =\ )

Ir0n M0usy: =D Romance… Yup, gotta love it!! *hugs romance* And of course things will get better! ^^;;

Kaelas: XD *drools along thinking of Bakura*

Dragon Sword: D Hentai thoughts comes out once in a while, ne? *mental image of Bakura with Ryou…* ^^;;

YumiYa: Thankyouz! They will be together soon!

TheUnlovedOutcast: Um,, *double checks* Oh yah! Hehe, Idiotic Idiot… *laughs insanely at herself*

FeArLeSs-Kaitie: ^^;; Sorry,, It took me a loooong time to update. There will be a happy chappie soon! Rhymes, ne? Happy chappie happy chappie… *goes on for hours*

Sage Kaley: D Lets go get the ring together!! *jumps into water*

phwee? yami hobo: ^^;; Cute?

Grace: Alright! I'll email you right now…

Dark Millenia: Don't worry! I'll get it back for them! *jumps into river to get ring* XD I'm kidding… ^^

Dreamsprite: XD *laughs at Kura* someone said you were MEAN! (Bakura: -__-)

Queen of Eternal Darkness: Don't worry! I will!

Lord R: XD I will!

Faia Ookami: Hell yah! D Let's go teach them a lesson! *grabs iron chair* XD

SilverTheBat: =) I hope this was a fast enough update… =\

Baku_is_moi: YES! I AGREE! ^^;; Kura looks sexy in anything! Especially NOTHING!! Ok, nevermind.

citcat n Skittles: =)

The Chaotic Ones: ^^;; I'm not really planning to put seto and jou in the story.. =\ Gomen!!

Almost 20 reviews… *wipes tears* LETS ALL CLAP FOR MY REVIEWERS!! XD