"He's done this before," she said as she peered in on the white haired spirit. He lay limp on the couch. "He'll eventually get over it."

"But what if he doesn't?" Ryou whispered. "What if he's like that forever? What if he dies? What if—"

"Don't worry Ryou. Just wait. Be patient."

"Why was he like this before?" Ishizu looked at him oddly. "You said that he had done this before," the boy explained. "Why?"

Ishizu turned her eyes away from the spirit and down to the ground. "His father died. But not only did he die, but he died by Bakura's own hand. My little brother was possessed by Marik and he used the Millennium Rod to control Bakura. He made Bakura kill his own father."

"But why?" Ryou whispered, horrified.

"Bakura's father was a royal guard for Yami, the Pharaoh. A very important guard at that. You see Marik wanted to attack the Pharaoh in his palace. He could beat all of the guards except for Bakura's father. He was the one guard that stood in Marik's way. So Marik became friends with Bakura knowing that he was the only person who could get close to his father. And well…Marik used the Rod on Bakura and made him kill his father…" Ishizu closed her eyes painfully. "I remember the night so well…I was sitting on the roof of my home, where Bakura and I would always meet. When he found me he was sobbing and screaming. It took me a while to realize that Marik had taken over my baby brother's body and forced Bakura to kill the one person that he loved more then me. I remember the house…the floor was slick with blood and…and—"

"Oh Ra…" Ryou whispered, absolutely horrified. "But there's something else I don't understand Ishizu."

"Yes?"

"How do you and my yami know each other? And how did you fall in love?"

Ishizu smiled sadly and stared off into space. "We ran into each other in the market place. Literally ran into each other that is. This was before Bakura had started to rob and the such. I was running from my father and Bakura was running from an angry man who thought 'Kura had stolen something." Ryou smiled slightly at Ishizu's nickname for his yami. "We helped each other out of our dilemmas and just started talking. You would say that we hit it off. Every night we would meet on the top of my roof, or sometimes his. We would talk and star gaze and—" she blushed slightly and decided that it was time to stop talking.

"Then…why does he hate you Ishizu?" innocent little Ryou asked.

"Because I chose my brother over him," she replied softly. "Because when times got tough I decided that my brother was more important to me then the man I'd fallen in love with. Because I told him that we could never see each other again because of my brother. I told him that he was in too much danger being close to me. But he didn't listen. He wouldn't leave my side. So I told him that I hated him and that I never really loved him. I told him that he was always just a part of Marik's plan."

"Was it—"

"No," she whispered. "It was never true. I loved him more then anything in the world. I would give anything to have him back in my arms again…but it will never happen. He hates me too much. Anyway," she shook her head to clear the thoughts and began her story again. "Marik took over Bakura's body one last time to dispose of me. I was thwarting his plans of world ruler and being generally annoying to him. So he made Bakura kill me. He knew what kind of mental damage that would do to us both…" she sighed and wiped a tear from her eye. "So that's the story, Ryou. That's our story."

Ryou sat at the kitchen table, still trying to digest all of the information that had just been given to him. Ishizu placed her back at the wall and stared up at the ceiling which was dotted with orange thanks to a certain white haired spirit.

A pale face that had not felt tears on it in over five millennia became wet as the ancient tears splashed down its face.

***

"Joey?" Seto whispered. He turned back towards the blonde boy in amazement.

"You did it Seto," Joey whispered. "You saved me."

"What do you mean?" he asked, still slightly shocked at the sight of the blonde teenager before him.

"You fought for me…" Joey whispered. "He was about to kill me and you came out from the darkness and you saved me. You were surrounded by light…And then I heard you talking, Seto. I heard you talking about why you made fun of me. About why…that you were protecting me and…"

"You heard me?" the brown haired boy asked, amazed. Could it be? Could he have actually heard his words?

"Every word," Joey whispered. "And I felt your kiss on my forehead…it was that that brought me back Seto Kaiba. And…" he stared up at the teenager who had once been his enemy. "And I just wanted to say 'thank you'. So…thank you Seto. For saving me."

In a moment the taller boy had crossed the room and was leaning down beside the blonde's bed. "It wasn't me that saved you," he whispered. "You are like a savior to me, Joey Wheeler. Without you…" Suddenly seized by a daring that he did not know that he possessed he leaned forward and pressed his lips gently against the shorter boy's. He pulled away after a moment, a faint blush tinting his cheeks. "So thank you, Joey."

He moved to stand but was stopped by Joey's bandaged hand. "Don't leave," he whispered. "Please Seto don't leave me alone. I never want to be alone again. I can't be alone. I'm…I'm scared Seto…Stay with me." He stared urgently up into Seto's eyes. "Please."

"Okay," he said and lay down on the edge of the bed, tired from the waiting and comforted some how by the blonde boy's presence so close and so near to him.

And that was how the nurse found them, three hours later, when she came to give Joey his medication.

***

Maybe he had been too hard on her. Maybe he had overreacted. Now, in hearing her side of the story it sort of made sense.

But it wasn't like he could just make the hatred that he felt for her disappear.  It just wasn't that simple.

He stood slowly, very aware of the gentle snores coming from the kitchen. A vague smile swept across his handsome face as he realized just how much noise his hikari made when he was sleeping.

He crept over to the door, his white hair blinding him momentarily. But, without a fault, he made it to the door and opened it carefully. A sigh escaped from his thin lips as the cold wind swept across his face. He closed his eyes and arched his back slightly backwards.

He couldn't just leave the hatred….

Or could he?

***

A faint smile appeared on the thin lips of a tall brunette boy as he was escorted back into the waiting room. The reason for Seto Kaiba's small smile was Joey's friends.

Yugi was curled up in a tight ball on a chair as close to the entry way to the ICU as possible and he was wearing the moon and star pajamas that his grandfather had brought him. Tea was sleeping in the chair next to Yugi, her head on one arm rest and her legs hanging over the other. Mr. Moto was lying on a comfy blue couch, his chest rising and falling steadily, soft snores emanating from him. Tristan was asleep although he was sitting up, his body leaning against the arm rest of the polka dotted couch while in his lap, the small form of Serenity Wheeler had finally fallen asleep, her eyes still bright red with tears. 

Seto moved carefully across the room towards the girl and leaned down to her level.

"Serenity?" he whispered. Her eyes snapped open and something like fear spread through those great orbs of grey light. She knew this boy. She knew of what he did to her brother. Of how much he teased him and how much he hurt him.

"What do you want Seto Kaiba?" she asked spitefully. "Have you come to—"

"Serenity," he said. "Your brother's awake. He's going to be fine."

She sat up quickly, startling Tristan awake. "He is?" she whispered. He nodded.

The tears flooded once again down her soft face, but this time there was no trace of sadness or despair in her eyes. They were sparkling bright with happiness and joy and even as the tears were splashing down her face, she was laughing.

Tristan watched her as she laughed, a smile playing on her features.

She was beautiful when she laughed.

"What's all the commotion?" Mr. Moto asked, awakening to the bell like sound of Serenity's laughter. "What's going on?"

Across the room, Yugi and Tea had awakened and were watching Seto as he stood.

"He's going to be alright!" Serenity cried, startling Seto by pulling the tall boy into a hug. He had never been hugged like this before. "My brother is going to be alright!"

***

"Sir—"

"Get out of my way."

"Sir, the museum is closed."

"I just need to speak with Miss Ishtar. Then I'll be gone."

"Sir!"

But he was already gone, running down the hallway at full speed. He knew where he'd find her. She had to be there. She just had to.

***

He awoke with a start, realizing that he was sleeping in the kitchen, slumped over the table. The kitchen….of all places, why in the name of Ra was he sleeping in the—

Oh yeah. Bakura.

Quickly Ryou stood and moved as fast as he could into the living room to see if anything had changed with his yami.

Sure enough, the couch was empty. He was gone.

The hikari's first instinct was to panic until he realized who he was panicking about. Bakura. Bakura could take care of himself. Unless there was a car involved….Bakura didn't understand cars….nor did he like them….

Ryou winced as the memory of Bakura hurling stones at the neighbor's car flashed through his mind. He shivered.

Bakura would be—

Riiiiing! Riiing!

As he hurtled towards the phone his first thought was that Bakura had been arrested for hurling stones at a car or for blowing something up….again.

"I swear whatever he's done—"

"Ryou?"

"Yugi?"

"Are you okay?"

"You're not the police!"

"Um…."

Ryou shook his head. "Never mind how's Joey?"

"Good!" The smaller boy cried. "Ryou, he's awake! He's going to be okay!"

A smile, the first one in hours spread across Ryou's pale face. "That's brilliant! Yugi, that's absolutely wonderful!"

"I know! Can you come down? Or is Bakura---"

"No…no Bakura's gotten through the phase of hurling jam at the ceiling."

"That's good," Yugi sighed. "So can you come down?"

Ryou bit his lip and looked around. Bakura would be fine…he was a grown spirit….he could take care of himself. "Yeah. Yeah I'll be there in fifteen minutes."

***

She spun around as the sound of footsteps accosted her ears. "Hey," she called at the approaching figure. "You're not supposed to be in here. The guard shouldn't have let—"

Her words where cut off as the figure stepped out of the darkness, leaned down and pressed his lips firmly against hers.

"Bakura?" Ishizu Ishtar whispered, amazement seeping into her voice. "Bakura, what are you doing here?"

"I'm sorry Ishizu. I'm sorry that I let Marik get to me. I'm sorry that I got so angry. I'm sorry that I was such an ass and I'm sorry for never forgiving you for doing what you had to do. But I'm not sorry, nor will I ever be for the day that I ran into you in the market place. I will never be sorry for falling in love with you and I will never be sorry for the time that I kissed you on top of the roof, even though you told me not to."

Ishizu had begun to smile when he had begun his rant and by the end of it she was positively beaming.

"I understand if you never want to see me again and I even understand if you slap me once or twice. I think I might deserve it. But just…just think about it okay?"

His eyes widened with surprise as she leaned up to him and kissed him. "Are you finished?" she asked softly, staring into his brown eyes.

He nodded. "Yeah that's about it."

"Good." She kissed him again, this time curling her hands around his head and running her hands through his white hair. "I'm sorry for lying to you, 'Kura and I'm sorry for hurting you. But I'm not sorry for running into you in the market place and I'm not sorry falling in love with you and I will never be sorry for staying in love with you even for all of these years."

Bakura smiled broadly, for the first time in centuries and leaned his head down to Ishizu's and kissed her, the smile never leaving his face.

***

A/N: Sorry for the delay. I think that this is the last chapter, but an epilogue should be coming sometime in the near future. Thanks for reading, everyone and thanks for being patient. A special thanks to Kitara for inspiring me to finish with her wonderful Seto artwork.