A/N: Well… another chapter. I was in a really bad mood today, and almost wrote a terrible angst chapter without a happy ending. Luckily, my friend called and I jumped over the fence into her backyard and we had a jolly old time, and when I came back, the world seemed like a better place ^_^.

By the way, I've gotten some feedback that Bakura and Ryou are extremely OOC. If this bothers you, think of them as Bob and Rod… I mean, Rob… *giggle* Rod…hehe. Bob is Rob's evil friend from the decadian mouse trap, which Rob wears on his nose. Bob is actually the trapped spirit of an ancient tomb robber from Antarctica, and blah blah blah blah…

***

I love it when it rains.

Why?

Ever notice how tears are hard to distinguish from raindrops when on someone's cheeks?

I've never been a crier. There's just something about having ones heart slowly ripped from the inside out that makes me want to sob. Call me crazy.

It was raining when I went outside, ready to walk to school. The blank, gray clouds gave no mercy, unleashing a torrential downpour on Domino. Soon, the streets became slick and dark, the gutters overflowing.

Inside, I felt Bakura's mood become questioning. 'Probably wondering why it's so damn cold' I thought with a wet sigh, my self pity kicking in.

Shaking my head, I put on my best smile, though I knew no one was watching. I wouldn't be helping anything by making the world feel sorry for me. Besides, I had a math test. I had to concentrate, I didn't want my grades slipping.

As if on autopilot, my mind began reciting the formulas, bravely struggling to distract me from predicament.

My thoughts inevitably wandered back to Bakura.

I didn't love him. I never did. It was merely an infatuation, like the way a child regards a favorite toy. I'd lost my toy, and was crying over it. Like a child. I really was weak.

Even he thought so.

Not that it mattered. I didn't love him.

'I don't love him, I don't love him, I don't love him…' I repeated my mantra until the school gates came into view.

It was just then I noticed the rain had stopped. I also realized I was completely soaked.

Without realizing it, I began to laugh. Anyone watching would have thought I was crazy. Here I was, my heart aching from rejection, and I was worrying about the state of my clothes and hair. I laughed until my sides ached and tears of mirth came to my eyes.

When I finally stopped, opening my eyes, the world seemed brighter. Not just because the clouds had begun to clear. It was the kind of bright that comes from within you, the kind that no amount of photons could every possibly replicate.

Lost in the rhythmic sound of my shoes squishing on the pavement, I hastened up the stone steps to the main doors.

I pushed Bakura out of my mind. Not in a literal sense, of course. 'I don't love him' I whispered, this time with confidence.

Yet before my shoes squished on the floor for the second time, I had already admitted to myself that it was a lie.

~Bakura's POV~

My Hikari really can be confusing.

First he's crying, then he's suddenly full of this new jubilant hope. What the fuck?

His good mood continued throughout the day, excluding the short period of time when he took his math test. Why they expect teenagers to memorize this shit is beyond me. Once he finished it, his air of cheerfulness returned.

As happy as I was that he had returned from the brink of despair, his mood swing disturbed me.

I'd seen something like it once in Egypt. A woman's son was crushed under the wheel of a speeding chariot, and by the time she was alerted and brought to him, life had already left him.

At once, grief overtook her, and she began wailing and pulling her hair. Yet later, she remarked on how ironic it was that though she was heartbroken that her son had died, all she could think about was the fact that in her mourning, she had ripped out some of her hair.

Suddenly, she began laughing. Not a normal, hearty laugh either. She clutched her stomach and stomped her feet, her breath coming in gasps as she struggled for air. After her fit of laughter, the mother donned a vaguely cheerful temperament.

Everyone praised her for taking it so well. I thought she was insane.

A year later, she committed suicide with the knife her son had whittled for her many years ago as a birthday present.

The next few days were hell. I watched Ryou carefully, not daring to let my Hikari meet the woman's same demise. Yet his joviality showed no sign of relenting.

Again, I cursed my lack of a body. If he did go suicidal on me, my only hope was to talk him through it, and hope he wasn't as stupid as to waste his precious life over me.

I wasn't worth it.

***

A/N: You like? You hate? Well tell me! Nothing will get fixed if you don't tell me it's bad!

My legs went numb while writing this…

By the way, all readers of my fic, " Maybe I love you", please have patience. I'm trying desperately to finish this story before I continue on any other projects, but this fic may take a while to finish o_O. In the meantime, I'll update maybe once a week. Yume no Ai is my first priority right now.

If you haven't checked out, "Maybe I love you," then please do! But review this first! Exclamation points are everywhere!