Yugi: wellll..... its ryou's turn!

Ryou: i KNOW something bad is gonna happen... im always the victim!!

Shibby: your just such an ANGSTY character! blame Takahashi, not me!

Ryou: I'll get you-- *chases shibby*

for the record, i DONT own YUGIOH or Kazuki Takahashi. hate to break it to ya! I also don't own Disturbed or their song 'Darkness'.

Chapter Four: Yin and Yang

            Ryou kept his eyes closed as he listened to the murmurs around him.

            "Yeah, they're saying she's in that hospital now..."

            "Oh my God... Do they know what drove her to it?"

            "No idea. Probably something at home."

            "Yeah. Mazaki hasn't shown her face since...." He couldn't stand it anymore. Hearing these people talk about someone he knew so carelessly... Well, it wasn't as if he knew what they were talking about. All he knew was that Anzu was found on the side of the road a few days ago, muttering to herself, half dead, her eyes dark, dank and lifeless. Ryou turned onto his side, his white hair falling over his face. His thin body shivered, and his stark white skin looked as if it were stretched right over bone.

            He was nearly deteriorating. He was plagued with a horrible sickness, one that affected his lungs, throat and heart. The mortality rate for this is very high. And if his body doesn't respond to this next treatment, then he's as good as dead. Not that he didn't know that. He had given up on life.

            Jonouchi appeared before Ryou's bed, standing at the edge, his hands behind his back. He watched Ryou scrunch into a ball underneath the sheets, his frail body quivering as he coughed. His eyes remained closed as he drew one of his arms up to his head, resting his fevered brow on his arm. His arm was so thin, it literally looked like bone. It didn't help he was extremely pale as well. He had been re-admitted a few days earlier, and he wasn't happy about it.

            "Oh my God," Jonouchi muttered, his eyes watching Ryou. It was almost too much for Jonouchi to bear, watching Ryou like this. Jonouchi backtracked and thought about his friends; Yugi, trapped in a vicious home with a bitchy mother, failing his way out of high school; Honda, so screwed up and lost he turns to beating people for comfort; and Anzu, who was so lost, depressed and forgotten at home as well as school, drove herself to insanity. And now Ryou-kun.

            Ryou coughed gently, laying his head against the pillows. The Sennen Ring was laying on his bedside table, the gold glinting off the soft lights from the edge of the room. Jonouchi couldn't help but feel sympathy for him, what with the Ring and being ill.

            Then he remembered what he had heard Anzu say.

            Ryou had lost his will to live. Jonouchi stared down at him, watching him without really thinking about it, when he felt a strong sense of emotion -- sorrow, sadness and anger -- rush through him. He nearly reeled back when the force hit him with such power.

            It was Caro. She was standing at the edge of the bed, staring at Ryou. She showed nearly no emotion in her brown eyes, just staring down at Ryou like she was in some strange trance. A soft breeze blew into the room through the window, billowing the curtains and ruffling the sheets. Ryou, eyes closed, sighed and rolled onto his back, his white hair spread-eagled around his pale face, opening his eyes. They showed no light at all...

            Caro was humming something. Jonouchi walked over to her, trying to pick up the tune. Her beautiful auburn hair began to billow, as if the wind was picking it up. Jonouchi gasped, watching her hair and her clothes ruffle, her hands settling on the edge of the bed, as if she were there. As if she was alive. Her white angelic uniform flared up and around her waist, her eyes showing sadness. She was humming, but sounded on the verge of tears.

            Wait a minute... Jonouchi watched her closely.

            "Caro?" he asked gently. Caro cast her eyes toward Jonouchi. She was kneeling next to the bed, her arms lying on the comforter, her hands folded. Ryou remained still.

            "If you feel a powerful emotion," she explained, her voice wavering, "then you can have physical contact with a person or a thing." She turned back to Ryou, still watching him. She began humming once more.

            Jonouchi recognized the tune. It was a familiar song he had heard once on the radio, one that had affected Ryou. Ryou had almost stopped breathing when he heard the song. He cast his eyes downward and buried his face in his arms, sobbing. They had comforted him and rubbed his back and dried his tears, asking what was wrong.

            He said he couldn't explain it.

            This was why he had been crying. Jonouchi looked down at the floor, and was surprised to see a pool of dark red blood rippling at his feet. He held up his hands once more, to see they were bone-white and cracked and bleeding, the blood stretching down his white arms, staining his school jacket. It dripped off his fingers, onto the floor, onto his feet, dripping down his legs. It was grotesque, but Jonouchi showed no emotion to it. He put one of his hands to his face, and felt the cold skin and cold blood running down his face. He closed his eyes and slumped a little, shaking.

            Caro began to sing.

            "Don't turn away, I pray you've heard the words I've spoken.... Dare to believe, oh for one last time and then I'll let darkness cover me.... Deny everything... Slowly walk away... To breathe again.... On my oowwwnn..." she sang, dragging the word own. Her tears fell down her face, tears slowly turning to blood.

            They're situation was affecting them as well. Jonouchi bled for his friends, and he knew more blood and tears would be shed as he saw more friends suffering. And Caro bled for her brother.... Who was Ryou.

            Caro's true name was Bakura Amane. Ryou's older sister.

            Who had died before Ryou arrived in Domino.

*

            Ryou wasn't listening to the doctors talk around him. He didn't pay attention. He was more concerned on what the doctors had to say about the mortality rate of this procedure.

            Because, hopefully, he would die. He watched the doctors with vacated eyes, which were the only things left that had life to them. Until now, that is...

            "Yes, this is such a dangerous experiment, he might not survive."

            "Only if his body doesn't respond to the medications, remember."

            "Yes, yes, of course, of course..." The bed began to shift. They were transferring him to a stretcher.

            Jonouchi watched from beside Ryou. He looked down at his fallen friend, watching him with a tight concern.

            "Ryou..." he muttered. Ryou's eyes opened, and they landed on Jonouchi. Jonouchi jumped, startled.

            Can he see me? he thought, but Ryou's eyes closed once more. Some type of air mask was covering his mouth and nose, and Ryou's eyes remained closed. They rolled the stretcher to an examining room, where the doors shut behind them.

            Jonouchi stood there, transparent, in the hallway, staring at the double doors. They beckoned to him, as if trying to lure him their way.

            But Jonouchi couldn't get the image of Ryou on the stretcher out of his mind. He had been a stick, literally. His skin was pure white, with all sorts of tubes attached to his skinny arms. He had been disconnected from an air tank just to be put back on one. He looked.... dead.

            Jonouchi couldn't help but think that maybe this procedure was actually longing his pain instead of helping it. Maybe. Just maybe... It was killing him.

            "Alright, Bakura Ryou is coming into room B-25, call Doctor Achiemai."

            "Okay, I'm on it." A nurse ran off in the opposite direction.

            "Alright, you, contact Bakura's father, see if you can get in touch with him – now!"

            "Okay, okay, get over it, man." A volunteer headed towards the service desk. The nurse sighed as she pulled a clipboard out of a side hanging from the side of a desk.

            It hit Jonouchi right then that he was inside the ER. He blinked, surprised, then turned on his heel and left the room. He did not want to be present during the operation, that was for sure…

            "Where is he?" a voice demanded in the waiting room. Jonouchi turned towards it, watching a man talk to the receptionist. Jonouchi's eyes widened.

            It was Ryou's father! Jonouchi recognized his blue ponytail and his tall stature, his eyes narrowed angrily at the receptionist.

            "In the ER, sir," she said, not looking up. "You're going to have to wait like the others to see him."

            "He's my son, dammit!" he cried, pounding his fist on the desk. "I demand to see him!" The receptionist rolled her eyes and typed something into the computer. Two police officers were standing near the doorway, where they always were, watching Bakura Aishouka with angry glares. Aishouka didn't really care, however, and he leaned forwad, both palms on the desk.

            "Listen, I have been trying to get back here all week – and you tell me that I can't see him? He's my own son!"

            "I'm sorry, he's in the examining room!" The receptionist said with a new fire. She looked lethal, like she would start baring her teeth. Aishouka blinked.

            "Oh. Why didn't you just say so?" The receptionist narrowed her eyes, and Aishouka wandered aimlessly to a chair, sitting down, and staring at his hands, contorting them into different forms. The police sighed and looked in other directions.

            Great father, Jonouchi thought, watching him. The receptionist rolled her eyes once more and continued filling out a form. The other people in the waiting room went back to whatever they were doing. Even though he actually appeared to care for his son, he didn't do much about it. Jonouchi leaned against the wall, trying to refrain himself from thinking about Ryou…

            "I love him," a voice said in his ear. Jonouchi jumped, breathing hard, looking around for the voice. It had been Caro's soft voice, and he saw her beside him.

            "Oh… Caro…" he said, relaxing his ghostly body. He smiled a little, and waited to see if she would continue. She did.

            "I love him so much," she said softly, a hint of tears in her voice. "But he's the reason I'm cursed here. He's the reason I have to stay on earth for so long. Because I'm too obsessed with his health." Jonouchi stared at Caro in disbelief.

            "Wait…. Caro, are you…. Bakura Amane?" he asked, watching her face for a reaction. She looked at the floor, her hair falling into a wall between him and her saddened eyes.

            "Yes," she said after a time. "I am Bakura Amane." Jonouchi lowered his eyes to the floor momentarily. "He is the reason that I'm here. I have to watch over him until he either gets better... Or dies." Her hands covered her face. Soft sobs emitted from her as she lifted her head, lowering her hands again. They were bleeding. The blood coursed down her thin fingers, down her arms, dripping onto the floor. Jonouchi watched her. He couldn't do anything about it. He knew that Ryou had lost his will to live; and there was no one who could convince him otherwise.

~Dying may seem terrible, but to someone who is in no position to live, dying is a great relief.~

            The procedure was over. Ryou was lying in the soft white sheets of the hospital bed, his eyes closed, sleeping off the anesthesia. He still looked sunken and white, and Jonouchi could still sense the coldness in his soul. The fact that he wanted to die.

            Caro (now found out be Amane) was sitting beside his bed, her head in her arms. Jonouchi watched the beauty with great respect and condolence.

            She's so beautiful, he thought to himself. She's so docile... And she has to suffer because Ryou is sick. He walked over and bent down next to the bed, his eyes trained on Ryou as well. The boy's soft eyes began to open, and they settled on Caro. Caro was smiling, her bleeding hands hidden from view. Jonouchi watched both Caro and Ryou, waiting to see if what Caro said was true.

            "A...Amane," Ryou muttered. His eyes grew wide, and his breaths stifled. He was in complete shock. "Amane-chan!" Caro shushed him with a soft hissing sound.

            "Ryou," she whispered. A smile played her face. "Sole." Ryou's eyes were half-open, and his body began to slow down again. Effects of the operation, no doubt. Ryou didn't even see Jonouchi.

            "Caro," Ryou whispered back. "Amane, how-" Caro placed a hand on his lips. Jonouchi's eyes bugged.

            Ryou will see the blood! he thought suddenly, biting his lower lip. He let out a gasp, however, as Amane drew her hand back again, blood-free.

            Ryou heard the gasp. He turned to see Jonouchi staring at Caro's hand. Ryou's face pulled into a smile.

            "Jonouchi," he muttered. He closed his eyes momentarily, then looked over at Caro. "Am... Am I dead?"

            "No, you're not," Caro assured him. "Listen, Ryou, you have to stay alive. Please."

            "Why?" Ryou asked. Jonouchi noticed his voice became more breathy sounding, as if it were taking him more air then he had in his lungs. "Amane..."

            "Do it for me," she whispered. Ryou shook his head.

            "You left us," he accused, making Caro draw back in surprise. "You died. You left me with..." he didn't finish the sentence. Jonouchi knew what he was talking about.

            Bakura.

            "...With..." he shook his head. "No, Amane, I can't. There's nothing here for me."

            "You have something now," she told him, leaning closer to him. "You have people that care about you."

            "I did," Ryou said, closing his eyes. "I don't now. Besides, I want to be with you."

            "But... You can't," Amane cried, grasping onto Ryou's hands. Jonouchi noticed little blood trails forming on her hands, which were stark white. Caro shook her head slowly. "You can't, Ryou!"

            "I want to," was his answer. He closed his eyes and relaxed his body, not saying another word. Caro, shaking, hands covered in blood, crying softly to herself, shook her head and lowered it onto the bed. Her sobs reached Jonouchi's ears, and he listened, wanting to run over and help her...

            The force of this hit him. He suddenly felt the painful, stinging sensation in his stomach that you get when something's wrong. It hit him like an eighteen-wheeler, making him stumble backwards. His back hit the wall, and he slid down it, dropping his hands in his lap. He shook his head and closed his eyes, a trickle of crimson falling down his white face.

            He bled

            For everyone.

            He silently wished that this would all go away, that his friends would be alright... But it wasn't true. Hands shaking, he pulled his hands into tight fists, and muttered under his breath

            "Damn you. Damn you... Father." He whimpered and made a decision. Standing up, he marched towards the bed, watching Amane cry and Ryou ignore her. He most likely thought this a dream of some sort.

            "Father," he muttered. "I'll get you. I know someone has to be...." Jonouchi shook his head and looked to the window, hearing the blood splash onto the floor.

            The sun was setting, sending blood-red streaks through the sky.

            The sun bled as well.

Yeah i know, stupid ending...

Well, it was the only thing I could think of. If yall didnt already know, im in the middle of a mini-crisis with some of my friends... a few of them are going towards anorexia and another couple have seriously thought about suicide... they even cut themselves, i saw the scars. so... thats why it took me so long. when im stressed, i type. thats why i have the whole mega-update thing going on...

Please. Pray for them? i dont really want to do reviewz this time around, dont worry i appreciate everything you have to say, and im glad. tata~

++++++Chap Preview++++++

Otogi seems to be the only one unaffected by this tragic event -- and Jonouchi is angered by it. However, when Jonouchi sees the burden Otogi is placing on himself, not only by being optimistic, but something else he's doing for Shizuka, (and himself), Jonouchi has to find a way to stop Otogi before he works himself to exhaustion.... Or death. (this explains why he was smiling @ the funeral.)

Shibby-One