Hey there. Life's just not fair. I'm bursting from ideas and plots but. . . I can't use them!! That's so damn frustrating!!!

To snow-shadow-wolf: You're right n_n I never saw this. . . but anyways.

To Lee-chan: It's okay ^^ Thanks

To Pocketfirefairy: *starts constructing a garden* Thanks, anyways ^_^hey, soo much people love the Chibi-Ryou. . . he's my favourite too, along with Chibi-Malik.

To Fluffy: *sniggers*

To Heather: Uhm, well, how many goddesses have you seen before? ^^" Anyways, thank yous

To little-kat-girl: *hides her from Bakura* Geez. . . well. I'm glad you like my plot twist. Uh, MSN? I've got AOL on my compy, that's al I know. . . My emailaddress is XyBraxY@aol.com, though ^__^You might add me.

Weeeell, I noticed no one was enthusiastic about Chibi-Yuugi ^_^ Is that because he already looks like a Chibi even in his teen-form?

*~*

Bakura's POV (again. . . )

I let go of Ryou after we went outside. He snuggled against Anzu, and she gathered him in her arms, smiling all along. . . Again, I had a real strange feeling inside. Like – fear? I had seen Mariku doing things with a knife nobody has done before, and they were painful. Very painful. Now that he saw Anzu as some kind of possession, I would be dead before I could say "dagger" if she kept smiling at me like that. I warily returned the smile and looked away.

Aw, don't get me wrong. I like her. She wasn't that girly, like Shizuka sometimes was, neither she was as bossy as Mai. She was like a good pal. Non-feminine, though she had long hair. Hey, I did, too! But now. . . now she seemed to me like some mother instincts had awoken. She smiled like Isis did back then when she tucked Malik in for the night.

Speaking of Malik, I cast a glance at him. He still was in Isis' arms, tugging at one of her braids which fell over her shoulder. She held him protectively, and I noticed the look in her eyes; they weren't as cool as ever. A warm shine had replaced the coolness, and she rubbed Malik's back absentmindedly. The child sniggered every now and then. Maybe I could've let Ryou stay with her and the other kid. . .

Another glance at the chibi-fied Ryou in Anzu's arms, and I decided against. He was too cute for his own good, dammit! And Isis couldn't protect both of them. I knew that bastard Yami wouldn't leave his Yuugi's side, so I wouldn't, too. I turned to Anzu, who was chattering with Seto, who held the small red-haired girl in his arms. Chibi-Shizuka reached out to Anzu and got a light glare from Ryou who snuggled against the girl. Quietly, I laid my hand down on Ryou's small shoulder, causing him to jump slightly and turn to me; then he smiled brightly and reached out. Hearing a squeal from Shizuka because Anzu was able to hold her now I gathered Ryou in my arms. Warmth increased within me as he wrapped his small arms around my neck and nuzzled into my shoulder.

"Luv you, 'Kura."

I smiled; a rather unfamiliar sight to everyone. "I love you too, Ryou." The child giggled. "Us goin' home? Me sleepy. . . "I clearly remember the look on that dumbass Yami's face. It was priceless. There he was surrounded by friends as well as enemies, with this creepy girl Anuki coming up behind us, and there was nothing he could do to my Ryou and me. Nothing! What a great feeling that was. Sure I knew about how much he loved hurting me, though I don't know why. He just kept staring at me. I got annoyed.

"What are you staring at, baka? Do I have something in my face?"

"I just didn't know you actually could be nice."

"Well unlike you I can, but I don't have to. Now stop staring."

"Make me."

Now that really did annoy me. I simply rolled my eyes. "Fuck off." Both Ryou and Yuugi put their hands over their mouths, staring at me startled. Anzu whacked the back of my head.

"There are children around you know!"

"I don't give a damn! C'mon Ryou, we're going." The white-haired Chibi still watched me, still in my arms, with his big, wide green eyes. With that, I took him with me as I descended into a random direction.

"Wait, Bakura! You don't know where to go!", Anuki called me. I didn't even look back. Ignoring her completely brought her anger upon me, but I didn't care. Away from Yami, away from anything that could harm the angel in my arms!

"You can go to sleep, Ryou. I'll protect you.", I whispered softly as the child's head fell against my shoulder. "Rea'y?" I smiled. "Yes, really." He nuzzled my shoulder once again. "Okie then."

I grumbled inwardly. I never had thought of the option of having children. When I had Kristin by my side, I was too young, and later, when she had been torn away from me, I hadn't felt enough love. Now, with Ryou's tiny arms around my neck, his soft breathing on my skin and his little weight in my arms, I considered it wouldn't be that bad. If only Ryou wasn't the child needing my protection as an older brother or a father; he still was my lover, no, my love after all. I petted his soft hair absentmindedly, leaving him purring like a well fed kitten in his sleep.

I hadn't had a single clue where I was going. Right, Anuki had said we should find our bodies and could get back. I didn't know anymore if she had said it or if it was lore from deep inside me, but I had the feeling, that they wouldn't be anything more than that; bodies. Corpses, for that matter. I wanted to beware Ryou from that sight, but it had to be, hadn't it? So I walked towards the cemetery. That was Domino City after all. They couldn't disarrange something like the graveyard. Strange; the cars irritated me. They weren't hovering like they should, but they drove nonetheless. And they made disgusting noises, and once in a while a car gave this high- pitched, booming noise which I recognized as hooters. I wrinkled my nose and frowned at the cars, hoping they would stop. They did not; couldn't they see Ryou was asleep?! Damn!

Eventually we reached the cemetery, the kid still fast asleep in my arms, and I started looking around. This was the time after they destroyed Egypt, but it didn't look like anybody cared. They went on with their lives as if nothing happened. . . as if my home wasn't completely destroyed. I felt tears of anger in my eyes and quickly blinked them away. I had to read the names engraved in stones. It had been a while since I had been on a graveyard; the last time, I was about six on my parents' funeral back in Egypt. When we arrived in Domino, evolution washed over us, and we got used to simple cremation. Then again, I wondered, who had destroyed the country anyways? It had been because of this stupid card game, yeah, but how? And who? I kept asking myself until I reached a lonely group of graves in the very corner of the cemetery. Strolling over, I gasped immediately. I shifted Ryou's weight to my left arm and wandered from one grave to the other.

Mutou Yuugi. Mazaki Anzu. Jounouchi Katsuya and Jounouchi Shizuka. Otogi Ryuuji. Hiroto Honda. Ishtar Malik and Ishtar Isis. A silent, sad and desperate parade of my friends and once-friends; not all of them, though. During wondering, I reached the very last grave – and nearly dropped the child sleeping in my arms.

Bakura Ryou.

So he had been there too; and he had died as well as everyone else. Simply seeing the grave of my beloved, the kid that had stolen my heart, the only one loving me without wanting anything but my love and protection, caused me to cry. Yes, I cried back then about the loss of someone I didn't even know, just because he had the same name and probably had had the same looks and attitude as my Ryou. Who awoke this very moment and blinked up at me sleepily. Sea green eyes widened, and I felt his small hand coming up to my cheek.

"Why you cry, 'Kura?"

"It's nothing.", I said after pondering a short while and put him on the ground. He looked up at me in that oh-so-cute way, like he always did.

"Who's there?", he asked, strolling towards "his" grave.

"No one you could know, Ryou. Come back here." He didn't listen. Carefully touching the cold stone, Ryou summoned a saddened expression to his eyes. Obviously he knew what this place where. "Ryou, please. Come here.", I tried again. His small index finger traced the engravings which said his name. Just then, a hand on my shoulder caused me to jump.

"You shouldn't be that stern with him.", Anuki said softly.

"What do you know?", I pouted. Couldn't she tell I was worried about him? Thunder ripped me from my intense glare at the merely smiling girl. Ryou clung to my leg, totally frightened. The grave seemed forgotten. I picked the boy up again, holding him protectively to my chest. Anuki frowned at the sky. "Let's go and find shelter.", she simply said. And I simply followed her.

Anuki led us to the cemetery chapel. I didn't know why, but I had a feeling like she went there to show us something. Ryou, who seemed to have watched way too many horror movies with Malik, Anzu and Shizuka, mumbled something about vampires. I frowned.

"Anzu is definitely not going to baby-sit you and Malik again." Inwardly I was glad that they hadn't burn down the house. Entering the chapel, which seemed oddly creepy, Anuki's smile returned once again.

"I'm going to show you something. It's not fair, though; so don't tell anyone." I nodded. She turned and walked towards the altar. It was oddly shaped, but I guessed it belonged to that time period. Anuki shoved it, and it was even more coffin-like than before; because there was a deep hole in it.

"Go ahead."

"What??"

"I said, go ahead. There's a staircase. You have to reach the bottom before. . . they do."

"Who are they?"

"The dead."

"I'm not going down there with Ryou!!"

"Then give him to me and go alone. . . ", she said, stretching out her arms. I held Ryou closer, who was whimpering softly. "No way."

"Then you don't trust me?"

"No."

"You have to if you ever want to kiss him again properly. You have to find your bodies."

"They're dead! Didn't you see the graves?" I started to wonder why Yami, Mariku and I hadn't been there. Did that mean we still were alive?

"I'll explain later, just go already!"

With a last curse, I climbed onto the altar and slid down the hole. When I felt stairs under my feet, I lowered myself into the altar completely. Darkness surrounded me once again. All I could do was climbing down the stairs as fast and safe as I could, holding Ryou. The boy fell silent.

"Ryou?" His head jerked up. I smiled. "Don't be that jumpy. It's okay."

"Sure?"

"Yeah, sure. I won't let anything happen to you."

"Thanks. . . "And for the first time, he sounded like my Teen Ryou again. I resisted the sudden urge to kiss him senseless for I had been in complete abstinence since we left the mansion to go to Yami's. So I just petted his hair and heard him purr again. I sighed; children were content that easily.

Deeper down the hole, deeper and deeper, further down the stairs in complete darkness, with nothing to hold on but a child. . . . Then a single ray of light and hope showed up. Like a light which was seen through the gap between a door and the doorframe; I reached out and found a doorknob. Turning it, a dim room came into view, and I felt Ryou look around curiously. I had thought he had fallen asleep again. Large containers of glass with bubbling water could be seen. On a table laid strange constructions with a light blue and white colour; once again I put Ryou to the ground and strolled towards the table. Picking on of those things up, I found that it could be attached to the arm, as I did. It unfolded, showing places for cards as it seemed along the disk, and on a small monitor there blinked a '4000'.

"What the hell is this place. . . ?" Next to the other disk things, which had KC, the logo of Kaiba Corp. on it, there were several staples packs of brownish cards. I picked one card from the pack on the very left and it showed a strange image in it, along with some numbers, stars, and a short text that said this. . . thing that looked like a way too thin and too deformed bug would destroy one monster in the field when 'flipped'. Maybe this was that stupid game?

I attached the card to one of the card fields on the disk on my arm, and gasped. . . where Ryou stood a second ago, there was now the ugly bug thingy from the card. In front of Ryou. Between Ryou and me. Made me furious.

"'Kura?", I heard his frightened little voice. Looking down at the card, I read quietly.

"Man-Eater Bug. . . "Drawing another card, I set this one next to the Bug. A short penguin with a sword appeared next to the Bug. It waved somewhat friendly at Ryou, causing the child to giggle. I detached the cards and put them back onto the pack, as well as I set the disk to the table again.

"Looky what me found!", Ryou squealed, pulling my hand, and dragging me to the glass container. As we approached it, I saw something dark in it; and again I gasped, as we stood in front of it.

*~~*

Mwaha, eevil cliffhanger once again. . . I hope you liked!