Dark Shadows/Rays of Moonlight

Written by: Sarah Harvey

Ryou sat in his room with his nose pressed gently against the cool yet humid glass that was his window. His eyes were wide with confusion and sadness, and a single tear managed to free itself from his eyes, and slid down his right cheek.

It was raining. The tiny droplets of rain pattered softly against the window, creating a soothing sound. But it wasn't soothing enough for poor Ryou. He stared down to a spot in the middle of the roadway just across from his window, to a place where he had seen someone very precious to him only a few hours before.

He hadn't moved for that long. He'd stayed in the exact same position, staring out at the wet street. He wasn't really looking outside. His eyes had glazed over long ago. In his mind he was replaying the memory from before over and over again.

' A soft knock at Ryou's front door and the muffled voice from Marik carried up to Ryou's room, waking him up from his afternoon nap. He had had a long week, and had needed to rest. Bakura was kind enough to let him sleep in semi-peace.

He sat up slowly, a somewhat determined look on his face. He had been wondering for the past few months whether or not he should tell Bakura his secret. And he had finally decided for sure that he would confess everything on that exact day.

"Ryou..." Bakura pushed open his door, and stared over at Ryou, who still had sleep in his eyes and was looking curiously up at him.

"Hey, B-Bakura." Ryou stifled a yawn as best as he could and put on his innocent little smile. He looked up at Bakura questioningly.

"I'm going to leave now. Marik's here." He looked somewhat disappointed when Ryou nodded in acknowledgement.

"Um... before you go... There's something I need to tell you." Bakura's ears seemed to perk up and he leaned against the wall with his arms folded across his chest.

"Bakura... I, um... I've been wanting to tell you something for some time now, but... I just couldn't seem to find the words to tell you before now. And then I realised that there are no words to really describe what I want to tell you..." Ryou trailed off, and blushed cutely. His eyes lowered to the ground He continued on with his shaky voice. "I... I realised also that I felt something more toward you than just friendship or brotherly love, and..." Ryou took a deep breath, swallowed, and continued again. "I-I think I love you, Bakura." He looked up, awaiting a response from Bakura. But he just stood there.

"I think I better go now. Marik's waiting... I don't know when I'm coming back." Bakura gave him an odd look before he turned and went back downstairs. He immediately heard laughter and shouting from downstairs that quickly changed to quiet chatting outside. Ryou ran to the window, bewildered by Bakura's actions. If he had thought about it for more than a second, he probably would have felt his own heart break when he pressed his nose against the window and saw Marik's arm around Bakura's shoulder, and saw the two laughing as they climbed onto Marik's motorcycle. Ryou leaned more against his window, and stared down at the street as the motorcycle sped off into the distance.'

He had poured out his heart and his soul to the one that he loved, and he had received no response. In fact, Bakura seemed to think that he was insane or joking. Ryou suddenly moved his hand up to where his heart was and sighed.

After a few ore minutes, he pulled himself back from the window, and rubbed his nose. It had been numb for quite some time. He walked over to his door, but not before he stopped in front of his mirror and paused to look at himself. He didn't know where he had gone wrong... Maybe it was because he looked so much like a girl. Or so he thought.

He felt like punching his mirror, but restrained himself from doing so, and walked down the stairs and to his front door. He ignored everything around himself as he put on his running shoes, and left his house. He shoved his hands in his pockets, and walked down a sidewalk in a random direction. He payed no attention to where he walked at all.

After what seemed like an eternity, he broke out of his trance as he fell face first to the ground. He stayed on the ground for several moments as he tried to figure out what was going on. With a bit of difficulty, he pulled himself up into a sitting position, and glanced down to where his feet were.

A small can sat at his feet. It was bent in two, and he could barely see the small 'Pepsi' logo on it's dirty and rusted surface.

He suddenly felt a wave of fury towards the can, so he jumped up to his feet and kicked it as hard as he possibly could. It hit the dark alley wall in front of him, and landed back down at his feet. Ryou suddenly felt all of his anger subside, and he felt so tired he didn't know what was happening. He wiped at his face with the back of his hand, but it didn't do anything, because it was raining harder, and the tears that were now leaking out of his eyes were unstoppable. They mingled freely with the rain drops. His white locks clung to his face in a silver storm of tangled hair.

He felt so exhausted that he walked forwards, and didn't stop until his forehead hit the brick wall. He didn't hit it hard, but hard enough to cause a wave of pain to wash over his body. His knees collapsed beneath him, and he fell down to the ground. He slumped over, leaned his aching head against the wall, and sniffled before he broke down crying again.

A dozen minutes later, he felt as thought someone was watching him from the shadows. But he knew that it was just his imagination, because it was starting to get really dark. The dark, menacing clouds from up above didn't help things at all. They kept the moon and stars shut out completely. The only light in the alley way was the occasional streak of lightning that lit up the dreary sky.

Ryou suddenly heard footsteps from behind, but he didn't have enough energy to turn around and tell whoever it was to go away. Instead, he mumbled incoherent nonsense to himself with his eyes closed. He was supposedly trying to calm himself down, by speaking a language that Bakura had taught him. But when he realised that, he broke down crying again, and fell onto his side, still crying.

He heard the footsteps coming closer and closer to his position, but he made no attempt to get away. He thought to himself about how if it really was a killer, then he'd be glad to die. At least then he wouldn't have to think or react to anything anymore in the corporeal world. He could be a free spirit, with nothing else to worry him for the rest of eternity.

He noticed a flash of metallic silver out of the corner of his eye, and he felt his heart start to race in his chest. Maybe someone really was after him, and it wasn't his imagination. Maybe he really would die. Maybe-

Someone grabbed his shoulders, hoisted him up onto his feet, and propped him up against the wall. Whoever they were, they had good grip. Not that Ryou made any movement as to escape. He simple stayed there, and hung limply in their grasp. He could he cursing and someone was shaking his shoulders roughly. He wished they would just kill him already. Maybe they were looking in his pockets for money or something. Not that he ever carried any with him.

Suddenly, he felt his feet lift up off the ground, and someone pull him up into their arms. He was too confused to do anything but mumble his nonsense again. And somehow, it helped. Because as soon as he closed his eyes, he fell into what seemed like an eternal sleep.

"Ryou..." A voice broke him from the wonderful dream that he had been having. He didn't want to open his eyes. He struggled to fall asleep again, but every time he tried, someone shook his shoulders. He finally gave up, and opened his eyes halfway.

Bakura stood over him, with an unreadable expression on his face. When he realised that Ryou's eyes had opened, he did something that Ryou had never really witnessed in person before. He smiled gently.

Confused, Ryou sat up, and struggled to get away from his Yami. Or rather, from Yami. Bakura grabbed his arms, and pulled him closer, instead, and looked down at him sadly.

"About what you said earlier..." Bakura lightened his grip on Ryou's arms, and sighed. Ryou didn't want to hear it. He wanted to get away, to look away. But something in Bakura's eyes kept him right where he was, unmoving. "I shouldn't have left, but... I wasn't sure of how to respond."

"So I just wanted you to know..." Bakura leaned in closer to Ryou, and pressed his lips against Ryou's in conclusion. Ryou was shocked. But he soon got over that shock, and deepened their kiss in response.

/I love you, too.../ Ryou moaned through their once completely unused mind link.

...Mmph... Bakura replied as he pushed Ryou backwards onto the couch, and smiled into their passionate kiss, just as a ray of moonlight forced its way through the clouds, and into their little home, lighting up both their pale features.

"Love you too..." Bakura mumbled as he pulled Ryou onto his stomach and chest. Ryou curled up there, once he got comfortable, and leaned onto Bakura's neck.

"Aishiteru."

Yes! Another story dedicated to all of my reviewers! So please enjoy! (Hopefully you did )

Please R&R! -