The thing about this fic, which you might notice, is that it is largely experimentation on my part. This is also the only fic in which I have ever written Bakura-abuse, and probably will remain the only fic in which I show Bakura abuse. It's a different abuse dynamic from most fics, too, or at least I try to make it so. Anyway. Going by manga, this follows the first time YamiBakura appears, the Monster World game. Going by anime, this would follow the Change of Heart duel, and there wouldn't actually be a bed or a wall, so we have to go by manga [or first series anime]. This is the only part of this fic which will occur during the actual series. What will follow will all be post-series.

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Welcome To The Dollhouse:

A Series of Vignettes

Two:

Consequentially

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When Ryoh woke up that morning, he knew. It was like waking up with an ache that you hadn't gone to sleep with, or realizing that over the night, while you slept, the flu had set in. It was just something that hadn't been there when he'd gone to bed, but now it was. The fact was, Ryoh woke up before the alarm clock, and after realizing that it was too early to be awake, he realized that Yami Bakura had returned.

The spirit sat on the end of Ryoh's bed. Beneath him, the sheets were still, even as he shifted to face his now-awake landlord. His face was neutral; he never faced Ryoh with his poker-face sneer. That was reserved for everybody else. Ryoh, he'd said at the very beginning, was the other half of his soul; as such, he couldn't ever hate the boy. But he could hate Ryoh's actions, he'd warned, and there would be consequences if he ever fell in hate with what the teen did.

Ryoh was quiet as the spirit's fist clenched in the collar of his flannel pajamas, their connection with the Ring-bearer giving Yami Bakura some illusion of solidity. "I have standards," Yami Bakura said, by way of explanation.

Then he punched Ryoh with his free hand.

"And I hold myself and everybody else to those standards," he went on while Ryoh's vision became stable. "I told you there would be consequences. It's your own stupidity that's led to this."

Ryoh's tongue moved in his mouth to check for loose teeth. That sort of thing would be difficult to explain. Fortunately for him, there were none. The next attack was to slam his head into the wall. A red line made its way down the floral-printed paper. Head wounds bled a lot, Ryoh knew. That was unfortunate.

"So the question is," continued the spirit, "was it worth it?"

Ryoh understood consequences. He knew whose fault his loneliness was; he knew which of his actions had led to it. The one who was to blame was himself; it always had been. He shared Yami Bakura's high standards for themselves – being the same person, there were of course some traits they had in common. And both of them agreed; when you fucked up, you paid the price. You bore the punishment, and you suffered quietly. Yami Bakura did not blame the Pharaoh for his imprisonment in the Ring, nor for his consequent deaths and his pain. He knew who was responsible. The King of Thieves would not deny his guilt.

The consequences of allowing the spirit to have his double zero roll had weighed in Ryoh's mind with the consequences of resistance. He'd known what would happen; too many mistakes and errors had shown him what rushing in blindly led to. So he'd considered his options and made his choice.

Cause and effect, trial and error – consequences. It was either Yuugi's blank stare and Anzu's, Jounouchi's, and Honda's hate; or his pain and the spirit's loathing.

The best part was that Yuugi wouldn't ever know.