Title – I'm half of you and you're half of me
Summary – Setting after Bakura is defeated by Yami on Battle ship. Ryou and Bakura fight their loneliness as they come to terms about how much they need each other.
Author notes – that she is in no way claiming ownership of Yu-gi-oh and does not profit monetarily from this work. Yugioh is copyrighted Kazuki Takahashi 1996. The song 'If only tears could bring you back is taken from the pokemon first movie soundtrack and does not belong to her as well.
Author's notes – A short piece of fan-fiction that ran away and came back as SAP. So bear with me. Song fic this is. This fic is dedicated to my friend, Tiara-chan who drew a nice pic for me and a friend of hers. She's a dedicated Bakura fangirl who would kill anyone who said bad things about him. Thanks to Tale-chan for Beta-ing it for me. Enjoy.
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Ryou awoke, breathing heavily, in his soul room, as if he had just awoken from a nightmare. Putting his hand to his forehead, he sat like that for a while, trying to come himself down. What had happened...? Why was he here?
A flash of bright light blinded him temporarily as he shielded his sensitive eyes from the explosion of light; light proceeded to flood his normally grey room. Confusion caused lines of worry to mar his youthful face. It was never this bright, except when Bakura set fires and set off random explosives for fun.
Come to think of it, it was never bright when Bakura was around. His Yami once explained it to him when he was extremely bored and there was nothing to do since it was midnight and there nobody wandering around in the streets for him to bother.
Since they were opposites, light and dark, they couldn't mix like black and white to form grey. Darkness is the absence of light. Black is a mixture of everything. When there is light, there is no dark, only shadow.
When Ryou had pointed it out to his Yami, the latter had sent him a glare, which Ryou just ignored; he had, after all won staring competitions with his Yami before, like the time during the RPG adventure. They more or less treated each other as equals when Bakura was not up to some evil plot or another.
Bakura had snorted and said that, darkness and light co-existed everywhere, when one side of the Earth experienced day, the other experienced night, when it is night, people switch on lights. It was everywhere.
So...why was it so bright then?
How will I start
Tomorrow without you here
Ryou could only think of one possible scenario, Bakura was gone. But how...why? Pieces of memories flooded his mind, giving him a splitting headache.
Duel. Mou hitori no Yuugi. Osiris. Bakura laughing. Yuugi talking. Darkness.
Bakura was gone...Ryou's mind chanted the never changing mantra. He was gone...gone...It was empty, he absently noted, cold and empty. And lonely.
Who's heart will guide me
When all the answers disappear
Ryou brought his knees up and hugged them, burying his face in his jeans. He was never close to Bakura, nor had he shared the bond that Yuugi and his other self shared. But he...he needed his darkness.
A tear rolled down his pale cheeks. Ironically, it had been his darkness who had pulled him out from the shadows of loneliness, when he had appeared, he had felt that he was not alone anymore.
Is it too late
Are you too far gone to stay
Back before Bakura had come, he had been all alone; his father hadn't really liked him very much due to his hair color, cursing him as a mutant. Bakura's appearance had provided him with the comfort he needed.
Controversial as it may seem, Bakura had made him stronger. Bakura was strong, even though slightly, or maybe not so slightly, insane. It showed him that his abnormal appearance was not a sign of misdoing from the gods, or a sign of weakness, like his father had led him to believe.
This one's forever
Should never have to go away
He had moved away to stay on his own after Bakura decided to appear one night and wreak some havoc. He did not want to hurt anyone. Of course, this meant that most of the time, he had no true friends.
But it did not really matter to him. When he was sad, Bakura would make stupid comments to, no matter how unconsciously, cheer him up. When he was lonely, Bakura would be there, in the shadows, his presence assuring Ryou that he would never be alone.
Now, he was gone...Ryou was alone, and he was vulnerable, because, his other self was not there.
What will I do
You know I'm only half without you
How will I make it through
As his mind tried in vain to find support to hold on to, a particularly strong image flashed in his mind.
Bakura shielding him from Osiris's attack, preferring to lose himself then to let his Hikari get even more hurt.
Bakura was gone... because he wanted to protect him? Why?
In the depths of his mind, a tiny voice said.
''Because he needs to use your body he can't kill you...''
Another replied.
'He may not show it, but he doesn't want you hurt.'
"yet, he is only using you...''
'He cares for you, he does.'
"for his own evil purposes, once you..."
'You are his light...he is your dark, you two are one.'
"run out of your use, he will kill get rid..."
'He needs you as much as you need him.'
"of you once and for all..."
'He doesn't want you to suffer because of him."
The two voices danced in his head, swirling unexpectedly, and in the deadly fight, the second voice drowned out the first.
'He cares for you, Bakura cares for you.'
Another crystalline tear made it's slow way down his cheek as tears began to flow freely in a cascading waterfall, just as sorrow poured into his heart. It was not until then that he realized how much he cared for his Yami, how close they actually were...
If only tears could bring you back to me
If only love could find a way
What I would do, what I would give
If you returned to me someday
Somehow, someway
If my tears could bring you back to me
He did not want to be without his Yami. And as his mind found nothing to hold on to, Ryou crumbled and just sat on his soul bed, crying...crying...
And in the hospital wing onboard the battle ship, a sole tear, a perfect sparkling sphere slid down his face, onto the sheets he was clutching tightly in his hands...
It would be so, for a long time.
---
In the shadow realm, Bakura winced as he stood. He hated coming back here, although he was the darkness, it was definitely not comfortable coming back with a mind-breaking headache all the time.
Absently, he found himself thinking that he should build a house there, that way he had somewhere to 'mentally' be, when he was recovering. No matter how much he enjoyed the darkness, it really wasn't a very good place to be lying around. The darkness was very cold, for one.
He closed his eyes and relaxed, waiting for his senses to be active again. The shadow realm was very similar to reality...just more bleak, and cold.
Just as he opened his eyes again, impatiently awaiting his recovering, and grumbling a lot as well, he heard a slight murmuring in the 'sky' or rather the 'void'
I'd cry you an ocean
If you'd sail on home again
Wings of emotion
Will carry you, I know they can
What did that mean? Wings of emotion...
Bakura brushed it aside as he tried to keep himself busy by plotting more, but invariable, he found his thoughts straying back to his Hikari. He wondered how he was doing then, he hoped he was not hurt too much.
Although he would never admit it, he felt guilty that the cut he gave his Ryou Hikari was so deep. He guessed he was more used to pain than anyone else, after all, pain was the primary cause of darkness.
He respected his Hikari, even though people did not believe so, they thought that he used Ryou as his tool, and did not care about him at all. Bah, they were idiots. Humans were weak, they only listen to what others have to say and not think of anything themselves, that was why rumors were the very destruction of many relationships.
It would be about four more hours of long waiting, he thought in amusement, he felt it should be shorter, considering all the practice he had.
A shining light will pierce your heart and steal it away...
It will be your fall, but it will be your life...
Just light will guide you
And your heart will chart the course
Soon you'll be drifting
Into the arms of your true north
He felt a door opening somewhere in his mind, inside, was a blinding light, covering his eyes, he cautiously approached it. Inside, he heard more murmuring, so that was where it came from... allowing his eyes to slowly adjust to the iridescent light, he continued the slow walk.
But no matter how far he walked, it kept moving away, and he did not know why he did it, but soon, he found himself running in a sprint, trying frantically to reach it. Beyond it, he felt...
Treasure it, because it is your only hope...
It is the change... of your heart.
He did not know what was there, but it made him feel, uplifted, like he wasn't the damned, cursed soul he was.
Look in my eyes
And you will see a million tears have gone by
And still they're not dry
More murmurs, someone was crying, mourning...who? Ryou... it was Ryou...why was his Hikari crying? Bakura kept running, his heart feeling more and more empty, for once, he wanted to get out of the void. He could not rid himself of darkness, he was the darkness, but the void, the void, it's emptier than nothing.
Ryou!
He needed warmth, he needed light.
He saw Ryou writing a letter to his sister. Smiling.
flash
His Hikari...his light...his other half...
Ryou again...cheering his friends on duelist kingdom
flash
Two halves of a whole, an entity.
Ryou... getting hurt by him...
flash
An entity, a person, that was his identity.
And he had hurt him... his other self...pangs of remorse and guilt flooded his body and he ran blindly. He suddenly realized the possibility of Ryou hating him, he couldn't stand the thought.
Hikari! He screamed in his mind. Silent apologies directed at the door, hoping that his Hikari would hear him.
If only tears could bring you back to me
If only love could find a way
Ryou looked up, he had heard his name...and even more strangely a door had appeared in his room, it was black, totally black and it was cold, something he could sense...he was sure, the calls were coming from that door.
'RYOU!' There it was again... his eyes widened, could it be his Yami? He jumped out of the bed and rushed towards the door, but just as he was about to run through it, he was sent flying backwards, as he landed sprawling on the floor near the wall opposite.
What I would do, what I would give
If you returned to me someday
Pain blasted through his joints as he landed. But he could care less, if he was right, his Yami was on the other side of the door. Running towards the door, he pounded his fists on the invisible barrier.
Just then, the image and fog began to clear up and he saw a person running towards the door, a closer look told Ryou that it was indeed his Yami. Hope shone through his emptiness and filled his soul as he increase his pounding tenfold, hoping that his Yami would hear him.
BAKURA!
What I would do, what I would give
If you returned to me someday
Somehow, someway
Bakura kept sprinting, at least now he was getting closer to the door. The murmuring had turned into shouts. He was positive his Hikari was there. So... that meant he didn't hate him...He could have jumped with joy.
Yes! He was almost there...just a bit more...he reached for the door as his hand burst through the door as the door rippled, then expanded and imploded on itself. He felt warm again. Relieved and tired, he stopped.
If my tears could bring you back to me
Ryou gasped in joy, his Yami had just came bursting in, literally.
Bakura! He graced Bakura with a tight hug, not caring what his Yami would think or say. He was glad he was not alone anymore. He felt his Yami tense up then relax in his arms before hesitantly putting his arms around him.
I hold you close
And shout the words I only whispered before
For one more chance, for one last dance
There's nothing that I would not give and more
For that moment they were silent, holding each other close and just enjoying the warmth.
If only tears could bring you back to me
If only love could find a way
What I would do, what I would give
If you returned to me someday
Somehow, someway
If my tears could bring you back to me
Then in unison, they stepped back and held out their hands, palms touching, they closed their eyes.
'And we are one again.' The two thoughts spiraled in harmonious melody.
On the battle ship, Bakura Ryou slowly regained consciousness, a small smile gracing his lips.
- end -