Kao 012: hello! Me no ownie yugioh ( but im working on it! Currently I have around $24.57! at this rate, I'll be able to buy yugioh in no time! Btw, - - - - - - - means beginning/end of flashbacks. ---- indicates beginning/end of chapters

Warnings: major OOCness / Ryou-abuse / thoughts and/or possibility of suicide

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Only One Way Out

Chapt.1 – Reminiscence

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(Bakura's POV)

I sat on the floor, watching some cartoon crap. Ryou was behind me on the white couch doing his homework. (like usual, what a big nerd) I got bored on watching TV, so I went into my room. Well, ergh, actually, it was really Ryou's room. It was just titled MY room. I actually took it away from Ryou, about seven weeks ago. To sleep I could have just gone into my soul room, inside the millennium ring, but then what's the fun in that? Ever since I conquered Ryou's room I slept on his bed, forcing Ryou to sleep somewhere else, like on the floor, or the couch or something. I also took away his whole apartment room, too. I basically own him himself.

Heh.

And all I had to do in order to gain it was to just beat up the little weak punk. I get everything I could ever want by just threatening him. The first time I said that I'd make him regret something, he didn't believe me. He just thought that I was getting mad, without the intention of hurting him. Ha, Ryou, how wrong you were. I taught that little kid a lesson, and a lesson that he'll never forget. Ever since then, he'd been really afraid of me, like I was going to kill him right there on the spot. I probably would if it weren't for the fact that I needed him to stay alive in order for me to live.

Yeah that's right, for me to live, Ryou has to live. Since he was destined to receive the millennium ring in this generation, he has to survive. Otherwise, I have to wait another five thousand years. Of course, I didn't tell this to Ryou though, because then he'd use it against me.

- - - - - - -

"My name is Bakura, you idiot"

"Bakuwa?"

"No, NOT Bakuwa, BakuRA!"

"Bakara!"

"No, BAKURA!"

"Bakruwa!"

"MY NAME IS BAKURA, YOU. . . . YOU. . . STUPID PRESON!"

"Baka?"

"grrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr. . . . pathetic mortal, can't even get my name right."

Who does this kid think he is anyways? So what if he's only about five years old, he should know how to talk correctly by now. Hmph. So now the famous tomb robber gets stuck with a little punk that's supposed to be "destined" for the millennium ring. Why do I always have the bad luck?!?! And what's with the destiny crap? Why can't just anybody pick up the stupid sennen ring and release me from insde? My life sucks.

I started to leave, when something held me back. Something was tugging on the end of my shirt that I was forced to wear since "Ryou", or whatever his name is, wears it all the time.

"What now?" I asked.

". . . .Bakura!"

Wait, can this little white-haired twerp have said my name correctly? "What'd you just say?"

"Bakura!"

"Wait, say that one more time."

"um. . . . Bakura!" Ryou replied.

"So you finally got my name right, huh?" Maybe this kid's smarter than I thought. . . . Key word: maybe

Ryou nodded his head up and down kinda. . . . cutely? And said, "Bakura..." Ryou started to rub his eyes and let a big yawn escape.

"What?" I'm guessing Ryou must have been tired from learning, or maybe it was because it was 11:00 PM, so I carried him to his bed. I got this weird, warm feeling from inside of me when Ryou started to hug me, then fell asleep in my arms.

"Bakura..." was the last thing my "light" said before he drifted off into sleep....

- - - - - - -

"Bakura?"

I snapped out of my memories and looked at Ryou, who was staring at me like I was crazy. Wait, well actually. . . . erm, never mind. "What?" I asked.

Ryou stood in the doorway and looked at me like there was something wrong. He said, "Bakura, are you okay? You look kind of.... I don't know, kind of... depressed..."

"What?"

"You look really sad..."

"huh?"

"You know, depressed, like you're extremely sad about something..." Ryou sighed. "Never mind."

After Ryou left I went into my soul room.

- - - - - -

I couldn't help but smile... Ryou was four years old, and he was receiving his first pack of duel cards. I know he was kind of young, and he'd probably slobber all over them and eat them, but for some reason, I didn't care. I just felt like I had to buy them for him. To my surprise, he didn't stick them in his mouth. He actually opened the pack like it was an everyday thing, and started to look at the cards as if he was looking for a specific one. He kept on searching, and stopped when he found one.

"Wookie!" I guess he was telling me to look at the card, so I took it from his hand and stared at it.

It was the Change of Heart card, my favorite one...But how would Ryou know that? And how did he know that the Change of Heart card was in the pack? I stared at it some more, and smiled again... I felt something wrap its arms around me... Ryou was hugging me now. For some strange reason, I felt like hugging him back

I put the Change of Heart card in my pocket and hugged Ryou once more. Then I carried him to the couch so he could watch TV. With sleepy eyes he looked for the remote control and yawned very cutely when he found it and changed the channel. For the third time I smiled, and disappeared into my soul room inside the Sennen ring.

But then. . . . Ryou's father came home seriously pissed about something. I'm pretty sure he was a little drunk, too. Of course, I didn't know this at the time though, because I was in my soul room sleeping.

From the way his father looked, Ryou didn't want to get in the way (obviously) so he silently crawled out of the living room and was heading for a different room when the front door suddenly burst open with another angry parent coming in. It was Ryou's mother. Ryou's father was about to yell something, but Ryou's mother beat him to it.

"THAT'S IT, I'M OUT OF HERE! YOU'VE BEEN LYING TO ME FOR THE LAST TIME, I'M LEAVING!"

"WHAT? YOU CAN'T DO THAT, HOW AM I GOING TO PAY THE BILLS, I DON'T EVEN HAVE A JOB!"

"EXACTLY! You've been freeloading off me for the last time! Pay your own damn rents from now on, and leave me the HELL alone!"

"but. . .. b-but!. . . . AAAGH!"

There was a loud slamming of the door, and a dumbfounded father left behind.

Ryou was just sitting there, afraid of both presences. He became a little calm after his mother left, but that's about when his father picked up something and threw it in blind fury. Sadly, the object (I think they were scissors, but I wasn't sure) hit poor Ryou in the head.

Ryou gave a small scream of pain as tears formed in the back of his eyes. That's about when I woke up. I felt his pain through our mental link and knew that something was wrong. Without even thinking, I tried to come out of my soul room. In case you don't read carefully, I'll repeat that last sentence. I TRIED to come out of my soul room. But I couldn't, because Ryou had taken off the ring sometime during when his mother and father came home. All I could do was just stare at the Ryou, kneeling over in pain. A trickle of blood ran down the back of his neck, and Ryou started crying for it. That's when his father noticed him for the first time.

"YOU KNOW WHAT, THAT'S WHAT YOU GET! I HOPE YOU'RE HAPPY NOW, NOW THAT THIS IS A BROKEN UP FAMILY! I HOPE ALL OF YOU DIE! ALL OF YOU! YOU, YOUR DAMN MOTHER, YOUR SISTER, ALL OF YOU! JUST LEAVE ME ALONE!"

I watched in half horror and half anger. Ryou's father was now beating the shit out of Ryou, kicking his stomach and stabbing him with the scissors that were on the floor. Then he took out a pocket knife and used it instead of the scissors. I couldn't just sit here on my ass and watch my hikari get beat up, but there was nothing I could do, Ryou had to be wearing the ring in order for me to get out. While I paced the floor inside the sennen ring, trying to figure out a plan or something, I couldn't help but remember my own past.

My own father abused me as I was a child. Ever since the first beating I took I never forgave my father. I once tried to fight back, but I couldn't because I was too weak. I remember his stupid pocket knife that he carried around everywhere, so that in case I bumped into him, he could stab me. All the anger I had for Ryou was now forgotten; instead, it was replaced by the new anger I had for my father. And just exactly how is it new? You ask? Well, when I had a body of my own, the anger I had was because my father used to abuse me. The new and improved anger I have now isn't because of him just beating me up, it's because of WHY he was beating me up. He always said that I was a stupid and weak little kid. He always used to abuse me just because I was weak and little. The first time he said this to me was when I was four years old. Well guess what, if you're that young, of course you're going to be weak and little, and since there weren't any schools in England at the time, of course not that much people were going to be very bright.

"Hello, what's this?" I was drawn back to Earth as Ryou's father picked up the millennium ring and examined it closely. Ryou, who was on the floor curled up in a ball, was now starting to cry silently. "So you've been hiding this piece of gold from me for how long?!?! We could have sold this and become rich! What were you thinking?!?!"

"Give it back, it mine, and it my mwost valwued posseshun (most valued possession). . . . " Ryou said softly.

. . . . I never knew Ryou could talk at this age. . . .

"Most valued possession? Well you'll value the money it gives us after we sell it!"

"Wait, no, pwease....Don't....Give it back, pwease?"

"Ha, you think I'm that going to give it back? I can sell this and live out my dream life!"

"No! Pwease, don't! Gimme. . . . pwease?"

"So then you want me to give it back? Okay then, you can have it back."

Ryou's father DID technically give back the ring. He placed it around Ryou's neck and yanked it to the side. He did it again, then started to choke Ryou with it by picking him up by the ring. That's when I realized Ryou was "wearing" the Millennium Ring.

I came out, and as soon as I did, I made Ryou's father know what true pain felt like. First I punched him right in his left eye.

He stared at me in amazement. I half expected him to say, 'hey cool, now can you make this piece of string disappear into thin air?' Instead though, his delayed response was, "Who the hell are you, where the hell did you come from?!?!"

"I'm the downfall of your life, sent from Hell, and if you don't leave him alone (I nudged towards Ryou) I swear I'll make sure you know what pain really feels like."

"Ooh, I'm just oh so scared. Like a puny little punk like you can take me down!"

"Oh, you mean this little kid?!?!" He picked up Ryou by the ring around his neck, causing Ryou to run out of air. "I'm not torturing him, I'm just... "disciplining" him" after saying that, he picked up Ryou by his hair with his other hand, and kicked him so that he went flying across the room and into the wall. Ryou tried to get back up, with very little success. He fell on his knees, then on his stomach. Ryou just blacked out.

I was so furious that I could barely think. Not only was this hurting me to see my hikari get beaten up, but it brought back memories of when I was abused as a child. "Ok, that's it, I'm really gonna make you regret that!"

"I'd like to see you try"

He ran towards me, but I blocked his tackle, then did a counter by elbowing the top of his head, then lifting up my knee so that it pushed against his throat. He tried to kick me, but I quickly dodged it by moving to the side. He failed to kick me again, except this time I grabbed hold of his leg, twisted it so that a rather disturbing crack sound was heard, and kicked him repeatedly in his stomach.

"Damn it!" was all he could say as I watched the blood come out of his mouth.

"I'm not even finished yet" and I wasn't. I was going to keep fighting until Ryou gained conscience again, then fight some more.

"I don't give up that easily, you son of a bitch" He wiped the blood away from his lips, and attempted to trip me. Luckily I jumped and evaded it, but unluckily, he had another move waiting for me as I was pulled back down to the floor by gravity. As soon as my feet touched the floor, Ryou's father took out his knife and aimed it for my neck. Instead of making a slit in my throat however, the knife went past it and stuck into my arm, right below the shoulder.

Ryou's father saw this and started laughing like an idiot. That's when I took my chance. While he was laughing his head off, I kicked him as hard as I could right in the middle of his face. Too bad that he was right in front of a window that made up a wall of the apartment. As my foot landed on his big fat ugly face, it caused him to tip over, and, fortunately for me, unfortunately for Ryou, fall right through the window. The room that this was in was on the seventeenth floor, so of course he died.

I immediately called 911, but not for his father, but for only Ryou himself. About what seemed about five hours the ambulance finally came. They tried to take Ryou into the van, but I fighting to follow, so they eventually gave up and let me ride in the back with him.

I wasn't even half way finished with crying (yea, that's right, crying) when Ryou woke up. I felt really sorry for the little kid, I mean, after all, he doesn't have any parents anymore, his mother got a divorce, and his father is dead.

When I looked into my hikari's eyes, I was petrified. Easily I could tell that he was just more than scared and confused. He was emotionally injured, in a way. Even though he was unconscious, he saw what happened by looking through my mind's eye. Since we're connected to each other, I see what he sees, and he sees what I see, even if one of us is unconscious.

"I'm sorry Ryou..." I whispered into the my frightened light's ear. He knew what happened, about how his father was murdered. I was rather startled and shocked when he said to me, "It otay Ami', wou didn't mean to, wou were just pwotecting me, wight?"

"Yeah, right." I was surprised that he was able to forgive me so quickly, just like that. I gently patted his hair as he broke down into a big smile. I couldn't help but resist...I picked him up, careful not to hurt him, and placed him on my lap to hug him and hold him.

"Ami', who's going two take cawe (care) of me now?"

"I'll take care of you, aibou, forever"

"Otay." It broke my heart when my hikari looked up at me with tear filled eyes and asked, "But what abouwt my paywents? Day're stwill awive, wight?" What hurt me the most was the fact that I killed his father, and now Ryou was looking up at me with little hope in his eyes, even though he knew the truth. I didn't want to reply, obviously, so Ryou looked back down after the long silence and started to sniff.

Great, he was about to cry. The only thing worse than for someone to see me crying was for someone to see Ryou crying. I couldn't think about anything to help cheer him up except for rocking him back and forth in my arms. Soon I saw a tear roll down his cheek. Another one followed. Pretty soon he was starting to cry uncontrollably. I thought to myself, "Why did I have to go and kill his father? Why do I have to be so evil all the time? People hate me because I'm always so mean. Why couldn't I be nice to everybody for once? I wish I could just change my heart into..." I was about to give up on trying to make Ryou feel better when that last and unfinished sentence slapped me in the face.

I remembered Ryou's favorite duel monsters card. I put my hand in my pocket and pulled out the Change of Heart card and showed it to Ryou. All of a sudden he stopped crying and sniffed. Then he took the card form my hand to stare at it. Then he turned to me and said, "Tank wou..." He went back to staring at the card and soon fell asleep in my arms.

"I'll take care of you, aibou, forever."

I came out of past and soul room. What happened between then and now? What happened that made me learn to hate Ryou so much? I was so deep in my thoughts that I didn't notice that I was right in front of Ryou's room. I was about to go inside and lie down on his bed and when I noticed that the blankets on his bed were moving. There was also a small lump that was in the shape of a ball. My eyes scanned the whole bed and as I did, I saw a small strand of white hair sticking out of the top, on the pillow. I lifted up the blanket a little and peeked underneath it.

Ryou was sleeping peacefully. I didn't really want to wake him up for some reason, even though I always felt like it. I put the blanket back on his body and headed for the door. Before I did however, Iglanced at Ryou one last time and whispered,

"I will take care of you aibou. Forever."