This chapter is a bit short... but I like where I left it... so bare with everyone else while I plan the next chapter. School got out today, if you're lucky I may update twice tomorrow and multiple times a day. Prepare for this to end Christmas... fanfic time, not necessarily... real world Christmas time.

Fingers twirled Bakura's snowy white locks into wisps. More than anything, the one thing Bakura hated the most was complete and utter loss of control. He didn't mind not having control of himself - sadistic urges to murder people was fine. However when someone else had control of him, then he became the closest to being scared as he'd ever been in his lifetime. This and his disdain for people with such egotism like the pharaoh and Seth lead him to something known as deophobia. Deophobia is a cross between the Latin roots of deity and fear, thus, fear of deities... for most people this would pertain only to people who had governmental jobs where the FBI was breathing down their necks, or overly religious people whom were afraid of pissing off their God. But to Bakura and his slight case of deophobia, the deity was pharaoh, and back in Ancient Egypt any reigning pharaoh was at the very lest a demi-god if not more.

And though Bakura didn't believe in such shit, he knew very well the familiar magical powers emanating from the so-called demi-god that was restraining him. Ignoring things the best he could, he mused over if he could yell for Ryou's attention. Oh, he suddenly realized, why yell when I can just use the mind link...

However at this moment while pharaoh's fingers were tracing circles on his thigh and he was biting gently on Bakura's left ear, sanity was ebbing away from Bakura. And he still felt virtually paralyzed, and pushing him away would only anger him. Overthinking things, Bakura noted, was a problem he had developed.

Pharaoh moved away from Bakura's ear and blew cold air at the wet ear. Bakura shivered involuntarily.

"Oh you like that do you...?"

"No!!"

Then with every fleeting attempt he could muster, Bakura struggled, weakly lifted his heavy arms and pushed the tri-colored deity away. This was ineffective and Pharaoh laughed again lay dominant over Bakura, nose to nose with the former thief.

"Come on now, play fair..."

"This is hardly fair you sick bastard!"

The king of games smirked and pressed his mouth against Bakura and fought his way inside. Much to his displeasure, Bakura didn't struggle. Perhaps, the former pharaoh thought, he was holding Bakura back too much and he knew there was nothing he could do. In the end, there really wasn't, truth be told now, but... It was so much more fun to lead him along and play with his head. Toying with Bakura was so amusing for him, he mused, why had he not figured his out sooner? He suckled Bakura's tongue and pulled on it possessively, making Bakura wince.

Bakura tried the mind link for the third time now, and it still wasn't working, and now that pharaoh's mouth was locked on his he suddenly felt warm and his brain was working over time. How long had it been since thelast time...? Bakura mentally shook himself, he didn't even want a this time - why remember last time?! Suddenly he felt his strength coming back as pharaoh pulled away from what he considered a kiss. More like a painful tug of war for the victim and the fragile parts of his mouth that kept his tongue where it was supposed to be - attached.

Pharaoh, now satisfied, rolled off Bakura's lithe frame and headed to the door. Bakura, all energy and self-control given back, he lunged towards Yami - and the door, pinning pharaoh to it.

"Leave me alone hell alone, pharaoh!" Bakura sneered, "Or else I'll go find Malik's darkside in a heartbeat and -"

"And do what? I have a feeling you won't be bothering my host or any of his friends," he lifted Bakura's chin with his hand, "Your precious host is friends with Yuugi. If I were you, I'd be very careful about what you do so long as you remember to keep Ryou in mind... I'm watching you, kitten."

Yami dropped Bakura's chin and opened the door handle and it swung open and moved him along with it and out of Bakura's pin to the wall, and he easily slipped under his arm and walked casually downstairs to meet his lighter half.

Yuugi's eyes lit up when Yami finally showed up again, perfectly unharmed. The leather bound darker half with a buckle fetish was in almost every way, Yuugi's role model. How very soon that would end, Ryou imagined, if he knew Yami's secrets.

Bakura, messier hair than normal showed up right behind Yami, perfectly unharmed, it seemed, as well. Ryou smiled expectantly, but Bakura only grunted in response.

"Okay you can get the fuck out of my house now."

"Heh," Yami smirked down over at Bakura who's arms were crossed as he leaned back in the chair at the breakfast table, his feet propped up on it. Yami turned to Yuugi, "Let's go then aibou, winter break starts on Tuesday, best if we get home so you can study for the last test at school."

"Mhmm!" Yuugi nodded, "You had better study too, Ryou. I'll see you at school tomorrow, then."

Ryou nodded, but was already concerned about Bakura's well-being. Though he had been at first relieved that neither Yami or Bakura were seriously injured, he began to think emotional scars had reopened and ran deep. But he smiled and Yuugi and nodded.

"See you tomorrow, Yuugi! Tell the others I said hello!"

Yami gave one last glance at Bakura, whom was fiddling with the Millennium Ring and lost in his own thoughts. Yami was curious as to what he was thinking, as usual, but he knew he had won the first battle of many. His expression visually succumbing to the thoughts of his plans, he wondered how much longer until Bakura crossed the line he was waiting for. Because then, the real fun would start.

And then the expression disappeared and he again turned to Yuugi, "Let's go then, aibou."

Yami then disappeared to the Millennium Puzzle and Yuugi put on his boots and coat again as he left. As soon as the duet had left, Ryou turned to Bakura instantly and placed a hand on his shoulder.

"...May I ask what happened?"

"...Mrrghhrr..grr," was the fuzzy incoherent response Bakura mumbled, which thenbecame a louder different train of thought all together, "I'm cold Ryou, I'm going back up stairs..."

Bakura got up and stopped on the first step, "Come on too, Ryou... If you want to know what happened..."

Ryou nodded and followed up to Bakura, and to his surprise, Bakura pulled his arm around Ryou's waist on top of his fluffy wool sweater and pulled him close into a simple hug. Bakura didn't move to pull Ryou upstairs and just clung to the boy. Ryou put his arms around Bakura and rested his head to one side on Bakura's shoulder.

"What's wrong..? Bakura, please tell me..."

"Just keep Yami away from me..."

"I fear the worst now that you've said that, you know.What did you guys do? Did he hurt you?"

Ryou pulled back and looked into Bakura's eyes, which, for once, actually seemed normal instead of demon possessed and crazed. In fact, he looked sad, and this look, especially from someone who's never let his guard down, was so soul shatteringly sad for Ryou to look at.

"Bakura... please, tell me what's wrong..."

"...the worst hasn't happened yet... it will only get worse from here on out..."

He closed his eyes and finally pulled away and tugged Ryou by the hand upstairs, "Come on, I need to talk to you about... about a few things."

If you all don't mind a slightly OOC Baku in the next chapter, he's going to get a bit emotional about a few things... like explaining Kruelna to Ryou. And other events he doesn't want to remember but needs to get out of his system so he feels better. Poor Baku... -hands out candy canes and mallets to everyone- (Use mallet on Yami if you wish, candy cane is for you to eat while waiting for next chappie.)