We'll Be There
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Part VI
"What do you want, Kaiba?" Ryou demanded.
"I want to know what the hell you were thinking, instigating a fight with the Pharaoh in school," Kaiba responded bitterly. "You know, you're lucky Mr. High and Mighty also happens to be righteous and just, or you would've have gotten yourself a one-way ticket stamped for the Shadow Realm."
"Yeah, lucky me," Ryou replied, his voice acidic. He squirmed against Jonouchi's grasp once again, but to no avail. "Let go of me, imbecile!"
"Release him," Kaiba ordered.
"Who are you to boss me around, Moneybags?" Jonouchi retorted.
"I'll just have to show everyone that nice picture I've got of you in a doggy suit…a gift from Otogi."
Jonouchi gulped and immediately let go of Ryou.
"Ryou, what's been up with you lately?" Yugi asked suddenly. "You've been acting all strange."
"I'm fine," he said through clenched teeth.
"That sounded like what I tell Mokuba when he says that to me," Kaiba remarked. "I doubt you're fine, Ryou, at least in its traditional definition."
"Leave me alone, Kaiba," Ryou snarled. "I didn't ask for your help."
"Yet you still want it."
"How the hell would you know that?"
"Because I've been in your position before."
Ryou shook his head and strode away.
"You can't run away forever, Ryou!" Kaiba shouted.
"I'm not running away from anything!" Ryou shrieked.
Yami, who had sprinted after Ryou, spoke breathlessly as he caught up. "Ryou, if you ever want to talk, we're here for you. All of us."
Ryou kept running.
He kept running until he reached his home.
He unlocked the door with his key, gasping for air.
"Bakura?" he shouted.
No answer.
Ryou hesitantly entered Bakura's room, only to find his yami curled up on the floor, right where he'd left him.
"Bakura, I'm home."
The white-haired boy looked up at Ryou with mournful, sunken eyes.
"Bakura, are you all right?"
Again, no response.
Why won't he speak to me?