Chapter one: Prolog

Warnings: Extreme drug use, eventual rape, and abuse.

"Please state your name."

"Um...Ryou Bakura."

"And where were you last night, Bakura?"

"Don't call me that."

"What?" Slight confusion.

"Bakura...that's his name...not mine."

"Okay, Ryou, where were you last night at 7:00?"

"With my friends."

"What friends Ryou." The man sighed, watching the black haired boy squirmed in his seat, eyes darting from person to person.

"Wayyet, Yuki, Haru, Chia, everyone." Ryou said, looking up with pleading eyes, they had no effect on the man, for they were empty and blood shot.

"What were you doing?"

"Just hanging out." Ryou fidgeted with a bracelet on his arm, this was bad.

"What else Ryou, we're not playing games son, if you tell us we'll let you off easy. We found it all...the speed, inhalants, alcohol, marijuana, heroin, crack."

"Then why are you asking me?"

"Because we want to help you Ryou, we want to make you better."

"I'm fine."

"You're an addict, and it isn't your fault." The man sighed again, looking at the boy with the cheap hair dye and torn cloths.

"Why do you say that, I choose to do drugs didn't I, so it's my fault."

"Yuki told us."

"He did?" Ryou sounded skeptical, "Why would he do that?" He rubbed his arm again, trying to hide it slightly. "What did he tell you?"

"He told us about what happened...how he held you down, stuck a hypodermic needle in your arm."

Ryou's eyes darted around the room again, looking for an escape. "I need to use the bathroom." He muttered.

"Not tell we're done here, not tell you talk to us."

"I won't tell you anything until you let me use the bathroom." It was no longer the fact he had to go, he just couldn't loose this.

The man sighed, nodding to the guard by the door. Ryou stood up, trying to push his chair in, but found it was screwed to the cement floor. He bit his lip, breathing deeply and turning...he had to push it it..but he could...he could. The guard to him by the upper arm, opening the door and leading him down the empty white spotless halls. He unlocked the bathroom door, shoving Ryou in and closing the door. Ryou looked from the urinal to the guard.

"I have to go number two." He raised his eyebrows.

"And?" The guard asked, watching him closely.

"I can't go while you watch." He sighed; bit his lip, and looking up at the guard.

"I can't do that."

"Watch me? I know...leave."

"I can't leave."

"It's not like I have anything on on they did a full cavity search...you know what that is right...it's where they look up your-"

The guard cut his off and Ryou managed to grin slightly. "I know what it is."

"Then can you wait out side?" Ryou pleaded...he really wasn't going to go if that man was staring at him. "Please?" He pleaded, genuine for once.

The guard sighed. "Take more than five minutes and I'm coming in."

Ryou nodded, and the guard turned, going out side and shutting the door. Ryou sighed in relief...his mind drifting back to the chair, then snapping to here and now. He didn't really have to go. He looked at the toilet and shrugged, crouching down in front of it. He stuck his pointer and middle finger in his throat, causing his to gage and cough, eventually he got the desired effect, and bile rose from his stomach, and into to toilet. He shuttered at the acid flavor in his mouth and flushed the toilet. He hadn't had much to eat that day, but now it was all rushing down the toilet, just like yesterdays meal, and the day be fore's.

He crossed to the sink, looking in the mirror as he turned to spit to warm. The reflection in the mirror was not him. In the mirror he saw himself, yes, but it was a small meek, black haired bow with gaunt cheek bones, and sunken eyes, covered with black makeup. He bent down into the sink; splashing water onto his face and watching the black makeup run down his sink, mixing with the rust ring around the plug before continuing on its journey to the U bend. He turned to hot off, then the cold on, cupping his hands and drinking the water that spilt into them. He swirled it around it his mouth, then spat into the sink...the acid flavor gone.

He whipped his face with the back of his arm, walking to the door and outside. The guard looked down at him and frowned. "Done?"

"Yeah." Ryou said quietly, letting the guard lead him back to the room they were in before. The guard closed the door again, letting Ryou sit down in his old chair across from the officer.

"Better? Ready to talk to me?"

Ryou shrugged, looking down at his hands. "Sure, what do you want to know?"

The officer smiled slightly. "First I want to make sure that you don't get any charges pressed against you...did you willingly do any of the drugs that they gave you?"

Ryou looked at him like he was crazy. "Not at first...at first it was all a second hand high, or because they through it was funny. They liked to see me wig out when they put a pill in my food, or though It was funny when I'd pass out from something. And never the needles...I had needles."

"So eventually what happened?' The officer asked, looking at him with pity.

Ryou hated being pitied, sympathy he could take but not pity. "Eventually what happened? You don't live in a drug din and not get addicted."

"So you did drugs freely after a while?"

"The coke, and inhalants yeah...but not heroin or pills-or the X. I did some marijuana, and smoked a cig or two. But I hate needles, I get asthma real easy from smoke, just didn't like X and pill's scar the crap out of me." Ryou shrugged.

"I see...so you willingly used drugs?"

"I lived in a drug din...what do you think?"

"Why did you start living with them?"

Ryou paused, then begin to talk. "I lived alone; my father doesn't like to be home...I remind him of my mother who died a few years ago-cancer. I was relatively new, we moved here from a small town in England, and the friends I had were constantly walking on egg shells around me because of him-but I'll tell you about him later. Summer came around and dad called to say he couldn't make it home, my friends went off on one of their trips they take so often. That left me home alone in Domino with nothing to do-"

He was rudely cut off by the officer. "So you got into drugs?"

Ryou glared at him, "Oh yes, I was bored so I decided to do something that I despised. Of course no. It wasn't that easy. I don't know where I met them...maybe it was a the arcade, or the movies...they seemed to be everywhere. But that's what they did, they scoped out kids that looked good and were in the same places at the same time...

'Ryou' Ryou turned to see the taller boy waving at him through the crowd of people, Ryou smiled and waved back, a bit of popcorn fill out of the bag tucked in his arm.

'Yuki! Hey! What's up?' Ryou grinned, fighting his way towards the other.

Yuki shrugged, tossing his black hair from his eyes and grinning, his fingernail's-painted black-came up to tuck the hair behind a multi pierced ear. 'Not much, seeing a movie, you?'

'Same, what movie?' Ryou grinned, walking with him to get out of the way of the people. His snow white hair fell over the shoulders of his green sweater.

'I dunno...what are you seeing?' He smiled, his green eyes flashing with glee inside the heavy black eyeliner.

Ryou flashed his movie ticket. 'It suppose to be good.'

Yuki shrugged. 'Haven't seen it yet, sounds good though, mind if I join you?'

'But what about the movie you paid for?' Ryou asked his brown eyes wide.

'Oh, come on, everyone sneaks in.' Yuki laughed, putting an arm around Ryou, 'Let's go to the movies, let's go to the movies!' He whispered huskily in Ryou's ear in a sing song voice.

Ryou grinned, blushing slightly, he swatted Yuki's arm away. 'Stop that.' He muttered, cleaning out the inside of his ear with one finger.

"...we went to the movies, it was fun, he made me laugh, acted like a real friend."

"But?"

Ryou glared. "I was getting to that, this is a complicated story." He frowned, collecting his thoughts, "So after the movies...

'Like the movie?' Yuki asked, ruffling Ryou's snowy white hair.

'Yeah it was cool, you?'

'Yeah, good car chases, hot chicks, where could we go wrong?' He laughed, and Ryou laughed with him.

They walked out of the theaters. 'Which way you headed?' Yuki asked, 'Or are one of you're folks picking you up?'

'Gnaw, I'm walking, down 5th street, you?'

'Not sure...want to go by the arcade, I got a friend there who's trying to break 'SK's' record.' Yugi offered, tucking a hand into the pocket of his black dickeys.

Ryou laughed, knowing it would be unlikely anyone-except maybe Yugi or Joey-could beat Seto Kaiba's record at the arcade. But still he nodded. 'Yeah, sounds like a party.'

They walked down the street from the theaters, crossing the road and down to main street Domino. Yuki grinned, 'straightening' his loose black and purple striped tie as two girls walked by. 'Look alive buddy.' He muttered.

Ryou looked up and laughed a bit. 'Yuki if you keep messing with that thing around your neck you might be in danger of wearing it right.'

Yuki looked scandalized for a monument, then turned to the girl he had been looking at a monument before. 'What's cook'en good looking?.' He grinned, going to stand in between the two blonds.

'Um, do I know you?' the first girl asked, looking at him skeptically.

Yuki looked hurt. 'We both met in heaven, remember?'

Ryou hid a giggle as he shook his head, the first girl looked at his for a monument, then at her friend, they both broke into giggles.

Yuki laughed too 'No but seriously, I've got PE with you.'

The girl smiled, not wanting to be rude she smiled. 'Oh yeah huh. Sorry, everyone looks different when they aren't in school uniform.' She turned to look at Ryou. 'Bakura right?'

'Uh, Ryou, yeah.'

'I've seen you around, course you're got that tight hair, so how could I not remember you?' She smiled and her friend whispered something. The first girl nodded.

Yuki seemed to be trying to get attention back on himself/ "So, where you ladies headed?'

'None of your business, freak.' The second girl shot. 'And I thought you were weird in school.'

The first girl laughed, and they started to walk off, Ryou shrugged, walking next to Yuki. 'Better luck next time.'

'Eh, they were both fake blonds anyway.' He shrugged, turning to go.

Ryou started to follow, but the girl's voice yelled out his name. 'Hey Bakura!'

Ryou turned. 'It's Ryou...actually...I got by my first name." Ryou yelled back.

'Why are you hanging out with a looser like that anyway?! All he'll do is get you in shit!' She gave him a quick look, then turned to go.

Ryou frowned, watching her go, then shook his head. What did she know? He ran to catch up with Yuki.

'What that whore want.'

'Oh...' Ryou shrugged, 'Chem. homework.'

'Ah.' They were silent for a few minutes, before Ryou asked.

'Hey Yuki,'

'Yeah?'

'Do you go to Domino high?'

'Na, dropped out when I was a freshmen.'

'Oh...then how did you know that that girl took PE-it's only a required class for freshmen, and she's a junior?' Ryou frowned.

Yuki shrugged, 'I dunno...I just know people...she seemed like the sporty type.'

"...Scary thing is? Yuki really does know people...all the time I hung out with him, he could read people like a book—then again, they could read him the same way...I guess I was the only one who couldn't see what a bastard he was." Ryou sighed. "So the whole summer I spent hanging out with Yuki and his friends, they all dressed cool, they talked cool, they were confident and seemed smart. I don't know. When school started up again I had already started to dress like them, talk like them. I found cloths on the weekends, and wore them under my uniform, started wearing eye shadow. I wanted so much to be like them.

"I barely hung out with my old friends anymore, but it hurt to see that they didn't really notice. My dad still hadn't come home...and he was getting more violent—but I could live with it from him...I've always lived with the bloody noses and the black eyes. So I guess I got kinda sad, and Yuki was there, he told me it would be okay and that I shouldn't care about my good for nothing dad, and that my friends weren't real friends if they ignored me.

"When my dad did come home, he blew his top about my new wardrobe and things like a stain in the living room. He spent the next few weeks yelling at me for this or that. I just couldn't take it anymore. So yYuki came over one day, I guess my dad must have gotten really drunk or was mad or something, because when Yuki walked in the he'd hit me—blood was streaming down my face—then he pushed past Yuki and left. Yuki picked me up off the floor and whipped the blood off my face. He frowned, then told me of this place on the other side of town...

'It's kind'a like in peter pan, you know no grown ups? I live there with my friends, you could stay for a while...I think you'd like it. We have ways to help you escape. Our own Never Never Land.'