Kari: Ahh sorry this is a tad late, I moved and got my internet disconnected smile but it's back, I'm back and here it is. Remember this is for Saak-chan and I think you all know the warnings and whatnot from here on in.

On with the story

Slowly Ryou began to adapt, everyday three times a day Yugi called him for his food, any other time he wasn't eating or sleeping he was either picking out his wardrobe, with help from Malik, or in the library- led by one of them. It was one of those days, his stomach pleasantly full and sitting in the chill of the library, his long black skirt folded under him and his eyes scanning over the pages of a huge ancient book. Malik sat in another chair a book open in front of him, purple eyes unfocused.

There was a small knock and Ryou looked towards the door; Mokuba walked in, graceful and a lot more adept at walking in the flowing gowns, then Ryou who was finally getting the hang of it. Ryou as totally shocked by the small smile that was gracing the small boys features, the cold, angry boy was smiling? He fairly bounced over to Malik who was looking at him amusedly.

"What's going on?"

"Guess!" Mokuba even giggled, further shocking Ryou who was now gaping at the small singer.

"Does it have to do with your brother?" Mokuba smiled wider.

"Nope"

"Hmmm…" Malik laughed while Mokuba beamed, his normally cool face lighted up with a radiant smile. "Is it Ryuuji-sama?" Mokuba squealed and laughed, his hands clasping in front of him. "I'll take that as a yes" Malik laughed at the other boy.

Ryou watched them interested, someone new? That was rare, he hadn't seen anybody beyond Malik, Yugi, Jou, and Mokuba; he hadn't even seen the one they call Master. Now Mokuba was acting strange, well strange for him, everything about this house was strange. He put down the book he was reading; his stomach telling him it was almost time for dinner. He wanted to ask, he really did, but he was scared that if he went out there or even said anything that Mokuba's smile would melt back into ice. So he stood there wondering if he should ask Yugi.

"I'm so exited," Mokuba squealed, his clear voice echoing off the huge caving roof of the library, bouncing off the walls and surrounding the room.

"That's good" Malik smiled, Ryuuji was coming back? That meant a lot to them who were still here, if one came back, what was to stop the others? Would it ever be like before? Could it? Mokuba seemed happy enough but he wasn't old enough to remember the good days, the better days, the best time of him life. Malik smiled wistfully, a time where he once enjoyed the freedom he had.

"Hello," Ryou said at long last deciding to come out of where he had been behind a row of books. Mokuba's gaze swept over him and Ryou was amazed to see that his happiness was reflected in thoes eyes making them seem electric; he was fairly crackling with energy. It was a beautiful sight and Ryou caught himself wondering if he looked as nice.

"Hello" Mokuba said back, smile not fading, and Ryou was happy, he felt that he had just made a small step in discovering the secret behind this weird place. Once he could call the people here his friends he was sure he could figure out this Master, and after that he could figure out why he was here.

"You hungry?" Mokuba asked, looking at a huge ticking grandfather clock on one wall.

"Yes,"

"Good, follow me" Mokuba stood up again and walked toward the door, "Bye Malik" Ryou followed the raven haired boy and waved at Malik who waved back, a weird look in his eyes.

Once they were in the halls Ryou started to feel uncomfortable, Mokuba wasn't talking to him, maybe he hadn't made any progress at all. He still couldn't figure out why Mokuba didn't like him. Was it Master? Ryou chewed his lip.

"So who is Ryuuji?" Ryou surprised himself by asking, Mokuba stopped and turned, Ryou was scared that he had angered the boy. But when he turned all he could see in Mokuba's face was that same look that he had seen on the others.

Mokuba almost smiled to himself, his own private little joke; Ryuuji… it had been a while hadn't it? Ryuuji, green eyes smiled at him in his mind, oh his Ryuuji, sweet sweet bloody Ryuuji. That was still one of his fondest memories, the day he had first seen Ryuuji.

He had been so scared when he woke up all alone, he had fled his room, he flew through the halls, echoes chasing him, shadows biting at his heels. He was so dizzy, the world titled and the shadows still came. The large halls tried their hardest to swallow him and juts when he thought they were going to he came across a door, it was a huge door. Slowly he touched the handle the metal had been so cold it burned his skin. He pulled open the heavy door, and what he saw on the other side had impressed itself on his memory for the rest of his life. The walls themselves seemed to be painted with dripping blood, the floor slick with dark red, the coppery smell of death in the very air, Mokuba felt his stomach lurch…

Ryou finally placed that look, it was the look of a person lost in their past. A person who had immersed themselves in times past; clutching desperately at memories that would not leave them to the present. Ryou who had no memory past the last week wondered if he were better off without them. He looked at Mokuba, his eyes had that look in them, his face graced with a soft smile, he looked almost innocent, like a child that his body represented, if it weren't for the slightly insane gleam that hid behind the liquid blue of his eyes Ryou would have believed that this person was no older then fourteen or so.

"Ryuuji is," Mokuba's voice was soft and startled Ryou out of his thoughts, "Ryuuji is, my demon" Mokuba smiled at that. He then smiled at Ryou and started walking down the hall again. Ryou thought about that, and decided that there was not a single sane person in this whole house.

Yugi was waiting where he always was with the plate of steaming food, it was beyond Ryou how the food was always warm and yet there seemed to be not a trace of heat in the rest of the house. He shook his head said his farewells to Mokuba and went to eat his food.

When he was done his meal he looked up at Yugi.

"Say Yugi, who is Ryuuji?" Yugi seemed a bit shocked by the statement, he looked at Ryou quizzically, it made his cheeks burn. Finally he decided to answer the question,

"Ryuuji…" Yugi was wondering where Ryou had heard that name, it had been a while since Ryuuji left, they all left after a while, back out there to the chaos. "Ryuuji used to be here and serve Master, he left…" Yugi paused, he didn't want to give away much that would be breaking rules, "Ryuuji and Mokuba were close, very close" Yugi smiled wistfully, the hell those two used to raise… "Why do you ask?"

"Mokuba said he was coming back" Ryou watched Yugi reaction with interest, Yugi looked shocked.

"Oh," he said after a long while, back? At least he is safe, the others? "That's wonderful" Yugi seemed rather happy, he leapt off his chair and came and collected his plates, "you should get ready for bed." Yugi smiled and waved, his thoughts elsewhere.

Ryou was left all alone in his room, he looked around, he wasn't left alone very often but when he was it made his shiver; he closed the door after Yugi and decided to take a bath before he went to sleep.

After his bath he was revitalized with heat that was leeched form him by a day of walking around and living in the perpetually cold house. He lay down on the couch in his room, sighing letting his wet hair fall around him. He slung on pale limb over his face, silk robe brushed against his warm skin and slithered over his body. He would just sit here for a couple of minutes…

Ryou fell asleep before he finished the thought, out from the shadows a figure emerged, his spiky white hair ruffling lightly with the movement. Dark brown almost red eyes covered the soft sleeping face of his guest. Bakura looked at him, he picked him up and brought him back to his own room, placing him under the curtains of the bed, he smiled and closed the curtains around the boy cutting him off from the rest of the room. Being in the bed was almost similar to being in the house, from outside you could see it but it was akin to another dimension, it was there but you couldn't touch it. Only the chosen could enter the lair of the dark beast. Those who lived there served him, in return he gave them the ultimate, as long as they shared his blood he granted them death, a place in the halls of the dead, but the death was so swift they didn't decompose, they didn't rejoin the earth like all others. Instead they were caught in the state of living death; in order to survive they absorbed the blood of others, fuelling their own hellish half-life.

Here on his bed a being of the light lay, he had been chosen, all that needed to be done was to bring him to the end, bring him to where the light touches the darkness, where he could see the other side but not touch it, and they couldn't touch him. Here in the shadows of the moon they existed, creatures that shouldn't exist, made of pure erotic fantasy, never to be touched by the light of truth. Ryou moaned and sat up,

"Hello?" Ryou was confused, he could see the blurry outline of his surroundings through the soft curtain of the bed but could see nothing more, he reached out for the curtain to move it away when a deep voice stopped him.

"Leave it" Ryou did as it commanded, that voice was full of power, that voice controlled him as if he were a puppet, his hand rested at his side. The acoustics of the room made it impossible to figure out where the voice came form, it sounded right beside him and far far away all at once.

"Who are you?" Ryou called out softly, wondering what he was doing here, not able for the life of him to figure out how he got here.

"I am death" Ryou shuddered violently, the energy behind that voice, he could feel it surrounding him, crawling under his skin, forcing itself into his brain and nesting there, it was scary. He closed his eyes, suddenly afraid, if his voice did that what kind of man was this?

"Do not fear me," still powerful, but soft, soft somehow like a caress, like the wind playing through his hair. "I will not hurt you, here you are safe" Ryou sat on the pillows, his knees up to his chest, he didn't know what to say, he couldn't understand what he felt this way. It was like he couldn't control his emotions, it was like he was being forced to dance like a puppet stuck on the stings controlled by a sadistic master.

"I know," he said at long last, and to a certain degree he believed it, he wasn't about to get hurt, it looked like death only came to talk tonight.

"Let me play for you," and suddenly the room exploded with the shrill sounds of a violin, the distorted noise was over powering it sounded like millions of birds all crying as once. It was chaos in its purest form. Ryou couldn't tear his attention away, it wasn't painful, only different it was something he had not felt before, chaos was something he was not familiar with, here there was only order. He shut his eyes feeling the sound carry him away far away to a time forgotten, deeply buried in his mind. A time where he had been chaos, surrounded by voices, noises that didn't make sense, people who didn't make sense. Violence, crime, anger, all things that were mixed together, made sharper under the stark light of day. Under it all he detected a small melody, the smallest possible of hopes, for whenever the light comes it will soon be followed by the night where everything is muted and it is possible for a few hours to forget the pain day brings. For a few hours everyone is free to forget, to lose themselves in the dreams the moon brings, each one a shining star.

The music had changed, now it was smooth, beautiful, filled with calm and order, here in the night everything was going to be just fine, until the cold harsh morning.

Elsewhere in the house, four people sat, each lost in their own thoughts, silently listening to the soundtrack to their lives spilling out from the Mater's room. And in the shadow of the night they cried, sin leaving as softly as it crept in, it hurt to be reminded of what you were, and of what you used to be.

Kari: done!