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Ryou awoke the next morning aching all over he remembered the night before, scaring himself, he held tighter to what he thought was Bakura's body when he looked down and saw he was only holding a pillow his eyes widened
/'Kura! / He cried into the link not knowing where the older spirit was. Bakura immediately appeared next to him looking slightly sleepy but carrying a large dagger. Ryou saw the dagger and his eyes widened even more; maybe it had all just been a dream, if that was true Bakura was probably about to kill him for waking him up.
He squeaked and sat up completely ignoring his cuts which by now had been torn open so many times he possibly would gain worse scars from them; Bakura looked down at him who eeped and scrambled backwards, away from what he thought was an angry Bakura unfortunately he fell off the bed landing on the floor with shriek of pain Bakura set his knife down on the bedside table and rushed to the other side of the bed. Ryou had curled himself into a ball with his hands over his head, crying, he had curled himself into the corner that the bed and the side table made
"I'm sorry I'm sorry, I won't wake you up again but don't kill me!" he sobbed casting himself whimpering at Bakura's feet; making the pain he felt known with a loud whimper, since he knew Bakura liked it. Bakura knelt down looking sadly at his poor hikari
'he thinks it was a dream,' Bakura thought looking back over the bed at his forgotten dagger he always slept with it under his pillow a habit that he had carried with him for thousands of years even though he had no unexpected visitors to his ring. He gently put his hand under Ryou's chin said person cringing as he thought of what Bakura could do he could simply snap his neck or strangle him; Bakura lifted Ryou's head with his finger tips barely brushing Ryou's skin. His hikari was trying to keep his throat away from his hand and was unintentionally sitting up on his knees.
"Open your eyes little one," he said once he had finally lead Ryou up till he was face to face with him literally, he leaned down till his forehead was touching Ryou's. The younger opened his eyes, slowly, they rotated to focus in on Bakura's dark brown eyes he recoiled slightly but Bakura caught him lightly picking him up
"B-Bakura?" he said surprised at his yami's affection
"It's okay your safe with me," he whispered in his ear setting him back on the bed Ryou looked back at the dagger Bakura had set down, it disappeared before his eyes and he felt a weight next to him and looked back to see Bakura sitting next to him
"You okay?" he said forgetting about himself, the bleeding wreck that he was.
"Yes, I'm fine," Bakura replied putting an arm around Ryou
'well here goes nothing take a dive and hope you don't hit a rock,' Bakura thought and he leaned down and placed a kiss right on the lips Ryou's eye's widened at the contact but he leaned into it slightly quickly pulling back before he could sink into it. Ryou turned away from Bakura who could see his hikari's neck and ears starting to turn pink
/no, I can't,/ Bakura heard quietly over the link a private though gone loose
"What's wrong Ryou?" he asked slightly confused
"I can't do it again I can't stand to go through it again," Ryou said turning around tears pricking at his eyes
"Go through what little one?" Bakura asked wrapping his arms around Ryou
"I'll allow you to see why; it happened a year ago, please don't make me talk about it," he said his voice cracking Bakura was confused but closed his eyes anyway touching Ryou's forehead.
It was a different matter when it came to seeing a person's thoughts while they were awake while you are asleep the mind is as open as a book, reviewing the things it's seen through out the day when the mind is awake it's constantly writing things down in that mental book and it makes it harder to look back at earlier pages.
Bakura focused in on the thought that Ryou pried out of the tattered book of his mind if it had really looked like a page he would have guessed that it would look brand new at the top and blood splattered at the bottom.
Ryou's memory (again through Bakura's eyes)
Bakura looked on at a couple sitting at the edge of a pond at the park; one was an older boy that looked to be around the age of sixteen the other was a slightly younger less battered looking version of his Ryou the two were sitting there locked at the lips they looked like they were in love their hands were entwined and both were kissing passionately they broke for air Ryou's face was pink, blushing even though the sunset's colors covered it well.
"I love you," they both said at the same time both smiling as Ryou placed a small kiss on the older boy's lips before backing away slightly again and cuddling up to him
"I never thought I'd meet someone who cared about me," he said
"Ry-Ry you know I will always be there for you," the older said "that is why I am going to do this-" he said getting off the bench they were sitting on and kneeling in front of Ryou he fumbled with something in his pocket and producing a small ring
"Will you, Ryou, take this ring as a proposal of marriage?" Ryou's eyes widened considerably before he said his answer
"Yes! Oh yes! I accept Hiroshi!"
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"I don't understand what's wrong?" Bakura said his eye's still closed keeping the link strong
"Keep going," Ryou replied his breathing was up slightly
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Ryou was standing in the middle of the sidewalk it was sunset again and he had a bloody lip, this time Hiroshi was standing over him holding his wrist
"I can't believe it you cost me my popularity you little twerp," he yanked the ring off Ryou's finger with enough force to probably dislocate his finger Ryou let out a cry of pain as Hiroshi shoved Ryou away the smaller stumbling back and falling catching himself with his hands but scraping up his palms in the process.
"H-Hiroshi I thought you loved me," he cried weakly.
"Pft, not at the cost of my reputation I don't," he said turning and walking off "I can't believe I was stupid enough to ask you to marry me!"
"Hiroshi! Hiroshi, no, please come back!!" Ryou cried after him cradling his hand gently. After that Ryou started to walk home and everything went dark; Bakura opened his eyes.
End memories
Ryou had tears running down his face
"Oh Ryou," Bakura said putting his arms around him and embracing him.
"It hurt 'Kura," he said his breathing going down
"I thought I found someone who loved me but they ended up breaking my heart and when I got home was when my dad r-raped me," he said stumbling over the one word,
"He knew I was about to be married because I had actually fought against him to keep my ring," he said his voice cracking as he held back tears
"That's why he did it then? Because that 'Hiroshi' turned you away!" he said slightly angered; Ryou should have been able to seek comfort in his father not a beating for a broken heart.
"Ryou, its all right I would never think of doing that to you; I have no reputation to lose and only your love to gain," Bakura said trying to sound at least a little romantic
"You won't?" Ryou said looking up at him through teary eyes
"Iie aishiteru," Bakura whispered to him using Ryou's language to seal it as he kissed him just below the ear, a very sensitive spot.
"Thank you Bakura please don't break my heart again," he said as he kissed him on the lips this time sinking into it. Bakura felt that Ryou wanted to take it a little deeper and lightly brushed Ryou's bottom lip with the tip of his tongue and he opened his mouth slightly in response
/'Kura, this feels good,/ he said into the link as Bakura's tongue explored his mouth. They broke for air soon, though, Bakura licking his lips, savoring the flavor he got from Ryou, who tasted like honey to him. Ryou leaned up again and gave Bakura another sweet kiss before backing away Bakura wrapped his arms around Ryou who rested his head on his shoulder. Bakura noticed something, his hikari's bandages were now soaked and needed changing, he crooked a smile as he though about being able to help him heal better with his own remedy, he just needed some things from the kitchen.
"Ryou?" he asked wondering if the little one had fallen asleep
"Hmm," was Ryou's only response.
"I need to change your bandages, can you stand to wait for me while I get the things for you?" he asked gently removing the small hikari from his shoulder Ryou nodded slightly as Bakura laid him down propping him up with pillows and covering him to the stomach with the sheets making him a comfy as possible. He left not wishing to leave Ryou's side, but finding it necessary, he hurried off to the kitchen.
He found it and much to his dislike Kaiba was there too; he looked up from the morning paper at him grunting slightly to show he was aware he was there. Bakura set out raiding the kitchen looking for the items he needed a couple of familiar things, a certain fruit, some vegetables, and oils before he set out back upstairs with the armload of things; everything else he would need would be in the bathroom.
Bakura got back to Ryou's bedroom Ryou looking curiously at him as he entered and set his things down on the floor next to the bed and darted to the bathroom for bandages and some lotion. Bakura returned and sat down on the floor starting to prepare his odd concoction for his hikari the final product ended up looking like a very lotion-like substance that look quite like guacamole which he mixed together with the anti-bacterial. He set it down and stood up next to the bed Ryou watched him the entire time wondering what on earth he was planning on doing with the stuff;
"Well Ryou are you ready for me to change your bandages?" he asked kindly Ryou looked up and nodded to him
"okay then I will have to move you off the bed," he said as he gently scooped Ryou up in his arms he put down a couple pillows down for his comfort and he carefully started to unwrap the bandages that almost covered his torso. Bakura gave Ryou a sad look as he saw the state of his wounds they looked like they had tried to heal but Ryou kept moving so they kept reopening Bakura left the smaller laying stomach down to get a sponge and water it seemed his hikari was hurt worse than he thought.
"Ryou; are you feeling okay? Does this hurt at all?" Bakura asked him sitting next to him on the floor and dabbing at his back
"iie 'Kura it feels good," he purred out it really did feel good Bakura was being as gentle at a lion handling a cub.
"well I'm very sorry for spoiling the good feeling but this is going to start to sting a bit," he said dipping two fingers into the green lotion he'd made earlier he started to run them up and down Ryou's back a noticing the poor boy's muscles tensing up as he ran them up and down and across the two long cuts on his back getting a thin layer of the stuff on him
"'Kura it stings," he said hissing slightly
"I'm sorry my hikari but it helps to heal faster and numb the pain," he said finishing his back he slowly brought Ryou up onto his knees and repeated the process with his stomach before wrapping a clean bandage around him covering the green stuff and pressing it deeper into the cuts making Ryou hiss loudly.
"When will it stop stinging?" he whispered
"just give it a second and it'll start to feel numb," Bakura replied very carefully starting to unwrap the more sensitive cuts on his arms thankfully these ones hadn't been moved too much so they were on their way to healing. Bakura spread a little of the lotion there not much though and rewrapped his arms and Bakura heard a sigh
"Let me guess it finally stopped stinging?" Bakura said gently kissing him below the ear
"H-hai," Ryou said leaning back into the older spirit
"Thank you Bakura, what was that stuff?" he asked curiously. Bakura smiled and chuckled a little at his hikari's curiosity
"Something I used to mix up and put on way back when the high priest would whip me," he said
"It makes the scars less visible," he said putting his arms around his waist. Ryou relaxed even further into Bakura when he started to emit a purring-like noise
"Bakura you really do love me don't you?" he asked his eyes closed comfortable as Bakura held him
"With every fiber of my being," he replied using that ages old way of saying how much he loved him. Ryou simply smiled turning his head slightly to kiss Bakura on the cheek
"I love you too 'Kura," he whispered.
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Iie aishiteru No, I love you
Hai Yes
Gruzzee: awwww I must admit that was cute they both now they love each other and Bakura helped Ryou out with his cuts.
Cazi: you finally went easy on him now where's that lemon? ((evil little grin))
Gruzzee: not now! Ryou's still hurt you knuckle head ((wops Cazi)) and readers please R&R