'You can't be serious.' Ryou heard his yami shout from inside the soul room.

"I am serious." Ryou replied aloud, as he opened the door to his apartment, and pushed the wheelchair inside. "And you've been saying that since I left the store an hour ago!"

'That's because you can't be serious…' his yami repeated, for what must have been the ten thousandth time.

"You can't expect me to just have you laying around on my couch whenever you come out of your soul room."

'Why not?'

"Yami, I'm going to have you out of here and dueling by the end of the week!" Ryou announced proudly. "I'm going to prove to you that we can still lead a normal life, even after what happened. But you're going to have to trust me!"

Ryou heard his yami grumble. He twirled the millennium key around his finger before letting it crash onto the ring.

"Don't make me come in there." Ryou teased. "And don't make me force you out here! I know I can do it! Yugi's done it before! And so can I!"

Again, his yami grumbled.

"See?"

Ryou sat down comfortably in the wheelchair, and forced his yami out into his body.

"Hey!" Yami Bakura shouted, shaking the ring in his hands. "I wasn't ready!"

'I wonder if that was the face that Yami Yugi made when Yugi thrust him out to go on a date with Tea!' Ryou smiled from inside his soul room.

Yami Bakura grumbled again. He would have been angry, but there was something about his hikari's hopefulness that kept stopping that. He looked down at the wheelchair, and at his now useless legs. If Ryou believed in him that much, he at least owed his host a little compliance. Not much, he reasoned with himself, but at least a little.

'Now, put your hand on the wheels, and push yourself forward.' Ryou's voice rang through his head. 'One baby step at a time, figuratively speaking, of course.'

He looked at his hands. They were already gripping the wheels.

"Okay… I can do that…" he replied, a little unsure of himself. But fortunately for Yami Bakura, five thousand years inside the ring had not made him weak. And Ryou's upper body was a lot stronger than he assumed it would be. A few minutes later, and he was actually moving back and forth across Ryou's living room.

A few minutes, and a few bumps against the wall later, he had also figured out how to stop.

'That's good, yami!' Ryou cheered, and switched places with him again.

He paused for a minute, staying in the chair. His legs were still numb from his yami's control of the body.

'Are you allright?' Yami Bakura asked from inside his soul room.

"It's just a little numb, yami… give me a few minutes." Ryou replied.

'I told you this was a bad idea.'

"No, I'm fine!" Ryou insisted.

Suddenly, the doorbell rang. Ryou nearly fell out of the wheelchair. He turned towards the door, watching as the millennium ring started to jangle.

'The pharaoh.' Yami Bakura announced, annoyed. 'Of course…'

"Yami, I can't quite get up yet." Ryou responded.

'What do you want me to do about it?'

"Get the door!" Ryou insisted, and switched places again. Before Yami Bakura could protest, he found himself sitting in the wheelchair again, facing the closed door. The doorbell rang again.

"Bakura. Are you home?"

It was definitely the pharaoh's voice, not his hikari's.

'Get the door, please!' Ryou pleaded. 'I know you can do it!'

"Of course I can do it." Yami Bakura grunted back. "I just don't want to do it."

'Please?'

Yami Bakura grumbled, and rolled his eyes again. Inside his soul room, Ryou was probably pouting cutely.

"Oh, all right. If it will make you happy!" Yami Bakura turned the wheels, and slowly inched towards the door. He hadn't done anything that complicated in the wheelchair yet, and was just as unsure of himself as when he first appeared in it. "Coming!"

He reached out for the doorknob, and unlocked it. Slowly, wheeling backwards, he pulled the door open. Sure enough, the pharaoh was waiting behind the door. He was alone.

"To what do I owe this pleasurable visit?" Yami Bakura sneered at the pharaoh, who walked in without being invited.

"Just checking up on Ryou, tomb robber." Yami Yugi answered, with an equally snide tone, and continued walking. Suddenly, he stopped. "Tomb robber?"

He turned around sharply. His arch nemesis pushed the door closed, and folded his arms across his lap. The pharaoh cocked one eyebrow.

"Yes. It's me."

Yami Yugi studied the sight before him. The yami wasn't just out of his soul room, but he was sitting in Ryou's entryway… In a wheelchair!

"Was the millennium key enough of a bribe to get you out of your pity box?" the pharaoh quickly asserted, clearing the shock out of his head.

"The key had nothing to do with it, nimrod." Yami Bakura replied. "Well, it helped a little… but not how you think it did."

A spasm of pain slid down Bakura's body.

"Now… if you'll excuse me…" he closed his eyes, and Ryou appeared in his place.

"Sorry…" Ryou addressed the pharaoh. "I guess that was a little much for him… It was a little much for myself too… You see… a lot of the symptoms linger for a bit after he gives me back control."

The pharaoh sat down on the couch.

"You mean, he just gave you back control? Freely?"

"Well, I could feel he was having trouble breathing, so we switched back. I just asked him to." Ryou responded. "I haven't started on the medication yet. So we have to be careful."

"Medication?"

"Yeah. To help with some of the symptoms. And to keep the blood flowing freely through the spinal cord. I plan on getting something for it soon." Ryou explained. "We know there are risks involved, but if something does go wrong, it won't be as bad for me that way…"

Yami Yugi was genuinely concerned.

"Ryou, I didn't know Bakura's condition could affect you."

"Well, we do share a body…" Ryou answered. He could hear Bakura chuckling like mad in his soul room. "But it's really not so bad… see?"

He carefully stood up, and took a few steps on his own.

"It doesn't last too long after he goes back inside." Ryou smiled. "And I've already bought a few books with special physical therapy exercises to help strengthen muscles that he can't use when he takes control."

"And for him?"

"And I can teach him the exercises when I go into his soul room with the key! See, pharaoh! We have almost everything figured out."

"Ryou…" Yami Yugi placed his hands on both of the hikari's shoulders, and stared straight into his eyes. "I want you to be honest with me. Did that wicked tomb robber put you up to doing all this?"

"No." Ryou smiled. "Most of it was my idea. He was actually against it."

That wasn't the answer that Yami Yugi was expecting.

"Why was he against it?"

"He didn't want to hurt me." Ryou answered. "You were wrong about my yami, pharaoh."

"So why are you doing this? It's extremely dangerous!"

"Because that's what people do for those they love." Ryou answered abruptly. "Wouldn't Yugi do that for you?"

Yami Yugi froze. He could hear his hikari's voice in his head. Yugi was agreeing with Ryou. Yami Yugi stopped listening after a few minutes.

"Pharaoh?"

"Well, I see you're all right… for now at least." Yami Yugi replied. "My business is done here… I… well… Yugi has other things he needs to be off doing…"

Ryou nodded, and walked the other yami to the door.

"Thanks for coming by." Ryou smiled.

"Of course." Yami Yugi nodded.

"Oh, and pharaoh?"

"Yes?"

"My yami challenges you to a duel. Are you free on Saturday?"

'WHAT?' Yami Bakura shouted in Ryou's head. It made him jerk suddenly.

"Very well." The pharaoh replied. He noticed Ryou's sudden motion. He presumed this was the first time Bakura heard about that challenge. "I will be looking forward to it."

After the door closed, Yami Bakura didn't waste an instant in getting his host's attention.

'Why did you say that!' Yami Bakura shrieked. The noise hurt Ryou's head.

"Because you need to get back to normal!" Ryou replied, smirking.

'Oh, will you stop doing that to me!' Yami Bakura shouted. 'Ever since you got that other item…'

"Don't be afraid, Yami… I know you can do it."

'Who said anything about being afraid!'

"Yami…"

Yami Bakura sighed. His voice quieted.

'You'll be there, right?' he asked timidly. 'What if I want to switch back during the duel? Can we do that?'

"Of course. We'll just take it nice and slow, yami." Ryou smiled. "One baby step at a time."

'Okay…'