Hidey ho! This is my first Yu-Gi-Oh! fic, and the most serious thing I have written up to date. I think my strength is really in humor, but I really ought to practice some of the other kind of writing, you know? Not like I would keep this completely humorless. Life is a big messy stew of comedy and tragedy. Anyhoo, it's a Bakura and Ryou fic. I just love them to death, really I do! They're both so pretty.... Drool.... I've always been intrigued by them. You know, with Yugi and his yami, they get along swimmingly, but with these guys.... Well, Bakura pretty much makes Ryou's life a living hell. Unfortunately (or fortunately), they're kind of stuck together, so I thought it would be interesting to see how their relationship evolves. Mostly I just want them to throw themselves at each other.

Anyhoo, this story is inspired by the song, "Growing On Me," by The Darkness. I think Koneko Shido (now Koneko Cain) mentioned something about how it's perfect for Bakura and Ryou. I went and listened to it and was like, "Hey, how about that? It is!" I brought this up with Kuro no Hoshi and she was like, "Dude, you should write a fic!" At first I didn't see a fic coming from it; it just kind of described their relationship as I saw it. But the idea stayed in my brain and wouldn't go away, and suddenly a plot materialized. So I'm like, "Crap. Now I actually have to write the damn thing." Really I'm enjoying it immensely. The story is written in first person, alternating between Ryou's POV and Bakura's. Changes in perspective will be noted by the little stars between sections.

This fanfiction is Hikari Written, Yami Approved.

Disclaimer: I do not own the kick-ass song "Growing On Me." This song belongs to the kick-ass band The Darkness. I do not own The Darkness. That would be weird. I do not own Bakura or Ryou. They belong to Yu-Gi-Oh! I do not own Yu-Gi-Oh! If I did, there would be a lot less dueling and a lot more bishies making out. There are many anime bishies I believe are straight. Most of the YGO! characters do not fall into this category. Look at what they wear!

Warnings: This fic is rated R. I rated it this way for a reason. This chapter doesn't have anything deserving of that rating, but it will definitely be R in later chapters. I'm not gonna say, "Children under 17 go away;" like, how many rated-R movies did I see before I was 17? But just be warned, okay? Also not evident in this chapter, but will eventually be evident, is that this fic will be heading in a shounen ai/yaoi direction. If this bothers you, tough crap. Go read something else. For those of you remaining, this fic will not be containing a lemon. As disappointing as this may be to my inner rebel, I rather like my other fics and do not wish to be booted. And in any case, I think any attempt I would make at a lemon would be highly embarrassing and cause people to hate me. So if you can't stand a story leading up to a lemon and then stopping, tough crap. Go read something else.

And without further ado (because, as usual, there has been far too much ado already)....

Growing On Me

Chapter 1: Blood and Tears

I awoke abruptly. Nothing had startled me; just one moment, I had been dreaming, and the next moment, I was conscious, and could no longer remember what I had been dreaming about.

My eyes still closed, I sighed, feeling my hair dance across my face, and wondered what had woken me. Then I inhaled, and I could smell it. Blood. The metallic tang of blood and the stench of something else, a strong, foreign mix of dirt, garbage, sweat, and human excrement. Fear and dread poured into my stomach and lay there, freezing. Oh God, no....

I opened my eyes. By the angle of the light through the windows, it was morning. I sat up, and my pale silver bangs fell in front of my eyes, the tips sticky with blood. I looked down at my hands. Blood. I was wearing a coat I had never seen before, dirty and also soaked with blood. The cold feeling in my stomach spread, squeezing my heart and tingling in my fingers. I began to breathe faster as panic set in.

Letting out a choked whimper, I looked up, and saw - him. He was sprawled lazily in my desk chair, lightly transparent, his feet on my desk. His bangs, identical in color to mine, fell across his face, and his eyes were in shadow. I knew he was awake, though. I could feel his eyes on me.

"Bakura," I whispered, choking. "Bakura - what have you done?!"

o o o

Nnngh. Wonderful. Let the whining begin.

I showed him my teeth. I never smile or grin; I bare my fangs. "Rise and shine, vessel," I said.

They have such bizarre expressions in this time. I am particularly fond of "wakey wakey, eggs and bacey." I got that one from a television program. Amazing learning tool, this television.

He was saying something. I focused my eyes on him again. He had gotten up from the bed and was now staring fixedly at me. I stared back.

I am good at staring.

"Well?" he blurted out.

"I wasn't listening."

He reached up to clutch at his hair, whimpering in distress. "Bakura!" he squeaked, slightly hysterical. "I went to sleep last night and everything was normal and I wake up covered in blood and wearing - where the hell did you get this?" He looked down at his coat, then looked up at me again. "Bakura - what did you do?!"

"I went shopping."

He stared me, incredulous. "Shopping!?"

"We were out of milk, so I went to go get some."

"You mean, you stole some," he said, glaring. Or trying to.

I rolled my eyes. "Duh. Well I wasn't about to pay for it."

"Bakura!" he screeched. I winced. "How did you manage to get us covered in blood on a shopping trip to get milk!?"

"Well I had to kill this guy on the way home."

He froze, becoming more pale than usual. "Wh-what?" he stammered.

I yawned, stretching. I hate telling long stories, almost as much as hearing them. "I was taking a shortcut back here through an alley," I explained, reasonably, "and this stinky drunk guy got in my way. He was pestering me for money, wouldn't leave me alone. So I knifed him." I shrugged.

The vessel sat down on the floor. Hard. "You... knifed him?" he squeaked.

I nodded. "Yeah, he was being really annoying. But I lifted his jacket, pretty nifty, huh?" I showed my teeth again.

The vessel looked horrified, quickly ripping off the coat and throwing it from him. Whatever. I like the guy's jacket.

I watched with disgust as the pathetic creature shrank in on himself, pulling his knees to his chest and burying his face in his hands. Oh bleeding Ra in the heavens, tell me he's not going to start crying again. I crossed my arms and glared at him, waiting.

He was silent for a long time. I got bored of watching his unmoving form, and began studying the patterns in the ceiling cracks. There are some quite fascinating ceiling constellations in this apartment. The bedroom is dominated by a very large bunny, but there is a smaller shape directly over the bed which is definitely a canopic jar. Containing lungs. That stupid pointy-haired pharaoh's lungs. The cover of the jar is in the shape of Horus' head, beak and all.

"I hate you." His voice was quiet, and muffled by his hands, but I could hear the anger in it.

"Oh come on, it's not like he was anyone important or anything," I growled.

His head snapped up. His eyes were wet. "It doesn't matter if he's important!" he exclaimed. "He's a human being, Bakura!" Tears began streaming down his face.

Ecchh. Honestly.

"Bakura," he sobbed, "can't you do anything without hurting people? You've taken over my body, tried to harm my friends, and now - !" He shook his head. "What if somebody saw? What if the cops come looking for me? You can't just take over my body whenever you feel like it and - you can't just go around killing random homeless guys, you can't! You can't!"

I was annoyed by his tears and tired of his whining. "Oh yes I can!" I snarled, leaving the desk chair and growling in his face. "I can do whatever I want, and I can kill whenever I want, and I can do whatever the hell I like with your body, vessel. You can't do a damned thing to stop me and you know it!" And with that I disappeared into the ring.

o o o

Curse him, curse him, curse him.

I knelt on the cold tile of the bathroom, leaning over the edge of the tub to scrub and scrape at my hands under the faucet. Everything was wet, my hands, my face, my clothes; my hair dripped wine pink droplets into the cold bathwater.

There was no longer any blood on my hands that I could see, but I could smell it, everywhere, all over me. It made me sick. I had to wash and wash and wash my hands until they were clean again. He had killed a man with these hands... with my hands!

My eyes were stinging. No! Bloody hell, I will not start crying again! I will not cry! I won't - !

"I hate him!" I sobbed. "I hate him, I hate him, I hate him, I hate him - !" He's a monster. He's evil. He's a murderer; he killed a man! Why? Why? Why? What did I do? Why am I cursed with this demon?

Ishizu and Yami - Yugi's yami - they say he's a part of me, my other half. My darker half. My yami.

How can that be? It's impossible. How can part of me be something so evil and cruel? It can't be true... he is not my other half! He's just some bad dream I'm having!

I cried for an hour, screaming my hatred for him into the empty apartment. No one heard me. There was no one there. I was alone... except for him.

I think the bastard was sleeping.

o o o

Notes: There, how was that? Kind of short, ne? Don't worry, the second one's longer. I'm only about 1/3 through writing it and it's already longer. This one's kind of an into, and explanation of what things are like with them.

Some fics depict Bakura as this psycho who randomly kills people and ritualistically tortures small animals for fun. I love this in humorous fics, but I don't think he's actually like that. Mostly I don't think he'd find killing small animals fun. He'd be like, "Eh, what's the point?" So anyway, all I've seen him do in the show is attempt to send a few people to the Shadow Realm now and again. He hasn't actually ever killed anyone. I mean, he has, but not since Ryou's known him. He hasn't actually taken Ryou's body and shoved a sharp object into someone's innards. So Ryou's kinda freaked out. Plus, I would be freaked out if I woke up inexplicably soaked in human blood, wouldn't you? Yes, I know, Kuro-chan, but not everyone's like you.

The deal with yamis and hikaris... as per the show, when one soul is inhabiting the body, the other one is either hanging out nearby or hiding in the sennen/millennium item. Outside the body, they cannot be seen by anyone else, nor can they interact with the environment in any way. They just kind of float about and are transparent. Inside the sennen item... well, it's kind of like this other dimension that's kind of in the sennen item and/or the brain, or something. It's highly confusing. They can either watch what's going on outside the body or hang out in their soul rooms, which is where they sleep. In this dimension, the souls may interact as solid bodies would in the real world.

Get it? It's kind of confusing.

Also, my yami/beta-reader Kuro no Hoshi would like me to point out that the Horus canopic jar does not contain the lungs, nor are the lungs saved after mummification anyway. Bakura probably doesn't know what organs go where, nor do I think he much cares; he's mostly concerned with stealing gold and gemstones and such. So back off, Egypt nuts!