Chapter Two, Collision

I am going to die. I am going to die. I am going to die. I am going to die. I am going to die.

I squeeze tight my eyes against the pounding heat. Against the flames burning away my entire life and everyone I knew. I will shut out the world and everything. I will die here, but I will not die seeing.

"Hey!" I here a rough voice, and then a hacking cough. My eyes fly open and I search wildly for the source of the voice. All around me is a wall of fire. I will die but I will die trying.

"Over here!" I call back feverntly.

Ryou's head snapped up suddenly. The bus had come to a jarring halt. "Everyone stay on the bus! Someone's been hit!" the driver calls back before openng the door and climbing out into the dry air.

As many people did, Ryou jumped up. But he pushed his way through the alises and climbed off the bus into warmer air. 'Someone's been hit? By a car?' he thought numbly, still half asleep.

He jogged, panic driven, down past a few empty cars. When he came upon the scene, he actually had to bite back a laugh.

"G'off me I said! It's fi-OW! DAMMIT, DON'T TOUCH ME!" Bakura yelled, batting away paramedics. He was sitting up, but his legs were in a mangled heap in front of him. One of them was twisted the wrong way.

"His pupils are dilated, did you hit his head?" a paramedic said as though he couldn't hear Bakura, which was amazing. A nervous looking girl, probably in her early twenties, shook her head. She was twisting her hands furiously.

"I don't know. It just, 'thunked'," she whispered in a soft and shaky voice. A surfer looking boy stepped up, hand resting on his hip. Ryou nearly gagged on the laughter.

"Look here, okay? 'The man's pupils are dilated' or whatever, he was hit by a car, and his legs are obvisouly broken. So take him to the hospital and be done with it," Marik said in a bored voice. It was sad and scary and funny all at the same time.

"I don't want to go to the hospital," Bakura said like an indignant child. Ryou blinked.

"Hey, what's going on?" he asked suddenly. Bakura looked up. The two paramedics, Ishizu and Marikku did too. Ryou felt the pressure of all their eyes on him.

:"Are you related to this man?" the second paramedic asked. A cross look eclisped Bakura's face.

"Of course n-"

"I am," Ryou said firmly. He was lying blatantly, but there was no one here to stop him. Ryou Takeya could be related to Bakura Yono for a while. "I'm his brother," Ryou added. Bakura and Marik gave him questioning looks, and Ishizu did not know any better. Her and the paramedics would easily be fooled if the two kept quiet. Ryou and Bakura looked almost exactly the same.

"Ryou! What are you doing!" Malik growled, suddenly next to the boy. Sweat dotted his forhead and he looked extremely annoyed. He had run up quite quickly for one as sleep deprived as himself.

"My brother," Ryou said with hinting feriocity, "was hit by a car with Marikku and his sister in it."

"Is Marik okay?" Malik asked feverently. Ryou nodded, glancing at Marik. A shocked look was on the surfer's face.

"What do you care for?" Marik asked in a numbed voice. Malik stared, at a loss for words.

"Look, this is all very intresting," Bakura snapped suddenly, "but my leg's bent the wrong way and I'm losing feeling in my thigh. Can we DO something?"

The main paramedic nodded."Sorry sir. Let's go, Mr. Yono, and his brother," the paramedic added. Ryou nodded, following them as they carried a still complaining Bakura into the ambulance on a strecher.

Ryou was grinnning. 'Mr. Yono. I like that...'