Okay, here is the next chapter! I shaved some time off my usual lengthy update period, so hope I made some of you happy!

So about this chapter… Um, well, I had to rewrite it four times because I kept absolutely hating how it turned out. I'm still not very happy with it, but I don't know what else to do. Oh, well. I'm completely burned out after having to take three huge tests in the past week, so I doubt I can produce anything better at the moment.

About the reviews. Wow, I was really surprised to see some new names pop up on the review list that I had never seen before. I had no idea that many different people were reading this. You guys all made me very happy! So a very big thanks to Little-Q, catey, Inith, Cygna-hime, Selia, Amarin Rose, Ambivalence, mistaken for sane, Lyn/Lin, major-rocket-fan, Kiharu-sama, Inki-Shippo, Jasper-Sable, fatlazikat, dragontiger1, and Starlit Hope (Wow, big list this time!). Hugs to all

It always makes me very happy to hear from reviewers, so tell me what you think of this chapter. I hope it is at least decent.

Chapter 24

Two Sides of the Same Coin

You dumbass.

I hear a voice, much like my own, from some indiscernible direction in the darkness.

"What?"

Why did you have to go and make things difficult?

Another voice says, slightly less harsh than the first.

"Difficult?"

Getting attached, you idiot! That was never supposed to happen.

Yes, it would have been easier on you to have never gotten attached.

"I don't understand."

He's a fine testament to his predecessors, isn't he? The voice seems to ask the other one in a rather sarcastic tone.

Don't you understand that we are trying to help you? Just give up everything and let it end. Give up your remaining attachments to this world and you'll be happier.

"I can't. There's still Yami-"

Yami?? You mean the idiotic, full of himself, high and mighty Pharaoh? You realize he is just using you. How can you even be with him considering what he did to you back in Egypt

Or have you forgotten that he was the reason your village was destroyed? The reason why you hated him so much, why you wanted revenge so badly, and why you were trying to collect all of the Millennium Items.

"But I did equally terrible things to him."

That was only after the Pharaoh decided to destroy your life! He deserved it! Deserved all of the pain and suffering!

"I don't care! The past doesn't matter anymore! Yami and I are both different people now."

Yeah, only because of what Yami did to you, getting rid of your best qualities. And now look at you, such a pathetic little shell of what you used to be. Quite sad really, all the more reason to end all of this pointless nonsense.

Why am I being attacked like this? "It's not pointless anymore. I am happy with what my life has become."

Are you really happy? You're only lying to yourself. Look back at all the times you have cursed yourself for making the people you care about suffer. How much pain have you already caused them? Do you still want to put them through that for the rest of their lives? Wouldn't it be better to do them a favor and leave, never to cause them problems again?

Hypocrite! You can't expect to live and not cause people pain. Living is pain. If only you would simply let that last little thread you are hanging onto break, you could be truly happy, we could all be happy. You could end it here; just give in to the darkness. There will be nothing to force you back this time.

Am I really that much of a hypocrite? What they are saying seems true enough. But what would happen to Yami and Ryou if I just let myself die here? I don't think I can do that to them at this point. "I can't leave Yami and Ryou, not yet."

Why not? It's not like you should live your life out of guilt. That's worse than living without a reason whatsoever. If you look at the big picture, there's only one option that is fair to everyone, including yourself.

Maybe he's right. Now that I think about it, what reason do I have, besides guilt, to hold on to this world? What I have with Yami can't last, after all. And who knows how long I will live, considering I'm not exactly a normal human. I don't want to watch Ryou get old and die, while I live on, alone. It may sound selfish, but I have a right to be happy too, don't I? Besides, Ryou and Yami would get over it. My presence would not be missed after awhile.

You've become soft, Bakura. When did you start worrying about anyone else besides yourself? This is not who you are. You have no obligation to these other people. Especially not Yami, who forced you to continue living against your will when you were so close to being free.

Stop analyzing everything and just let go already! Underneath it all, you know that what we are saying is true. Being dependent on Yami like you are now is utterly pathetic for someone of your stature. You have no dignity at all living like that. So, quit being a stubborn ass and do what is best for you!

This probably is for the best… The darkness around me begins to feel suffocating, but for some reason, it is not at all alarming. I could just let go right now, cut the last ties to the living world and be done with it forever. Oblivion sounds so tempting.

But for all the relief and liberation I am experiencing at the moment, there is still something nagging, tugging at the back of my mind. I know it is not some irrational fear of death, it can't be.

I don't want you to give up on me.

Ah, that's it… I told Yami not to give up on me. So, if Yami has yet to give up, why am I giving up on myself so easily? Should I betray Yami's confidence in me or did he even have any for me in the first place?

If Yami and Ryou are willing to go through such pain to stay with me, then how does that reflect on me, who is self-centered enough to take the easy way out? Yami has even put himself through a lot of suffering to keep me alive. Do I want to make all of his pain worth nothing in the end?

Wait, what am I doing? I just almost let my doubts about myself overtake me. I am not usually one to be so easily manipulated. I am stronger than that. I have just started essentially a new life. Granted there are the uncertainties that come along with it, but there are still some things I can control.

I don't know how long I will live or how long Yami and I will be together, but I can try to make it fun while it lasts. I can't give up just yet; there are still a couple things to stick around for. We'll see how it is after they are gone though. I still have choices.

But after all, I like having Yami and Ryou around and they must feel the same, or they wouldn't act the way they do. I can't be so utterly socially paranoid anymore that I can take their actions for any other reason. I think I can trust them both, trust them to not be completely false with me if I quit being so paranoid.

So in the end, life will be life, while it lasts, while there is still something to hold onto, and while you are held onto by something.

A dull golden glow filters through the darkness, releasing its consuming hold on me. Steadily coming back to the realm of consciousness, I begin to feel exceedingly hot. Something is almost burning on the middle of my chest.

My eyes snap open due to the pain and I reflexively sit up. I look to my chest to find my Ring, glowing intensely and producing quite a bit of heat. Immediately, I pull it away from having any contact with my shirt, by the cord it hangs on.

Letting out a relieved sigh, the searing sensation subsides and I watch as the intensity at which the Ring is radiating energy gradually begins to return to a safer level. I'm surprised the damn thing didn't burn a hole in my shirt.

The light of my Ring fades, revealing exactly how dark it is in the room. To be precise, I can't see a single thing. It must be the middle of the night, but which night? I wonder how long I have been out. Where is everyone?

Ra, why are there so many damn blankets over me? Getting out of bed is not supposed to be this difficult. Okay, I have successfully unburied one leg, now for the next. Using all of my much diminished strength, I yank my leg out from its prison of bed sheets, but as a result, I have completely lost my balance. Guess this means I'll be saying hello to the floor.

"Ow, shit!!" Gods, it would've been better to have hit the floor, but instead I think I landed on a chair. That's odd; the chair is making slight groaning noises next to me.

"Bakura? Is that you?" Ah, a familiar voice. Not wanting to respond just yet, I wait for my eyes to adjust to the spot where the sound came from and I can vaguely make out a form. With my best impression of a panther or something of the sort, I pounce directly on the unsuspecting figure.

Yami yells loudly as we crash to the floor and I can't help but laugh. I bring my face close enough to his, so he might focus some in the darkness. "What do you think?"

His eyes widen greatly and he takes in a breath sharply. I sit back to allow him to get up off the floor. The instant he does, he loops his arms wound my neck, pulling me close and burying his face in my shoulder. He stays like that for a moment, but quickly leans back and punches me in the arm, hard.

"Ow, what was that for?" I ask, actually in a bit of pain.

"Bastard, don't ever do that to me again!" Wow, he actually looks rather angry.

"I didn't hurt you when I jumped on you, did I?" I was just playing, really.

"No dumbass, I mean being drastic like that! Do you realize how much that scared me? And why didn't you tell me you knew how I had connected our Items?"

"Oh… well, I knew you'd be stubborn about it all and not want to do anything without knowing exactly what the results would be, so I took matters into my own hands. Hey, being a little risky is fun, right?" I laugh nervously, fearing that he might unleash his wrath yet again.

"A little risky? How-"

"Yami, is everything okay in here? I thought I heard noises." A sleepy Ryou in pajamas says as he walks through the still absent door, cutting off Yami. The light switches on, blinding Yami and I for a few seconds.

"Bakura! You're awake!" Ryou moves in for the attack, dropping to my side and strangling me with his hug of death.

"Ack! I know… off, off!" He leans back and smiles widely. Suddenly a thought visibly dawns on him.

"Ah! I have to go get Yugi and Malik!" He takes off, leaving the room in a rush.

Yami smirks softly as he turns back to meet my gaze. "So, how long was I out?"

"Just a little over a day, considering it's about two in the morning now." He says, glancing at a clock on the wall. "I'm amazed it wasn't as long as the first time."

He leans closer, our noses almost touching. "Just please don't ever scare me like that again."

I grin, slightly on the maniacal side. "Now, you know I can't promise that. But, I assure you that I will never do something like this to you again."

"You're so mean…" He whispers, inching ever closer.

"You wouldn't have it any other way." I close the practically nonexistent gap between us, locking us in a desperately needed kiss. Wanting a little more privacy than a room with no door could possibly offer, I pull away from Yami, expecting Ryou to come back any time now.

He looks somewhat disappointed, but I know that neither of us have the energy to release any of our pent up hormones tonight. I'm sure I don't look in any better shape than Yami does at the moment.

I stand up, offering a hand to help Yami off the floor. "I think we should go back to my house and sleep all of tomorrow, so that we can recover somewhat. And then maybe we can have some fun."

"I believe you have a good idea there." He says as he takes my hand and stands upright.

He wraps his arms around my waist, gently snuggling against my body. I rest my arms around his shoulders, truly grateful for this.

"So, nothing disastrous happened while I was out that I should know about, right? Please tell me you fixed everything between you and Yugi." Yami pulls away so he can see my face.

"Concerned about Yugi, are we? That's new." He teases, poking me in the ribs, while I simply roll my eyes. Hey, I can't have the little ankle biter angry at me if I still want to see Yami on a regular basis, now can I? "Yugi and I talked earlier today. I apologized for being sort of drastic when I blocked our link. I was just so frustrated and scared by the entire situation that I couldn't take his constant worrying that I could feel through our link. I tried to convince him that it was purely a defensive action and that it had nothing to do with him, but I think he is still a little unsure."

Yami sighs loudly, closing his eyes for a moment. "I think Yugi was just very afraid that if I lost you, he would lose me, in some way or another."

I consider his words for a time, before Yami puts on a small smile again. "Besides, I know he was worried about you too. You may not think so, but he actually does consider you to be a friend."

I groan quietly and bring a hand to my forehead. "Ra, Yami… I swear you are a bad influence on me, forcing to make more of these 'friends' you rely so much on. It's such an outdated concept."

Yami laughs slightly. I continue on, letting the sarcasm pour through even more. "Really, Yami, look at how you have corrupted such a pure soul."

"Pure soul, my ass…" Malik states, appearing in the doorway with Ryou behind him. Yugi, dressed in his blue pajamas with those ridiculous stars, cautiously peaks his head around the edge of the door. I step away from Yami and barge my way though the door, ignoring Malik's comment. I grab Ryou and Malik by the back of their collars, dragging them downstairs with me, hoping to give Yami and Yugi a moment to sort things out.

Once we reach the living room, I flop onto the couch, still feeling rather exhausted. Ryou sits next to me, while Malik stands directly opposite my position.

"Glad you decided to grace us with your conscious presence once again." Malik tells me in a cynical tone. "Why did you have to go and scare everyone like that?"

I act like I am pondering his question thoroughly, but in reality, I have no intention of giving him a serious answer. "I don't know Malik. I guess I just thought that it would be fun."

I smirk in satisfaction as I watch him become even more agitated by the situation. However, he soon adopts a smug smirk of his own. "Oh, I see how it is Bakura. You just like being a drama queen."

"What did you just call me?!?" I stand up instantly and we both shift to more alert stances. Ryou immediately intervenes though, wrapping his arms around one of mine in an attempt to hold me back.

"Come on you two. Please get along! We don't need any fighting right now." Ryou pleads with us. Unable to do otherwise, I sit back down on the couch with Ryou, glaring at Malik as he takes one of the other chairs.

"What Malik was trying to say was that we were all a little surprised to come into Yami's room and find you unconscious, while Yami was practically in a state of shock. We didn't really know what had happened or what you had done or if you were actually alive in the first place. You were so cold when we put you in Yami's bed, we feared the worst. Your breathing was hardly even detectable. You can imagine the state of mind we were all in at the time."

Ryou, still clinging to my arm, rests his forehead on my shoulder. "I was really afraid that you were trying to repeat what you had tried before."

"Don't worry. I've come to terms with all of that." I tell him softly, running my free hand through his hair. "I'm here to stay as long as you are."

I look over to Malik who still appears to be somewhat cross with me. I'm sure he is just being protective of Ryou at the moment. Either that or he's jealous. Heh, heh, that'd be highly amusing.

My attention turns to the soft sound of Yugi coming down the stairs, looking slightly less stressed out. Ryou sits up and looks towards him, letting go of my arm.

"Where's Yami?" I ask Yugi as he sits down on the couch next to Ryou.

"Um, he went to go wake up Jii-chan, who was asleep in his room and tell him that everything's alright now." He lets out a sigh and leans his head against Ryou's shoulder. Ryou scoots closer to him and puts an arm around his shoulders.

"Are you okay, now?" Ryou asks him gently.

"Yeah… I'm just really tired." He says, not sounding like his normal self at all.

"Are you planning on going to school tomorrow?" Ryou asks.

"I don't really want to, but I wouldn't know how to explain my absence."

"That brings up a good point. Are we even going to tell anyone else about this?" Malik asks.

"I don't see why anyone else needs to know about this. Besides, telling the others would mean that we would have to include the part about me and Yami and I don't know if Yami wants that yet. But it is still entirely up to him considering I could care less about the other people you care to be associated with." I tell Malik.

"But you can't keep it a secret forever."

"Personally, I would rather have no one else find out about the issues that concern me than the ones who already know. As for our relationship, I don't really have an opinion." I firmly state to Malik. More people already know about my personal issues than I would like and if anyone else finds out, I will have to kill someone.

"So, just keep your mouth shut!" I add, hopefully driving the point home for Malik. He continues to glare back at me, but nods his head in agreement and sits back in his chair.

"You guys, be quiet… I think Yugi is already asleep." Ryou says in a hushed voice. Turning my attention to him, I find him still hugging closely to Yugi. Ryou brushes some of Yugi's bangs out of his face and then looks back to me.

"I'm going to go take him up to his bed." Ryou tells me with a tender smile.

"I'll come with you." Malik states, getting up from his chair. Ryou picks up Yugi in his arms, as slowly as possible, trying not to wake him. As they walk out of sight, I realize that I should go find Yami.

I make my way up the stairs just in time to see Malik and Ryou go into Yugi's room. Reaching the top, I see Yami come out of the room at the end of the hall, with Yugi's grandfather behind him. As I approach them, Sugoroku smiles warmly at me.

"I'm glad you're alright now. We were all very worried." He says to me. I do my best to respond with an unaccustomed, polite smile, but it probably just turned into something creepy. Oh well.

"I didn't mean to cause so many problems." I tell him, actually feeling a need to be nice to the old man.

"That's fine, as long as you are okay." He smiles more broadly, but then stretches his arms up and yawns. "I'm sorry boys, but I really must be getting some sleep now. At my age, I'm certainly not used to missing a night of sleep."

"Goodnight, Jii-chan." Yami tells him, as he turns around to go back in his room.

"Goodnight." I say to him as well.

He closes the door behind him and then Yami turns to me. "Do you think we can stay here tonight? I feel bad leaving Yugi here alone."

"If that's what you want, I'm fine with it. Although, we won't have a door."

"Now, whose fault is that? Besides, I'm going to make you go out and get one tomorrow. And you have to carry it all the way home on foot, by yourself." He says with an evil little smirk.

"That's just cruel."

"Exactly." He begins to draw closer to me, but stops when Yugi's door opens. We both turn to see Ryou and Malik walk out.

They see us and Ryou smiles. "Yugi is sleeping… which is what I wish I was doing right now. So, we're going to go back to Malik's place."

"I'm staying here for tonight." I tell Ryou.

"Okay, so I'll see you tomorrow after I get home from school." He walks up and hugs me tightly once again. "I'm very happy this whole thing turned out alright."

He starts walking down the stairs with Malik. After a few steps, he suddenly stops and turns around, pointing a finger back at me. "And you'd better fix Yami's door for him tomorrow!"

My, was that a threat from little Ryou? I laugh a bit, waving for him to leave. "Yes, mother."

Ryou shoots a nasty glare back at me, but continues down to the door anyway. "Bye!"

"Bye." Yami and I both say in return before they disappear out of sight.

Yami immediately takes my hand, dragging me into his room. "You have no idea how tired I am."

"I can only imagine." I tell Yami while I watch him take a bunch of the extra blankets off of his bed and move the fallen chair back to his desk.

"I only fell asleep this evening because of sheer exhaustion." Yami says as he strips down to his boxers and puts on a big, loose shirt. I follow his example, minus the shirt.

Yami slides under his bed sheets, motioning for me to join him. After slipping under the blankets myself, Yami immediately presses himself up against me and in turn, I wrap my arms around him.

"You have no idea how scared I was." Yami whispers into my bare chest after a short period of silence, practically giving me goosebumps.

"I'm sorry." I say quietly, as I pull him closer.

"I tried hard… really hard to remain positive and keep telling myself that you would be alright, that you would come back to me, but I couldn't help but play out all the worst case scenarios in my head over and over again."

"It's alright to have doubts, but I knew that you wouldn't give up on me completely. So stop worrying about it." I tell him, trying to calm his fears so that he might sleep decently.

"So… why did you do it?" Yami asks timidly after a few minutes of nothing.

"Do what?"

"Come back."

I think about the response for mere seconds, before actually speaking. "Because I wanted to."

He lets out a little sigh and relaxes his entire body, letting it mold to my own. I listen as the soft sound of his breathing slows and evens out.

This moment right now, has made it all worth it. I know that things are not the way they used to be and I am not the same person I once was, but nothing ever stays the same forever. Everything is transitory, including people, from one second to the next, but that is what makes it interesting.

To be continued-

Gaaahhhhh…. okay, I'm done with this aspect of the story…. Damn that was ridiculously difficult. Just a few more plot points to wrap up before I'm done. Ngh, I really hated writing this chapter. I feel like it is one big, awful cliché. storms off to go read reviews I guess I'll go write the beginning note to the chapter to make myself feel a little better. Tell me what you think, even if it is the same way that I feel about this chapter. I promise the next chapter will be much more fun.