Differences: Chapter twenty-two

Yami laughed at Joey as everyone else was when they left the dinner.

"Owe." Joey said from his spot on the side walk.

"Are you alright Joey?" Ryoku asked with a small giggle as he helped the boy up.

"I'm fine Ryoku, thanks." Joey smiled, as he dusted his pants off.

"I'm sorry for laughing Joey, but that was funny." Yugi said.

"Well, if Kaiba hadn't tripped me this wouldn't have happened." Joey spat out glaring at the CEO.

"I'm sorry, I couldn't help myself." Kaiba smirked.

Soon a gasp was heard followed by, an "Oh dear this isn't good." from Ryou. There stood three men, all with guns. One had his gun on Yami and the other had his on Tea, and the other who was the leader stood in front of them.

"Alright Kids. Give us all your money and we won't hurt these two." The man said roughly as he started to poke Ryoku with the tip of his gun.

Ryoku who had no idea what this guy was holding was curious, of course he had no money on him. Ryou didn't trust him with that yet.

Ryou, Yugi, Joey and Tristan quickly dug out all the money they had and gave it to the man.

"Hey you with the long coat! Your money!" The man sneered.

"I don't think so..." Kaiba started.

"Fuck Kaiba, just give him the money." Ryoku glared.

"I didn't see you give any money." Kaiba said as he gave the man some.

Ryoku snorted at this. "I don't carry that stuff on me."

"Hey boss, look at what we found." The man holding Yami shouted.

"What is it?" The man asked turning around.

Ryoku gasped as he saw the three millennium items in the man's hand. "No!"

"Those will be worth a lot in the market." The boss grinned.

Ryoku turned to look at Yami who was growing weak. He knew that to survive still they need the millennium items. Growling, he kicked the man's legs. Sending them both to the ground.

"You little bitch." The man growled as they both got up. He glanced around at the fallen money. "You'll pay for that."

"Yeah right!" Ryoku said, punching the man.

"Boss!" The two men screamed. "You little punk!" One shouted out.

"No!" Yami shouted as the boss turned his gun on Ryoku. "Ryoku! Look out!"

Ryoku glanced down to see the guy point the small black object at him. Still having no idea what it was he didn't move.

"Now you're going to get it!" The man shouted as he squeezed the trigger.

A loud bang soon filled the air. Ryoku's mouth went wide as he felt a huge amount of pain in him. Looking down he brought his hand's down to his stomached were there was now a hole.

"No!" Yami cried out as he saw blood start coming out of the wound.

"For that, all of you die!" The boss shouted.

'I can't let this happen, it's my duty to protect these guys not get them killed. I guess now is the time everyone learns the truth.' Ryoku thought as he started to collect some energy to send all these guys to the shadow realm. Soon, Ryoku's body started to glow.

"What the hell!" The guys all said.

"Shadow magic!" Yami gasped in surprise.

Ryoku looked up once again, his hair was spiked up and his brown eyes no longer held the soft look in them. He now spoke in his true voice. "I don't care what happens to me. But if you every try to hurt one of them we will have problems. Give them there items back." Bakura demanded. "And let them go."

The men soon did as told, except the boss who just laughed. "What can this punk do? I'm going to kill all of them. Starting with this one." The man said, pointing his gun at Yami. But before he could squeeze the trigger he was sent to the shadow realm. And a few seconds later his buddies followed him. As soon as all three men where gone, Bakura let out a sigh and the glowing stopped. He looked up to see shock in everyone's faces, slowly blinking his eyes he fell forward onto the ground.

"Bakura!" Ryou screamed as he ran up to him with Yugi right behind him. "Bakura, talk to me. Please." Ryou begged.

"Come on Bakura. You can't leave us." Yugi cried out.

Yami who finally got over the shock walked over and fell on his knees in front of Bakura's head. "So all this time, it was Bakura I was with." Yami said, tears in his eyes. "Why didn't one of you tell me?"

"Well..." Ryou started. "Bakura didn't want you to know the truth. The whole reason he did this was to get the puzzle. Except he ended up falling in love with you instead, and he didn't care about the puzzle anymore."

"We might have told you sooner, but you were on a let's get Bakura thing." Yugi said. "I think Bakura was afraid of you after that."

"So the reason why I've been sensing Bakura all the time is because he was with us all the time." Yami stated.

"Guy's help will be here soon." Kaiba said as he put away his cell phone.

Yami nodded a thanks and then turned back to face the other two.

"R-Ryou." Bakura said slowly as he tried to sit up.

"Don't move Bakura. You've been shot and you lost a lot of blood plus you lost a lot of energy sending those guys to the shadow realm." Yami said softly, placing his hand gently on Bakura's shoulder.

Groaning quietly, Bakura opened his eyes to see the three sitting around him. "What was the weapon that man used to hurt me?"

"It's called a gun Yami." Ryou said, holding the spirits hand.

"Oh, they hurt." Bakura choked out. "Yami." Bakura said, tears in his eyes.

"What is it love?" Yami said, quickly grabbing Bakura's hand.

Bakura smiled faintly at Yami's words. "I'm sorry I lied to you. I didn't want to hurt you." Bakura choked out. "I love you..."

"I love you too Bakura." Yami smiled.

"Good." Bakura said, as he closed his eyes.

Yugi and Ryou smiled at each other for a second.

"Bakura, don't close your eyes okay." Yami said. "Bakura!"

"Oh no." Ryou cried.

"Is this the boy?" A man asked as he and his partner ran up to them.

"Yes, he got shot." Yami cried.

Leaning over the man checked him. "Shit, Dave he isn't breathing. Let's get his heart going again." The two men quickly pulled out a machine and ripped Bakura's shirt open.

"Clear!"

The man checked the thing quickly before going again.

"Clear!"

"Sir he's vitals are normal once again."

"Oh good. Let's get him in the bus." The man said standing up.

The two paramedics quickly got Bakura ready for transportation. "Does one of you want to come?" The older man asked.

"I would." Yami said. "As long as you don't mind Ryou."

"No, go ahead. I'll meet you at the hospital." Ryou nodded.

Smiling slightly, Yami climbed into the bus beside Bakura and held the other spirit's hand the entire ride to the hospital.