Tears of relief
There had been no objections to playing a game of Monster World when Ryou brought it up, and it was much different playing their figurines than it had been when they actually inhabited them. The others seemed to be having a lot of fun, but to Yugi the whole game just reminded him of Bakura and he had to fight to keep the tears out of his eyes. If the others noticed he had been crying there would have been all sorts of questions and he didn't think he could deal with that right now.
Ryou certainly seemed to be happy to have his yami gone. As a matter of fact, he looked happier than Yugi had ever seen him before. It was as if he thought a burden had been lifted from him when Bakura had been taken away. Thinking about it, however Yugi almost thought he understood the other's reaction. He certainly didn't feel half as bad about Yami's disappearance as he'd thought he would. Anzu was taking it hard, though. She'd really been the closest to Yami out of all of them, and Yugi knew that she had been more than half in love with the ancient pharaoh. It was going to take a lot of time before he was willing to talk about his yami in front of her.
Several times during the course of the game Yugi almost thought he could see Bakura watching him rather than Ryou, but he dismissed it as a figment of his overactive imagination. Lately he'd been imaging that he saw Bakura everywhere, especially right before he went to sleep, and while he knew it wasn't real the image still haunted him. What if Bakura hadn't been accepted in the world of the dead? It was his yami's realm after all, and yami had never been at all accepting of the thief.
He won the game, of course. It was a matter of pride now to win all the games he played. Before it had been at least partly to show off the Bakura, to try to show him that there was something more to him than a body for his yami, but now it was simply a part of him. He had inherited the title of Game King when he had beaten Yami and he was going to live up to it if it killed him.
After the game Ryou stopped him from leaving with the others with a diffident touch on the arm. "Yugi-kun," he whispered, glancing at the others as if he was embarrassed about something. "Could I talk to you alone for a minute?"
"Sure," Yugi replied instantly, wanting to help Ryou even if it did hurt to be around someone who was in so many ways a constant reminder of Bakura. "You go home without me, guys," he called after the others. "I'm going to stay with Ryou for a while."
"Are you sure you'll be all right on your own?" Joey asked him worriedly. "Yami may have gone, but his enemies don't know that. What if some guy attacks you wanting to get revenge on him?"
Yugi sighed. It was nice to know his friends were worried about him, but sometimes it got too much. At least it proved what Bakura had said about having his own attraction. If they only stayed with him because of Yami they would have left by now. "I'll be fine, Joey," he said with an assurance that he wasn't sure he felt. "No one's going to attack me here." He gave his friend a cheerful smile, and watched as Joey nodded and walked out the door.
"Doesn't it get annoying having to watch your step all the time?" Yugi whirled around to face Ryou. He knew that voice! Bakura smirked at him. "You didn't honestly think that I would willingly go somewhere where the pharaoh was did you?"
Yugi threw himself into the other's arms, for once not caring what he thought. "You're alive!" He sobbed, shaking with the reaction as his tears soaked the astonished thief's shirt. "You're really alive!"
"Uh, yeah." Bakura didn't sound too sure of himself, and Yugi buried his face further into the other's shirt, clinging to him.
Ryou patted his back soothingly. "It's all right, Yugi. He's been here the whole time. We just didn't want to worry any of the others so we didn't tell you." Yugi nodded and pulled away, wiping the tears away from his face. Somehow it felt different holding Ryou than Bakura and he didn't feel comfortable clinging to Ryou.
"Why don't you sit down and we'll explain it to you," Ryou continued, leading Yugi to a chair. He seemed slightly worried as he brought them both cups of juice. "He really isn't trying to hurt anyone."
Yugi didn't bother explaining that that wasn't what he was afraid of. He was more concerned that Bakura was going to leave him again than that he would try to hurt anyone. The only one the thief had ever seemed to care about getting at was Yami and he was gone now.
