A/N : Hello! Update time... so yeah. I had some trouble writing this chapter as I feel this is truly the turning point and I was worried trying to write Bakura in this would make him 'out of character' Which is something I would hate to do, but I also kind of realised that's sort of the point. He's supposed to change, Hina is changing him ever so slightly. So this has taken me a while to figure out, but after lots of coffee, the promise of thunderstorms and after affects of a 'lovely' migraine, this is the result. As ever, any constructive criticism or feedback is highly encouraged and please enjoy! Xx

Disclaimer : I Unfortunately Do Not Own Yu-Gi-Oh!

Chapter 23

Unconsciousness lifted painfully slow from Hina. Subconsciously she tried desperately to grip onto the empty dark that had surrounded her mind, soothing the aching, but despite her best efforts it gradually dissipated. Hina didn't want to open her eyes as she returned to reality. Reality wasn't her friend, nor would it ever be. Her head began to pound as soon as she felt herself sucked back in the world. Her chest hurt if not worse than her head, but she could do nothing to quell the nauseous sensations that had captured her entire body. Everything hurt. Her lungs felt shrivelled as every breath she took was barely enough to keep her body oxygenated. Her fingertips were rough and sore, the nails chipped and broken painfully. Hina groaned and clutched at her head as if she could contain the pain there. The ache splitting across her skull spread like tentacles in every possible direction it could, was frustrating and distressing. It was as if her brain was throbbing, pulsating against its encasing. The shooting pain made her eyes ache and spread all down into her jaw and nose. She felt sick from the agony. She let out a heartfelt sob as Hina felt the sickness overwhelming her. Tears immediately leaked out of her eyes as a mixture of feelings smothered her. The pain was intense and there was nothing she could do to make it subside, but on top of that came the sickening realisation; she had lost.

Hina was done with this… this game. She couldn't play along anymore. Every single time she had tried. She had done whatever she could to try and win. She'd been defiant, strong willed and stealthy, but at every corner, every god damn interval he'd been waiting for her. She couldn't take on the responsibility of saving the world. It cost her too much, it hurt her too much. She wouldn't put herself through it anymore; she'd suffered more that anyone should. As she thought the words, the image of Joey and Ryo swam into her vision. She didn't want to let them down, but she just wasn't strong enough. She'd never been strong enough. If she obeyed… if she followed the rules with no more back chat, no more goading, she might just be able to live the rest of her life without much pain. It hurt her so much to think such things, but… but she couldn't go through that again. She would stay by Bakura's side for the rest of her life if she had to, just to avoid the pain erupting inside her again. Hina felt so pathetic, so useless. She pressed her eyes against her arm as she wept, the force of her tears hurting her head even more, but she didn't care. She couldn't save anyone. The responsibility had fallen upon her and she was too weak to do it.

"I'm so sorry, I failed you," Hina whimpered into her arm, the words muffled. She thought of Ryo, Joey and Osamu and how she couldn't save them. How she'd never save them. She brought her legs up to her chest and curled up into a protective ball, hoping that they'd forgive her failings. If only she'd been strong enough.

There was a movement from behind her, in the bed. Hina felt the bed quiver and change as someone shifted position. Hina froze up, fear swallowing her up once again along with the sense of stupidity. How could she not have noticed? She was so swallowed up in her failings that she'd not even noticed the lack of tension within her. All her senses had been dulled from her bruised soul and now it would cost her. Her fingers were shaking as she forced herself to remain as still as possible, barely allowing herself the luxury of breathing. It was as if she was a mouse in the presence of a ferociously hungry cat, just waiting for the feline to pounce. Hands suddenly snaked around her waist and pulled her closer towards the man she was lying next to. A tiny little squeak escaped her lips, but she knew better than to protest. She allowed herself to be pulled against him.

Minutes seemed to pass by although it was probably only seconds. She could feel the warmth of his bare chest through her clothes, feel his heart beat pounding against his ribcage, feel his breath tickling the back of her neck. Was he even awake? Hina wanted to protest, wanted to get away from him, but knew she couldn't. She was trapped there, in a cage of flesh and bones, and what struck Hina hardest, what really shook her to her core, she didn't mind. She knew every inch of her, every tiny molecule should shrink away from him in a desperate bid to escape, but she didn't. The truth, no matter how horrible it was, was that she felt safe there, lying in his arms, as if she was protected from everything bad in the world, even though she knew everything bad stemmed from him. Hina shook her head slightly. She shouldn't be thinking like this. If she'd decided enough was enough, that was fine, but this? Thinking like this? No that wasn't right. No matter what her situation or circumstances, she should never allow herself to feel like this. Hina wriggled, not in an attempt to get free, but more in an attempt to make him stir, to make him let go of her. It didn't work. Barely breathing, Hina shuffled around again.

"Would you stop it?" A voice whispered, so close to her it made her instinctively freeze. But of course he was close; he was lying right next to her, around her. And he was awake. If he was awake would that mean he knew exactly what he was doing, hugging her like this? Hina scrambled away from him, finding no resistance as she broke free of her enclosure. She clambered out of the bed and turned just as a dim warm light was switched on, bathing the room in a gentle glow. Hina glanced around, recognising the lavish furnishings and layout of the room instantly. Her icy blue eyes, full of hurt, pain and sorrow turned on the man who this room belonged to, who she belonged to.

The man was sat up in the bed, his mane of white hair messier than usual, but his eyes held no signs of sleep. Hina stared at him, trying to work the man out. His eyes weren't that of his usual cruel self, nor that of Ryo's. They were different, somewhere in between. Despite that Hina wasn't sure she could trust anything anymore.

"Go to sleep." He said. It wasn't an order, it was more like a suggestion.

"What do you want from me?" Hina asked already feeling a wave of emotion spreading across her heart. She could not go on like this.

"If you choose not to obey me, by the time I'm finished with you, you will think of death as a privilege."

The words he had once spoken to her came flowing across the ripples of time, coming to the front of her mind now almost making her smile. How true those words were. He'd made a promise back then and he hadn't disappointed. If Hina had thought the incident with the whipping had broken her, she'd been wrong. Whether it was the slow progress of torture she had to endure day in day out, or whether been left alone in the shadows to the mercy of pain unbeknown to man had done it, or maybe a combination of both, all she knew now was this was it. She was deteriorating right before the man's eyes and she didn't know if he would even care. Maybe he would put her out of her misery, like euthanizing an injured animal, or maybe he'd just watch and laugh. Hina lifted her fingertips, her broken and rough fingertips, to her cheeks and felt the wetness there. She couldn't even remember starting to cry.

"What do you want," She whispered again, not looking at him, but examining the salty water on her fingers. Emotion chocked her as tears like she'd never known before escaped out of her.

"I can't…" Hina began as the man stood up from the warmth of the bed.

"No! Stay back!" Hina cried out as he tried to approach her. She wasn't sure why, but he stopped in his tracks. Maybe she'd never sounded so hysterical before, or maybe he was amused by her. What did it matter anyway?

"I dream of death, do you know that? I fantasise about falling to sleep and never opening my eyes again." Hina whispered refusing to make eye contact with him.

"You," She spoke with a shaking voice, "You once said that death… death was a privilege and you've not even done… done with me…" Hina spoke taking a step back, unable to hold up the barrier of emotion she had tried to hold back for so, so very long.

"It is, I wish for it every single day." Hina continued, her hands balling into fists.

"Why? Why isn't the world enough for you?" Hina asked really having to force the words out now, making them sound broken and jagged. She met the man's dark eyes but his face was a blur through the stream of tears forming and pushing the way out of her eyes faster than rain fall.

"You have… everything… why do you need me?" She asked, her whole body was trembling as the last remaining parts of the barrier between a total chaotic emotional flood began to crumble away.

"You have hurt me. I would take been whipped a thousand times over what you did to me in here," She pointed towards her chest where the pain gnawed at her, as if backing up her story.

"I wanted to know my friend was okay, that's all. But I suppose you wouldn't understand that term, friend. You've never known one. All you've known is hatred, cruelty, violence, pain and you decided to inflict it on the rest of us." Hina gasped, gulping between great shockwaves of anguish now, knowing the final pieces of the barrier were about to fall.

"And… and… I… I hate you… I feel sorry for you… I love you… all at once…" She was losing control now, the words pouring out of her.

"I don't know why you're like this and I hate that I don't know." She was going to collapse or scream any second now.

"…Why did you have to break me?" She wailed, her knees almost buckling. In an instant she lost it, the wall completely cracking and falling down as great tsunami's cascaded and ferociously rained down upon her again and again and again. It was a merciless onslaught that captured her. Hina found herself falling against his bare pale chest and her fists hammering against him over and over again as she felt panic, rage, distress and utter despair take control of her while mingling in with a thousand other emotions she didn't even know the name of. She slammed her fist against his torso and knew the punches she was throwing would barely hurt him, but still she showered them down upon him, taking her frustrations out, all the while sobbing and crying hysterically as she did. She eventually lost the strength to continue and her finger tips grazed against his skin as she unfurled her fists which had remained connected to him from the final blow. In a sudden and swift movement, she felt his arms fold around her and pull her against him. Hina didn't hesitate, she couldn't hold back from him anymore. She buried her face against him, not caring that huge tears were pouring out of her eyes and would soak him in seconds. His hand rested on the back of her head as he held her close, allowing her to let all the emotion out. He didn't have to say anything to her, because he knew.

He had gone a step too far this time. She'd admitted it to him, she dreamed of dying. And he didn't want that. Not his little slave girl, not his Hina. He wanted her feisty and alive, full of life so vibrant it made him dream of her. He didn't want to see her cry. He no longer wanted to be the reason she was sad. Whether these were his emotions or whether they were Ryo's no longer mattered. All that mattered was ensuring she was happy, that he never made her feel like this again. Throughout all of this, all of her speech, there had only really been one thing that stood out to him, making him know that he could no longer do this to her, three words that had changed everything. 'I love you'. She had spoken them, she had said it. He didn't know what it meant, or how she "loved" him, but one thing was for certain, the warmth spreading across his chest was some fuzzy emotion he could no longer pull back from. He wanted to be close to this girl. She had infiltrated his mind, his hosts mind and the very life he had built. As days had passed by, becoming weeks, then months, Bakura had found himself becoming obsessed by the girl he now held in his arms.

"I will never hurt you again," He whispered softly, surprised at the tenderness in his own voice. She collapsed against him, her legs finally giving away as they both knew they would. Bakura caught her, not allowing her to fall to the floor. He bent down, his arm hooking under her limp knees and his other arm around her back. He straightened up, pulling her with him, holding her in his arms, where she still sobbed, her head resting against him. He carried her over to the bed and set her down. Bakura climbed in next to her and was surprised to feel her curl up against him, still shuddering with tears. He lent down and gently brushed his lips against her forehead before turning off the light next to the bed, engulfing the room in darkness, his arms folding back around the sniffling girl once more.