-walks in- Yep, updated! So I'm saving this one, too... Although I don't know why... Probably because I have ana actual PLOT in mind.. XD

Disclaimer: I own nothing.

Blank eyes were staring at him.

Ryou stared in almost shocked fascination at the corpse of his father, his mouth opened in shock and pain, blood still dripping from frozen, dead lips. Blood, both his and his fathers pooled around his knees, cold, but not as cold as his bare ivory skin, Goosebumps forming as long pale fingers brushed across his throat.

"Hmm…" The light shivered as the demons stale breath washed over his neck, cold cold fingers running down his sides. Ryou held his breath, his head bowed so the demon couldn't see his tears. "You finished crying yet?" Bakura extended a bony index finger, trailing the digit along a bruised, tearstained cheek. Ryou shivered, turning his face away from the yami to stare at the bloodied floor. So much blood…

"Why?" It was the first sound the light had uttered in over an hour, the hoarse syllable tumbling from his lips into the achingly silent room. Ryou wrapped his bony arms around his middle, legs tucked beneath him. Bakura smiled, baring dangerously sharp incisors as he took a lock of silver silk in a claw-like finger. The light whimpered as he brushed it behind one ear, exposing his pale face, torn and discoloured from blood and bruises.

"You're a filthy slut." Bakura heaved contemptuously, sending Ryou a shove that sent him sprawling in the kitchen floor, thick in almost an inch in blood. "I fucking saw you, you little whore!" He leaned over the light, trembling in the blood of his and his fathers'. "How long did you think you could keep that from me, you idiot? You have no secrets! You can't hide anything from me! And how dare you mock my authority, you stupid worthless little shit." Ryou's eyes widened as the demons voice lowered to a dangerous whisper, backing his frail, battered form up to a kitchen counter, drawing his knees to his chest.

"I-I don't know wh-what you're talking about." Ryou stammered, feigning innocence as he looked at his knees. Bakura growled, hitting the light across the face with a force made Ryou gasp, swaying slightly.

"I fucking saw you!" Bakura screamed, grabbing the lights too-thin shoulders, shaking his broken form. Ryou cried out, clenching his eyes shut as he covered his face with his hands. "You and that fucking whore Malik. You are mine, Ryou! Mine, mine MINE!" He slammed the teen into the counter, Ryou crying out in pain. "What the fuck is wrong with you?"

"I-I…" Ryou started, his breath shaking in his throat. "Y-You h-have to-to understand-"

"Understand WHAT?" Bakura screamed. "You gave yourself to that whore, Ryou! You gave him what should have been mine! How could you, Ryou, how could you?"

"I-I love him." Ryou whispered, his eyes closed. Fresh tears coursed down his cheeks, his chin trembling. "I-I'm i-in l-love with h-him."

"Fool." Bakura spat, his crimson eyes narrowed in anger. "You don't love him. You do not deserve to experience love. You are mine. And as a piece of my property, you are not entitled to love him!" Bakura screamed the last words, slamming Ryou into the floor. "I will make you pay for those words!"

Shadows.

Twisting, curling shadows, floating endlessly around him.

Fuck, he was sick of the shadow realm. Bakura groaned, his head in his hands. He had to get out of here. And soon. Very, very soon. Ryou was growing weaker and weaker, even more introverted and depressed than before, and his continuing nightmares were burying his subconscious deeper and deeper into the dark coils of the shadow realm. And Bakura waited. His miserable existence was composed of only sleeping, and exhausted, fitful sleep, or lying around weak and miserable, regaining his strength. It was suffocating and exhausting, but there wasn't much longer to wait until he would receive his freedom and be reunited with Ryou.

Ryou.

The mere mention of his hosts name made him want to laugh and cry at once. The idiot boy had betrayed him, in the worst possible sense. After catching Ryou and Malik making out on the couch, Bakura found out through interrogation that Ryou and Malik had been seeing each other secretly for months, and had recently became sexually active.

That hurt.

Ryou was his, Bakura owned everything about the light, and yet he went and slept with Malik, giving him something Bakura should have owned himself. Snarling, Bakura twirled a lock of hair around a taloned finger, still thinking about his light. Ryou made him feel… completely different. His smile, his laugh- not that they ever occurred much around Bakura- couldn't help but make him feel special. Bakura could feel good about himself with Ryou around, and a part of him thought that Ryou felt the same connection, the same sense of togetherness. Bakura didn't treat him too badly!

But instead, Malik told him that Ryou hated him with a passion. That Ryou wished Bakura was dead and didn't want him around. Bakura had never felt so alone, so rejected in his entire life… Ryou didn't want him. And he grew so angry, he lost control, and lashed out and attacked Ryou, as well as his father, who was paying a visit. He killed Ryou's father because he wanted his host to feel the same sort of loss and pain that he did. And judging by the tears Ryou shed when he died, his worked,

Oh, Bakura was such a sadist.

"I hate the colour white." Ryou muttered to himself, stretched out on his bed. The walls seemed to move in on him, and it was so frightening, so disconcerting. Hallucinations. He decided to not tell any of the doctors, for fear of receiving any more pills he thought he didn't need. Letting out a long sigh, Ryou rolled over onto his stomach, burying his face in his pillow. Oh God... All the thoughts of what had happened still went rolling around in his head, and it was totally driving him crazy. Letting out a moan, Ryou buried his head deeper into the pillow, his hands hidden by the overly-long sleeves of the straight jacket. He felt terrible, lying on his stomach, in the small, confining room. It took a minute, but Ryou was finally able to place what the feeling of loss was from.

Ryou missed the ring.

He let out a long sigh, clutching at the space on his chest where the ring used to hang. It was true, he hated the spirit, yet, he desperately wanted his ring back, so he could get rid of this absolute loneliness. When Malik found out what had happened to Ryou, he abandoned him, running back to his family in Egypt like a coward. And Ryou hated Malik for that. He thought Malik loved him and cared about him. What a stupid lie.

I really want the Ring… Ryou sat up, looking down in his hands. What were the chances of Yami giving it to him if he asked, Ryou wondered, nibbling on his lower lip. Well, he supposed that it wouldn't really hurt to try. The light stood up, wavering slightly, unused to the feeling of being on two feet- He'd been bedridden for days- but managed to steady himself with one hand on the wall.

No harm in trying.

"But Yami, if he's completely gone, then why can't you give me the ring?" Ryou pleaded, clutching the black receiver tightly in his jacketed hands.

"Ryou, I'm sorry, but I don't want to the risk." The spirit tried to reason with an almost tearful Ryou on the other end of the line. "I don't want him to return and hurt you again."

"Please." Ryou implored, holding the black receiver even tighter. "I need the ring, Yami. My father gave it to me. And if it's lifeless, then surely you have no use for it… Please, Yami…" He begged one more time, leaning against the white corridor wall. His phone time was almost up…

"Ryou… Why do you want the Ring so much?" Yami inquired dubiously, forehead creasing in a frown. "It's caused you so much pain, look at what it's done to you!"

"N-No it hasn't." Ryou said in his soft voice, chewing thoughtfully on his lower lip. "It was always Bakura that hurt me… Yami, it's… Really the only present my father gave me after Mum and Amane died… Please." He finished tearfully, wiping at his nose. Yami sighed on the other line, beginning to weaken.

"But… Ryou… I…"

"Please…"

A pair of shoulders sagged, a sigh emitting from parted lips.

"Okay."

Yugi took a deep breath as he stared at the white door in front of him, with that same nameplate sellotaped to the wall. Part of him felt extremely guilty for going to long without visiting his friend- Over two months had passed, and he hadn't said a word to Ryou. It was easy for the white-haired boy to slip from his mind, he reasoned with himself, his hand hovering over the doorknob. He'd had school to worry about. And he'd busied himself with his friends and Yami…

"Hello?" The room was small, but Yugi's voice was smaller as he stepped into the bedroom, his shoulders sagging as he glanced at Ryou's slender frame curled upon his bed, a broad grin on his pale face.

"Th-thank you Yugi." He whispered, looking happier than the maroon-eyed had seen him in months. "Th-thank you so much." Ryou wiped at his nose, a small smile on his angelic face. Yugi smiled, taking a seat beside Ryou and withdrawing the golden artifact out of a hidden coat pocket.

"I hope I don't regret this." He murmured, handing the ring to Ryou, who gasped and snatched it, hugging it close to his chest, tears clinging to long dark eyelashes.

"You won't, Yugi, I promise."

Hehehe... >>' Damn, Ryou's going to get a shock. XD

R&R?