Disclaimer: Forgot to do this earlier, but I don't own Yu-Gi-Oh!, and do not claim to. Anyway, hope you enjoy this next chapter.

Impermanence

Chapter Two

The soft morning sunlight filtered through the uncovered window, warming the bedroom and the sleeping boy curled up on the floor. Ryou shifted slightly in his sleep, moving his head slightly on his arm in an attempt to hide from the sun. Despite his efforts he awoke a short while later, blinking in the sunlight. It took him a few seconds to realize he was on the floor, but didn't spend enough time on that fact to realize this was abnormal.

Ryou pulled a hand down to rub his eyes, but this attempt failed. Ryou frowned sleepily, mind still foggy with sleep. His hand was caught or something. Dragging his head up to see what was going on, he saw his hands bound in front of him.

The next second Ryou's eyes widened in remembrance.

Now almost fully awake, Ryou realized with disgust that he was lying in a pool of his own blood. His back itself had an almost unbroken layer of dried blood over the ragged skin. Ryou closed his eyes and jerked hard on the rope, wanting nothing more than to get away from the proof of the previous night's horror.

Ryou felt the Ring build up in power, knowing his yami was about to materialize. Ryou shuddered slightly, but he knew his yami was his best, if not only, chance of being freed.

Ryou opened his eyes, and turned his head slowly to face Bakura. He saw his yami cock his head before smirking approvingly at his host, and the boy shuddered and turned his head away again.

"Bakura… would you please untie me?" Ryou asked quietly, glancing at Bakura out of the corner of his eye.

Ryou saw his yami stare at him flatly for a second, before a smile tugged at the man's lips. He walked forwards… and continued past Ryou and out of the room, without so much as glancing towards his host.

A sinking feeling filled Ryou as he realized his yami was leaving him, letting him stay there for who knows how long.

"B-Bakura!" Ryou cried, a hint of hysteria in his voice. "Come back, Bakura, please! Don't leave me here, don't…"

Relief mixed with fear flooded Ryou as he saw Bakura turn and stand in the doorway, leaning against the frame with a smirk fully displaying his enjoyment of Ryou's predicament.

Ryou locked gazes with Bakura, afraid to break the uneasy silence that had temporarily settled.

"Yes?"

Moisture started to gather at the corner of Ryou's eyes. "Bakura… please, just let me go."

"Why? You're much safer there, yadonushi. You'll get in less trouble this way." Bakura sneered at Ryou before turning away slightly, waiting to hear Ryou plead for him to change his mind.

After a few seconds without any response, the spirit whirled back around to see Ryou staring blindly at the floor. Bakura raised an eyebrow at his hikari's nearly lifeless gaze.

"I…" Ryou whispered so softly Bakura had to strain to catch the words, "I don't want to play your games… and it's not like what I do has any effect on you. I know you've already decided whether you're going to leave me here or not…" Ryou's tone was soft, but Bakura could hear the restrained emotion in his host's voice.

The yami walked forward, until he was directly in front of Ryou. When the boy kept his gaze fixed on the carpet, Bakura nudged Ryou's head up with his foot, catching Ryou's gaze.

"You're beginning to learn, yadonushi. Nothing you say ever makes a difference, and if you keep that in mind things should go smoother for you. Although it will mean less fun for me." Bakura grinned, and Ryou ripped his eyes away, his throat still caught by the spirit's shoe.

Bakura laughed as he kneeled down, catching Ryou's chin quickly and recapturing Ryou's startled gaze.

"I have made my decision, host."

With one smooth motion, he whipped a knife out of his pocket and slit the ropes binding Ryou' wrists. Ryou immediately sat back, rubbing his sore wrists and eyeing his yami warily. Bakura simply rose and smirked in superiority before turning and exiting once more.

Ryou sighed as blood started circulating through his wrists once more. He turned and rested against his desk, before realizing his mistake. Ryou winced and quickly pulled away from the piece of furniture, back burning. Ryou leaned forwards and gingerly picked up his soiled shirt, quickly tossing it into his wastebasket. There was a little bit of blood on his floor still, but Ryou was too tired to take care of it at the moment. Right now, he cared more about cleaning himself off than his room's cleanliness.

Ryou quickly stepped into the shower, closing his eyes as the warm water washed his broken body clean. The water stung his open back, but it was a welcome suffering, promising Ryou that the pain would cease shortly.

Ryou stepped out of the shower, quickly toweling himself dry before slipping on some underwear and jeans. The white-haired boy strode softly over to his window, leaning on the frame and starting at the same scene as the previous night, the landscape flooded with warm sunlight instead of the moon's weak glow.

How could everything look so tranquil, like the events of the previous night had been nothing more than a nightmare?

Ryou tore away from the window, hoping to get fully clothed before his yami returned. Ryou had started rummaging through his drawer for a clean shirt when he realized the wounds were still bleeding by the substance beginning to coat his back once more. Wincing, he snagged a shirt before walking over to his small bathroom.

Ryou set the shirt on the counter and rifled through the medicine cabinet, taking out a length of bandages and some bactine. He paused slightly, then turned around to survey his back.

Ryou glanced ruefully at the once more dripping distorted words. The boy snatched up a hand towel, soaking it before wiping off the blood to have a clean surface to bandage.

"I wonder if I'll be scarred like this forever," Ryou pondered sadly as he reached for the bandages.

"Unfortunately, I was unable to cut as deep as I would have liked. The words will disappear in few months."

Ryou started and whirled around to find his yami standing behind him, arms folded and a slightly annoyed look on his face. A second later, however, this had turned into a sneer. "The good news is, if you need reminding again later, we can do this all over again. Won't that be fun, yadonushi?" Bakura leaned forwards, licking his lips in anticipation for Ryou's benefit before turning to leave. His laughter echoed in Ryou's ears long after he had departed, though.

Ryou slumped to his knees and leaned on the counter, tears freely spilling down his cheeks. He could only hope and pray that never came to pass, for Ryou didn't know his body could stand going through that again.

He knew his soul couldn't.

Jonouchi gave a short chuckle as he, Yuugi and Ryou entered the school. They had just come in from running, and all three were happily exhausted. Usually neither Yuugi or Ryou enjoyed gym, but Jonouchi had challenged his two friends personally to a race. Yuugi quickly fell behind, but Ryou pushed himself, and nearly beat the blond.

Ryou let out a short yelp as Katsuya looped an arm around his neck, while rubbing his hair with the knuckles of his free hand.

"Nice going, Bakura-kun! For a second it seemed like you might have had a small chance at beating me."

Ryou sweatdropped at his friend's choice of words, and pulled away. "Well, I like running…"

"You're good at it, too," Jonouchi encouraged, then glanced over his shoulder at Yuugi. "While Yuugi…"

Yuugi pouted exaggeratedly. "Is it my fault I have short legs?"

"Well, who else's fault would it be?"

Ryou laughed slightly at Jonouchi's comment, and a smile formed as he watched Yuugi explain he couldn't very well ask Yami to come out for something like this, and Jonouchi point out that it was a game they were playing, so why not have Yami help? It seemed like things would finally start to get back to normal for him. It had been five days since Bakura had scarred him. The wounds no longer bled, and the pain had ceased to sting— it still hurt, but was only a constant, low pain Ryou had gotten used to. Ryou had adjusted to his plight, and had currently let the markings slip his mind.

"Well, see ya. I'm gonna go get on some clean clothes." Jonouchi announced, ruffling Yuugi's hair before turning to leave.

Yuugi and Ryou had both brought duffel bags with clean shirts, so they wouldn't have to wait to get out of their dirty clothes. As Yuugi opened his bag to find his shirt, Ryou grabbed his bag and turned away to respect Yuugi's privacy.

Ryou offhandedly pulled his sweat-tinged shirt over his head, reaching forwards and snagging his clean one. He pulled it over his head and was about to lower it when a gasp made him freeze.

"B-Bakura-kun…" Yuugi's horrified voice came from behind the boy, and Ryou turned to see Yuugi staring at him, purple eyes wide.

"W-what…?" The midget stammered out, voice gone.

One of Ryou's eyebrows rose in confusion, when realization hit him. Ryou's eyes widened even larger than Yuugi's and a small whimper escaped his lips.

"N-no…" Ryou whispered, shaking slightly.

"Ryou, what's…?" Yuugi asked, but before he could continue Ryou shook his head violently and turned, tearing down the hall.

"Ah, Bakura-kun!" Yuugi called, but his friend refused to halt his running.

'Aibou, follow him!'

'Wha… spirit?'

'Something's wrong with Bakura-kun, aibou, and we both know what it is.'

"The other Bakura…" Yuugi breathed out loud, then broke out into a run in the direction he had seen Ryou go. It was the only thing that made sense, of course, but it still disturbed Yuugi… especially what he had seen. Yuugi shivered slightly as he recalled the sight. Who could have done that to Ryou? Ryou was the other half of Bakura's soul! If he was willing to do that to him...

Yuugi closed his eyes slightly; the writing in Ryou's back coming unbidden to his vision. It just seemed too cruel to Yuugi… and how could Ryou bear having that branded onto him?

Property of Bakura…

Ryou tore down the hall, chest heaving, never pausing in his stride until he barreled into an empty classroom. The light was off, and all was nothing more than a vague twilight to the boy's eyes.

Ryou slumped against one of the many ceiling-high filing cabinets, still gulping in breaths. How could he have been so thoughtless? Now Yuugi knew, which meant his yami knew, which meant…

Ryou was in trouble.

The second after Ryou's disconcerted brain realized this, Bakura emerged to the left of Ryou, looking even more angry than he had a few nights before. Ryou gasped and took a step back from the spirit, turning slightly to face him.

"B-Baku—"

Ryou was never given the chance to finish. With an enraged snarl, the yami reared back and kicked his light viciously in the chest.

With an instinctual cry, Ryou flew back several yards, only stopped after slamming into the cabinets on the wall behind him. Hitting his back squarely on the cabinets, Ryou slumped to the floor a second after impact. The boy whimpered slightly as he felt a few thin streams of blood down his back, a few wounds torn back open from the collision.

Bakura stormed over to his fallen hikari, kicking him in the side of the head. Ryou sobbed in pain lightly, but nothing more. Still incensed, the former thief grabbed Ryou by the collar, lifting him roughly to his feet.

"Idiot!" Bakura yelled. "How on earth could you let that happen, fool?"

"I-I'm sorry, Bakura!" Ryou sobbed back, trying his best to keep his eyes from meeting Bakura's burning ones. "I-I forgot. It won't happen again!"

"That's for sure." Bakura snapped, removing his hand to force Ryou to look at him. Ryou shied away futilely, tears forming automatically in fear of Bakura's anger. "But the damage is done. Now the Pharaoh and his brat know what happened." Bakura stepped slightly closer, his eyes only inches from Ryou's.

"You most certainly will not forget again, yadonushi, I shall ensure that."

Bakura lifted his hikari several inches off the ground, and Ryou winced, knowing there was no way of stopping what would come next.

Bakura drew back his left fist to strike the helpless boy, when he was interrupted by an angry "Bakura!".

Annoyed, he turned slightly… to see a very livid Pharaoh.

Author's Notes: First off, thank you so much to everyone who reveiwed this! (And also those who favorited it, alerted it, or even just read and enjoyed it.) I usually ramble during these notes, but for some reason I can't think of much to say this time... which is probably a good thing. ^^" Anyway, hope you liked this, and chapter three should be up... um, "soon-ish". I'll be working on it, but I have two higher priorities (Shinigami and beta work) and I'm not entirely sure how the end-middle of the confrontation will go... but I promise not to make you wait too long. -sweatdrop- Please tell me what you think of this~