The Manga Jingle

Loves Kenshin, this one does

Has volume 7 and 8

I've got a thing for Bleach too

Who now lives in my bookshelf

Guess I should stick to other forms of writing? Anyway I just got back my ASVAB test and it matched me right with the job I always wanted, but it said I'd be a good writer as well, expect I didn't have a high enough MC. That doesn't matter though, because I'm in this for fun.

I would like to thank my very sweet reviewers. It's actually suggested you read my review answers, because parts of the story can appear in them.

Tsuki-chan – Thank you so much! I worked really hard on this and I hope to keep making it better.

Saffron-Starlight- I know the first chapter makes little sense (except to me), but it was the way I wanted it. I wanted it to give a sense of mystery and give you a bit of a hint to the plot. For the most part though that shouldn't have made much sense at all and only serve to give you a hint of what's to come.

Disclaimer: wanna own, can't own, so don't own

Key: italic text will be flashbacks/dreams. Basically if Ryou is asleep and then falls back asleep it's a dream. Song lyrics will be in bold this time. I'm doing this to help lessen confusion.

On with fic...

I grabbed the sheets and screamed. I felt the chains hit my back with more and more pressure. I wanted to crawl outta my skin and run, but skin is funny that way. You can't escape. You can't hide from pain with skin coating your body. Then the chain hit my neck and I passed out as indescribable pain ran down my spine.

I woke in the middle of the night shriving. It was so cold. I curled up tighter in attempt to warm up.

"Cough." Oh no, if I woke Bakura up... I shifted and looked over. His blankets were bunched up, but I couldn't see him. I sighed, figuring he was asleep and rolled over to sleep again. I never even thought about how he didn't use blankets yet. It never even crossed my mind that he wasn't there.

The tears were dried up now. It left an odd feeling on my skin. It tightened and when I tried to blink caused more to come. Oh, I just can't take it. I just wanted to hide forever in a dark hole and cry. But then a thought dawned on me. I would feel better soon. How soon was a question that was best left unanswered, but somehow I would feel better and laugh again. That is if he ever stopped hitting me.

I woke feeling even worse then I had before. I moaned as I felt nausea take over. I stumbled outta bed, well more like fell and tried to make my way to the bathroom. But as I tried to stand I fell and hit some bruises. I tried to stifle back tears, but it was useless and my vision clouded over with a watery tint. Tears fell harder as I remembered why I was in this predicament. Bakura beat me, bullies tried to kill me, no one noticed me, my father was never home, I had friends I could never see, was failing in school, couldn't recognize who I was anymore, and I was sick because of a knife cut.

"Why? Why must I hurt?" I repeated this over and over as I curled up on the floor. Tears drifted down my face in rivers.

"Because you bring it on yourself." I felt arms wrap around me and pull me against their chest. It was warm, despite the cold that was slowly increasing around me.

>Your skin is very cold.> Bakura had his face nuzzled into my hair. His cheek rested on the crown of my head. It was very pleasing to just sit there and cry with Bakura holding onto me.

"Shut up! Don't you dare try to hit me ever again," it was the first time I had ever tried to resist. It hadn't felt good at all. It felt like I had just cut myself wide open with a knife. I had hurt him. I didn't want to hurt anyone ever.

I shook. I didn't want to hurt anyone, but right now as I cried anger was building up. The tears began to stop and I looked up. Bakura seemed to tense up as he saw my eyes. They were cold, filled with pain and hurt. With hate, they held all the hate I had held onto for a long time. I wanted to hurt him. He was the problem. My mind started to flash red. I lashed an arm out at him and he staggered back watching me. I curled back up and cried. Now insanity was taking over. It would just be a matter of time, before I would hide deeper in my hole. Before I would probably start to cut and then try to end it. Wasn't such a bad idea if only I didn't want to end it. I just wanted to curl up in a dark hole and hide. I wanted to stay there and cry till I couldn't cry anymore.

>You don't need school.> I tried to listen to the teacher talk.

>You shouldn't listen to the mortal. She doesn't know a thing. It won't matter once I have the millennium items. I'll have the world and nothing you learned here will matter.> Yeah right. I'd be dead by then. I tried to ignore the voice in my head and focus, but it was useless. Bakura hadn't let me listen to a teacher in awhile, it was why I was failing school.

Bakura leaned next to me again. He looked at me and then stood up. He left the room and came back with two tissue boxes and some cold medicine. He poured the medicine. Then, he lifted my chin up. I looked at him with a blank look. Why was he doing this. Did he know that I was starting to have trouble breathing from all the crying and that I could choke on the lack of air. Must've been.

>Why do you think I only want you alive?> I was then forced to open my mouth with his fingers and he placed the medicine in my mouth. I disliked the taste it left in my mouth as I finished it off. I grabbed a tissue box outta his hands and opened it. I took a tissue and stuffed it in feverishly to smother the taste. I heard a laugh from my side where Bakura knelled next to me. He took a tissue and wiped my cheeks.

>You need to get to the bathroom, don't you?> He could feel the nausea taking over again and I nodded. He lifted me under my knees and back and carried me away. This puzzled me. I thought he would've cared less about what I needed.

>I want you to stop thinking like this.> He said it in such a demanding voice it shocked me. He was really mad at me now and I began to shake. That didn't help the nausea at all and I started to feel it come up. Next thing I knew, I was on the floor in the hallway united with my dinner once again, if you could call the one granola bar dinner. So I started to cough up blood. A hand came onto my back and held me in place as I trembled. I finished and found the mess to be in my hair and on my clothes. I felt like I was gonna be sick again, but there was nothing left to give.

"You need a bath now." Bakura was musing to himself. So he picked me back up and dropped me in the bathtub. Next thing I knew he was stripping me once again. I tried to wiggle free of his grasp, but he stopped me.

"I'll leave your boxers on. How's that?" I stopped moving as a pounding headache began. I realized moving wasn't such a good idea.

He started up the water. It was burning hot and I screamed when it first hit me.

"Not so hot. Please." My voice holding the same overly polite tone it always had. The same tone I used to try and trick people into thinking I was okay. He didn't say anything, but he turned the dial down ten degrees. The still boiling hot water washed over me in the lightly pink tub. It was smoothing on my bruises, but stung my cuts and I gave out a whimper.

"Stop your crying, it's just hot water." I shook as I heard this. I was on the verge of tears again. I was gonna have to hold them back. Otherwise I would make Bakura mad. This only made me wanna cry more.

He started to take a sponge and gently swipe it over my skin. It had a caressing affect on me and I felt myself melt. I leaned back and grimaced as pain swept over me from movement. Bakura watched me intently as if I would fall apart.

"Cough" I went into a rage of coughs. My chest racked with pain and I began to spit up yet more blood.

"Ryou...?" Bakura stopped rubbing the soap on and cupped his hand under my mouth. He caught the blood and then stood up, rinse the blood off in the sink, and came back. I had gone limp from pain. I couldn't hold my head up and I felt Bakura grab hold of my underarms and pull me up.

"Ryou, you need to get a hold of yourself. Get it together and stop being a weakling." He let me go and I slid downwards again. I didn't have any strength left to use and another onslaught of coughs came. They were worse and Bakura cursed as he climbed into the tub to sit behind me.

"Your gonna fucking drown." He sounded so pissed off that I started to tremble again. This sent off a chain reaction though my body. I got really cold despite the hot water. Then, I was sweating while still cold. I got hot all the sudden and cold again. My body went into havoc and every part of me began to scream in pain.

"This isn't just a cold is it?" Bakura was pondering to no one.

I cried out in pain and frustration at not being strong enough to avoid this. I started to scream widely and thrash about. Water splashed all over as Bakura pinned my arms down by hugging me from the back.

"Stop hikari. Stop it now." My mind went into a blind white space. My body stopped and so did my heart.

"Ryou?" Bakura's voice had that weird neutral sound again. The one that was indifferent, yet seemed caring.

/Bakura,/ I wasn't moving, my pulse was almost nonexistent, /May I go back to sleep?/

>Anything you want light.>

/Thank you..../

He was looking down at me. He smiled and placed a kiss on my head and whispered into my hair

"I love you sweet Ryou." He gently rubbed a sponge though my hair and over the rest of my skin.

"I'm sorry. I don't want to hurt you, but I can't stop myself." He lifted my shaking form out of the water and wrapped me in a soft, fluffy, green towel. Bakura hugged my still form.

"I'll never let you go, so just stop thinking I hate you. You have no idea how much I love you." My body wasn't shaking anymore. I looked at peace. Bakura smiled even more and leaned down and kissed my forehead. Then he started to sing.

"Good night, sleep tight,
Don't Let the Bedbugs Bite

Wake up bright
In the morning light
To do what's right
With all your might."