Chapter 4

A sick feeling washed over Ryou and jerked himself awake, a cold sweat falling from his face. His stomach twisted and he quickly put a hand over his mouth, stumbling out of bed. He planted his foot down and nearly tripped over something that winced in protest. Ryou didn't think he could wait to see so he scrambled to his feet and ran, almost slamming himself into the door frame as he went to the bathroom. Not even having time to pull his hair back, Ryou dropped down on his knees and emptied the contents of his stomach into the porcelain bowl. Having not eaten anything, his stomach quickly ran out of things to throw up and Ryou ended up dry heaving, tears swimming in his brown eyes.

Bakura walked into the bathroom after having a rather abrupt wake up call. When he saw Ryou he frowned and leaned against the wall to wait until it passed. Not wanting to make Ryou feel awkward, Bakura let his gaze turn and he looked out the window. The sun had just risen which meant Ryou would be leaving for school soon. Not if he's smart he won't be. He looked back at the boy who was now leaning against the wall, panting. Bakura shoved off the wall and got a washcloth and wet it. "Here."

Ryou turned his head toward Bakura and saw the wet cloth. He reached a shaky hand up for it and wiped his mouth. Sweat had plastered his snow white hair to his face and his body was shivering. He tried to whisper a thank you to Bakura but all he could muster was a meek little 'thank'.

Bakura shrugged off the thanks and leaned against the counter, eyes looking Ryou over. He was still shaking and his usual flowing hair was still and his bangs stuck to his face. The baggy shirt and pants hid the all too skinny body of his former host and Bakura frowned. He had to do something about this if he wanted to go back to the way things were. "What are you trying to prove?" At his statement, Ryou looked up at him but found he still couldn't meet the others brown eyes. So he pulled his knees up and hugged them. Bakura propped himself up with his palms on the countertop and kept his eyes on Ryou. "I asked you a question boy. What in the hell do you think you're doing to yourself?"

He boy flinched a little and hugged his knees tighter, staring straight ahead. He couldn't answer Bakura. Why was he here anyway? Wasn't he the one who was preaching how 'weak' Ryou was? Why all of a sudden had he decided to care. He'd be lying if he said he minded it, but still. "Nothing…"

At that Bakura scoffed and pushed off the counter. "I'm no idiot boy. I know good and well you have a reason behind this. So how about you start talking? Making sure you don't kill yourself is not a hobby I want to pick up."

Ryou physically winced at the last few words. So Bakura knew… Of course he did. Bandages don't just appear on a person's arm.

Wait… He glanced up at the Yami who was still waiting for a reply. When his milk chocolate eyes met Bakura's much darker one's he quickly looked away again. I still can't face him… "I just… don't see the point."

"Point in what exactly?" The Thief King raised an eyebrow, trying to make sense of the boy. Least he was talking now.

"In… living." Ryou whispered the last word, hiding his face in his arms. He didn't want to show anymore weakness to Bakura. It was bad enough he'd spent the last day or so looking after him. Why should he see just how weak Ryou really was?

He thought as much. I mean, why else would he be holding a knife to his own throat? But to hear Ryou say it… It rather shocked Bakura. "So you tried killing yourself? How did that work out for you?" He couldn't keep the anger out of his voice and he regretted it when Ryou's grip on his legs tightened and he flinched away.

"Apparently not all that well. Guess it's just something else you can mark up there with things I fail at Bakura."

Now that comment took Bakura by shock. "And just what in the hell does that mean?"

Ryou finally looked at him, brown eyes still brimming with tears. "You know exactly what it means." He narrowed his gaze, the corner of his lips turning into a frown. "Why are you even here? Last time I checked I was just some little weakling you used to get what you wanted. I annoyed you and the only reason you were here is because you didn't want to find anywhere else to go. So just why exactly ARE you here Bakura? What are you trying o prove? So you hope maybe I'll slip up some more so you can just point that out as well? Or maybe you just want another reason to call me weak and useless. I don't know why you even bother! I've known that! Why do you think-"

He was cut off mid-rant when his stomach heaved again and he was hovering over the bowl as he once again puked up anything else his body could find. Bakura blinked a little and frowned. Where the hell did that come from? Ryou hadn't said that much to him for as long as they had been forced together. He'd be lying if he said that didn't relieve him a little though. Ryou was at least showing some sign of life again. Rather it was out of the blue of the cheerful one that always had a smile. Of course, he wasn't all to happy that the boy was throwing up stuff his body didn't have to offer.

"Well if you've got that out of your system," Ryou sat back against the wall again, wiping his mouth with the cloth. Tears were now falling from his eyes which gave them a glassy appearance. With a little effort he turned his head to the side to look at Bakura. "How about you tell me just what in the hell made you start this?"

Ryou wiped his eyes on the sleeve of his shirt and rested his head back against the wall. He hadn't meant to go off on Bakura. He also wasn't sure why he had or why Bakura was still standing there. The Bakura HE knew would have either hit him for speaking to him like that or laughed in his face and walked out. More than likely the first option. So Ryou risked looking at the former thief again and swallowed hard. "I don't want to be alone anymore…"

It was a quiet answer and Bakura almost didn't catch it. Ryou's voice dropped back down to the whisper he was speaking in earlier and his body slumped back against the wall, weak from the blood loss and dry heaving. "And this just hit you now?"

Ryou shook his head slowly and lowered his eyes to the floor. "No… I've always hated being alone. When father would leave… it would kill me. Being the only one in that house, being the only one to fend for yourself, nobody else to see or talk to you. How are you supposed to survive without someone there to justify you?" His body was in a large amount of pain, he could tell, but it was at the point where it was numbing now. That little outburst at Bakura (Which he felt just awful about now, even if it was true) took a lot out of him. Ryou took a deep breath and hugged his knees, not wanting to see Bakura's reaction to what he was about to admit. "It… scares me, being alone… It terrifies me."

Bakura watched Ryou, not knowing what to say next. He wasn't good at this sort of thing. It was more along the Pharaoh's idea of a 'good deed'. The Thief King could care less about how people felt. Yet here he was, encouraging Ryou to open up to him. I've spent too much time around the blasted good-doers and their so called 'King of Games'. That reminded him of something. Where had those idiots been anyway? Wasn't Ryou apart of that annoying group? "How can you be alone with those 'friendship' obsessed morons all over you? Aren't they your friends or something?"

Ryou flinched a little when Bakura brought that up and kept hugging his knees. "They won't talk to me anymore…"

"And why the hell not?"

"I-…" Ryou stopped himself and shook his head. He wouldn't tell Bakura this. "We just drifted apart."

Bakrua frowned and crossed his arms over his chest. Ryou never was a good liar. Hence why when they had to share a body, Bakura would be the one to lie. Well that and Ryou didn't have much to lie about where as Bakura did. "Ryou you are a terrible liar. You are aware of this correct?"

Ryou looked at him but sighed and nodded his head. "I know…"

"So are you going to tell me the real reason?" Ryou shook his head no and Bakura rolled his eyes. He'd find out sooner or later. Right now he was just relieved Ryou was talking and not trying to cut himself. Speaking of that, Ryou's arm needed to be looked at. With all the bleeding he couldn't see how deep the wounds were. "Let me see your arm." He kneeled down to Ryou who looked at him and shook his head again. "Ryou I'm not asking you," He turned the boy's chin so he was forced to look him in the eye. "I'm telling you. Now let me see your arm."

Ryou swallowed hard, a faint blush dusting his cheeks red from how close he was to Bakura. In an attempt to hide it, he carefully lifted his arm up for Bakura to see. Bakura nodded in approval and unwrapped the crimson soaked bandages until they fell to the floor and reveled the many cuts going up Ryou's arm.

The younger boy sucked in a sharp gasp and closed his eyes. He didn't want to see anymore. Why hadn't he just ended it there when he had the chance? Bakura cast him a glance but kept looking over the gashes. A few were still not sealed and having the bandage removed made them start to bleed again. Others were shut, but still gory. He sighed in his head and grabbed a new bandage and wrapped it around Ryou's slender arm. The boy winced a little but stayed still for the most part.

When he had pinned it in place, Bakura got to his feet and looked down at Ryou. "You should eat something." Ryou made a disgusted face and shook his head slowly. Bakura grinned a little but walked out of the cramped bathroom. "Less you want to make yourself completely ill, I'd get something solid in your stomach."

He knew he was right so Ryou let out a small sigh and gripped the side of the tub, pulling himself up and following Bakura after the bathroom. The idea of eating wasn't really all that appealing at the moment, but neither was puking his cuts out. As Bakura started to walk down the stairs and Ryou followed, he suddenly stopped and looked back at him. "The hell do you think you're going?"

Ryou blinked confused and pointed towards the kitchen. "To get something to eat…?" Again, his statement was more in the form of a question.

Bakura shook his head and pointed toward the bedroom. "You are going to go lay back down. How in the bloody hell do you expect to cook anything if you can't even walk down the stairs?"

"So… does this mean you're going to be cooking for me again?" A smile spread across Ryou's face as the idea sunk in. One that made Bakura blink and quickly turn back around to finish walking down the stairs.

"Just go lay back down like I said boy." With that Bakura walked into the kitchen, leaving a dumb founded Ryou standing on the top of the stairs. He resisted the urge to run after him and cling to Bakura's shirt. Instead he swallowed hard and walked back to his room with the help of the wall, hoping Bakura would return.

…

NOTE: DONE. I put off an English paper! :D …Again. Bah oh well. Tendershipping demanded attention and so it was given! Oh and I've found a few songs that go with this story if you wanted to 'set the mood' more. "The Kill" by: 30 Seconds to Mars is a really good one. Think it describes Ryou's outlook like… perfectly. So it's like the official theme of this story. If you listen to the words and picture Ryou saying them to Bakura it's like EPIC. "Save A Life" by: The Fray is another really good one simply because it just is. "So I Thought" by: Flyleaf is a good one too. It's also a good one from Ryou's point of view about keeping his fear locked up. If you have any more songs let me know! Music helps inspiration! :D Well I'll shut up now.
OH HEY. This story didn't end with people going to bed! CHEERS!