This chapter is set in the future, and it is for HermioneSakuraGardner07, who went through a terrible event and lost her grandmother. I am so sorry for your loss, and I hope your sister is recovering well. My best wishes and deepest condolences to you and your family. I recently went through a loss in my family as well, and I know that nothing really helps in the beginning, but if you just hold on to the love and the memories you have for and of the departed, then time will heal the rest. As long as you love them, they'll stay with you.

I do not own YuGiOh.

Tea stomped the snow off her boots before entering the apartment she and Ryou shared.

"I'm ho-ooooome!" she sang out, fairly dancing into the cozy living room. It had been several weeks since the last attack, so for once she wasn't recovering from injury. There was truly a delight in being healthy, and she reveled in the strength of her limbs.

"Guess who got pastries?" she chirped, depositing several grocery bags onto their small kitchen counter. "Ooh, and some chocolate powder to make hot chocolate; the weather is just perfect for it! What do you think, should we mix some up right now? Ryou?"

No reply was forthcoming, and Tea padded out of the kitchen and down the small hall that led to their bedrooms, knocking on the boy's door gently.

"Ryou?"

There was a heavy second of silence, and then the sound of a chair being pushed back and quiet footsteps.

Tea smiled at Ryou as he opened the door, but her smile quickly dissipated as she took a good look at his face. Deep circles smudged the skin under weary eyes, and his mouth kept involuntarily pulling downwards.

The girl bit her lip, gazing at him with open concern, and the boy ducked his head under her gaze.

"Can you talk about it?" she asked, using their own special code question to broach possibly perilous subjects.

At first, he shook his head, and Tea nodded her acceptance, drawing him into a quick hug. But as she moved to release him, he held onto her.

"Actually," he mumbled into her shoulder. "Actually, I think I might like that." He drew back, rubbing briefly at his eyes, and gestured her into his room.

As ever, the room was sparsely adorned, just a bed and a desk with a chair and a lamp and a few other scant necessities. Ryou led her to the desk, upon which numerous pieces of paper lay, most of them crumpled up.

Tea sat on the edge of the bed, Ryou perched in the chair, running his fingers over the pages.

"I had a sister," he said abruptly, and Tea felt a heavy weight settle into her stomach at the two simultaneous revelations. A sister, Ryou's sister, the sister he once had(not now, not now).

"I'm so sorry, Ryou," she said quietly, hands curling in over each other like birds seeking shelter. Ryou didn't answer, but then she didn't expect him too. Grief was like that; it was terrible and weighty, and the most you could do was share in it, for nothing could truly make it go away except for time.

"I used to write letters to her," Ryou continued. "I wrote them a lot, until, well the Ring." His mouth twisted into a bitter smile. "Then Bakura would always laugh at me when I tried to write, or he would take over my body and write things on the letter, terrible, awful things. I-" he cut himself off, rubbing at his temples, a mourning twist to his lips.

Tea moved before she was conscious of moving, wrapping him up in her arms as best she could, trying to hold him together. Ryou sagged in her embrace, the tension bleeding away from him. His arms came up around her, squeezing back just as tightly(don'tletmego IpromiseIwon't).

"You can write to her now," Tea whispered to him, his white hair tickling her lips. "You can write anything you want, as much as you want."

He smiled, a few tears leaking out of his eyes. "I would like to," he admitted. "I would like that very much. Would you, um, stay while I write, please?"

"I would love that," Tea answered, giving him one last squeeze before returning to the edge of the bed.

Ryou drew in a deep breath, emotions swirling around inside(love sorrow pain joy onedayI'llseeyouagain). He held the pen still over the page, then tremulously set it to the blank potential of the paper.

Dear Amane,

I'm sorry it's been so long. I miss you. I miss you so much, almost as much as I love you….

AN: I wish you and your family the best, HermioneSakuraGardner07.