"If I were to ask you to never hurt May, what would you ask for in return?" Ryou asked, trying to keep his nerve.

"What?" Yami Bakura was hardly paying attention to Ryou at the moment.

"You like making deals, don't you? Well, what would my end of the deal be if I wanted you to promise not to hurt May?"

"Well, you'd have to be offering me something good. As it is, I don't really need anything from you, so there's no reason for me to make any deal at all. I only make deals if they actually benefit me." Yami Bakura was being casual and apathetic about a matter that was, for Ryou, a rather serious thing.

"What more could I give you?" Ryou demanded, exasperated with him.

"Well, you could give me more time in your body, access to your bank account, permission to sleep with your—"

"Never!" Ryou was sick at the thought of that happening. He could never betray Amaya like that. That was the very thing he was trying protect her from with this deal.

Yami Bakura laughed that cold, sadistic laugh of his. "I guess that one's off the table then, but really, you have so many options if you just get a little… creative." He gave Ryou a look that made him cringe.

"It's been a while since I've gotten to strangle anybody," Bakura remarked off-handedly. "I'm starting to get out of practice."

Ryou turned white as a sheet. "What are you suggesting?" he queried in a faint voice.

"That I be allowed to strangle you, without killing you of course, and in exchange I'll guarantee not to hurt her for a period of time."

"For ten years," Ryou said. If he was going to agree to this torture, he was going to get the most out of it.

"For one year," Bakura retorted disdainfully.

"For five years," Ryou countered stubbornly.

"Two."

"Eight."

"Two."

"Five."

"Three."

"Five."

"One."

"Five."

They glared at each other, the tension between them palpably violent.

"Fine, three," Ryou conceded. Bakura nodded and held out his hand, grinning like the proverbial cat who stole the cream.

"And if you violate our agreement, then I will turn Marik in to the Egyptian police for his crimes, and he will spend the rest of his life in prison, if he doesn't receive capital punishment."

Yami Bakura gave Ryou a death glare sharper than his sharpest knives. "Fine," he growled, and Ryou shook his hand, sealing the deal. "I will enjoy every moment of strangling you."

Ryou felt too relieved to feel fear at the moment. Yes, it would only protect her for the next three years, but it was better than nothing. Far better than nothing at all.

Marik had been sent on a time-consuming errand out of the house and Amaya had classes today, so Ryou and Bakura were home alone. Now was the time for Ryou to fulfill his part of the deal. Bakura took control of his hands and legs, and Ryou didn't fight him, though he hated the feeling of his limbs moving independent of his own will.

His mind had gone blank with fear by this point; that was what willingly agreeing to be tortured did to you. During his inattention, his yami had gotten a thick belt from the closet and looped it around Ryou's neck. Then he began to tighten it.

Ryou's survival instincts kicked in, and even as his own hands pulled the belt as tightly as possible around Ryou's throat, his body was convulsing on the floor, protesting with every ounce of his being. The asphyxiation went on for an eternity before Ryou finally lost consciousness, his hands finally dropping from the belt and falling limply to the floor.

Yami Bakura had gotten what he wanted: an opportunity to test a new method of strangulation.

Amaya's last class of the day had been canceled. The professor had sent out an email that morning informing his students of this, and Amaya had felt stupidly happy about it. Having her last class canceled meant that she got to see Ryou a few hours earlier than she otherwise would have.

She wanted to surprise him by showing up early, so she didn't tell him that she was coming. Perhaps she should have, for when she got there, nobody came to open the door when she knocked. She took out the key that Ryou had given her for the basement apartment, unlocking the door and entering cautiously. She knew that Ryou was supposed to be home all day, so something was definitely wrong. She ventured into the quiet rooms with a sense of apprehension. Nobody in the kitchen, nobody in the living room. Nothing could have prepared her for what she would find in Ryou's room though.

When she saw him lying prone on the ground with the belt tightened around his neck, she screamed his name and ran to him, taking the wretched thing off as quickly as possible and rolling him from his side to his back. She checked his pulse. It was dangerously faint, but it was there. He was still alive. She held her fingers to his wrist for the longest minute of her life. She told herself that if it didn't pick up on its own within that time, that she'd have to perform CPR. It did though, and in just another couple minutes, Ryou's eyelids started to flutter.

The whole time that she'd been waiting for such a sign of life, she'd been sobbing, whispering his name over and over again, begging him to come back, to wake up. So when he finally opened his eyes, relief swept through her, followed rapidly by angry confusion. His expression was one of wretched guilt and pain, and the guilt almost seemed to tell her everything she needed to know. She wasn't supposed to have been here, to have seen this. But she had, and now…

"Why, Ryou? Why?" she pleaded as she cried against his hand, the wretched hand that had attempted to take his own life. Although things had been rough with his yami around the time they'd gotten engaged, she'd thought that things had been going well lately. He'd been so happy, so hopeful. Had he simply hidden all of the darkness deep down inside himself, only showing her the light until the darkness came to be too much to bear on his own?

"Why didn't you tell me? We could have talked about it. I could have helped you. I want you to let me in, not keep me out, like you have been. H-Has this happened before? Is it going to happen again?"

Ryou could only stare up at her helplessly. He already saw how this was going to end, and he could see that there was nothing he could do to stop it. He wasn't even capable of speaking to contradict her.

It was getting harder and harder for Amaya to believe that Ryou wasn't crazy or suffering from some kind of psychological disorder. If that was the case, wouldn't it be better for her to get him the help he needed? The events of that first night long ago flickered through her mind, when the Millenium Ring had burned her, and she felt even more confused by all of this. That memory alone stopped her every time she started to wonder about him.

Tears welled up in her eyes and she sobbed, "I'm sorry, Ryou, I-I just can't." It was too much pain for her to endure, so she left, ran crying from the apartment without looking back.

Ryou felt like he was dying that afternoon. All of the strength and hope and love he'd salvaged together in the past two years since meeting her wasted away within him, slipping through his fingers like sand, dissipating like mist. He was shattered, and there was nothing that could fix him now.

When Marik came back to the apartment after running errands, he put the groceries down on the kitchen counter and called, "Ryou, I'm back! Put the groceries away!" There was no response, from either Ryou or Bakura, and after a few moments, Marik started to wonder where they were. "Ryou?" he called again, heading towards the boy's room. He pushed the door open slowly and stood still in shock. Ryou was just curled up on the floor sobbing. He looked like an absolute mess.

"She's gone," he rasped between sobs. "She promised she'd never leave, but she's gone forever."

Marik hadn't known about the deal between Ryou and Bakura; there was no reason for him to have been told. All he understood was that Ryou was deeply upset because, apparently, Amaya had left him; he couldn't possibly be referring to anyone else. Yami Bakura was nowhere to be seen, and Marik did indeed feel pity for Ryou, so he cautiously approached and knelt by him on the floor. He sat there awkwardly for a moment, then gently propped Ryou up into a sitting position beside him and wrapped his arms around him in a manner he hoped would be comforting. Ryou was surprised by the gesture and its source, but he wasn't about to complain, not when he was in such desperate need of consolation. He turned his face into Marik's chest and hugged the bronze Egyptian tightly, sobbing all the while.

"What happened, Ryou?" Marik asked after a little while, worried about his lover's host. He'd never seen Ryou this upset before. He knew that Ryou had gone through a lot, but he'd always held up under the pain and sorrow, always found hope and a smile. He'd always managed to keep it together, so the fact that he was now shattered after losing Amaya was especially concerning.

Ryou's sobbing made it hard to understand his words, but Marik could still understand bits and pieces: "She thought I'd tried to kill myself… It's all his fault… She said she couldn't handle it anymore…"

The only "he" Ryou could be referring to was Yami Bakura, which meant that Bakura had driven away the one one that Ryou loved. Sudden anger surged through Marik: Ryou had every right to be devastated. If Malik had driven away Bakura, Marik would be shattered too. Fury, emptiness, hatred, sorrow, and desolation swept through Marik as he envisioned himself in Ryou's situation. In those moments of rage, Malik surged up within Marik so quickly that he didn't have time to realize what was happening before it was too late. Marik blacked out and Malik came to power for the first time in months.

Ryou nuzzled against Malik, unaware of the change that had taken place, comforted by the presence of a warm body in his arms. No, he and Marik weren't the best of friends, but he was far better than nothing. Suddenly, he felt something warm and wet in his ear, and he flinched. He glanced up at Marik in shock, mouth open, ready to protest, but he fell silent when he saw the change that had taken place.

"Melvin…" he choked out, tears still dripping to his cheeks.

"Don't worry, Kitty. I'll take good care of you." His hand caressed Ryou's wet cheek and started licking his tears away. Ryou began to recoil, but froze when his other hand seized Ryou's upper arm in a tight grasp, hard enough to induce bruising. With one eye closed, he leaned slightly away from the psychotic serial killer. The hand on his cheek moved to gently tangle in his hair as Melvin's face came closer to Ryou's. The terrified hikari was paralyzed with revulsion and fear. Melvin was capricious and doubleminded: he could be complimenting you even as he stabbed your lower intestine. Ryou didn't know what to expect from him.

Malik's lips brushed against Ryou's with a feather-light touch, and whatever had been left whole inside of Ryou broke. Agony pierced his heart as he felt himself be corrupted by the contact. Even though Amaya had left him, this still felt like he was cheating. But then again, it didn't count as cheating if it was non-consensual, which it was. Ryou knew that the tiniest resistance on his part would earn him torture worse than anything Bakura could have done to him. That was the only reason he wasn't fighting him with all his strength.

"That's a good Kitty," Malik crooned while tangling his fingers firmly in Ryou's hair. Then he went in for more. Ryou closed his eyes after a few moments, realizing that there was nothing else he could do. When Malik rasped his tongue across Ryou's lips, attempting entry, Ryou kept his lips firmly shut. Malik released his hold on Ryou's arm and shoved his fist into Ryou's ribs, making him cry out in pain. Malik took advantage of the moment to feed Ryou his tongue. His fist unclenched and went up to Ryou's neck, stroking the soft, freshly-bruised skin with a gentle touch that belied the strength of his grip.

Ryou could feel his very insides tremble in fear. How long was this going to go on for? Couldn't his yami save him from this, and maybe do him some good just this once? He tried crying out to Bakura in his mind, but he couldn't feel the familiar, usually-intrusive presence of the spirit of the Millennium Ring. It was like he'd locked the door to his soul room.

"I will give you all the hugs you want, Kitty," he breathed as he took a break from the kiss, leaving Ryou panting. Leading him by the hair and the throat, Melvin lay Ryou down on his back, smiling down at him as he positioned himself between Ryou's legs and reached for the hem of Ryou's shirt.

"Please, don't," Ryou whispered pitifully, only to be rewarded with a swift punch to the chest. He choked, and Melvin grabbed one of Bakura's knives off of the nightstand and cut Ryou's shirt off of him, pulling away the fabric to toss it further away from them. With the tip of the knife, he pressed into Ryou's old scars, the ones from the Millennium ring itself. The innocent hikari winced as a ruby droplet of blood welled up from the tiny cut. Malik lifted the knife and licked Ryou's blood from it while holding Ryou's eyes with his own. He shuddered, wanting to close his eyes, but too scared of what would happen if he did. Desperately, he tried again to reach Bakura, but he was still being stonewalled.

Maybe he'd planned for this to happen, all of it: Amaya showing up earlier, Melvin appearing to rape Ryou. Maybe this was what Bakura'd wanted all along. The anger and hatred Ryou felt for his yami increased exponentially in that moment. Why? Why did he have to endure this? Why him? Why this?

As Melvin reached for Ryou's belt, he decided that he wasn't going to give in to this without a fight. In a burst of rebellious spirit, Ryou lifted his leg to kick Malik's crotch as hard as he could. He roared in unexpected pain, then landed a blow square on Ryou's face, making his vision dance with stars.

"I see, you like it rough, do you?" he growled menacingly. "Well, you know what they say: if it's not rough it isn't fun." Then the beating began. Ryou did what he could to protect his head from any further blows, crying out in the vain hope that someone, anyone, would hear and come to his aid, but no such luck was to be his. Ryou didn't know if he preferred Bakura's slashing to Malik's beating, but at least when Malik was beating him, he could close his eyes and try to forget what was happening, he could lose all sense of time until his whole body was one throbbing wound.

Finally, the beating ceased, and Ryou narrowly opened one eye to gaze up at Malik. Ryou flinched in anticipation of another blow as the Egyptian bent down towards him, but instead he gently scooped Ryou up in his arms and lay him out on his bed, laying down beside him, propped up on one elbow. With one hand, he gently stroked Ryou's fluffy white locks. After a few moments, Ryou finally opened his eyes a little, staring into space, unable to look his torturer in the eye. Malik slid from stroking Ryou's hair to stroking his shoulders, his chest, then his thighs. Ryou shivered in disgust, and tried one final time to call upon his yami for aid, sending out a silent scream with every ounce of his being.

Just as Melvin dug his fingernails into Ryou's thigh through the fabric of his pants, Bakura finally appeared, Marik standing behind him, both as ethereal spirits of course. "How dare you," he growled in a tone that not even Ryou had heard before. Both he and Marik looked shocked and angered at what they saw, whether it was caused by their other selves lying together or the abuse that the yami had wrought on Ryou, it was unclear.

"Hello, binky boy," Malik greeted them with a psychosadistic smile that went far beyond Bakura's villainy. "Did you miss me, Florence?"

"You know that I hate you with all of my being," Bakura snarled as he stalked towards the bed. "That's why you tried to attack me by mutilating my host." Bakura came to stand by the edge of the bed, looking utterly disgusted. "You cold bastard. How was any of this"—he gestured to Ryou's battered, broken body—"Necessary? There was no reason for it, and furthermore, you're messing with my host. You're not going to get away with this Melvin. How would you like it if I beat your hikari like you did Ryou?" Marik, still standing close behind Bakura, suddenly looked worried.

"Bakura?" he whimpered, the threat of outright abuse at the hands of his lover making him cringe in fear. Bakura ignored Marik and continued with his rant.

"That's my body too, after all. I may have an extremely high pain tolerance, but even I would feel all of that. You're leaving now Melvin, and if you dare to ever try and mess with my host again, I swear I'll make you wish that you'd never been born." With those words, the Millenium Ring around Bakura's neck began to glow and Marik lunged towards his yami. Ryou closed his eyes against the blinding light, his ears ringing with the shouts of Marik and Malik.

Next thing he knew, Marik was helping him into a clean set of pajamas and tucking him into bed, pressing an ice pack against his swollen black eye. Bakura was sitting at his side with an expression that Ryou had never seen before. If he didn't know better, he would think it was concern. If he was truly concerned, he would have taken over so that Ryou wouldn't have to feel the pain.

As it was, Ryou was unable to get the sleep he needed due to the pain. Marik slept in a sleeping bag on the floor in his room and Yami Bakura sat on the edge of the bed all night long keeping watch over the pained, troubled Ryou. Whenever he awoke, Bakura would rouse Marik so that he could get Ryou another ice pack for his bruises.

In the morning, Ryou was still out of it and in incredible pain.

"He needs to go to the hospital," Marik said worriedly. "I think he has broken ribs, and I'm not sure those should go untreated."

"Well, how would we get him there? He's not in any state to walk there, even with you helping him." Yami Bakura wasn't averse to taking Ryou to the hospital if that was what he needed, but he seemed to also be concerned with the logistics of that plan.

"We could call Yugi or one of his other friends," Marik suggested.

"That'll do, but you'll have to go with them and stay with Ryou at the hospital. I'll be with you in the Millennium Ring."

When Ryou awoke to find himself in the hospital, he felt much less pain than he had the last time he was awake. He was grateful for their administering of pain killers. When he opened his eyes, the first thing he saw was Bakura's shade sitting on the edge of the hospital bed. Bakura turned to face him, that odd, anxious expression on his face. They stared at each other in total silence for several long moments. Then Bakura opened his mouth and inhaled deeply.

"I'm sorry about Amaya, Ryou. That wasn't supposed to happen."

Ryou blinked in surprise. He'd never heard Bakura apologize for anything before. His mind hazy with the painkillers, Ryou simply nodded faintly, accepting his apology for what it was.

"As for Melvin, I will avenge you for what he did. He had no right to lay a finger on you, and I will ensure that it never happens again." He paused, gazing at Ryou contemplatively. "What I do must not seem very different from what he does, but trust me, it's inherently different. Even if I could, I would never beat you to a pulp like he did."

Ryou could only stare at him blankly. He didn't know how much he believed his yami's words, but the intense rage he'd felt towards Bakura the previous evening was significantly dimmed.

"You must think that I don't care what happens to you at all, but I can assure you that's not true. I need your body, at least, to be in relatively good condition. That's why I had Marik get you to the hospital. I wouldn't have let you suffer all the pain he caused, except that if I took over, we wouldn't know if you needed medical treatment or not."

Ryou opened his mouth to speak, but Bakura held up his hand to silence him. "The doctors say you shouldn't speak for a few days, in order to prevent your vocal chords from suffering permanent damage. Sorry about that." With that, he winked out of sight, disappearing into the Millennium Ring, which was around Ryou's neck, though he didn't remember how it got there. Last place he saw it was around Marik's neck. He let Marik wear it most of the time now, since he and his yami were, well, close. After nearly being raped by Melvin, he was actually less repulsed by the prospect of his yami sleeping with Marik, because at least they both consented to that.

He felt a wave of envy towards Yugi wash over him yet again. Yugi couldn't bear to part with his Millennium Puzzle, while Ryou couldn't be happier to let Marik carry the Millennium Ring with him. The Pharaoh was like a father to Yugi, while Bakura was Ryou's personal demon.

Yugi himself entered the room, interrupting Ryou's train of thought. That was a pleasant surprise: finally a face he was genuinely happy to see. It suddenly occurred to him to wonder if Amaya knew that he was in the hospital. She probably didn't, there was no reason she would unless Marik and/or Bakura had thought to tell her.