Yo peeps! Well, here's your second chapter, this time, with lots more Ryou! Anyway, I think this chapter loses it's appeal about halfway though, but have a read and see what you think, 'kay? Oh, and thanks to those who reviewed my first chapter! It's inspirational to know people like your work :)

Disclaimer: Yu-Gi-Oh! belongs to some guy in Japan, and I suppose (minorly) to 4Kids too. Plus, you've probably heard about the earthquake and tsunami that struck Japan on Friday? More than 1000 people have lost their lives in it, and the number is rising. This chapter goes out to those who lost their lives. R.I.P

Sunlight poured through the glass doors on either side of my bed. Birds sang to the morning sun as it sent it's heat and light to Earth. Townsfolk chattered happily down at the village, greeting each other as they wandered through the Sunday market. And what time was this? 7:32am. Damn countryside. Sitting upright and rubbing my eyes, I swung my legs over the side of the double-bed and climbed out. Glancing out of the door/window, I glared at the village that had woken me up, and then at the blue sky. It was a Sunday for Ra's sake! The day you're supposed to lie-in on! Huffing, I pushed the doors to the balcony open and walked out, feeling the heat of the early morning hit me like a brick.

"Frick, it's hot today..."I mumbled, rubbing my forehead and scanning my eyes back to the ranch. In the sunlight, the red was that of a neon sign, and I smirked at the thought of it lighting up each night like one. Becoming too caught up in my fantasy, I almost missed the horse than ran from the stables. It was the same jet-black one from yesterday, and the same white-haired person ran after it, grabbing it's reins and trying to prevent it's escape. I watched blankly as they proved to be stronger than they looked, pulling the horse back to the entrance of the stable, before doubling-up as it kicked them square in the stomach. I winced as they fell to their knees, clutching their middle and undeniably sobbing as the horse ran off into the valley. A taller man with blue hair came out of the ranch, running to the crying person and brushing their fringe away from their face. I turned back to go inside as the blue-haired man helped the white-haired girl back into the ranch. I shouldn't have been making assumptions like that, but with their long hair and quite slender figure, they looked enough like a girl to me. I sighed, hoping the girl would be okay as I grabbed a purple cardigan from my bag and slid it over my pyjamas as I walked downstairs. I heard distinct laughing from the kitchen, and I arched my eyebrows, heading over to see what was up. As soon as I opened the door though, I regretted it. I saw my aunt standing by the cooker, making what I believed to be pancakes, with Joey and two boys I'd never seen before sitting at the table. One had long sandy-blonde hair, with lilac eyes and a strong tan. He must've been extremely warm too, as his sleeveless light purple shirt was low-cut, exposing his abs to everyone. They were nice abs though...

The other boy had pale skin, purple eyes and the most magnificent hair I'd ever seen. Spiky and tricoloured, it stood out like a sore thumb. He was wearing more reasonable attire than the other boy though, a blue jacket and (leather?) trousers with a black tank top. Around his neck was a navy choker and a chain, on the end of which was an upside down gold pyramid, a symbol similar to the Eye of Horus in the middle.

The gaze of the three boys was planted firmly on me, and I felt my cheeks turn red as they scanned me. I cleared my throat and averted my eyes, pulling my cardigan further around my pyjamas. Trust my aunt to not tell me that we had guests. Plus, my pyjamas were hardly decent, what with the shorts and tank top.

"Hey Carlin! You're finally up!"Joey cheered, running to me and forcing me into the seat between him and the tanned boy.

"What can I say. The country isn't exactly quiet..."I sighed, and everyone laughed, including my aunt, who was now serving the pancakes onto plates.

"I guess the market woke you."she said, placing a plate in front of me, "Yeah, people are up pretty early for the market. This lot are always up early, and come for breakfast every Sunday."

The boys chuckled and I shot her a 'And you couldn't have told me that, could you?' look. She smirked and continued handing out plates, until Joey exclaimed,

"Carlin, I forgot you haven't met these two! These are my best buds!"

"Nice to meet you, Carlin. I'm Yami."

"Marik, same here."

The boys seemed quite polite, and I felt more comfortable around them, now I knew their names. As we began to eat, I became more acquainted with Yami and Marik (who decided to name me 'Carly'), while Joey struggled with the syrup bottle. I seemed to understand Yami the most, as he was the most level-headed by far, but Joey and Marik were both equally great guys too.

"Hey Carly."

"Aha?"

"Nice pyjamas."Marik winked, only to be bathed in white as half a bag of flour was emptied over his head. He swore as he coughed and spluttered dust from his lungs and turned to face my aunt, holding the offending bag. I turned bright red at his comment and stretched my cardigan to ripping point to cover myself.

"What the frig was that for?"

"My niece is here for you to be friends with, not to flirt with when you've just met her. And watch your language, young man."my aunt winked and walked away, rolling up the bag before exiting the kitchen.

"I wasn't flirting..."he muttered, beating some of the flour from his shirt. Yami and Joey joined in, ruffling the flour from his hair, while I dampened a cloth for his face. Handing it to him, I smacked him lightly around the head.

"Now what have I done?"

I smirked and replied simply,

"Idiot."

~YGO!~

The main street of the village was bustling as I walked down it, my new friends beside me. After cleaning Marik up, I dressed myself and we headed down to the village so the boys could show me around. Marik attracted quite a bit of attention from passers by, as his clothes and hair were still mostly white. It didn't help that he would occasionally smack his head, trying to rid himself of the white powder in his ears either. As we passed the tailor's shop (which Joey's parents owned), I saw the ranch in the distance, and that reminded me of the white-haired girl.

"Who lives in the ranch over there?"I asked, pointing to it. The boys looked at me and Yami answered,

"The ranch? The Bakura's live there. They don't really leave it much, but sometimes you see them around town or out on their horses."

"Like today! Look, it's Ryou!"

Following Marik's finger, I found myself looking at the same white-haired girl from before. Her brown eyes were quite upset, and around a strip of bandages around her stomach could be seen through her top. She was also one seriously flat-chested girl.

"Hey, Ryou! How are ya man?"Joey called, running over to he-Wait, 'man'?

"Whoa, whoa, whoa! Man? I thought he was a girl!"I yelled, turning a bright red when Joey, Marik and Yami turned to stare at me and Ryou flushed pink, an embarrassed and forced smile donning his features. My friends erupted into hysterics, rolling on the ground and clutching their sides, everyone in the main market now watching them in amazement.

"Y-y-y-y-y-you t-thought R-R-R-Ryou was a g-g-g-girl?"Marik spluttered, almost choking on his laughter. While the boys rolled on the floor, I made my way over to Ryou and tried to find my voice,

"Erm... Sorry about that... I-it's just, well..."

"I know I do look a little feminine, it's okay! But, how have you seen me before? I'm sure we've never met."his voice was sweet and had a distinct British accent, like mine.

"I saw you at the ranch from my balcony. Did you get kicked by a horse this morning?"

He nodded and he looked at the ground in despair, his arms sliding around his middle.

"Are you okay?"

He nodded again and said,

"The horse that kicked me was called Kuroi. I don't understand what could have made him get so riled up, he's normally so calm. And then... he kicked me... I've taken care of him since he was a foal, we grew up together. He must have been so angry to do something like that..."

A single tear slid down his pale face, and I opened my mouth to speak when I heard my aunt shout,

"Carlin, I'm going to sort these clowns out! I'll be done with them in about half an hour!"

Joey and Marik were still hysterical, and had their arms slung around each other's shoulders as they stumbled back to the mansion. Meanwhile, Yami was a lot calmer, his shoulders still shaking from laughter, but other than that he looked normal. He waved to me as he followed his friends and I wondered how my aunt got there as I arched my eyebrows at them. Weirdos.

Turning back to Ryou, he had dried his tear away, but his eyes were still glassy.

"So you're Patricia's niece? I hoped to meet you while you were here."he smiled "You probably already know this, but I'm Ryou Bakura."

"I'm Carlin Aizawa. You're ranch is really pretty, y'know? Do you have other horses there?"

He nodded and said,

"I can teach you to ride sometime, if you want."

"That'd be cool. Can't do stuff like that in the city."

We started walking, and kept talking, not caring where we walked to, but I did learn that Ryou moved to the country when he was 6. He'd been there for 10 years... When we finally decided to realise where we were, we had walked all the way through the village, down to the ranch.

"Wow! It's even more amazing up close!"

As I took in every detail of the building, my view soon shifted to Ryou, who was looking out across the valley, tears sliding down his face again. Walking over and placing a hand on his shoulder, I asked,

"What's wrong?"

Suddenly, I felt him dive into me, his arms encircling my back while he sobbed into my shoulder. I was caught completely off guard by this, and as he talked, my arms slowly fell around him,

"After Kuroi kicked me, he ran off into the valley and he hasn't come back. I'm scared for him. He's never done anything like this before, and there's supposed to be a storm tonight."

I tried my best to calm him and it seemed to work a little, as he relaxed into my embrace.

'Hang on' I thought 'I hardly know him, I shouldn't be hugging him! But he's had a bad day... And I suppose calling him a girl didn't really help either...'

Shaking my head slightly, I realised Ryou had stopped crying, and now stood hugging me like a teddy bear. His fluffy hair tickled my face and never mind me, he was a teddy bear. Or a kitty. Or whatever.

"Ryou! Come and give me a hand in here!"

He pulled sharply away from me and muttered his apologies, before running to the stables, where the voice came from.

"I'll see you later then?"his voice sounded almost optimistic.

"Yeah. I'll see you later."I confirmed nodding to his smiling face and turning to walk back to the mansion.

"Ohhh! Carly's got a boyfriend!"Marik cheered, jumping out of nowhere and punching the air. Rolling my eyes, I shook my head and said,

"I hardly know him! And if this is 'cause I was hugging him, he's had a bad day. He got kicked by a horse, for Ra's sake!"

"Dat ain't what it looked like to us. You were huggin' him for about 15 minutes."Joey smirked, running to join Marik as we started walking through the village. Yami stayed behind, and walked alongside me, his hands in his pockets as his pyramid pendant continuously hit off his chest.

"Yami? Do you guys actually know Ryou?"

He glanced sideways at me and said,

"Sort of. We're not as close to him as with each other, but that was different when we were younger. As we've got older, he just... disappeared, really. Joey and Marik would call me a fool for saying this, but I do worry about Ryou sometimes. He's always so alone since his sister died 6 years ago, and if you and him can get along, I encourage you to be his friend. I think he sees her in you, his sister. You've got the same accent, you both have curly hair, you both have green eyes. That may be why he was hugging you like he had known you for years. He thought you were Amane..."

He seemed to drift off a little towards the end, and I reflected on what I had just learnt. Ryou had a sister? A dead sister. I couldn't blame him for becoming so isolated after losing her, and if I could help him, I would.

"If I can help him, even only a little, then I will. I can't imagine losing a sibling, mainly 'cause I have none, but it must be awful."

Yami nodded as we continued walking, and even as Joey and Marik stood at the top of the hill, yelling for us to hurry up, my mind lay with Ryou, the lonely little angel. It seemed I still had a lot to learn about him, but I would do my best to understand him, and to be his friend, one step at a time.

:) Okay, good chapter, bad chapter, chalk and cheese? Lemme know what you think! Also, before you ask, Marik's personality is most likely to be a mix of his Abridged personality and what I can remember of his 4Kids one. I haven't seen an episode with him in for years. Yami wears his Battle City outfit too (I'm not sure how well I described it). His Millennium Puzzle does nothing, but he's incomplete without it, so he wears it to look cool :) Please review, and until next time,

Ciao!

Mew Mew Radish ='.'=