After the three days of being Ryou-less, Yuugi was on the brink of a mental breakdown. Or at least, he thought he was. Each time he would enter the classroom he stared at Ryou's empty seat. What hurt the most was that he seemed to be the only one who noticed. Jou didn't notice, not Anzu, not Honda. It was concerning and the fact that what he had said about Ryou not having any friends was so hauntingly true was what really punched Yuugi in the face.

Everyday at lunch he would sit at the table he and Ryou had claimed, staring at the doors in hopes his favorite white haired friend would come. For three days he didn't. On the fourth day, he arrived. The smile on his face was so disgustingly fake, the first time Yuugi saw him he almost didn't recognize him. "Hey!" he said as Ryou walked into class later than usual, Yuugi quickly running up to him and walking them to Ryou's desk, "What happened? Are you okay? I..I'm really sorry about last time. I didn't mean any of it I just-"

Ryou shook his head and offered him a smile, saying that it was fine and that he shouldn't have acted how he did. From there, everything seemed to go back to normal. Ryou and Yuugi ate lunch together and Yuugi filled him on what he had missed.


After school, the boys walked each other home, Yuugi intending on walking Ryou to his apartment. "No. Can we go to your place? I don't have any food or..anything there. You don't mind, do you?" Ryou had asked, stopping in his tracks to do so. At this, Yuugi frowned, furrowing his brows as he tried to figure out the true meaning of the questions. As he stared at his friend, he noticed something so..dull. It was as if there was a film, slowly covering his eyes, but it didn't completely cover them. Yuugi had agreed that they could go to his place. Afterall, he still had that ghost compass to give Ryou.

The walk was eerily quiet. Neither of them had much to say, and when Yuugi would try to start a conversation, Ryou would always answer with single words. 'Yes', 'no', 'I guess'. It was always the same thing. It left Yuugi wondering what happened when he left. What had happened in those three days? It was rude to ask, but it was his right as a friend to know what was going on. As they walked in that silence, Yuugi watched Ryou. He watched him as he nodded, as he walked slowly, as each step was hesitant. He watched Ryou keep his face hidden behind his hair and soon, Yuugi would grow to miss when Ryou would put it up and shake it in his face. It was a tradition, almost, to do such a thing. Whenever Ryou would get hot, he'd put his hair up and wave it around in Yuugi's face so he'd sneeze. It was hot, but Ryou's hair was down. Soon, though, they had approached the game shop where Yuugi resided and walked up the stairs to his bedroom, Yuugi hopping on his bed and Ryou taking a hesitant seat next to him. "So..What did you want to do?" The white haired boy had asked, eyes cast down in his lap.

"Well, I have a gift for you! I meant to give it to you earlier, but I didn't get the..uh, chance." The smaller of the two hopped off the bed and walked to his desk, opening a drawer and pulling out the green gift box. He glanced up at the phone and decided to question his best friend now since he was here. "Hey, when I called you Sunday, why didn't you answer? I-I mean, I could understand if-"

"My phone broke," Came the immediate reply.

Yuugi retaliated just as quick. "But I called your landline.."

Sighing, Ryou shook his head, still keeping his eyes down. "Yeah. That's what I meant. My landline it..I think it was cut by someone…"

"What?! Ryou, someone broke into your apartment?"

Yuugi knew something was up! Maybe..Maybe when he left Ryou was robbed and..What if the thief hurt him? That would explain the distance and the not going to school..Ryou probably just didn't want to start much of a fuss.

"Ah..No. No one broke in. That would be pretty cool, though. I could totally banish them with that new spell book I bought!"

That was just enough of a distraction to change the subject.

"Oh! Yeah, your gift!" Yuugi stepped closer to the bed and hopped back on next to Ryou, smiling at him. "Here," he handed the box to Ryou, "You're gonna love it."

And it really seemed like he did. Ryou had opened the box and a bright smile shown across his face. Oh how Yuugi had missed that smile! It seemed that Ryou had come back to the real world and came back to his usual politeness. He thanked Yuugi over and over and even hugged him, gazing at the artifact as if it were the eighth wonder of the world. The rest of that day, the boys played Duel Monsters and just a few video games. At around 7 o'clock, Ryou decided he needed to leave and he waved good-bye to Yuugi, collected his ghost compass, and left.

He didn't go to school the next day.


When Ryou had come back to school the following Monday, he ran up to Yuugi and greeted him, smiling to the point of grinning. "Yuugi! Hey! I'm so sorry I didn't call you Friday to fill you in, but guess what!"

Yuugi wanted to be mad, but he couldn't possibly argue when Ryou looked so happy. He smiled back, told Ryou to go on, and listened to his joyous news.

Apparently Ryou's father had called him, and from what Yuugi learned over the past year and a half, that was very important. Unlike most kids, Ryou lived alone in that apartment of his while his father paid the rent. Ryou's father was working outside of Domino and in other countries and such, leaving Ryou to fend for himself. To Yuugi, this was just cruel. He had tried to understand it and look at it from Ryou's perspective a few times, but each time he did he felt like crying. How someone could live alone like that for so long and basically become an adult when they're just fifteen and sixteen was beyond Yuugi's capability to imagine, but Ryou was living proof that it could be done. And, of course, Yuugi was happy that Ryou was happy.

As the albino kept talking, it sounded like his father was supposed to be coming home. Yuugi's smile grew brighter as he heard the excitement in Ryou's voice. It really was important.

"That's so great, Ryou! When is he coming?"

"Saturday night! He called me yesterday to tell me he was already packing and making plans to get a ticket! Yuugi, I'm so excited!" To show that he was, Ryou wrapped his arms around his best friend and hugged him tight, picking him up and spinning around in a circle. "This is so exciting!"

Yuugi blushed and, when he was put down, had to gather himself before he could speak again. "D-Do you think he'll bring you anything this time? Like that necklace thing?"

Ryou's smile instantly fell and he turned away.

"I-I..I don't..I don't know. Yuugi, I gotta get to class now, okay? I'll call you after I have dinner tonight. Bye!" With that, Ryou turned and gave Yuugi an obvious fake smile and waved, scurrying off to his class to be..about ten minutes early.

He didn't call after dinner.

When Yuugi didn't receive that call, he started to worry about his friend. Yeah, he was worried before, but it really wasn't like Ryou to be so..distant. He always kept his promises. Like when he had promised Yuugi to take him to the arcade for his birthday that was two months away, he never forgot. Ryou walked to his house on that Saturday morning and was all ready to go. Yuugi still in his pajamas.

Ryou was reliable, like that time he reminded Yuugi to do that huge report two days before it was due so he wouldn't stress about it.

Ryou was honest, like that time when Yuugi had bought a ridiculous outfit and Ryou told him he couldn't wear it in public. That's what friends do! And lately, Ryou didn't seem like he was being a friend.

A week had passed and Ryou missed two more days of school.

When Saturday finally rolled around, Yuugi woke up in the morning irritated and ready to approach Ryou about his behavior this past week. Today, Ryou had no excuse to not be at home tidying up for his father's arrival. When Yuugi had gotten to Ryou's apartment, that was exactly what Ryou was doing.

Yuugi knocked once, then twice, then three times before Ryou answered. "Y-Yuugi!" he said, jumping a little, "Why..um, why are you here? Is something the matter?" Nonchalantly, Ryou closed the door a bit, shoving his face in the path of Yuugi's vision of the apartment. "I'm really busy right now.."

"Busy?" Yuugi tried his hardest not to scowl or shove open the door. No, he stayed calm for as long as he possibly could. "Well, do you want me to help you? I'm not doing anything right now.I don't mind."

Ryou nibbled on his lip and Yuugi could already tell he was going to make up some excuse. However, Ryou stepped back and reluctantly let Yuugi in, quickly walking off into the kitchen to finish doing whatever it was he was doing before Yuugi had arrived. "So..Did you want me to do something or..?" Yuugi had asked after about 5 minutes, interrupting Ryou's scrubbing of the counter.

"No. You can just, do whatever. I already cleaned the bedrooms, so you don't have to do those." Ryou didn't look up and continued to scrub down the already clean counter with an intense haste. Yuugi walked over to him and placed his hand over the other's, stopping Ryou's scrubbing. Ryou had flinched, it very obvious and not going unnoticed by Yuugi.

"Ryou.." Yuugi moved his hand back down at his side, tilting his head as he studied Ryou's face. "What's going on? You can tell me, you know. Are you sick? Is that why you haven't been going to school?" He watched as Ryou's eyes became shifty and how his body shuddered as if getting a chill. Ryou responded with a snappy stutter.

"W-What makes you think that's any of your business? I don't-I don't have to tell you everything all the time. You're not my father." Ryou bit on his lip, then, as if he were holding back a whimper or something. "If you're going to interrogate me, you can leave."

"No."

"What?"

Yuugi grabbed Ryou's wrist and pulled him out to the living room, Ryou quickly swatting him away and taking steps backwards. "Don't do that! D-Don't touch me!" When Yuugi turned around, he saw Ryou's face: Wide eyes, furrowed brows, heavy breathing. Something wasn't right.

"Ryou, I just grabbed your wrist.. I-I didn't mean to-Ryou! What happened?!" Yuugi pointed to Ryou's wrist, the skin purple and green and practically every color of the rainbow. That couldn't have possibly been from just now.

"Get out, Yuugi! Don't..Just..You don't-you won't get it, okay? Leave me alone and let me do this one thing by myself. I'm fine and I don't have to answer to you." Ryou was visibly shaking and he didn't look upset or angry. More like scared and distressed. Yuugi wanted nothing more than to help his friend, to just have a talk about what was going on..

But he left.

Yuugi left Ryou's apartment and couldn't get himself to look back. He was disgusted with himself, but the sight of his best friend's wrist kept haunting him. How something like that could have happened was just so..unbelievable. Ryou lived alone, so no one else was in the apartment. Yuugi was always with him and Ryou was super nice to everyone, so there was really no one who would hate him that much. He also wasn't at school much anymore, so it couldn't have been bullies..

What was it?

Time had passed through the day and Yuugi had called up Jounouchi to try and keep his mind off the Ryou problem. He felt awful for doing so, but if Ryou wasn't going to talk to him, then Yuugi just won't talk to Ryou.

But Jou was so different from Ryou.

It was about 8 o'clock when Jou had finally left, leaving Yuugi to his thoughts once again. The boy had contemplated all possible options and scenarios, but he just couldn't figure out what could have caused such a bruise. Then, he began to reflect on Ryou's behavior. The way he had flinched and the way he freaked out over a simple, innocent action. Something happened..but what?

Ring Ring

The phone. Yuugi was going to ignore it, but when he managed to pull his cell phone out of his pocket to look at the caller ID, he saw who it was.

"Ryou? Ry are you-"

"Yuugi…? I..Can I come over? I really need to talk to you.."

"Oh! Yeah, of course! Do you need me to-"

"I-I'm here."

Yuugi blinked, quickly getting out of his bed and not hanging up until he opened the door. "Ryou?" At the sight of the puffy eyed Ryou, Yuugi wrapped his arms around him, burying his face into Ryou's jacket. Ryou stiffened.

"Yuugi..I really need to talk to you. Can you let go of me now?"

The smaller nodded and moved away, moving aside so Ryou could walk in. The two walked up to Yuugi's room without a word and Ryou sat down on the bed, running a hand through his hair.

Yuugi decided to start the conversation. "Um..How was dinner with your-"

"I can't..We can't be friends anymore, Yuugi."

What?

Ryou continued off of Yuugi's blank expression, his head bowing so his eyes were hidden behind white bangs.

"There's this thing. I-It's like..It doesn't..Yuugi listen. It's not up to me, There's just..I have a lot of things happening at once right now and I want my life back.." Ryou bit down hard on his lip as it began to quiver, tears building up in his eyes. "Yuugi..I know you want to help. I know you're concerned about me, but you need to stay away from me. I can't..I would never forgive myself if something were to happen to you and-"

"Ryou! Ryou, what is going on with you?! It's like, you never talk to me, you don't call, it's just..Why? What's going on? Please, it's okay to tell me-"

Ryou just shook his head and curled himself up, pressing his palms into his eyes as he began to cry. "Yuugi, please stop. Stop it. You can't help me okay? I just.."

And then he exploded.

"Yuugi, I can't do this anymore! I can't walk around, I can't look at anyone, he won't let me! Yuugi it won't go away! I've tried to get rid of him, of it, but it won't leave! It won't leave me alone and everyday it tells me what to do and if I ignore it.."

Yuugi started to cry as well. Seeing Ryou so helpless and so confused was absolutely terrifying. There was obviously something horribly wrong, Ryou wasn't like this. He was strong and mature and knew how to handle everything so well. He was smart and energetic and he was…

Breaking,

Ryou was being broken down and he wasn't letting anyone help him.

"Ryou, please explain what you're talking about. Who is he? What is this 'it'? Are you sad? Did your father do something? When was the last time you ate?"

Ryou only shook his head.

"I told you you wouldn't understand. You can't help me. I really..I need to go home."

Yuugi didn't stop Ryou from getting up and walking down the stairs.

Yuugi didn't call Ryou that night to make sure he had gotten home safely.

Yuugi didn't go to sleep that night because he was looking up all the things Ryou had described to him, but nothing seemed to fit the description.

Ryou didn't go to school that week.

:0 Angst begins :') I just want you all to be aware that this is probably only gonna be four or five chapters and the last one...woooah man are you all gonna scREAM. Anyway, I hoped you liked this and I hope this makes up for my lack of updating Dark Nights aren't Always Dark Memories...I have to get this one out :')

Reviews are loved and appreciated ?