Woot! More story! So I have to thank someone because they asked me a questioned about something I forgot about. '^.^ So seriously, ask questions. It makes me at least look smarter. Thanks so much for all the alerts and favorites! XD Also, to the person who said I deserve the ego boost, no. I really don't need one.

Btw, have I ever given a disclaimer? Well, just in case:

Of course not! I'm poor. T^T

Btw, how do I even write this next scene? And do people want Malik in the story because I'd have to make a third string of major plot to entwine him into the story but I really feel like writing him.

In the kitchen the atmosphere was cold and frozen despite the fire burning softly at the end of the room. Ryou pulled the shadows a bit closer not feeling safe under the discretion of so many people. His father took a seat after a greasy looking man. /He's a spy. / Bakura cut in hoping one) to keep Ryou's mind from being shrouded in darkness again and two) to gather more information. /His name is Severus Snape. /

Ryou demurely took a seat next to his father leaving a space between them just too small for a person to actually fit. /For which side? / he asked and cautiously peaked at the spy. Loyalties among people who spied wasn't always strong. Snape caught him looking so Ryou diverted his eyes before he could glare. /Not sure. / Bakura mentally shrugged. /But we're about to find out. /

Ryou stayed alert as Dumbledore (Bakura had made sure Ryou at least knew some of the bigger names in the war) stood at the head of the table and all attention sent to him. "Now, I'm sure you're all aware of why we are having this emergency meeting. Voldemort" winces and shivers went around the room "has begun to move more swiftly. This is the third attack in a week and it was on a purely muggle town. There is also the concern of his unknown ally," a few eyes flashed to Ryou including Dumbledore's sharp ones making him shrink slightly as his father outright glared. "but he has finally decided to show himself although what he can do is still unknown."

"But it is still sure that he is dangerous." Kinsgley stated and Tonks, now with neon green hair that hung to just above her shoulders nodded in agreement. "I'm not sure what it was, but he just felt, evil." Tonks shivered. "If you ask me he's a dementor in a human body."

There were various sounds of outrage at such a thought and Molly Weasley gasped. "Tonks! You can't be serious." As the noise level started to rise Dumbledore cleared his throat loudly enough so they all settled back down literally for those who had started to get out of their seats to argue. Dumbledore waited a moment until he was sure it was quiet before continuing. "Now, today we saw his face and I managed to get his name. The best way I can find to show all of you is to view my own memory."

Dumbledore then drew his wand and flicked it opening a cabinet on the side of the room and bringing forth a shallow but large wooden bowl that shimmered with an almost self luminescent glow. He then placed the end of his wand against his head and withdrew it with a silvery thread that looked like a unicorn hair from Ryou's perspective. /A unicorn Ryou? /

Ryou mentally blushed keeping his face looking surprised and interested. /It's all I could think of that had silvery hair that might shine like that. / He placed the silvery thread into the bowl and returned his wand to his sleeve where he must have some kind of holder for it. "I believe groups of four or five would be best for viewing this." Dumbledore declared and silently everyone stood up and moved into groups all trying to near the bowl.

Ryou's father made a group with the spy, the woman who had tried to stop him from slapping him (Ryou mentally winced now that he wasn't in the moment. He wished his father hadn't done that.), and the misshapen man with a spinning eye. If Ryou hadn't seen so many creatures from the shadow realm he might have been more taken aback at the man's appearance. Ryou stood a bit behind them interested to see what was going on and he was quite surprised when he saw the first group of five all touch the surface and disappear into the bowl.

Ryou took a step back in his surprise and the red headed woman noticed. "Oh there's no need to be alarmed dear, it's just a pensive." Ryou gave her a questioning look so she continued. "It's a place to store your memories so you can view them later." Ryou gave a short "Oh." Before peering around the groups to try and observe the bowl better. /Ne, Bakura. Isn't that sort of like the video tapes in my room that has my past on it? Or the writing on your walls? /

/I believe so. It's a record of our lives that we can always view later just like what they're doing. / Ryou gave a mental nod and gave a slight jump as the people came out and all gave him glares or at least wary looks. /Bakura, what did you do? /

/Besides you? / Ryou mentally swatted him a bit weaker than normal from all the mental stress of the day. /I just played with them a bit and injured the one werewolf. / Ryou's interest peaked at this. /They have werewolfs? I thought all of them joined Voldemort. /

/Apparently one isn't part of the pack. / Ryou watched as three more groups went in and out of the bowl all giving him similar looks as the first group and a thought occurred to Ryou. /Kura, should a say I don't know you? /

/Of course. / Bakura wouldn't make Ryou be under surveillance. That would be good for a number of reasons. One) Ryou would be uncomfortable, two) Ryou wouldn't be able to help him spy, and three) being watched was a pet peeve of both whitenettes although Bakura did like the spotlight he only wanted it when he wanted it, not all the time.

As the people left the bowl they retook their seats behind where the line ended so the people went first were now towards the back of the room with the door. They all mumbled among themselves and Ryou could sense all the glances, some closer to glares, they sent his way. Time seemed to slow as there were just two more groups now and Ryou couldn't help but edge forward to get a better look at the bowl and because he wasn't sure what he was supposed to do. He figured that if he didn't know the situation already (like he was supposed to) he would want to know why everyone was glaring at him after going into there.

So time slowed for him and the creeks as people shifted their weight on their feet and on the table seemed to echo around the room and as the group before his father's went Ryou noticed Dumbledore with his wand on the edge of the bowl, probably making sure that they were all viewing the right memory Ryou supposed. 'I wonder what kind of memories are in there…' Ryou thought vaguely. He knew Dumbledore was a big name even before the current war so he must have seen some interesting things.

Soon enough his father's group was in front of the pensive and they just stood there. Ryou looked to his father sparingly wondering what was going on but his father was looking at him and their eyes met. Ryou quickly averted his gaze but a strong hand gripped his forearm painfully. "What are you, stupid? We're not going to wait all day."

Realizing his father had just said he was going to look too Ryou tentatively reached the hand his father wasn't gripping towards the shimmering pool of silver and before he even touched the surface he felt as if he was being pulled in and his stomach did a belly flop. He shut his eyes and stumbled as he felt his feet reconnect with the ground but he stayed upright having learned from his lessons with Bakura and Malik. He opened his eyes to find himself surrounded by people exchanging beams of light and dodging. He quickly collected his thoughts and realized that he was in the battle. He reached out to ask Bakura what was going on when he found the connection blocked.

/Bakura? Bakura! / He panicked in the back of his mind but kept his eyes open. It wasn't till a beam of light exited his arm that he realized he was just watching. It was just a memory. Calmed down slightly he directed his attention towards the fenced path he knew he and Bakura had been unless it was after that and Bakura was already in the fight. He was right with his assumption however and saw himself dash out followed by Bakura rushing into the fight.

He glanced up at his father whose grip had tightened at seeing Bakura rush to the fight. Glancing with solely his eyes he noticed that no one even saw him slip out of the fight and to Hermione's house. He locked eyes on Bakura after that and saw his eyes watching where Ryou had gone; he wasn't surprised. Then his attention was full on the battle and he gave a menacing laugh. Ryou noted how he kept the insanity out of his voice. In the back of his mind he wondered if Bakura practiced his laughs then felt a pang that he couldn't contact Bakura.

He went to a spot he was sure that Dumbledore knew who he was addressing before saying, "Aren't you a little old to be doing this?" Dumbledore turned to him and started talking in a conversational voice that Ryou found quite amazing since he was facing his yami. "On the contrary I find it quite good exercise." They were all standing in a half circle around Dumbledore and his yami now Ryou having no choice but to stay next to his father and the misshapen man: not where he'd prefer to stand.

They sized each other up and Ryou caught the look of confusion in Dumbledore's eyes, probably because of the lack of wizard's robes. "I don't believe we've had the pleasure Mr…" He let the sentence die and Bakura gave an amused smirk (he could tell from experience and knew it looked cruel to everyone else) "You may call me Yami." He said with a mock bow and Ryou almost blew his cover by snorting. 'Yami? Of all things? Yami?' He laughed in the back of his mind as he kept his face looking surprised; after all, this evil looking person was a duplicate of him and he was supposed to have never seen him before. He felt his father's gaze on him and bit his lip as if he were nervous. "How nice to meet you Albus Dumbledore."

It was then that Ryou's eyes really widened in surprise as he heard his own voice. /Kura, my cousin is telling me to pack so I can leave with her and the Order! What are we going to do? / it was accompanied by a wave of panic and Ryou looked around briefly and saw everyone else still watching the confrontation his father's attention away from him once more. He felt the strong urge to kill his cousin again before he realized that he must be able to listen into the mind link from here.

"Would that be a first name or a last name?" Dumbledore questioned and Ryou felt sorry for him. Bakura was angry from the announcement he had just made so there was low chances that Bakura would remain calm but he kept his face clear just as he had taught Ryou to do and answered. "Perhaps it's both." Then Ryou heard more through the mind link. /Just try and get to me. You'll come back to the fight so they can aparate away with you and you'll just have to reach me first. /

/I'll do my best. / was the reply and Ryou couldn't help but notice that he sounded a bit girly at that moment. But then again, he had always been rather feminine. Dumbledore just barely avoided a curse and turned to face with a witch who had maniacal look in her eye and then they were being pulled up. Ryou didn't have the chance to close his eyes and the world was spinning when he landed again. He waited for it to pass and he felt relief from the mind link. Apparently Bakura had been cut off too so Ryou let him see what had just happened. He could feel Bakura studying it and was pulled back to his seat by his father who roughly pushed him down. He kept a wary and slightly scared look on his face but the people around the table glared at him. He started chewing his lip as Dumbledore ordered the pensive back to the cabinet wordlessly before addressing the gathered witches and wizards.

"As you can see, Voldemort's new ally is called Yami and from what we can see is not a wizard." Murmurs broke out along the table and even more people glared at Ryou who shrunk back while trying not to giggle. /Yami? You seriously called yourself Yami? / he mentally laughed that Bakura would use the same name as his enemy. Bakura mentally smiled that Ryou sounded happy before needing to defend himself. /It's a convenient name. /

Ryou let out a small giggle and his father glared daggers. "What, is so funny?" He said it curtly and Ryou quickly reprimanded himself for letting it slip. He went still and stammered out a plausible (and partially true) reply. "He-he's playing wi-with you." Dumbledore leaned forward and gave him more attention as the rest of the room went quiet.

"And why do you say that?" Dumbledore asked. Ryou gulped realistically before saying, "Yami isn't a name; it's Japanese. It means dark." Haru Bakura glared harder at his son. "And what else do you know about this strange ally of He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named?"

Ryou tucked his head down averting his eyes from his father's gaze and softly muttered, "Nothing, just that he's not telling you his real name." Haru Bakura's attention from his son as the next person began to speak. Ryou was starting to wish he could say more but knew he would never betray Bakura. Even for his father. Snape's sneering voice coated the room. "And what makes you so sure?"

"What news is there Severus?" Dumbledore asked bringing Snape's attention away from Ryou. "At You-Know-Who's headquarters he calls himself Hoshech (חושך)." /Hebrew, Kura? / Ryou asked slightly fascinated. He knew that Bakura knew it from his time in Egypt (and by default Ryou knew it too) but he had never heard Bakura use it except when they spoke it. /I thought it sounded more intimidating. /

Knowing his yami meant 'I felt like it.' he left it alone but knew the spy was waiting for an answer. "I don't know." He said weakly and he could sense the triumph in the air. Dumbledore stroked his beard. "Hmm… so we have one person with two names. Perhaps he is trying to confuse us?" He wondered aloud making everyone think. That did sound very plausible. "Severus, what else do you know about him?"

Sitting up straighter and turning his nose up like a hawk he started what wounded like a report. "Hoshech," he glanced at Ryou as if daring him to question it "keeps to himself and isn't always at meetings. He locks himself in his room doing who-knows-what and yet always has good information. He's also the one who suggested and led all three of the attacks in the last week."

"Absurd." called a balding red-headed man who was short and rather plump but looked as if he was losing weight. "He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named would never hand over control of his forces to someone else." Dumbledore's wise sounding voice spoke before more arguments could arise. "Arthur, it would appear that Voldemort" flinches and shudders went around the room, "listens to Hoshech, whoever he is."

A pause happened and the tension in the air was thick. "Severus, does he get along with any of the Death Eaters?" Everyone redirected attention to the spy. "He talks to Bellatrix for whatever reason but seems to despise the rest of us. Especially Malfoy." /So that's the stuck up flamingo's name. / Almost laughing at his yami's comment he asked, /Stuck up Flamingo? / to which Bakura shrugged. /He acts like a stuck up flamingo. /

"But that doesn't answer the biggest question." said a raggedy looking man with Shaggy black hair who was clenching his fist angrily. "Why," he pointed purposefully at Ryou, "does he look just like Hoshek?" More mummers broke out and Ryou was reminded of why he was here: to answer questions he couldn't answer.

"I don't know sir." Ryou said respectfully. He could never betray Bakura by letting this slip but he hated lying especially when he had promised his father to tell the truth and be helpful. /You never promised to tell the truth. / Bakura piped up as helpful as always so Ryou defended his opinion. /He told me to not waste their time and lying is exactly that. /

Bakura rolled his mental eyes at the absurdity of that statement but let it go."It would appear that their appearances are rather inexplicable at the moment," Dumbledore said cooling all fires before they could get hotter. "but there's another peculiarity. Why only attack muggle towns?" Everyone went quiet as they pondered the question. "Maybe it's a scare tactic?" Ryou said after a few minutes of silence wanting to give them some help since he was there. Bakura snorted in the back of his mind. They both knew it was to keep down suspicions when he came to get Ryou.

Haru Bakura's glare doubled on his son as he stood up and grabbed Ryou roughly by the forearm dragging him out of the seat. Ryou hit his knee on the table trying to get out before he was completely pulled out of there and his opposite ankle got caught on the bench as he was yanked towards the door. Stopping himself from stumbling by hopping on one leg for a moment he quickly rushed for the door trying to keep pace with his father's wide stride. The door was yanked forwards viciously almost and Ryou was almost thrown through it. He stumbled a bit and unconsciously grabbed his wrist and rubbed it. "There's no more help you can offer." His father said before the door was firmly shut behind him. Ryou resisted the urge to cry; his father was angry because he hadn't helped when he should have. 'It's always my fault…'

Bakura sensed the black curtain sneaking back into place slowly cutting him off from his light and knew he needed a distraction. /Ryou, why don't you go see your cousin? I'm sure she's worried by now. / It was a weak excuse but Bakura mentally exhaled as Ryou nodded and slowly made his way back up the stairs trying to conceal a limp. 'That bastard. I'll kill him for hurting Ryou.' And he once again went off to imagine several ways to torture said man.

~Hermione~

They had all gotten extendable ears as quickly as they could but when they were finally all activated it was silent. Ron groaned. "They have spells up again." Ginny and Harry went to remove their extendable ears but Fred and George stopped them. "Wait, can't you hear that?" said one. "Hear what?" Ron asked clearly confused. "Shh. Just be real quiet." said the other so Hermione closed her eyes and listened harder. "Is that…?" she asked after a moment looking back towards the twins who both nodded. "Aye, that it is." Said the first at which point Ron nearly exploded.

"What!" three simultaneous 'shh's quieted him. "If you listen closely Ron you can hear people moving around." Hermione explained and everyone listened harder slowly picking up on boots scuffing the floor and the creek of the table. "Why are they all so quiet?" Ginny asked in a hushed whisper. "Don't know." Harry replied and they all settled on the stairs waiting for something to happen. As time passed series of mumbling could be heard, more and more all the time. Finally, Dumbledore spoke up gaining the full attention of everyone. "As you can see, Voldemort's new ally is called Yami and from what we can see is not a wizard."

There were even more mumblings from below now and the group all exchanged looks. Voldemort working with someone who's not a wizard was unthought-of, yet here was the proof. An out of place giggle was heard and the room went silent but for Ryou's dad's voice. "What, is so funny?" They could almost feel the tension from were they were and listened to Ryou's stuttered reply. "He-he's playing wi-with you." Silence reigned for a minute until Dumbledore spoke up. "And why do you say that?" they all held their breath for a moment wondering what Ryou could possibly mean by that.

"Yami isn't a name; it's Japanese. It means dark." Ryou finally said leaving everyone to wonder about Voldemort's new ally and what Ryou knew about him. "And what else do you know about this strange ally of He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named?" Haru Bakura said sounding very stony. "Nothing, just that he's not telling you his real name." Ryou replied before Snape stepped into the conversation. "And what makes you so sure?"

"What news is there Severus?" Dumbledore asked causing everyone to hold their breath. "At You-Know-Who's headquarters he calls himself Hoshech (חושך)."Snape replied confusing everyone. What kind of name was Hoshech? "I don't know." Ryou almost mumbled sounding defeated. "Hmm… so we have one person with two names. Perhaps he is trying to confuse us?" Dumbledore suggested making them all think. "Severus, what else do you know about him?"

"Hoshech, keeps to himself and isn't always at meetings. He locks himself in his room doing who-knows-what and yet always has good information. He's also the one who suggested and led all three of the attacks in the last week." He reported shocking all of them. Voldemort letting someone outside of his circle lead an attack? Who was this guy? "Absurd. He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named would never hand over control of his forces to someone else." Mr. Weasley said voicing everyone's opinion.

Dumbledore, trying to put it in perspective, gave a thought that outraged almost everyone. "Arthur, it would appear that Voldemort listens to Hoshech, whoever he is." A deep silence followed the ridiculous statement that seemed the only explanation. But why would Voldemort listen to someone? Especially a non-wizard! No one was willing to think muggle of this stranger.

"Severus, does he get along with any of the Death Eaters?" Dumbledore asked separating them all from their thoughts. "He talks to Bellatrix for whatever reason but seems to despise the rest of us. Especially Malfoy." Harry couldn't decide if this guy had good taste or not for avoiding Malfoy but liking Bellatrix?

Harry was saved from thinking on that by his g-dfather speaking up. "But that doesn't answer the biggest question. Why, does he look just like Hoshek?" 'What? Who is he talking about?' was the general thought of everyone up there before at least most of them connect why Ryou was down there. "I don't know sir."

'My cousin looks like You-Know-Who's ally?' Hermione thought in a state of near shock. ."It would appear that their appearances are rather inexplicable at the moment, but there's another peculiarity. Why only attack muggle towns?" Dumbledore asked breaking Hermione from her thoughts. She couldn't start thinking about her cousin and He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named's new ally at the same time. Their appearances had to be a coincidence… but how common was white hair and Ryou's delicate features? Answer: almost 0%.

"Maybe it's a scare tactic?" Ryou suggested shortly before a series of loud thumps could be heard and they all retracted their extendable ears in fear of being found. Even without the extendable ears being only halfway up the kitchen stairway they could hear the door when it opened and a few more thumps. "There's no more help you can offer." Haru Bakura's voice was harsh and then the door was swiftly slammed shut.

After a few more seconds they heard Ryou starting up the stairs the steps sounding a bit uneven Hermione noticed. They quickly pulled up the extendable ears all the way; Ryou didn't need to know they'd been listening. They slowly made their way down to the landing above the first floor waiting for Ryou to get all the way up so they could ask him a few questions.

~Ryou~

Ryou's mood was dismal to say the least. In the last 2 hours he'd had Kura, lost him, been taken by some strange magical order, called a demon, had Kura again only to lose him, seen his dad who ended up being angry with him, and had to lie to an entire group of people who probably really needed his knowledge. And the day was just warming up as it wasn't quite lunch time yet. Ryou reached the top of the stairs and shuffled his feet awkwardly trying not to limp. His ankle was most likely sprained so he needed to bind it right away. Good thing he packed bandages in his suitcase.

He took extra care in front of the black curtain but nearly tripped when he stopped watching his feet. He put out his injured left foot to stop himself and had to hold back a scream as pain rushed up his foreleg. If it wasn't sprained before it most certainly was now. He felt worry then rage come from Bakura as the damage was assessed. Bakura knew a lot about injuries so maybe he could help; but Ryou had a feeling trickle through that it was bad enough that Bakura couldn't fix it.

Ryou gritted his teeth and tried to hop quietly to the stairs where he grabbed the railing. Clenching his eyes for a moment to imagine the pain going away he looked up the now daunting steps and spotted a group waiting for someone to come up. 'Time for another round of questions.' Ryou took a couple deep breaths and hoped that they hadn't seen him hopping like that so he could pretend he was alright. He also hoped they hadn't been listening in because that would make more awkward questions.

Ryou kept a firm hand on the railing with his left hand trying not to show that he was injured; it was never good to let people know when you were. Progress was a bit slower than normal but soon enough he made it to the top and Ron made him lose all hope in them not having listened and them having any tact. "What was that about?" a short question but his tone making it obvious that he wanted an explanation for what had happened, not a simple 'What happened?'.

Ryou bit his lip not wanting another round of questions but decided he wouldn't lie twice in one day and relented to answering all their queries. "Apparently I look just like Hoshech…" he tailed off not wanting to say more than he had to. "So what" started one twin, "was the deal" the other, "with the prof?" they both finished. Ryou was used to similar moments between Jou and Honda but wasn't sure who 'the prof' was. He gave them a questioning look that they eventually picked up on.

"Professor Bakura." started one, "Our brother Bill swears his career by him." the other, "Says he's the most brilliant curse breaker in the last fifty years." the first one again, "But we think he's never learned to relax." the second one again, "So, what was that." They both finished leaving Ryou feeling awkward. He hadn't even known his father was a curse breaker yet alone what that was. He hadn't even known his father was a wizard and now he was one of the best at his job in the last fifty years? Ryou got slightly depressed at how little he knew about his father but reminded himself that he had to answer the question and shifted his weight wary of his injured foot. "I wasn't being helpful..." he replied weakly not quite sure what to say.

"It looked like you did more than that if he was that mad." Ron said again with no tact earning a slap to the back of the head by Hermione. Ron muttered a soft 'What?' but his point had hit hard. 'He's right… he was so angry…' Ryou started voicing his thought out loud. "I was just making trouble for everyone, especially him. And the scene with the painting was inexcusable. And I just ran off making everyone worry when there's obviously other things that need to get done. And I was also here without him knowing so that's even more trouble I've made for them…" Ryou trailed off thinking of his trip to Egypt that he had apparently been spotted on, and the fact that his uncle didn't want him near his family and that's exactly where he was, and he also didn't want Ryou involved with this mess and he was only making it worse by not telling them what he knew about Bakura and helping them fight…

Ryou was pulled out of his thoughts by a redheaded girl (probably Ron's sister) asking another question. "But how could he treat you like that? Wouldn't he have already known you were there?" Ryou looked at her before looking away almost in shame. "I came here without him knowing. He doesn't want me around anyone..."

The last part of Ryou's comment was ignored as Hermione voiced her outrage. "But how could he hit you Ryou? You didn't do anything wrong in that situation." Ryou desperately wanted to start calling out all the reasons that it was his fault before Bakura got angry in his mind and was nearly yelling. /Ryou! Stop thinking that way! It was not alright for him to hit you / another surge of rage came down the link /and you didn't know he was going to look for you in Japan. / Ryou answered out loud trying to keep it nonspecific so he could answer both at once not sure who he was talking to more. "But it was my fault that they couldn't find me so I deserved it. It's my fault that man got hurt earlier to." He thought back to the man being brought through the door. He wouldn't have been hurt so badly if Ryou could've gotten to Bakura in the first place.

/Ryou, that's not your fault. It's the Order's for taking you. You tried your best. / Outside of his mind Hermione was asking another query. "How could it have been your fault that Lupin was hurt? You didn't know what was going on." Ryou shook his head. "No, if I had been a little faster it wouldn't have happened." He insisted to both the group and Bakura. If he had been faster he could've left the house before Hermione got a hold of him.

Realizing that this conversation was going nowhere Hermione changed topics. "How could you let him call you a monster?" she asked thinking it was a simple question but almost shutting Ryou down. 'Because I am one.' Was his first thought but he knew it wasn't true and he remembered what Bakura had said. Bakura thought he was an angel, there was no way he was a demon. So he went to the second answer that he had barely realized himself: "Because he's at least talking to me." And he realized how true it was.

"What do you mean by that?" Ron asked in what Ryou was quickly learning was his usual bluntness. "He's your dad right?" Ryou took a deep breath before answering it was a little hard to admit how his father had almost abandoned him… Bakura snorted. Apparently he didn't agree with the almost part of it. "I haven't actually spoken to him in almost three years; but it's fine." He rushed to sooth them seeing the shocked looks on their faces. "He's just really busy with his work."

"Ryou…" Hermione started gently not sure how to break it to her cousin, but all the signs were there. "that's abandonment. And hitting you was abuse." Ryou shook his head trying to ignore it. "He's just been really busy and I keep causing trouble for him."

/See? Even your cousin can see it after a few minutes. Ryou, you have to face it. / Bakura prodded gently trying to make him see the truth but not wanting to push to far after everything that had happened today. "Ryou, you didn't cause any trouble; it was that horrid painting. And even if he was busy he should've called you from time to time."

Ryou hung his head. /He's an ass Ryou; everyone can see it. / Ryou tried not to cry as he faced the inevitable answer to the question. Did his dad abandon him? He hesitated in his mind not ready to admit it; …Yes. He had he finally consented but couldn't agree with the abuse. It was his fault that his father hit him. He felt Bakura try to reign in more anger but… "Maybe it'll get better. He's talking to me now." And with that he shuffled up the stairs past them to find a quiet room to barricade himself in before he had a talk with Bakura. He needed his dark; the world was melting away the light.

Ok, I still have scenes to put in here (a lot of them) and I struggled a lot with how to write the first scene in the kitchen. Truthfully I'm not happy with any of this and I couldn't get the line I wanted to work. The whole part with the listening in is the worst thing I've written in any of my stories as far as I'm concerned and the chapter is short but I feel guilty for not getting this up a lot sooner. It's the right amount of words just, not as many pages.

The story is still going to be entirely minute for minute plays for at least the whole next chapter and I highly doubt I'm going to get to close to done even I the next one. This chapter is kinda a failure but I just can't bring myself to rewrite it.

I've been so overstressed with school and everything else that I've had four mental breakdowns since my last update and am going back to therapy; which I like. (My therapist is awesome.) School is finally settling down but things at home are pretty shaky so it's hard to get time to myself to write in peace. I might be getting my own comp soon so maybe I'll be able to write more but this month was real bad. Don't expect the next update until at least two weeks.

Really sorry. T^T

Also my nails are too long and it's hard to type but I don't want to cut them till Halloween…

Woot! I just cut six inches off my sister's hair. ^^ It looks great 'cause it was so long before. (It's still below her shoulders just above her breasts now. Yeah… her hair was long. Not as long as mine has been, but she looks better now. ^^