A big thank you to Blue Lace Agate who reminded me that I haven't updated this story in ages ^^;

Title: Love in the shadows

Chapter 5: Nightmares and Dreams

Anime/Manga: Yu-Gi-Oh!

Pairing: Anzu x Ryou (slight pairing with other characters)

I do not own Yu-Gi-Oh! Or any of its characters

Warning! This is rated M for a reason, do not read if you do not like swearing or sexual content. Though there may be none in this chapter, there may be in later chapters.

Anzu stared wide eyed at the handsome boy, unable to tear her sapphire eyes away from his own crimson ones as the two apples she held slipped from her grip and landed on the floor.

"B, Bakura?" her voice was shaky as she repeated the name the boy had given her as his own

" Yes?" he replied, his smirk changing to an amused grin. Anzu blinked, her mind blank. She had said his name out of pure shock and now staring at him she was unsure of what to say. Bakura continued to look at her as he once more took a bite from the apple. The action clicked something in Anzu's mind.

"That's my apple" she stated exasperated.

He stopped mid-bite "So?" He asked Anzu blinked once more as he bit into the fruit. For some reason she felt stupid or rather he was making her feel stupid with his simple answers. That and the fact he couldn't possibly be sitting in front of her, but was and seemed not to have a care in the world as he did.

With a finale bite and a swallow Bakura finished the apple, core and all and licked some of the juice off his lips. Anzu shivered. For some reason everything this guy did seemed to have a deeper meaning. Even his tongue darting out to lick his lips didn't seem to be as simple as that. 'It must be his eyes' she reasoned to herself. There was definitely something dark about his eyes, something dangerous.

"See something you like my dear?" Bakura drawled seductively noticing she was staring at his eyes. Anzu blushed and spluttered some incoherent response 'Okay rule one avoid all eye contact' Turning away she wondered if he'd be gone when she turned back.

She heard him chuckle and moved so he was back in her line of sight. With another blush she turned once again so she was facing the double doors at the end of the kitchen. Once more he moved before she could blink and was now standing with his face inches from hers. Startled she took a step back right onto one of the forgotten apples and lost her balance. Before she fell however, he was behind her balancing her with his hands on her shoulders.

She shivered. His hands were like ice. Like the fingers that held her in the bathroom.

Anzu snapped back up in horror 'He's one of them' she turned and faced him, he smirked at her frightened expression "Something wrong?" he asked nonchalantly. Swallowing Anzu narrowed her eyes in an attempt to make herself look more confident. "W, What are you?" She silently cursed how shaky her voice came out and how amused he looked at the question

"Me?" he asked mockingly pointing to himself. Anzu glared at him and he laughed in response. Before she could react or even figure out what happened, Anzu found her self bent backwards over the marble counter top with Bakura pinning her hands above her head, a look of dark amusement across his features. Her face flushed red at the compromising position she was in but paled white when Bakura leaned down and nuzzled her neck, filling her vision with his thick white hair. Her heart began beating rapidly once more while the chills from having his freezing hands hold her wrists sent shivers down her spine. 'Not again!' she thought desperately as her captor moved up to her ear, chuckling as he spoke.

"Me?" he repeated, not bothering to hide his amusement and frightening her that much more. He gently bit down on the outside of her ear, drawing a sharp cry out of her before continuing in a silky purr

"I'm your worst nightmare"

Anzu's mind froze at his words, her body turning stiff. Bakura smirked against her ear as he felt her whole body tense up before she began to tremble uncontrollably beneath him.

"Pfffft"

Bakura blinked and frowned

….Laughing?

Was she laughing at him?

Leaning up he found her looking down and snorting in an attempt to suppress her laughter. He frowned. What the hell was she laughing at? Wasn't she terrified not thirty seconds ago? She looked up and he stared at her puzzled, but this seemed to make it harder for her as she let a few giggles slip, her mouth turned up in amusement. He narrowed his eyes at her and scowled in an attempt to intimidate her. This had the opposite affect however, acting as the finale trigger for her to let it out.

Anzu burst into a mad fit of laughter, gasping and wheezing for air in between each guffaw.

Bakura jumped off her shocked.

Did she go insane?

Anzu clutched her sides as tears welled up in her eyes. She couldn't help it.

That line! It was just so cliché!

'I'm you worst nightmare' it echoed in her mind and brought on another fit of uncontrollable laughs. It was even worse when she remembered how low Bakura's voice had been when he said it. Had he said anything other than that she would probably be crying in fear right now. Instead her eyes were watering from the pain in her sides.

She actually couldn't stop herself.

She was scared, oh yes she was still very scared, in fact she was pretty sure Bakura was about to kill her for laughing at him, but it was just too stupid not to laugh at it. Besides that, recently she wasn't as in control of her emotions as she would normally be. Like earlier when she got embarrassed in front of Duke or when she got so angry she nearly passed out in the bath. It's like her emotions were in over drive and she had no way of stopping them. And right now, well she just couldn't seem to stop laughing.

Bakura stared at her dumbfound, quickly growing irritated "Enough" he growled now glaring at Anzu's shaking form. Anzu took several deep breaths to calm herself, chuckling and eventually managed to look up at Bakura with out laughing.

"Sorry" she mumbled, covering her mouth to stop the few last giggles.

Bakura's glare intensified "What" he hissed "Is so funny?" Anzu straightened at the amount of venom in his voice, her amusement lost and quickly being replaced with dread. She swallowed hard, he was definitely pissed and no doubt if she told him it was what he said that she found funny, he would only get angrier.

She looked at the floor, suddenly ashamed for her rudeness "Sorry" she repeated meekly. Bakura snorted but didn't stop glaring at her.

Anzu frowned. She felt terrible…..

Wait.

Why did she feel terrible?

Wasn't he the one who pinned her down and tried to scare her? Her frowned deepened as she looked up at him. He was still glaring at her looking considerably angry.

"What?" he snapped.

Anzu felt something bubble in her stomach as she unconsciously clenched her fists.

'There's that anger again' a small voice in the back of her mind alerted her of the rage that was beginning to redden her cheeks.

'Why the hell did I apologize to him? He's the one who stopped me from leaving by acting like a child and taking my apple'.

Her apple. The whole reason she came down was for food and he took the apple she was eating right out of her hand. The nerve! There were plenty of other apples but he still took hers. With a new found fury she glared at him, catching him by surprise.

Bakura blinked in shock. What the hell was wrong with this girl? One minute she's scared, than she's laughing and now she was angry. Even if women did tend to have ridiculous mood swings this was a bit extreme. He met her glare with a questioning look, edging her to voice her problem. Anzu complied.

"Apple!" she growled at him. He looked at her dumbfound

"What?"

"You took my apple!"

Bakura frowned. Didn't they go through this already?

"So?"

Anzu felt herself getting angrier. 'He's doing it again!' He was trying to make her feel stupid again with his simple nonchalant answers. 'Well not this time buster'

"Why?" she asked

He blinked "Why what?"

Something twitched in Anzu's head, her rage growing at how he was playing dumb.

"Why-"She spoke as slowly and calmly as she could "did you take- my apple?" she put an extra emphasis on the fact it was her apple.

Bakura's shoulders slumped "Oh that" he answered in a bored tone "Well you looked like you were enjoying it so I took a bite." He smirked at her,"It tasted good so I took another. You know you're very funny to watch when your scared" Anzu narrowed her eyes at him when he added that last part

"How did you bite into it when I was holding it?" He chuckled. Suddenly he was once more standing with his face inches from hers, shocking the enraged girl out of her anger "The same way I just did that my dear" he drawled silkily taking an extra step forward just to emphasize his point.

Another twitch in the back of her head brought Anzu's rage back full on if not stronger.

"Get away from me!" she practically screamed as she slammed her palms into his chest to push him back. Bakura snickered, knowing that there was no way she could possibly push him back. Which is why he was shocked at the immense pain he felt as he was shot into the wall behind him.

'What?" He thought bewildered. He was pinned to the wall by some sort of-shadow? No. A cloud of shadows holding him restrained. Anzu gasped as her knees buckled and she collapsed onto her legs. What just happened? Her forgotten exhaustion had returned ten fold and she felt completely drained. Her hands tingled with some unknown force and lifting them to check why, she couldn't believe her eyes.

Long thin lines of shadow, weaved between her fingers, pulsing with some unknown life with tiny sparks of white electricity running through it. On closer inspection the shadows were actually a dark purple color mixed with lines of black and blending together to make it even darker.

Anzu's eyes widened as the shadow flowed around her hand before completely vanishing. A heavy silence hung in the air as she stared blankly at her hands, lost in a confused haze of questions. Why did it disappear and more importantly where did it come from?

"Anzu?"

Snapping her head to the voice, she found Duke standing in front of the double doors, eyeing her fallen form.

"Are you alright?" he asked with genuine concern in his voice as he slowly approached her. Anzu blinked. Was she okay? She had no idea what just happened. One minute Bakura's standing in front of her, the next he's pinned to the wall. The thought hit her. Bakura!

She looked up at where he had been pinned by the dark clouds but found he was nowhere to be seen. Did he escape when she was checking her hands or when the shadows vanished? She couldn't be sure. "Anzu?" Duke now stood beside her, clearly puzzled. She looked at him, letting the name slip before she could stop herself "Bakura"

Duke's face immediately paled as he stared at her wide eyed. "What?" he asked in disbelieve. Anzu didn't answer him, or rather she couldn't. It was too much. Her mind was too tired to do anything but shut down, letting her fall forward as her world faded to black, a glimpse of Duke catching her before she slipped into a deep much needed sleep.

Darkness. Darkness everywhere. In every direction, above and below, for miles and miles-never ending.

A small child stands alone in the darkness, her bright blue eyes shining with some unknown light that couldn't possibly exist in this darkness, her auburn hair flowing with some unknown force. She wears a cream dress, stopping at her ankles, covering her arms and neck. She starts to walk in the darkness, heading to some unknown destination, her steps small but with a slight bounce. The child is not afraid of the never ending darkness. She begins to skip, giggling and humming some unknown long forgotten tune.

Two tall figures stand in her unmarked path. She sees them and squeals in joy, running to them and throwing her small arms around one of them. The figure she holds bends down and picks her up, cradling her in their arms. She looks at the figure but cannot see their face, only the long cream dress they wear identical to her own. She looks to the other figure still seeing only the cream dress. But she can feel their hands as they gently hold her. She knows they are smiling at her, looking at her with love in their eyes. She giggles once more as the figure runs its non existent hand through her hair, playfully ruffling it before setting her back down on the darkness. She smiles as the figures each reach out an invisible hand to her. She takes them both, her small hands curling around the solid air. She walks with the figures, swinging happily with every step, laughing and hearing their silent laughter. They speak loving words that she can't hear but knows they're saying it. The tune she hummed now plays in the air surrounding with its soft melody.

Ahead of them the girl sees more figures, all like the ones holding her hands. She runs to them and she feels their smiles. She doesn't know them, she couldn't and yet she doesn't feel out of place. She hears their kind voices, welcoming her, praising her. The figures move slowly like liquid to form a circle around her, holding invisible hands with one another. She stands in the middle and begins to dance. She doesn't know the dance but her body moves on its own. The figures mimic her movement as they slowly rotate in their circle. The girl laughs and sings along to the tune hanging in the air. She doesn't know the words but they fall from her mouth in perfect harmony to the music. She dances and sings her unknown song and dance, the figures joining in with their own melody of silence.

Suddenly there is a bright light. It shines a blinding white before turning a crimson red. It shines above the girl. She stops dancing and stares at the light. She is afraid. She hears screams, no longer silent but ringing throughout the darkness. The figure's dresses no longer look cream but are stained red by the light. Their screams grow louder, filled with agony and pain. She begins to cry, the unknown music lost beneath the screams of the figures. The light grows larger as the figures begin to fall. The crimson red leaks from their fallen form, pooling before her. She screams in terror and covers her eyes.

She feels herself being lifted. One of the figures is holding her close, running from the light, another following close behind. She opens her tear filled eyes; the figure who holds her was the first one she met, the one behind the second. The light begins to consume the darkness, mixing with it, changing it. The figure places her down and turns to the other figure. She sees them look at her sadly before turning towards the approaching light. She screams for them to come back, she begs and cries but they do not turn back. She is pulled away from them, farther and farther away until once more she is surrounded by only darkness.

Darkness. Darkness everywhere. In every direction, above and below, for miles and miles-never ending.

Anzu shot up out of her bed gasping. She frantically looked around, seeing only darkness. Stumbling from under her covers she moved her hand blindly along the wall until she found the light switch. The light blinds her for a moment before her eyes adjust. Looking around, she recognizes the room as the bedroom she was in earlier, the familiar green wallpaper still beautifully detailed.

Relief flooded her body as she sighed "It was a dream…" her voice was barely above a whisper as she slid down the wall to sit on the floor "just a dream". Taking a deep breath Anzu gently closed her eyes. Her dream was still fresh in her mind. The details or rather lack of details confused her. The little girl had definitely been her but everything else was too random to place. As far as she could remember the only dresses she ever wore were pink, white or blue; never cream or in that style. As for the red light…nothing came to mind for that. The featureless figures could mean anything.

Groaning Anzu opened her eyes. How did she even get up here? Recalling her little incident in the kitchen it dawned on her. Bakura.

Bakura was one of those shadow things. Those shadow things that had been harassing her. Standing she remembered her earlier mission to get answers out of Duke.

She peeked out the door into the hallway and found it deserted. Carefully slipping out she wondered just how late it was. Sneaking around a mysterious perverted shadow invested house in the middle of the night was probably not the smartest thing to be doing. Then she heard something. Soft almost whispered voices coming from the main room.

Silently Anzu crept towards the stair way, unsure if she was about to get her answers or make the worst mistake of her life

Ta-da! How did you like the dream sequence? And stick around because next chapter I plan to reveal the shadow people's identities (Gasp!)

R&R to let me know if you want more!