A/N So this monster of a chapter is the reason why the new chapter of Fireproof has been delayed until Friday. Sorry! Okay now for the warnings. Mentioned in passing polarshipping and vague hints of gemshipping.


When you hold resentment toward another, you are bound to that person or condition by an emotional link that is stronger than steel. Forgiveness is the only way to dissolve that link and get free. ~ Catherine Ponder



-1-

When he wakes up, he is starving.

Something, (like so many other things, so many…) he has grown accustomed to by now, the spirit seems to enjoy depriving his body of simple needs. He is also confused and practically tumbles down the staircase simply because he didn't know he was on one.

He staggers into Jounouchi's arms and is vaguely aware of how funny they (Yuugi and his friends) are looking at him – but the ache in his stomach is far too great for him to care.

And there is another ache, one that is not familiar and well unpleasant wasn't the right word it was simply foreign.

Ryou faints shortly thereafter.

-2-

When he wakes up (again), he is lying in a hospital bed. Which isn't at all unusual, so Ryou does not think much of it when he pulls himself into a sitting position.

"So you're finally awake."

That voice is not unusual either, but the hairs on the back of Ryou's neck stand straight up regardless.

But it is different too. Instead of it echoing through the chambers of his mind, it seems as if the voice is right beside him.

It is.

Out of the corner of his eye, Ryou sees a man with white hair that is unlike his own, the man's hair is almost grey…and he's sneering and saying something that Ryou can't understand because the world is crumbling around him and –

Then there was darkness.

(Ryou almost welcomed it.)

-3-

He knows what that ache was now.

"Even Malik?" He whispers in disbelief. Ryou pulls his knees close to his chest, covering up the place where the ring used to lay.

Yuugi nods and gives him a small smile.

He does not reciprocate it.

"And the…" Ryou wants to say "Voice" or even "the Thief" but it comes out "other me". He prays to all the gods he knows, especially the Egyptian ones, that he and the Voice are separate beings entirely. He doesn't want to be connected (chained) to that.

"He's outside, everyone – especially Atemu, thought it would probably be best if I explained it to you first," he says, eyes still shining bright.

(How do you do that Yuugi, he wonders, how are you so bright?)

"I'm glad it was you and not him," those words come out more venomous than intended, but it cannot be helped. Ryou feels poisoned.

"Yeah," Yuugi gives another nod and small smile; which, again, Ryou doesn't return. Instead he turns away ever so slightly and stares at the ground.

"I know this is a lot to take in, trust me I didn't believe it at first. Atemu didn't believe it at first! And I know it must be even harder for you…but I think they're here now for a reason and that we should make the best of it! I think, I think he can change if you help him. And we're friends, Ryou-kun, so you know I'll always be there for you when you need it!" Yuugi is expressive and naïve and stupid and his friend

Friends.

All he ever wanted in life was someone to call him friend; to want him to be there for them.

It doesn't seem fair that this is the price he must pay for that. That voice, that voice that was – is, is cruel and cold and completely devoid of humanity now has flesh and blood. Ryou feels the world spinning again and he –

And he…

He…

He cringes for one. He trembles too, when all the information finally hits him, and thankfully Yuugi doesn't seem to notice that.

"Are you…are you alright, Ryou-kun?" Yuugi asks timidly and places a hand on his shoulder.

Of course I'm alright, why wouldn't I be? I mean, he only ever stole my body and my friend's souls and tried to kill but everyone deserves forgiveness right? Even monsters right? Right, Yuugi-kun?

"Ryou-kun!"

"What did you call me?" Ryou asks (it comes off as a hiss) as if he the awareness of what Yuugi had been calling him those whole times had just hit him like a ton of bricks.

Ryou. Yuugi called him Ryou.

No! It was dirty, it was wrong for Yuugi to call him that…only Amane, only Amane had ever…

Yuugi blushes and bashfully begins to scratch his head.

"Well," he starts, avoiding Ryou's intense gaze, "He wants to be called Bakura so I thought I should start calling you Ryou – "

"He wants to be called Bakura."

Ryou does not look Yuugi in the eyes when says this (says, not asks).

It figures, he muses. From what Yuugi has told him the man is a thief.

(And what else was there to take from Ryou but his name?)

"Don't let him near me, Yuugi-kun."

"What? Ryou I really think you should –"

Ryou turns on his side and Yuugi shrinks back, realizing he has out stayed his welcome. The boy turns to leave, head bent and eyes down cast. He does not say goodbye to Yuugi, even though Ryou can feel the boy's stare burning through his clothes. Finally, the door closes shut and Ryou hears a lock clicking. He is safe now.

(Isn't he?)

He closes his eyes and hears laughter.

-4-

"You have to meet him sometime, Ryou," Yuugi cajoles as Ryou flees across the Egyptian sand trying to get to the tent before the Thief.

"No, I don't." He is not my friend, Yuugi. He is not the other half of my soul and I am not his reincarnation and I am mostly certainly not his hikari. The only thing I ever was to him was a host.

"Ryou," Yuugi takes his hand and squeezes it tight. "This is hurting you more than it is him. Just meet him, just once."

Ryou looks into Yuugi's eyes and sees only the best of intentions, even if Yuugi is going about them all the wrong way. But Yuugi cares about him, something no one has done in such a long time and Ryou feels he owes him.

"Just once."

-5-

"So you finally got the courage to meet me face to face."

The Thief is mocking Ryou, and he sounds exactly like the Voice. Ryou's not sure what he was expecting the Thief to sound like, but somehow that disappoints him.

(Somehow it hurts him.)

"I am not afraid of you," Ryou says, but they both know he's lying. It was just something that needed to be said.

The Thief chuckles darkly and something gleams in his grey eyes. The scar on his face looks sinister.

"I hate you." The words have no convention, but Ryou is sure that he means them. After all he has done, how could Ryou not?

The Thief just lets out a quieter laugh and turns to follow the Ishtars into the tombs.

Ryou hopes that they find out how the Thief and the Pharaoh and Malik's darkness all came to be. He hopes, despite what Yuugi hopes, that it is only temporary and whatever those three are fades away.

(And he hopes that he is shaking out of anger and not fear.)

-6-

The Thief, as Ryou has made his mind up to call him (he will not call him Bakura, because that's was his name and his mother's and his sister – and the Thief does not deserve it) is rather childish.

Now that Ryou has overcome having to meet the Thief, he simply watches him. Somewhere in the back of his mind Ryou hopes that the Thief feels him watching, feels him judging like Ryou felt all those times he had the ring on.

Ryou watches him interact with the Pharaoh. From what Yuugi had told him he expected their hatred for each other to move the Pyramids with its force but in reality it was all rather petty and juvenile. Name calling was very elementary school after all.

Ryou watches him interact with Malik. This relationship too is rather childish. They bicker a lot and the Thief calls him brat on more than one occasions. That makes Ryou like Malik a little bit more, to think that the Thief can't stand him. Sometimes Ryou goes to talk to Malik, just to irk him. (That too is petty, but Ryou is watching the Thief and not himself.) Malik and he are more alike than he thought, even though Malik had been inside of his mind during Battle City. Ryou thinks maybe Malik hates his darkness more than Ryou hates the Thief.

Ryou watches him interact with himself, too. At times he and the Thief's eyes meet and a shiver runs down Ryou's spine. Before he has time to collect himself, the Thief smirks. Or when the Thief had draped a golden chain around his neck in the middle of the night and whispered, "Payment."

Ryou shivers again.

He decides to ignore this.

(And every emotion other than hate he decides to ignore too.)

-7-

The Ishtars still have not found anything.

"We will keep looking for answers for you Pharaoh," Ishizu promises at the airport. After all, he, Yuugi, Jounouchi, Honda, and Anzu are still very much in school and have missed enough days as is. They had to go home eventually.

And Atemu probably can't stand the thought of leaving Yuugi alone.

Ryou is tired and longs for the safety of his apartment, too, so he isn't entirely upset with the fact that there is no way to send the Thief back.

-8-

"He's not staying with me."

Those words are definite. Ryou, who had spent his life conforming for others, twisting and contorting himself to make things easier for everyone but himself, stands tall.

The airport continues around them as if the impossible had not just happened.

"B-bbbut," Yuugi stutters over his words as if he can't possible even fathom why Ryou wouldn't the Thief to stay with him. "His your other half, your darkness – "

Why would I want my darkness around? I couldn't control him last time what makes you think I can control him now? His not Atemu, Yuugi.

"I won't have him live with me. He can stay here in Eygpt."

"Why? Look, I know this hard but, Ryou-kun, even Malik – "

Ryou in desperation cuts him off, "I'm not Malik."

But what he means to say is I'm not you, Yuugi.

He's not, after all.

(And he can't bring redemption to the Thief like Yuugi did with Atemu. His light is not bright enough for that.)

So Ryou turns to leave Yuugi behind, and all the ideals the boy still clings too.

(Forgiveness, Redemption, Salvation, Hope…)

Ryou is not bright enough for that.

-9-

Ryou opens the door to his apartment, he hasn't opened that door in at least two months, and the inside is still the same; unchanged.

He does not know rather to be relieved or horrified.

There is school work lying on his desk, untouched but now Ryou figures he will finally be able to get his grades back up. The small luggage full of the clothes he bought while in Egypt falls to the floor and that small noise echoes through the empty apartment.

Empty…

He is alone now.

But he's free now, too. From the Voice and the Thief…no, they are the same person, the same thing, the same –

It doesn't matter.

He's free.

(Isn't he? Isn't he?)

-10-

"He's at it again." That's the first thing Malik says when Ryou answers the phone. It's been two years since those fateful days in Egypt and Ryou knows he should be used to Malik's random phone calls.

But –

"What!?" Ryou asks, groggy and barely coherent. Apparently Malik forgot about the time difference between Egypt and Japan.

"Your yami. He's stealing again."

Ryou cringes at the use of that word.

"So? I don't see how that's my problem. Tell the authorities." Ryou snaps. Malik always seemed to bring out the snippiness of Ryou.

"Pfft. He's your responsibility, not mine."

"How is he my responsibility?"

"You're his hikari right? You don't see my yami killing all the people he wants."

"He's killing people?" Ryou says with a hint of hysteria, "I thought you said he was just stealing!"

"Relax. It was just hypothetical situation. He's not killing anyone…yet."

It takes everything Ryou has not to hang up the phone right then and there.

"How do you know all this anyway?" Ryou borderline sneers.

"I talked to him yesterday." Malik says nonchalantly, as if it was the most common thing in the world.

Ryou's mouth drops open. He doesn't speak for a good three full minutes.

"You still there, Ryou?"

"I'm going to bed, Malik," Ryou says flatly, "Goodnight."

"Hey! That wasn't all I was gonna say, Ryou!"

"Goodnight!"

-11-

He's doing pretty well in college, all things considered.

His textbooks lay across the floor of his apartment, many things highlighted and scribbled notes in the margins. It's hard work, since so many things he should already know from High School he doesn't (because of the blackouts and the games of darkness…) so he always has to work harder than the average student.

But it's paying off. He has honors.

Ryou looks at his alarm clock.

It says 1:45.

Yeah, perhaps he could allow himself some sleep now, just a little rest and then he'll go right back to studying…

There's a knock at the door.

Ryou's eyes snap open and he races to answer. Did he order a pizza or something? He couldn't quite remember, but what else could it be?

He opens the door without hesitation and a man steps into the light of the porch lamp.

"Y-yyy-you," Ryou stutters out and steps backwards. "How, why? You."

The Thief smirks. "Did you miss me?"

Ryou tries to speak but finds he has no voice.

"Heh. You're still pathetic. Now are you going to be a good host and let me in?"

Host.

He had heard that word, that leer, so many times in his head –

("But isn't that what you wanted, host, friends that would stay with you forever?" "Such a weak and pathetic host I have.""You promised to help me collect all seven items, host. I hope you have forgotten." And again and again and again…)

– But to put a face to it, to see the way the Thief's lips twist into such a snarl, to have to watch it unfold…

Ryou loses it.

His fist connects with the thief right where the scar on his face lies.

The force of the blow sends the Thief stumbling into the wall.

The glower on his face evaporates and Ryou backs away, completely stunned. He must have put all his rage that had ever been inside into that punch because now he only feels empty and (he hates to admit, hates to prove the Thief right) afraid.

Afraid. Adrenaline pulses through Ryou's veins and every inch of him is screaming at him to run, but Ryou is frozen to the ground.

The Thief does not change his scrunched position against the wall when he tastes the blood on his cheek. Nor when he laughs or looks up with frenzied eyes.

The only thing Ryou sees after that is fists, sometimes his own.

-12-

When Ryou finally regains consciousness, the Thief is hovering over him.

He has a few bruises on his arm and his cheek is swollen, but Ryou can already feel that the damage done to him is much worse. Ryou still chalks it up as a victory to him.

"What are you doing here?" The words come out more tired than threatening.

The Thief regards him with disdain, but relaxes ever so slightly. "I came to see you."

Ryou stares up at him.

"Why?" The word comes out more hopeless than demanding.

(Maybe because Ryou is more hopeless than demanding.)

The Thief smirks and brushes Ryou's bangs out of his face.

Ryou again just stares while his mind tries to process the meaning of that action.

(It was almost gentle…)

"I don't belong to you!" Ryou sneers to try to hide the anxiety and panic in his voice.

The Thief merely laughs and turns to leave.

-13-

Though it's been two years, Ryou knows the Thief is still watching him.

Ryou wills himself to ignore it, like he ignores everything about the Thief's existence. But he feels this. Especially on the days he goes to visit Yuugi and Atemu.

It doesn't matter, he tells himself, there is nothing connecting him to the Thief.

At all.

They are different.

(Different like the other side of the same coin.)

-14-

"Hello? Fa-father?"

"Hello, Ryou. It's been awhile since we've talked."

"Uh- yeah. Why are you, why are you calling me?"

"I heard you graduate from college. With honors! I'm very proud of you but…"

"But?"

"Well, I think it's obvious you know how to take care of yourself, and you're not a child anymore. I just feel it's time – "

"You're kicking me out."

"I feel you should find your own place, yes."

"When?"

"The lease runs out in four months, so that should give you plenty of time to look for more affordable apartments and a job of course – "

-click-

-15-

Ryou cannot believe he is doing this.

(Have I really sunk so low?)

He sneaks through in alleyway into an "abandoned" warehouse, the very one the amateur pick-pocket had pointed out to Ryou. His heart is beating faster and he is already flustered even though for all he knows the pick-pocket had been lying to him…

(Then again, who other the he would go by the name King of Thieves?)

Ryou pushes the door to warehouse's back entrance and it opens with a creek. With each step he takes inside the more he regrets the last step more and more. Honestly, being homeless wouldn't be so bad. There would probably be shelters and maybe even eventually he would get called back for a job interview.

But who would ever hire him without an address?

Because of all his inner debating Ryou doesn't not even notice the Thief lurking in the shadows.

"Landlord," the Thief purrs and Ryou lets out a vaguely girlish squeak.

He smirks at that.

"What are you doing here?" But the way the Thief says it makes it seem to Ryou as if he already knows.

"I –," Ryou starts but again finds his voice has left him. The Thief smirk grows wider.

"I –," Ryou tries again and finally has to close his eyes to block out that smirk, "I was wondering if…"

"If what?"

"Look. I don't have a lot of money," Ryou pauses and looks away from the Thief's very amused eyes, sighing heavily.

He takes another breath. He's already here, might as well finish his proposition.

"I need a roommate." I need a thief.

The Thief leans in closer, leering. "And?"

Ryou looks away, face flustered and twisted into a grimace.

"I need you."

The Thief just looks at him and smirks.

He is satisfied.

-16-

"I'm glad you two are living together. I think it will be good, for both of you!" Yuugi says very suddenly. Though Ryou had been sort of expecting it, seeing as how they had been dancing around the subject for the entire meal.

"Yeah." Ryou doesn't know what else to say but that and doesn't know if he is agreeing with Yuugi and or agreeing with what Yuugi actually said.

(The thought of any of it still aches, but not a bad ache just foreign…)

They go back to the conversation about Kaiba's latest invention, Jou and Mai's engagement and Anzu's latest show.

But Yuugi seems a lot happier now, and that makes Ryou smile a few times too.

-17-

"Ha! I knew you'd come around someday, Ryou."

"Shut up, Malik. Please."

"Oh don't feel bad, we are all doomed to have to live with are darker halves!"

"That makes me feel so much better."

"I do always know just what to say. Besides, what did you think would happen once he showed up in Japan? Wait, don't answer that. Gotta go, Rishid's calling me."

"Bye."

-18-

The Thief is different than the Voice.

He realizes this now, after about a month of living with him. The Voice did not have a speck of humanity but the Thief, the Thief has his moments.

Ryou comes home late one night from pulling double shifts at the museum (he was trying very hard not to have to rely on the Thief's income any longer) and he sees the Thief passed out on the couch. Not a very pleasing sight but certainly not out of ordinary.

Ryou creeps passed him and towards the kitchen but before he can get there, he hears something.

"Please don't, don't hurt them – leave me alone! Please, no!"

His cries are muffled into the couch, but they're still cries.

Ryou stares – amazed. His heart swells with compassion, something it hasn't done in a long time and it takes Ryou a second to realize that yes, it is compassion and empathy and –

Forgiveness.

He knows very well he can't just give the Thief a hug (because deep down Ryou knows there is just a scared little boy who needs to be held) so the next morning Ryou he does the next best thing.

"Your village didn't deserve what happened to them. The Pharaoh was wrong. You're right."

-19-

"I got a job."

"Congratulations," says the Thief dryly and does not bother to look up at Ryou.

"It pays pretty well."

The Thief doesn't even dignify that one with a response.

"I mean I can support both of us with the money I make."

The Thief looks up, eyes narrowing into slits. "Is there something you are trying to say?"

Ryou looks down, eyes stuck to the floor. "You don't need to steal anymore."

"Heh. I like stealing."

Ryou closes his eyes and braces himself. "I don't want you stealing anymore."

"Too bad."

"You can't live here if you keep doing that." The words come out of Ryou's mouth slurred and rush but the Thief understands.

He glares.

Ryou sighs and turns away.

"I mean it."

(Please just give it up. I don't want you to leave.)

-20-

"Just tell me you want to stay."

Tell me you need me.

Something flashes in his other eyes and he recoils. Ryou assumes he is accessing the situation to see what will be in his best interests (he is a Thief after all, and thieves are by nature selfish creatures). That knowledge does not keep the few seconds that pass from feeling like lifetimes and it does not stop Ryou from seeing their entire lives with each tick of his kitchen clock.

Tick. (The creation of the millennium items; the screaming of Kul Elna.)

Tock. (The last kiss his mother ever gave him; the last hug of his sister.)

Tick. (The first moment the tassels of the millennium ring dug into his skin; the first moment in three thousand years he saw light.)

Tock. (They first time either of them had been truly free of the darkness.)

Tick/Tock/Tick/Tock (And all other moments past and present and future blur together like the ticking of the clock.)

"I want to stay."

The Thief does not look down, but he looks away and he says the words so softly, so gently, Ryou thought maybe he had actually been the one to say it.

But he hadn't said it.

His yami had.

The Thief sneers and says something that Ryou does not hear over the ringing in his ears. He admitted it! His mind cheers, He needs – wants to stay…

That comprehension slowly warms his body like the first sip of hot cocoa and Ryou smiles.

A real smile.

(Genuine, pure and bright.)

And for the first time in seven years Ryou feels truly hopeful.

And free.


A/N LOL OOC, Right? Well it kind of has a basis in canon. I was rewatching the Japanese Millennium World Arc and I noticed something. Well normally Thief King Bakura's voice is Yami no Bakura's voice but there was one scene where Rica Matsumoto used her Ryou voice for Thief King Bakura. Naturally I took this way to seriously and looked up the dubbed episode and found that Ted Lewis did the same thing. So yeah. This could happen. Maybe. -is ashamed-.

Review! Please?