A/N Post-series. Gonna assume some sort of interaction between Ryou and Malik happened during Battle City.


You can close your eyes to the things you do not want to see, but you cannot close your heart to the things you do not want to feel. ~ Unknown


"It doesn't feel over," Malik sneered.

Soft droplets from the ocean hit Ryou as he listened intently.

"I don't know why. The items are gone. The Pharaoh's gone. I saw him cross over myself," Malik growled, face frowning into some sort of last imprint of rage. (Ryou could almost feel it, the hatred, splashing him like the water below.)

Ryou inched closer to him. He didn't really know why. (He still didn't know, for the most part, anything. And the things he held as certainties could definitely never answer a 'why'.)

Malik closed his eyes, the rage falling back inside of him. Like a wave, collapsing in on itself.

"But I still!" he cried, eyes shut but his eyebrows furrowing.

"I still," he trailed off, hand curling around something that wasn't there. Absentmindedly, Ryou traced the scars on his chest.

Feel. He felt now, more than he could remember feeling (more than he was really prepared to feel…). He knew the spirit was gone. The millennium ring was buried forever; there was no way it could ever reach him. But he still…there was still…

There was still that linger sense of …

(What?)

Sighing, he reached out and held Malik's hand.

"Feel it," Ryou continued (for him), "But I still feel it."


A/N Review on your way out?