Yu-Gi-Oh! Fan Fiction ❯ I Care ❯ New ( Chapter 1 )

Summery: A new girl is invited into the Yu-gi-oh gang and she is interested in Ryou? Is it friendship, a crush, or…something else? Ryou is caught in a spiral of depression and Aly might be the only one who can save him. But will Bakura let her or will he banish her away to the Shadow Realm? And will Aly ever find out who the secret admirer everyone seems to know about is? Things start to heat up when other forces butt into the teens lives. If magic and ancient spirits exist who knows what could happen? (V, L)

 

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Emmy: Hi and welcome to my fanfic! This is my first drama/romance one and all so I hope you like it. I'm sorry about one thing. I had a dilemma with the whole two different languages thing so I just didn't explain how they can talk to each other. I'm using the English names because I'm from America and I can't remember the Japanese names very well. It takes a little while before the Yu-gi-oh characters are introduced, just a heads up!

 

This basically about Ryou's depression and how a new friend tries to help him get back to normal.

 

Ryou: Am I not normal?

 

Raven: Hmm, let me see…you're under weight, have white hair, have a psycho living in your head, are depressed and act girly.

 

Royu: Hey!

 

Emmy: Rav, stop being mean to my Ryou! It's not his fault!

 

Raven: You're right. It's not his fault…It's YOURS!

 

Bakura: What?!

 

Raven: You took over his mind for how long? A year? You've beaten the kid for goodness sake! No wonder he's so messed up!

 

Royu: ….

 

Emmy: Ok guys, let's calm down. The nice people are waiting to read the story! Besides, you're hurting Ryou's feelings.

 

Ryou: …I'm not THAT messed up am I?

 

Emmy: Of course you're not that messed up. Not anymore at least!

 

Raven: Shut it! First of all Em, you have problems. Now, let's just do the stupid disclaimer and start the story!

 

Emmy: Right! Aly is an original by me but I DO NOT own Yu-gi-oh or any characters/ideas from the T.V. show and stuff.

 

Bakura: Whew…That's a relief.

 

Emmy: What was that?!

 

Bakura: Nothing! I-

 

Raven: LET”S JUST START THE STUPID STORY!!!

 

Emma: Right, here it is!

 

 

 

 

 

 

I Care

 

1. New

 

BEEP…BEEP…BEEP… Aly felt for her alarm clock in the dark, not wanting to wake up just yet. Unfortunately she couldn't seem to find the clock. “Stupid clock…” she muttered, sitting up and turning on her bed side lamp.

 

She let her eyes adjust to the light before looking for the annoying devise. It was 7:00 AM. Wack! She slammed her fist down on the off button, silencing it. Aly sighed. She couldn't go back to sleep now, she was already awake. “Stupid clock…” she muttered again before hopping out of bed.

 

She stumbled down the staircase towards the kitchen. She couldn't hear the grumble of the coffee machine, which meant nobody else, was awake. “Except the cats,” she said, feeling them rub against her legs. She poured her 3 pets some dry food before pouring herself a cup of Cheerios. She ate in silence, thinking about what she could do that day.

 

She had been in town for a week already but still hadn't made any friends. Although, she hadn't gone to school either. Her family had moved toward the end of summer vacation, giving Aly more time with her old friends but less time to find new ones. Her goal had been to meet friends before school started so she wouldn't feel so lonesome but had failed, and this was the second to last day before school started.

 

“Stupid mom, if she hadn't of taken the job I could still be back home now,” Aly said to herself. It was true. Her mom's magazine business had been losing customers, when along came Mr. Shigeki. Because of his `kind heart' he offered mom a merge in both of their businesses and she'd jumped at the chance. Aly's dad had hated the move as much as Aly. America had been their home. “Why can't mom see that?” Aly muttered, placing her bowl by the cats so they could finish off the milk.

 

With that she moved on to her morning routine. Go to bathroom, take a shower, brush teeth, dry hair, get dressed. After drying her hair she changed into a pair of blue jeans and a baggy T-shirt then put her long brownish blonde hair back into a ponytail.

 

She also draped the gold necklace her friends had given her around her neck. A golden, cat head, which reminded Aly of the Egyptian cat pictures, hung around the gold chain. Her friends had bought it for her as a going away present and now she wore it all the time.

 

She looked at her image in the long vertical mirror. “I need to lose some weight,” Aly thought in her head. It was true. Compared to most of the people she had seen walking around town she was…bigger. Aly was afraid to step of the scale in the kitchen. At the age of 15 a girl needed to look her best and Aly didn't look her best at the moment.

 

“Well,” she turned to her Siamese cat who was sitting on the counter that she had named Cookie. “If I'm gonna lose weight I'll need to exercise and diet! No more sugar, not more fatty foods! By the end of the week I will have lost five pound!”

 

Her cat blinked. “You're right,” she replied. “If I'm gonna diet I'll need diet food. I'll veggies, fruits, and Lean Cuisine lunches.” Aly looked in the fridge to see if they were low on anything. “And eggs and wheat bread,” she added.

 

Even though Aly had only been in the city a week she had learned how to get around in her neighborhood. She knew there was a game shop a few blocks away and there was a groceries store not too far from that. The school she would attend was within walking distance and there was a park somewhere close by.

 

She walked briskly down the sidewalk, walking past the few people on their way to work. The neighborhood she lived in was small, which had surprised Aly because cities were supposed to be crowded. She had decided this neighborhood wasn't as crowded because it was farther away from the center of the city where most of the bigger buildings were.

 

Her mom's new office was in one of the skyscrapers. Aly stopped and looked back at the giant structures. She found her mom's office easily because it was the one closest to Kaiba Corp.

 

Aly knew of the famous Duel Monsters game. Who didn't? Her younger cousin Clayton had introduced it to her and she had begun to collect the cards but she couldn't duel to save her life.

 

Suddenly Aly remembered something. Her cousin had asked her to send him some Duel Monsters cards from Japan. She made a mental note to go by the game shop and get some later.

 

Aly made her way down the frozen food section. She had already found most of her favorite veggies and fruits along with healthy snacks such as low fat yogurt and no sugar, no fat fudge bars. Now she searched for the low calorie lunches. She wasn't really paying attention after grabbing a chicken and rice lunch she stepped in a pool of melted ice and fell forward, landing on a stranger.

 

“I'm so sorry!” she said, rolling off the stranger.

 

“Oh, it's quite alright,” he said. Aly looked at him. He seemed about her age and had white hair, and a polite smile. He wore a blue and white shirt under a light blue jacket and wore a gold ring on a chain around his neck. It was a pretty trinket.

 

“He's kinda cute…” she thought as she stood up. Aly extended a hand to him to help the boy up. He was light as a feather. “I hope I didn't squash him!”

 

“Hi, my name is Alex Carter,” she said, shaking their already locked hands.

 

“Hi, I'm Ryou Bakura,” he replied. “It's a pleasure to meet you.”

 

“Yeah, sorry if I hurt you.” She said with a guilty smile. “Should I call you Ryou or Bakura?” Aly asked.

 

“Um, Ryou,” he replied, a bit surprised at her question.

 

“Sorry, that must sound like a stupid question,” Aly said smiling. “It's just that I'm new to Japan and I once read in Japan you call people by there last names, guess I was wrong.”

 

Ryou gave a small smile. “Actually some people preferred to be called by their last name but well…recently I've started going by Ryou,” he replied.

 

Aly smiled. This was her chance to know somebody. If she acted polite and sweet perhaps Ryou would be her friend. “Or boyfriend…” part of her said. Aly dismissed the thought.

 

“So, should I call you Alex or Carter?” Ryou asked.

 

Aly smiled. “Actually I preferred to be called Aly.”

 

“Ok Aly, are you starting at the Domino High School this year?” he asked. Aly nodded. “Well, I guess I'll see you there then,” he said smiling. Then he moved on down the isle.

 

Aly looked back at Ryou. “He's too thin,” she thought. “I'm the one who needs to cut down, not him.” Then she groaned to herself. She had met her first almost friend in the frozen food section while getting a low calorie lunch. He probably saw the food and realized how large she was compared to him.

 

“I am going to hit the treadmill everyday after school!” she said to herself. Then she moved on to the check out, catching a glimpse of Ryou as he left the store. “He is kinda cute, even with white hair,” she said, smiling. In meeting him she had forgotten to ask about his strange necklace. “Oh well,” she thought. “I'll ask about it on Monday.”

 

#%#%#%#%#%#%#%#%

 

Ryou Bakura sighed as he walked down the side walk. It was a warm summer morning, birds were chirping and people were out and about doing they're daily routines. Teenagers were trying to do as many fun things as possible before the break was over. Ryou didn't really care. He didn't mind school that much; it gave him a reason to leave his house. When he was in the house he was alone…except for Bakura. Ryou shuttered at this thought.

 

Ryou had named his darker side Bakura and had taken his first name as his title. Before thinking about his darker side Ryou would set up mind blocks to block Bakura from reading his thoughts. The two shared a mind connection but Bakura had his own body. He stayed at home most of the time or terrorized people. Sometimes he came out to insult Ryou's friends.

 

Bakura was not the most fun person to be alone with. He was rude, mean, violent, and evil…Ryou had received beatings from his darker half…but despite all that Ryou didn't want Bakura to go away. He never wished for Bakura to disappear because…then he'd be all alone. He didn't know how to explain this to his friends, they wouldn't get it. They never really cared anyway…

 

Suddenly Ryou realized he was by the Game Shop. One of his friends, Yugi Motto's grandfather owned the store and Yugi would most likely be there at this time of day. Ryou stood outside the door, deciding weather to go in or not.

 

Most people would think Ryou had lots of friends because he was always with a large crowd, but the truth was, none of them were really close…

 

There was Yugi, always ready to help his friends and lend a hand, but despite his friendliness Ryou wasn't too close to him.

 

There was also Joey, and Tristan, they were always arguing about something. They were very loyal to there friends but Ryou didn't know them that well either.

 

Tea was always friendly and trying to make new friends but sometimes Ryou found that annoying so they weren't close either.

 

The only other person Ryou might consider part of the group was Serenity, Joey's sister, a sweet girl but he didn't know her at all.

 

Ryou sighed and kept walking. As he walked by the arcade a group of giggly girls passed by. One stopped and turned around.

 

“Oh, hey Bakura!” she called. Ryou sighed. Lots of people still called him Bakura, which got on his nerves sometimes.

 

Ryou stopped and turned slightly to face a blonde wearing too much pink. “Oh, hi,” he replied. He didn't even know this girl's name. Luckily he was a master at dodging the little fan club.

 

“I'm sorry but I'm in a bit of a rush. I've got to meet someone,” he said politely as he could. The girl raised an eyebrow.

 

“Who?” she asked.

 

Ryou said the first name that came to mind. “Aly, Aly Carter.”

 

The girl gave a small frown. “Oh well, I guess I won't keep you away from your Aly,” she replied. Her friends giggled as the walked down the street.

 

Ryou stopped and looked into the glass display case of shop, not even paying attention to what they were selling. He was looking at his reflection.

 

Ryou hated it when the girls would try to hit on him. He wondered why they even liked him. He had white hair, not too common, and most people thought of him as albino. He wasn't a true albino for he had no pink eyes but he was glad of that. He was too pale and weak looking. He hated his body and his face. “It reminds you of him…” the thought flashed through Ryou's head but he tried to ignore it.

 

Ryou kept walking and walking. When he was alone all he could do was dwell on his memories…and his darkness. When he was with his friends he still felt alone…but they didn't notice…they didn't care…nobody cared.

 

“Why should they? You're nothing but a useless piece of crap!” a voice whispered in his head. Ryou gasped in surprise, he had let his mental blocks down…Bakura had heard some of his thoughts.

 

“You're good for hardly anything! Your only purpose in life is to be my body till I can finish my plans and find my own!” Bakura hissed.

 

Ryou looked at the ground. Was Bakura really there or was he just hearing things? Was he remembering those insults? It was too confusing…he couldn't tell when he was hearing Bakura or hearing memories! He wasn't safe at night…he wasn't safe inside his head…he was weak and helpless.

 

“That's right,” Bakura reminded him. “You are weak and pitiful. Nobody likes you…” Ryou just kept walking, he didn't even know where. He just kept walking. “You can't get away from me little light; I'm inside your head…”

 

 

Aly on MSN

 

AlleyKat: Hey, anybody there?

 

Doodlebug333: Aly! We've missed you soooooo much!

 

AlleyKat: I've only been gone a week!

 

Doodlebug333: So? Here, I'll call the others and tell them you're on…

 

AlleyKat: K

 

AlleyKat: ….

 

AlleyKat: You there?

 

HotChick101: Oh Aly we've missed you! Summer's not the same without our neat freak, friend here to sing with us!

 

AlleyKat: You guys don't need me…well maybe you do!

 

Basket_Star_20: Hey! Well, how's life in JAPAN????!!!!

 

AlleyKat: Well…it's been boring up till today…

 

Doodlebug333: Oooooo, tell us, tell us, tell us!!!!

 

AlleyKat: I was in the store today, frozen food section, when I kinda bumped into this boy.

 

HotChick101: Oh, you have a crush on him don't you? Unless you're already going out!

 

Basket_Star_20: What did he look like?

 

Doodlebug333: More info!

 

AlleyKat: Well, he had long white hair, looked about our age, was pretty thin, and had a cool golden trinket thing around his neck.

 

Doodlebug333: Sure it was a boy?

 

HotChick101: Sounds like he's gay.

 

AlleyKat: HEY!! I don't know if HE'S gay or not but he was kinda cute…

 

Basket_Star_20: Great job Aly, you already met a boy. You'll probably meet some knew friends soon but don't forget us ok?

 

AlleyKat: Never! I can't forget you guys! Group hug!

 

Doodlebug333: (hug)

 

HotChick101: (hug)

 

Basket_Star_20: (hug)

 

#%#%#%#%#%#

 

Aly woke a 6:00 the next morning to get used to her new school routine. She did the same thing as every other morning but had it all done by 7:30, which was when she would leave for school each day.

 

“Today is Sunday,” she said with a sigh. “Last day of freedom.”

 

“No sweets…” she said remorsefully as she tossed a bag of cookies into the trash. It was wasteful, but it was necessary. She would make it up to the environment later.

 

Suddenly Aly heard footsteps.

 

“Good morning dear,” her mother said, as she made her way to the coffee pot.

 

“Hey mom, I'm going on a diet, so don't buy any more sweets at the store.”

 

“You don't have to tell me twice. I'll diet too. I could lose a few pounds. It's your dad who will probably forget and bring in a box of cookies tomorrow,” he mother replied. Aly rolled her eyes.

 

She went up to her room to make sure she was prepared for the next day. She had all her books, all her pencils, and she had her uniform laid out on a chair. “Perfect,” she said to herself.

 

The next chore on Aly's list was to exercise. In the guest bedroom there was a bed, a T.V and treadmill. She slipped on some exercise clothes, put a DVD in the player and began her stretches. After limbering up she began to walk. She had discovered reading was hard to do when walking/jogging and listening to music got old after she ran out of fast pace songs. So instead she watched movies to help the time pass. It worked well because when the movie ended she had walked/jogged four miles.

 

“Alright! Now if I can do this every day I'll be as skinny as Ryou in no time!” she cried as she stretched once more.

 

After she was cooled down and put her clothes on a thought struck her. “I should have showered after exercising,” she said, hitting herself in the head.

 

Aly took yet another shower, but put her hair up in a ponytail so it wouldn't get wet.

 

“Stupid,” she told herself as she redressed into her normal clothes.

 

Aly looked at her watch, it was 10:12. “Now what do I do?” she asked herself. “Stop talking to yourself,” the little voice in her head said. “Stop answering me! Ugh! Ok, from now on I will not talk to myself or ask myself questions!”

 

“What'd you say dear?” he mother asked from down the hall.

 

“Nothing,” Aly replied. She spent was bored. She watched TV, played a computer game, read part of a book, listened to music, and even tried writing a story but when 11:40 came she was bored once more.

 

“I'm bored,” she told her gray cat. The cat flicked its tail.

 

“Oh! Yeah, I forgot, I should check my mental notepad!” Aly told the cat. The cat didn't respond.

 

“Hmmm…let's think. I talked to my friends last night, got everything ready for school, exercised, bought food yesterday…Oh! I need to get the Duel Monster Cards!”

 

Aly jumped out of her chair, grabbed some money, and flew out the door.

 

As Aly drew close to the Game Shop she wondered if any other kids would be there. It would give her another chance to make a friend so she wouldn't feel awkward at school. Aly was right, she looked through a window and noticed a large group of teens inside the shop.

 

“Ok, take a deep breathe…here goes!”

 

Ding! A little bell sang as she entered. All eyes in the room turned to her, causing her to freeze. There was a moment of silence as the teens inspected her. Aly counted six teens, two blondes, three brunettes and one albino. Ryou and Aly's eyes met, causing both to smile. But before either one could do a thing a small boy with multi colored, star shaped hair approached Aly. She'd seen him some place before…

 

“Hi, I'm Yugi. My grandfather owns the game shop. Do you need any help finding what you need? I've never seen you around here before.” Aly smiled at the friendly boy.

 

“I, well, I am new. I just moved to this town. My name's Aly, Aly Carter,” she replied, still trying to figure out why this boy seemed so familiar.

 

“Hi Aly, theses are my friends,” Yugi said, gesturing to the other teens.

 

“Hi, I'm Tea!” one of the girls said.

 

“The name's Tristan,” said a boy with brown hair.

 

“Call me Joey,” a blonde boy said.

 

“I'm his sister, Serenity. It's a pleasure to meet you,” the other girl said.

 

“And well, you know me already,” Ryou said softly.

 

“You know Aly?” Yugi asked. Ryou nodded but Aly could see he didn't like being in the spot light so she stepped in.

 

“Oh yeah, we sorta `ran into each other' at the super market,” Aly replied. Ryou gave her a thankful smile.

 

“That's neat. Anyway, do you need any help finding what you need?” Yugi asked.

 

“Oh yeah, I came here to buy some Duel Monsters cards.” Yugi beamed at her.

 

“You play Duel Monsters?” he asked.

 

“Oh no, I do have some cards but I couldn't duel to save my life!” Aly replied. “But I promised my cousin I'd send him some.”

 

“That's nice of you. Here, let me show you some new ones we got this morning…” Yugi said, leading Aly to the second isle. Yugi showed her many cards but she had decided to buy a Pot of Greed, a Monster Reborn, and a Flame Champion. Yugi seemed to think they were good cards.

 

“Yugi…Duel Monsters…star shaped hair…” Suddenly Aly remembered where she'd seen the boy before. Aly collected her thoughts and tried to calm down so she wouldn't sound too excited.

 

“Hey, Yugi, are you like The Yugi, the Duel Monster King of Games Yugi?” she asked as he rung up her cards.

 

“Yep, that's me,” he replied. Aly nearly gasped but didn't. She had watched some of his duels on the T.V. before. Special shows had done hour long biographies about Yugi. People had gone crazy trying to find him and duel him or make their deck as strong as his. How could Aly have not figured it out? How many kids named Yugi have the same kind of star shaped hair?

 

“Wow, that's cool,” Aly replied trying not to sound like some crazy fan who had finally met their hero. She held back the urge to say “You look much taller on T.V.”

 

“My cousin talks about you all the time. He's a major dueling fan.” Yugi smiled. Aly knew that when her cousin found out she knew Yugi he'd want an autograph but Aly didn't want to mess up her friendship so she didn't ask.

 

“Hey, where'd you get the cool necklace?” Tea asked. Aly touched her gift.

 

“It was a going away gift from my friends back home,” she replied. “They are so gonna flip when I tell them I met a celebrity!” Aly thought.

 

The group invited her to spend the afternoon with them; they were going to spend the last day before school at the Mall. Aly happily accepted.

 

@#@#@#@#

 

Ryou slowly made his way home, letting his feet do the work while his mind could wander. He was actually trying to figure out what had happened that day. His friends and him…had gone to the Game Shop…where'd they'd talked…about…something…Then Aly had come to buy cards for her cousin…how come he remembered that part so clearly? The rest of the day was lots of talking…and walking…Aly had walked by him…they had gone to the mall…and…had they gone to the arcade?

 

Ryou never really paid much attention when he was with his friends. Part of him would just zone out but another part would stay with his friends, incase they talked to him directly…which didn't happen to often…

 

Ryou's thoughts drifted back to Aly. She seemed so…different then the other girls…she wasn't as skinny, but she wasn't ugly or anything. She had dark brown eyes like his; except hers stood out…they seemed so attentive and inquisitive. She was also nice, but not in Serenity's general way, and not in Tea's in your face way.

 

“Why do you care? She'll never like you or care for you. She'd much rather hang out with the others.” The voice in his head informed him.

 

“That's true,” Ryou said to himself. She was outgoing, and nice. She would go well with Yugi or Joey.

 

Suddenly Ryou realized he was at his home. She took the key out of his pocket and unlooked the door, stepping into the dark house. He shut the door behind him; his only source of light was gone.

 

Ryou wasn't sure to call and see if Bakura was there or just go up to his room. He was heading up the steps when he heard:

 

“I'm right here.” Ryou jumped.

 

“Hello Bakura-sama,” Ryou said in metronome.

 

“I'm having friends over tonight, so go make dinner,” Bakura ordered.

 

“Yes Bakura-sama,” Ryou replied. “What would you like?”

 

“Meat, bread, cheese, whatever. Just make sure there's meat!” Bakura ordered. Ryou heard his footsteps walk off towards the living room. He made his way to the kitchen, adjusting his eyes to the darkness. Bakura always kept the house dark and Ryou only turned on lights when he was cooking or doing homework.

 

Ryou himself never ate much. He had discovered a long time ago that food didn't fill him up. It never helped fill up the hole inside of him. He would eat sometimes but it would only be enough to make his stomach be quiet.

 

He spent the next hour preparing hamburgers, one of Bakura's favorites. He had just put them all on a plate when Bakura stomped in and cried “Where's dinner? I'm freaken hungry!”

 

Ryou held the plate of burgers, up for Bakura to see. “Right here Bakura-sama,” Ryou replied.

 

Bakura sniffed and snatched the plate. “This crap will have to do,” he replied, turning back towards the living room. Ryou grabbed some chips and followed to see Marik, and Malik laughing at something on the T.V.

 

“Hey Bakura, you should of seen this! It's a drunk dolphin!” Marik cried, laughing hysterically.

 

“Hey burgers and chips, alright!” Malik cried, grabbing the bag of chips and stuffing a handful into his mouth. “Thsanks Syou!” Marik grabbed two and began stuffing his face as well. Bakura set the plate down and grabbed the chips from Ryou.

 

“You may go now,” Bakura told Ryou. Ryou nodded and left the room. He silently walked up the steps and into his room. He wanted to lock the door, for when Marik came over Bakura always got drunk, and if he was drunk Ryou would be in for it. But if Ryou locked the door he'd be in for it the next morning.

 

“Don't even think about locking the door,” the voice told him. “Or you'll be sorry.”

 

Ryou left the door unlocked and started his homework. School was easy. All Ryou had to do was pay attention, remember the things he was told, and put them down on paper for a grade. It wasn't fun really, but it wasn't bad. It couldn't hurt you to do well in school.

 

After finishing his homework he looked at the clock. It was 11:36. Ryou changed into his pajamas, and lay down in his bed but he didn't go to sleep. He didn't like to sleep. Once he had slept to escape the world. He had slept all day, not having to care. But soon he began to get nightmares. Every time he slept he would have horrible nightmares about…

 

“Ryou!” a voice called. Ryou snapped out of his deep thought. It was 1:21 AM. “Ryou, get down here!” the voice called. Ryou jumped out of bed and flew down the stairs.

 

“You called?” he asked, entering the living room. The three sat on the couch. Malik was sleeping and Marik and Bakura were watching T.V., both had a bottle of beer in their hands. In fact there were a few bottles on the floor.

 

“Ryou you worthless piece of crap! I called you like an hour ago!” Bakura said, glaring angrily at Ryou. Ryou knew that look.

 

“W-what do you want Bakura-sama?” he asked. Bakura pointed to the beer bottles.

 

“This place is a pigsty!” he cried. “Clean it up right now or else!”

 

Ryou bent down to pick up the bottles and felt a foot kick his back, causing him to fall to the floor. Marik burst into laughter, causing Malik to wake up.

 

Ryou got up and began cleaning again. This time as he got up Bakura thrust his foot up so that Ryou tripped, causing a few beer bottles to crash and break. This time Bakura and Marik laughed insanely and Malik covered his head with a pillow.

 

“Not so loud…my head hurts…” he whined.

 

Ryou stood up but was careful not to step on any glass. He grabbed the unbroken bottles before heading to the kitchen to get a broom. It was what he had to put up with. Bakura's favorite thing to do was bully Ryou. That sometimes meant messing with his head and other times it would get violent.

 

Taking the broom and pan Ryou began to sweep up the glass. “What do you want to do now?” Bakura asked.

 

“Well, we're out of beer and food and my light is totally out of it. I'd better take him home,” Malik replied.

 

“Oh he'll probably be fine. It was only one beer. Plus, if you're bored we can mess with Ryou some more or make him cook more food,” Bakura suggested.

 

Marik stood up and shrugged. “It's late though and Malik's never had beer before. It's been fun though. We have to do this every weekend.” Then Marik picked up his hikari who moaned.

 

“No…” Malik complained.

 

“We're going home,” Marik replied. “See yeah later Bakura!” Marik called as he walked out the door.

 

There was a moment of silence. Ryou kept sweeping and Bakura kept watching T.V.

 

“Please, just let him go to bed. Please, please?” Ryou thought to himself. “Please, don't want to play a game.”

 

“What a wonderful idea Ryou!” Bakura exclaimed from the other room. Ryou dumped the glass into the trash can and turned around.

 

“W-what is?” Ryou asked nervously. Suddenly the T.V. clicked off. It was dark and quiet. Ryou listened closely and heard the faintest sound of cloth against cloth.

 

“We'll play a game.” Ryou gasped and took a few steps back, hitting the counter. Bakura was right in front of him, so close Ryou had felt his warm breath.

 

“A game?” Ryou squeaked.

 

“Yes, a game. Don't play dumb, you know what I'm talking about,” Bakura answered, taking a few steps closer.

 

Ryou's heart seemed like it was about to jump out of his chest. Could Bakura hear it? Ryou was so close to his yami, making him feel exited but scared at the same time. Did Bakura know Ryou's feelings? Did he read Ryou's feelings through their mental link?

 

“Sometimes, but right now I'm not interested in talking. I want to play a game. How about…hide and seek?” Ryou could tell Bakura was grinning evilly by the sound of his voice.

 

“Yes, let's play hide and seek Ryou. You remember the rules? I'll give you sixty seconds to hide. Starting…now.”

 

Ryou sprung past his yami, desperately searching for a hiding place. Ryou knew all to well what would happen when Bakura found him. There was really no point hiding, Bakura would find him anyway. Ryou decided to hide in Bakura's room, which was across the hall from his.

 

He opened the door quietly and tip toed over to Bakura's bed. Silently he slid under the bed frame and waited.

 

Ryou had learned the hiding in the bathroom might accidentally end up in Ryou's head hitting the toilet, sink or tub, and the kitchen had tons of sharp utensils. The living room was an ok place but that was to close to where Bakura was counting, and Ryou's room was about the same as Bakura's except there was no chance at breaking any of Ryou's stuff.

 

“Ready or not, here I come…” Bakura called.

 

Ryou held his breath, waiting in utter darkness. Even the windows were shut, there was no trace of moonlight. He began to shake, the suspense was awful. Bakura would make him wait under the bed with his smelly socks until it he found him.

 

“I'm coming upstairs…” Bakura called.

 

The house was deadly quiet. The only sounds to be heard were the beating of Ryou's heart and the soft creak of the floor boards. Ryou's eyes widened. Bakura must have planned this after watching some horror movie because Ryou felt like he was in one.

 

“I'm opening the door...”

 

Suddenly Ryou heard the doorknob turning. This was it, the climactic scene in the movie when the killer found his victim. Ryou was the character that everyone knew would get killed eventually.

 

“You deserve anything he dose to you. If you were stronger you would be able to fight back but you're weak and you have to take it!” the voice in his head said.

 

Ryou fell the blanket slowly rise.

 

“Hello hikari.”

 

Ryou yelped as a strong hand clenched a handful of his hair and pulled him out from under the bed. Ryou scrambled to his knees to try and stop the pain in his scalp but Bakura stood up and held his hair high.

 

“I found you,” he smirked. Ryou trembled and waited for the pain. It came. Ryou took a punch to the stomach, knocking the air out of him. Bakura dropped him and Ryou held his stomach, kneeling over. Bakura lifted a leg and put hit foot to Ryou's forehead. Ryou was pushed backwards, his head almost touching the ground.

 

“Ow! Bakura please stop! The body's not supposed to bend that way!” Ryou cried. Bakura pushed harder until tears poured from Ryou's eyes. He stopped but as Ryou sat up he grabbed Ryou's arm and in one quick turn threw him into the wall. Ryou slumped to the floor.

 

Ryou felt a dull throbbing in his back and in his head.

 

“You should spend less time outside,” Bakura said. It was the first time that night that Ryou heard the drunkenness in his voice.

 

“You'll get beat up by the bullies and then I'll have to come and save you or make sure you don't die when you get home. Do you know how annoying that is?”

 

Ryou didn't reply.

 

“I ASKED YOU A QUESTION!” Bakura screamed, slapping Ryou's face. “I EXPECT AN ANSWER!”

 

Ryou trembled, tears flowed freely down his face.

 

“N-no Bakura-sama,” he replied.

 

Bakura growled.

 

“That's why you must be punished. When you are bad or act stupid I will punish you.” With that Bakura grabbed Ryou's arm and dragged Ryou to his room.

 

“Do your homework and go to bed! Don't stay after to school to be with your friends. The bullies will beat you up.”

 

Ryou stood up, and stared at where he thought his yami's eyes were.

 

“God you're too weak. Nobody likes a weak kid, always messing things up…” Bakura grumbled. With that he stumbled out and slammed Ryou's door shut.

 

Ryou sat down for a moment, taking a deep breath. Bakura had gone easy on him…too easy. He would most likely commit bloody murder tomorrow. Ryou sighed and felt his head. There was a large bump but it didn't seem fatal.

 

It was as Ryou opened his back pack did he notice a few cuts on his arm. They were most likely from the beer bottle incident. “Great. Now I'll have to wear long sleeves tomorrow,” he thought. “Maybe I could lie and tell them my cat scratched me…but I don't have a cat.” It didn't matter much anyway because the school uniform came with long sleeves but what about after school?

 

“It's not like they'll notice. They don't care,” the little voice said. Ryou sighed and caught a glimpse of the clock. It was 1: 57. He lay back down onto his bed and hoped morning would come soon.

 

@#@#@#@#

 

Emmy: Well, that was the first chapter. It gives you a taste of what's going to happen as the story progresses.

 

Bakura: You got me all wrong! I would have cursed! You didn't have me curse?!

 

Emmy: I'm trying to keep this mild…but you will curse eventually.

 

Raven: Don't let mom find out…

 

Ryou: Please review, Emmy likes to know how you feel about her work.

 

Raven: If it sucks tell her it sucks.

 

Emmy: Don't listen to her! Please, I don't like flaming but constructive criticism is good.