Yu-Gi-Oh! Fan Fiction ❯ Life's Changes ❯ Life's Changes ( One-Shot )

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Disclaimer: I do not own YuGiOh!

Dedicated to anyone who has lost a treasured companion.

~~~ *** ~~~

At first, Ryou had been confused.

He had been petting, Akefia, his pet cat, when suddenly Akefia had shuddered and stopped moving. Akefia was only a few years old and therefore too young to die. Naturally, he began shaking him, doing his best to rouse the tan cat, but still Akefia didn't move. Taking a deep breath, Ryou decided that the poor cat was exhausted, and resolved to try again later.

He did try later, and he tried another five times after that.

Bakura came home to the sight of Ryou trying to wake their dead cat.

He walked over to the two, one glance at Akefia told him everything he needed to know. He sighed and put his hand on Ryou's shoulder. Ryou looked up at him, confusion and a hint of denial in his eyes.

“Bakura, I don't understand. No matter how much I shake him, he won't wake up. I know cat's sleep a lot, but this is ridiculous! Bakura, make Akefia wake up!”

Ryou was near tears.

Bakura refused to look at him.

“I can't.” He managed to restrain the urge to yell at Ryou.

“Why not?”

He barely held it in. He had grown attach to the fur ball as well.

“You know damn well why I can't wake him up.”

“No, Bakura, I don't under- He fell asleep! He's just asleep!”

Next, Ryou went into denial.

Bakura lost it.

“He's dead, Ryou! He's dead, and he's never going to wake up!”

“No, he's not! He's sleeping, just -” Bakura grabbed him by his shirt collar, and began shaking him furiously.

“HE'S DEAD!”

He threw Ryou to the ground, retreating to his room, to sleep and to destroy everything in sight.

Ryou sat where he was thrown, clutching his dead cat and crying his heart out.

~~~ *** ~~~

It was a few weeks later, and Bakura thought that everything would be okay. After the first few days of being an inconsolable wreck,, Ryou had begun to isolate himself.

An isolation he was starting to come out of.

They were going for a walk in the park, when suddenly a cat that greatly resembled Akefia, walked by.

Bakura ignored the pain he felt at the sight of the cat.

Ryou became very Bakura-like.

He screamed.

“Why couldn't it have been you? Why couldn't you have died instead? Why? Why did it have to be Akefia?” He lunged at the cat, with every intention of kicking it.

Bakura held Ryou back.

Ryou broke down, while the cat scampered off.

~~~ *** ~~~

After that, Ryou became very short-tempered, and he returned to isolating himself. It was only now: six months, three weeks, and five days, after Akefia's death that he was beginning to accept it.

They sat together in front of the lit fireplace, staring at a photo of them doing the exact same thing with Akefia.

“Bakura.”

“What?”

“I don't think I'll ever be able to own, or even look at another cat without be reminded of Akefia. Nothing will ever be the same.”

Bakura didn't respond.

He sat, and stared at Ryou blankly, painfully aware of the physical and emotional gap between them.

`I'll never be able to look at you without thinking of Akefia,' he thought to himself, `You'll never be the same.'

In the photo, Ryou sat curled up in Bakura's lap, his fingers twirling his hair as Akefia batted at it. Bakura watched the two, with a blank look on his face, but a twinkle in his eye.

The End