Yu-Gi-Oh! Fan Fiction ❯ Stay In Shadow ❯ Numb ( Chapter 1 )

Chapter 2 - Numb

Bakura sat on the couch and rubbed his temples. He could hear sniffling from Ryou's room, even though he knew too well that Ryou was sleeping. He was crying in his dreams. It was fine though. If Ryou was having a nightmare then he didn't have to beat him in his sleep.

Bakura saw a single blood red rose soaking in a vase filled with water. It was Ryou's. Bakura snarled. That little bastard! He still acted all sweet and kind. He hated it! There were even times when Ryou was kind to him, even after all that Bakura had done to him. Still that smile...still that innocent heart. It sickened Bakura! He couldn't get rid of the boys weak childness.

Bakura had not hurt Ryou as much today in the evening. Ryou wasn't being as sweet as usual and this had Bakura curious. When Bakura went to Ryou and started yelling at him, Ryou just looked straight into Bakura's eyes with a blank expression on his face. Ryou listened to the yelling, but did not flinch. Bakura was shocked by Ryou's odd behaviour and was also angered.

As soon as Bakura made the first hit, Ryou's blank expression turned into an expression of pain and sadness. Bakura knew his hikari couldn't keep the strong act up for long, but even when Bakura struck Ryou down, Ryou looked up at him. Determination. It scared Bakura a bit. Only a bit.

Bakura had to admit that Ryou was becoming stronger. He had his own ideas and did what he thought was right, even when his yami yelled at him and beat him. Bakura thought that the beatens had made Ryou stronger, but then again, Ryou's body was weak. Perhaps his mind was growing stronger.

He always knew that Ryou had it in him, even if he didn't admit it to anyone. If he didn't care at all for Ryou, he would have killed him a long time ago...but he couldn't deliver the last and final blow. He couldn't strike with the knife and let him die in his own blood. For some reason, he could harm his hikari to death.

Bakura heard a whimper. It was Ryou. Bakura slowly stood up. 'Maybe I should check on-'

He suddenly shook that thought out of his mind. Was he getting soft with the light? He growled and looked back at the rose in the vase. It reminded him of Ryou...Ryou's pure soul.

Bakura yelled out in anger, picked up the vase and threw it at the wall. With a loud crash, the vase shattered into millions of peices. The water spilled over the wall, dripping off to the floor. Bakura walked out the door, slammed and locked it.

Drops of water ran down the petals of the rose and into the puddles on the floor. The rose was unharmed.

~*~

Ryou clawed at the ground. He had only made it to the door since he woke up. And that had been ten minutes ago. Ryou knew he was in trouble. If ittook him that long to walk to the door of his room, then how long would it take him to get to school? He knew that he wasn't crawling there like he was now.

He reached up for the door handle. He moaned as pain shot up through his arm. Blood could be seen flowing down from his wrist and down to his shoulder. Ryou withdrew his arm and then slowly moved his hand up again. His fingers managed to skim the surface of the knob, but that was all. He knew that had two options. Either just fall down and sleep until Bakura came back, or else stand up and try to get to school, whether fainting from blood loss on the way or not.

As much as he wanted to just stay were he was, he knew that people would be suspiscious. He had never had a sick day and always came. If Yugi and Yami decided to check on him, he would get in a lot of trouble with Bakura and even worse...Bakura would kill them. Tears began to well up in his eyes. But he had to be strong. He wiped them away and began to stand, moving up on one knee first and then one foot. He held onto the door and when he was in range, he grabbed the door handle and pulled himself up. His body screamed to lie down, but Ryou didn't listen.

He carefully opened the door with a shaking hand and slowly walked out. He soon met fresh air. It didn't smell like blood like his room did. He took a deep breath and then, pushing his hand along the wall, limped to the washroom to clean up.

Ryou knew it wouldn't be a good idea to take a shower. He would probably drown without knowing it, forget to breathe or fall. There were many more possibilities, but he didn't want to think of them at the moment.

Ryou decided to fill the tub with water and take a bath. It didn't involve too much movement and he was dying to soak his aching body in warm water. When he finished filling the tub with water, steam rose from the surface. Ryou then gently pulled off his clothes. They weren't his school clothes, he had managed to change before Bakura arrived home yesterday. When he looked at his clothes on the floor, he didn't even notice them as his. All over they were ripped and torn. It was like it was a whole new set of clothes, although they didn't smell very good.

He had a hard time trying to get his clothes off, especially his sweater, because he had to pull it over his head and the stiffness in his neck didn't help either. Pushing his clothes into a small corner, he stood in front of the tub, trying to figure out the best way to get in without killing himself. Then again, he didn't care if he died, only that he would lose his friends, but other than that, he had nothing. His father was never around, though he knew his father loved him and was just doing his job, but Ryou needed him now, and he wasn't with him.

Ryou slipped into the water and breathed out a long sigh. He dunked his head in the water and came back up, his silver slicked back and matted down. He lay there for a few minutes, remembering that he had an hour in a half to get to school. He had loads time, or else, in the state he was in, enough time.

Ryou's eyes darted around the room. He felt something. Something like a pair of eyes watching him. A stare burning his very skin. He couldn't see anyone, but he felt it. He decided to ignore the feeling. Maybe he had lost too much blood.

Ryou let his body soak in the water for a little while longer. He heard nothing. This pleased him. He wasn't feeling pain, Bakura wasn't yelling at him and he was crying out in pain. Once again, he didn't know why Bakura beat him. Ryou had done nothing to his yami. At the beginning, Ryou thought that it was because he was a nuisance to have around, but if Bakura thought that, he would have gotten rid of him by now.

The truth was that Ryou didn't hate Bakura, even though he was hurt by him everyday. Of course Ryou was angry at Bakura for what he did to him, anyone would be, but Ryou just didn't hate him. At times, he couldn't even understand it himself and if he couldn't understand it, who else could?

Ryou sighed. He wanted to stay in the tub longer, but he knew he had to get to school. Knowing that he would be late if he didn't hurry, he got out of the tub and his eyes widened when he saw how much blood was actually n the water. It wan't even water anymore! (a/n: my mistake there, if there was that much blood, the person would probably be dead)

Ryou took a towel and wrapped it around his waist. He stepped outside of the bathroom and gasped.

"Oh no!"

There was blood trailing across the walls and on the carpet were splotches of red. He forgot to make sure that his wounds weren't dripping blood before he left his room. He usually took a sheet and wiped off before he went to the bathroom. It was not like Ryou could control it, but he wished that he hadn't been so careless. He knew that now Bakura was going to kill him.

He had no time to clean the walls or the carpet, he had to get to school. And so Ryou decided to leave it the way it was. It was Bakura's fault that he was bleeding anyway. But Ryou thought that it was best to keep that to himself.

It took a while, but in the end, Ryou had managed to put on his clothes.Clean and fresh on the outside, but hurting on the inside, he grabbed his bag.

He limped into the kitchen and took an apple from the fruit bowl. He was about to leave, when he notice a large knife on the counter. This scared him. Was Bakura going to use that on him? His picked it up by the black handle and stared at his reflection in the blade. There was a cut on his cheek, very thin. He then remembered. Bakura had taken a knife and slashed his cheek. It was so fast and with all the pain already in his body, Ryou had forgotten. Right on the tip of the knife was crusted blood, his own.

He looked at the knife for a few more seconds and then to his hand on the counter. He turned it palm up and took a long look at the untouched skin. He lay the knife's blade on the skin of his wrist. Once again he felt like he was being watched. He shook his head and flung the knife into the sink.

Ryou then put on his shoes and walked out the door. The door wasn't locked, Bakura leaving it open for Ryou to go to school. Ryou didn't know why Bakura let him go to school, maybe to keep everyone from being suspiscious of anything. But it didn't matter to Ryou, he got to leave. He was happy, just as long as he didn't have to stay in the place where his own blood was spilled.