(A/N: Grrrr. I can't believe ff.net has got rid of the double slash marks and asterisks that my fics are filled with. Thanks to them, half of my fics don't even make sense anymore, as the speech is all muddled up with the rest of the text. So of course, I have to go through ALL my fics and replace the slash marks with brackets. Stupid website…it'll probably fix that error five minutes after I've re-uploaded all my fics, irony being what it is.

Anyway, REVIEW REVIEW REVIEW, just so I can be assured that my hard work was not in vain.)

…………….

"Yugi! Dark Magic attack!" Bakura's eyes filled with shock and disbelief as the attack hit him. Ryou, towering over his friends-turned-game-pieces and feeling more than a little self-conscious, could feel his yami screaming, and felt his helpless rage. It's over, he thought, strangely numb. My yami is being sent to the graveyard. I'm free. The echoes of his yami's cries reverberated around his head. Ryou tensed automatically and waited for the blow, before realising. I don't need to live in fear anymore. I'm free. Free.

………………..

Ryou opened his eyes and was instantly filled with dismay. A dream! It was just a dream. He scrambled clumsily out of bed and stretched.

((Interesting dream,)) said a cold voice from the back of his head. ((Still thinking about what happened before, are we?))

Ryou ignored it and opened his small wardrobe. His slim, pale hand hovered hesitantly over a black shirt, before selecting his usual blue striped one.

((Oh, for Ra's sake,)) his yami yawned scornfully. Ryou could almost see his eyes rolling. ((You wore that yesterday!))

(So?)

((Just because you're a pathetic little idiot doesn't mean that you have to dress like one,)) his yami said, with false friendliness slipping into his silent voice.

Ryou shrugged on a light-blue jacket, feeling the cool metal of his Millennium Ring against his skin as he did so. No matter how warm he was, the Ring was always cold. It was as if…

((Are you ignoring me?)) Bakura demanded.

Ryou froze instantly. Long experience had taught him to expect sudden mood swings from his yami, and the best thing to do was to act very small and frightened. Which wasn't really a problem, since he nearly always felt VERY small and frightened. (No…)he mumbled.

((Good. I don't like being ignored,)) Bakura said, a hint of the ranting megalomaniac creeping into his speech. He gripped Ryou's mind. His voice turned menacing. ((Especially by insignificant little vessels like you. Because that's what you are. An insignificant little vessel, with no purpose except to do my bidding.)) He gave a twist of his mind grip that made his host gasp in pain. ((Make sure you remember that.))

………………

"Ryou! At last! I've been looking for you!" Ryou turned to see Yugi running happily towards him. "Are you free after school? If you are, do you want to come round and help baby-sit my cousin? None of the others could make it. Please say yes!"

Ryou found it hard to resist Yugi's friendliness. Bakura listened with sardonic amusement as his host carried out the familiar debate with himself: Going to Yugi's would mean bringing his yami nearer to Yugi, which would endanger both him and the Millennium Puzzle. But it would also mean that Ryou would enjoy himself, something that had rarely happened since he first received the Ring. He would have a chance to strengthen the bond between him and Yugi, and it would mean that he wouldn't spend the rest of the day brooding in his apartment, asking the familiar question-Why me? Anyway, his yami might decide such matters were beneath him and not interfere. And it had been so long since he had spent time with his friends…

"Sure," Ryou answered, trying to keep the doubt and worry from his voice.

"Great! See you later, Ryou!"

Bakura was slightly surprised at his host's decision, but he wasn't going to tell him that. His hikari was starting to get a bit too big for his unfashionable boots, though. It was time to remind him who was in charge.

((So, this is beneath me, is it?)) he whispered maliciously.

(I…)

((You what? You thought I'd just sit back and let you get on with your life? I thought you had learnt something, slave. It seems like I was wrong. Or perhaps you thought I would be banished by that arrogant little Pharaoh, like last time. Would you like to know how that felt, being sent to the Shadow Realm? What pain is really about?))

Ryou let out the tiniest possible squeak of fear. He knew he should be used to this by now. The taunting. The mind games. The pain.

((Yes? That was a 'yes,' wasn't it?))

(No…)

((No?)) his yami echoed mockingly. ((You mean you don't want to now what real pain feels like? Like this!)) With a sudden movement, all the more terrifying for its lack of effort, Bakura smashed through his host's defences, and seized control. Grabbing a small silver knife from their pocket, he brought it round in a single, swift, circular movement and stabbed it straight into their side, before pushing Ryou back into control. The whole manoeuvre had taken less than ten seconds.

Ryou looked down, in dismay that rapidly turned into horror as the blood pumped out of his side. I need to stop the bleeding, he thought vaguely. How should I do that? The world was turning black and, try as he might, Ryou couldn't summon the energy to stand up any longer. He crumpled slowly to the ground…