Bakura: *hefts a flamethrower* Check.

WSJ: Shelids?

Yugi: *over-turns WSJ's desk and jumps behind it* Check!

WSJ: Armor?

Yami: *dressed in tight leather and renessance-style armor (like he wore in the virtual world, only cooler)* Check.

Ryou: *scratches his head* What now?

WSJ: *puts down the clipboard and puts on a green army helmet* Well, after this chapter I expect to be over-run with rampaging fangirls, so we should be prepared to defend ourselves.

Ryou: Oh come on, it can't be that bad...

WSJ exchanges glances with Bakura, and Yami and Yugi look at her, surprised.

Yami: You haven't let him read this chapter yet?

WSJ: No, I still need him for the last two/three/four chapters. If I let him read this one he'd run off and never return.

Ryou: *still puzzled* Why? I mean, I read chapters 1-13 all right, and they weren't so bad. It can't get much worse, can it?

WSJ, Bakura, Yami & Yugi: *in unison* *sweatdrop* Oh yes it can...

Ryou: ^.^;; Oh dear... We don't own YGO...

WSJ: I'd better answer a couple reviews... Or rather, two in particular...

Asian Angel 11 -- I wrote a yaoi? *scratches head* If I did, I didn't (still don't) know about it... I really, really don't like yaoi, for both moral and religious reasons. (I know, that sounds really self-righteous, but it's true.)

White Angel -- 0.0;; *drops to the floor at her feet* OMG!!!!!!!! You actually like this little peice of shimatte!?!?!?!?!?!?! It's soooo nothing at all compared to your fics! (Mutilation is the bomb!!!!) I'm so glad you actually bothered to read it! *kicks WA's stupid computer* There, maybe it'll work now...

Baby Winter -- Hey, weren't you gonna e-mail me? ^_^ I doubt you know what Ryou did, but I'd still love to hear your guess.

WSJ: Aw fudgit! The second Paradox duel is on... *sighs* I hate that episode... I've seen it about seventy-six-thousand times!!!!!!

Bakura: *pats her on the back* There there...

()()()()()

Visions of the Heart

Chapter 14 -- Broken-Hearted Hikari

Ryou walked slowly along the courtyard to the street, running his hand along the chain-link fence so he wouldn't lose his way. Yugi had offered to walk him home, but he'd politely declined, saying he'd be fine.

His hand encountered cloth suddenly, and Ryou blinked, immediatly pulling his hand away. "Er, sorry..."

The upperclassmen he'd bumped turned to look at him and a sneer appeared on his face. "Well well, Ryou Bakura. Heard you took a little knock on the head." He placed a hand to his heart and feinged concern. "Poor poor Ryou... Blind as a bat and twice as dumb."

The voice nearly made Ryou's heart stop. He knew who that was. It was Ushio, the bully who'd gotten a kick out of picking on him until Joey, Yugi and the others started to stand up for him. In fact, if he remembered right, Ushio had once beaten the crap out of Joey, Tristan and Yugi, just for kicks! Hadn't they gotten him expelled for that?

Ryou swallowed hard and let his head drop into his costomary slouch. Ushio grabbed his chin and made him tilt his face up. As he saw Ryou's dull and obviously unseeing eyes he snickered. "Aw, poor albino baby... Allow me to help!" With that he grabbed Ryou by the collar and lifted him clean off the ground.

'Oh no, no no no...' Ryou thought, closing his eyes out of habit. Ushio slammed him backwards into the brick wall of the school, saticfied to hear him whimper. "Aw, did I hurt you? I'm sorry... Not!" He tossed Ryou to the ground and planted a kick in his side. With a small cry Ryou stumbled to his feet, only to by knocked down again by a punch to the cheekbone.

'Nonono owowcrap! Bakura!' But of course there was no mental link, no Bakura to hear him. Ryou coughed weakly as Ushio landed another kick to his side, tasting blood in his mouth. "Please... No..."

"Had enough wimp? Sorry, but I haven't had a very good day. I think I'll take it out on you." Ushio grinned and continued to beat the innocent little white-haired bishonen. Then, just when Ryou thought the pain couldn't get any worse, it did. Instead of just hurting him physically, Ushio began to taunt him verbally as well.

"Isn't it a shame?" he sneered as he kneeled all his weight on Ryou's back, pressing him into the ground and causing him to cry out in pain. "Doesn't it just make you feel so worthless? You'll have to depend on people your whole life. You'll always be a burden to those you love the most. Now that father of yours will have to stay home permenantly just to take care of you. Cook your meals, dress you, bathe you, make sure you don't fall down the stairs."

Ryou whimpered as tears came to his eyes, though no longer from the pain in his body, but the pain in his heart. 'He's right! I'll only be a burden to everyone. It's because of me that Bakura's mortal, I'm surprised he hasn't beaten me for it. He's still so much stronger then me, even without his shadow-powers.'

"You know I'm right." Ushio continued in an almost conversational way. "And what about those other friends of yours? Yugi and Joey and Jade and them? Do you think that after their sympathy for you wears off that they'll really want to hang around with a cripple?"

Ryou bit his lip as a sob tore at his throat. 'That's true. Why would they think they need me when they've got each other? Yugi and Yami are like brothers almost. Bakura and I could never be that way. What had made me hope that we could? They all have such big dreams...' Even as he thought this, Ryou could almost hear the voices of the others ringing through his head.

"I'm going to be a dancer! The best in the world!"

"Oh yeah? Well Tris' and Malik an' I are gonna form our own rock group! We'll be way more famous then you Tea!"

"Sorry, you're both wrong. Yami and I are going to turn the Turtle Game Shop into a world-wide chain of rediculously sucessful game shops! *We'll* be the famous ones!"

More tears came to Ryou's eyes. 'You all have such big dreams... Such beautiful dreams... And me? I'm just nothing. A no-account loser blind...'

^v^v^v^v^v^v^v^v^v^v^v^v^v^v^v

"Hey Tris', go long!"

Tristan laughed and ran backwards several yards as Joey kicked the soccar ball in his direction. He easily stopped it and sent it spinning back his friend's way. The two had just gotten off practice and were now headed home.

"'Ey," Joey said, holding up a hand for Tristan to be quiet a moment. "Do you 'ear screams?"

Tristan sobbered and nodded. "Yeah, let's go."

The two ran around the corner of the school to see Ushio with his back to them, kicking and yelling at something on the ground. From where the two stood, it looked at be a small bundle of white fur.

"'Ey!" Joey yelled at him. "Leave the poor cat alone!"

"Joey, that's not a cat!" Tristan gasped, grabbing onto his friend's arm. "That's-"

Ushio laughed and reached down to grab the thing by the hair. He then lifted it and Joey gaped at him. "You monster!"

Ryou opened his eyes a bit, his face contorted in pain. "J-Joey, Tristan, get out of here..." he said weakly. "I'm not worth it..."

"Not worth it?" Joey said, his fists clenched. "Since when is the most sweet, innocent person I know 'not worth it'?"

Ryou didn't answer. Ushio's taunts had done their work. His spirit was utterly broken, everything about him crushed, both body, soul and spirit.

Tristan looked over at his friend. "We gotta be careful Jo'. Remember, he beat up both of us once before. And he's likely to try and use Ryou as a human sheild."

Joey growled. "Yeah, I know, but before we didn't have a reason to fight him. Now we do. Let's go to it."

Tristan grinned and gave him a thumbs up. "You got it bud."

With a yell they both ran at him, and Ushio smirked, holding Ryou so that whenever they tried getting close, they'd risk hurting their friend. It looked to Joey that Ryou was already unconcious, or very close to it. They had to help him, fast! He swiped at the sweat on his forehead, and suddenly his mind flashed back to another time, in a much different place.

"Tristan!" he yelled. "Manuvar Alpha-Yugi!"

Tristan blinked, and then grinned at him, giving him a nod. "Alpha-Yugi it is!"

There had been another fight, almost two years ago, in whch a bully had tried to use Yugi as a human-sheild against the two of them. But they'd come up with a way to win, and used the same move now.

They ran toward Ushio side-by-side, and of course he brought Ryou around, still holding him by his long white hair, to block them. But Tristan and Joey had more then just that simple attack up their sleeve. They immediatly split, and one went to each side. Ushio moved Ryou around to block Tristan, who quickly stopped the punch he'd been aiming at the bully.

However, on his opposite side, Joey's kick easily got through.

^v^v^v^v^v^v^v^v^v^v^v^v^v^v^v^

The nurse on duty at the front desk of Domino General Hospital sighed as it began to rain outside, tapping her pencil idly against the desk. Tonight had been pretty quiet so far and she was looking forward to going home early.

The doors opened and she looked up, and gasped. Two teenage boys, drenched from head to toe, stumbled in. They looked like they'd been in a fight. The shorter of the two, a tough-looking blond kid, was holding a third teen, who looked unconcious, in his arms. "Call a doctor!" he said. "Ryou got beat bad!"

The nurce nodded and pounded on the emergency button. Within the minute several doctors ran in, each of them gasping as they saw the unconcious boy. His face was a mass of scars and bruises, and his breathing was labored. His clothes were torn and dirty, and cuts and scrapes covered him.

One doctor stepped forward and took him out of the blond's arms, turning to rush him into the emergency room. The blond started to follow, and another doctor held him back. "He'll be fine. But if one of you would like to go with him, we'll allow that. Are either of you family?"

Both boys shook their heads. "No," the brunette said. "But we're close friends. We found him near the school, getting beat up by Ushio Tenrio. We managed to chase Ushio off, and then brought Ryou here."

The doctor nodded. "One of you go in with Ryou, in case he wakes up he'll need a friendly face, and I want the other one to stay here and answer some questions."

Joey and Tristan looked at each other, and Tristan shrugged. "Go in with him Jo'. I'll call the others from here."

Joey nodded a thanks to his friend and hurried in the direction the doctor had taken Ryou.

^v^v^v^v^v^v^v^v^v^v^v^v^v^v^v^v^

Joey looked up as the door was opened and Yugi, Tristan, Tea and Bakura all tried to cram in at once. They each finally managed to get through, and then stopped short.

Ryou lay on the bed, paler then a ghost, most of his visible skin wrapped in bandages. Joey sat at his side, one of Ryou's delecate hands cradled in both his rough ones. What surprised the others the most, though, were the tear tracks down Joey's face.

"Who would do this to him...?" Tea asked, tears already gathering in her eyes as she dropped to her knees next to the bed. "Why would anyone want to hurt him?"

"Why would anyone want to hurt Yugi?" Tristan asked, coming over to wrap his arms around the crying girl. "Some people are just cruel Tea."

"Will he be all right Joey?" Yugi asked, walking around to the other side of the bed and taking Ryou's free hand in his, much as he'd done a half-week ago when this same innocent hikari lay unmoving on a tattered old couch.

Joey shook his head. "I dunno. The docs haven't said much. All I know is that they're gonna have ta' take him into surgery soon. Something about internal bleeding."

Throughout all of this Bakura stood motionless next to the door, his eyes wide. Even when he'd beaten Ryou... It was never as bad as this. He blinked and something slid down his face. Surprised, he raised a hand to his cheek and was even more surprised when it came away wet. 'Tears? But I haven't cried in, well, five-thousand years!'

The white-haired yami felt a hand on his shoulder and he yelped slightly, turning to see a man in a long white lab-coat, holding a clipboard. "My name is Doctor Bradley." he said, smiling at Bakura. "Are you Ryou's brother?"

Bakura blinked. "What? Brother? Oh, er, yeah, his brother..."

"Do you know how to contact your parents?"

"Well, no. See, his... I mean, our dad is an archiologist, and he's away on a dig right now. Our mom died several years ago."

Dr. Bradley frowned a little at that. "Are you older then Ryou? We're not allowed to do anything to him without the concent of an older family member, and I don't think he has much time left."

At that statment Tea broke down into tears again, and this time Yugi joined her. Joey and Tristan both had tears running down their faces, and Bakura was trying hard not to let his own tears show. "Yes, I'm older. What is it you need my concent for?"

Dr Bradley looked over Bakura's shoulder at the other four teens gathered around the bed. "Why don't you four go out to the waiting room. We'll tell you the moment we know anything."

Reluctantly they left, and Dr Bradley turned back to Bakura. "Your brother has a lot of internal bleeding, and if we don't get it stopped he'll die before tomorrow night. Do you give us permission to operate on him?"

Bakura closed his eyes, trying to banish the image that had suddenly risen before them. Himself, laughing cruelly, throwing Ryou against the windowsill... "Yes," he said, opening his eyes. "Do it. Money is no object." 'I'll get it from Kaiba later.' he added silently.

Dr Bradley smiled. "Thank you. Oh, here, he was wearing this when he came in." He handed Bakura the Millenium Ring, allowing the yami a small sigh of releif. Even if it was useless, he didn't want it falling into the wrong hands. It might not have had a spirit inside anymore, but it's other powers were still active and accessable. "Go join your friends. Like I said, I'll let you know the moment we know anything."

Bakura nodded at him and headed for the waiting room. As he stepped in the door, everyone stopped what they were doing and looked up at him expectantly. Yugi was sitting in the corner, and Yami had emmerged from his soulroom to comfort his aibou. Several seats away Tea was sitting hunched over with her elbows on her knees and her head in her hands, sobs wracking her slender frame. Tristan sat next to her, his arms around her, still offering what little comfort he could. Joey was prowling around the room, occationally glaring or growling at nothing.

"They're going to take him into surgery." Bakura said quietly, acting more like his hikari then himself. "If they can stop the bleeding, he's got a pretty good chance of living, so they say." This said, Bakura joined Joey in pacing back and forth.

Within the next few hours, not much happened. Malik, Serenity, and the Kaiba brothers arrived, Seto for the moment in control. Tea cried herself to sleep and was curled up in one of the chairs. The rest of them read every magazine in the room twice. Never once did Bakura pause in his pacing.

"Would you stop it?" Yami snapped. "You're making me dizzy!"

"I'd like to see you stay calm, cool and collected if your aibou was in the ER!" Bakura hissed back, shooting a glare in the Pharoah's direction.

Joey blinked and leaned over to Malik. "Did Bakura actually just call Ryou his aibou?"

"Must have been a slip of the tongue." Malik said, equally mystified.

Before things could get any hotter between the pharoah and the theif, a nurse stepped into the room. "Ryou's out of surgery and resting quietly. He's going to make it." A cheer went up around the room, waking Tea, who then joined in.

"Can we see 'im?" Joey asked eagerly.

The nurse shook her head and held up two fingers. "Only two of you, and not for very long. He needs to rest. He isn't even awake yet."

They looked at each other and Bakura scowled. "I'm going in. Of course."

Joey shrugged uneasily. "Yug', you go." The others agreed, and as soon as the nurse's back was turned Yami quickly disappeared into his soulroom so he could tag along.

Bakura and Yugi stepped into the room and took places on either side of the bed. Yugi was startled a moment later as Bakura began to softly sing, leaning down so his mouth was right next to his hikari's ear. At the same time he picked up one of Ryou's limp hands and held it gently next to his heart. It was almost as if he'd forgotten Yugi and Yami were in the room. Yugi was even more surprised to see a suspicious wetness lingering in the grave robber's eyes.

/Yami, what's he singing?/

Yami's mental voice was half amazed, half amused and half disbelieving. //An Egyptian lullaby.//

/What's it say?/

Yami was silent for a moment as he listened through his aibou's ears to the theif's song. //Little one, sleep now, rest for another day. Little one, be quiet now, you are done with play. Be assured that I am here, I will wipe away your tears. Little one, you are not alone anymore.//

Yugi was stunned. /Re-ally? That's what he's singing to the hikari he always beat up on, the one he hated, the one he blinded?/

//Yes aibou. I think you were right. All of this has allowed him to see Ryou in a new light. We should leave them alone.//

Yugi nodded and got up to go back to the waiting room, casting one last glance at the holders of the Millenium Ring. Then he turned to go, and Bakura never noticed.

()()()()()

WSJ: *sniffles* Ohhhhhhh....

Yami: *runs through, still in his armor* Man your battlestations! Here they come!

WSJ: *looks up to see a mass of enraged fangirls, all out for her blood* Aaaaaaaahhhhhhhhhhh!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! *runs around in a couple frantic circles before finally diving behind the desk with Yugi* Save me! *whimpers*

Chapter 15: Ryou needs a blood transfusion, and you'll never guess who the only compatable person is! After getting the blood he needs, our little white-haired innocent wakes up, but his spirit is in shreds from Ushio's taunts. Seeing this, Bakura loses it and confronts Ushio, face to face, and a fight ensues.

God bless minna-san!