Ryou: *hesitantly* Do I want to know what?

WSJ: Yes. ^_^ *hands him manga, candy and a SailorSaturn plushie* From Hotaru! *cuddles her Jounouchi & Ryou plushies*

Ryou: ^_^ S'ank you Hotaru! *begins to devour candy. WSJ dives into her birthday cake*

Yami: *innocently* Can I have some?

Ryou & WSJ: No!

Bakura: *peeks around the doorframe*

WSJ: *jumps up from her cake, pulls Hotaru's Silence Glave from HammerSpace and begins to whack Bakura with it* There! There's your present from Hotaru-sama!

Bakura: *dazed* Look at all the perty birdies...

WSJ: *giggles and sends the Glave back to Hotaru* Actually, if I obeyed all the reviews I got you'd be whacked by a rolled up newspaper multiple times, smacked again by Yami-Malik (multiple times), hit/beat up MANY more times and Hotaru's Glave would be shoved where the sun doesn't shine. *giggles again* ^^ But I love you, so I won't.

WSJ: (again) *cuddles her Ryou2 and Yami plushies* Thanks KaTyA!!!!!!! *grins wickedly* I can't wait to start reading my book! *holds up "25 Ways to Swear in Japanese"* S'ank you!!!!!!!!

Yami-Malik: *wanders in* What's with all the chibi-talk?

Ryou: *glances up from his new Sailor Moon manga* Wha'cha mean Malik-chan? *giggles and looks back at the manga* Ooooh! Kick butt Bunny-sama!!!!!

Yami-Malik: *sweatdrop* Who gave you candy...?

WSJ & Ryou: Hotaru-chan!

Yami-Malik: *panics and looks at the audience* Please save me. The Authoress and her favorite character are on a sugar high! HEEEEEELP!!!!!!!!!! *tries to run off and trips over a prone Bakura, who groans but doesn't wake up* Itai... *sees WSJ and Ryou advancing on him* Help? Onegai?

Note: Sorry about the sudden POV switch in the last chapter. We'll be switching POVs quite a lot now, but I'll warn you before we do.

Note Numero Dos: When it's Malik talking and he says 'Yami', he usually means his own, and will refer to Yami Yugi as, well, Yami Yugi. Any time Malik isn't talking, however, Yami means Yami Yugi and Yami-Malik is Yami-Malik.

[....] Ryou to Bakura

{....} Bakura to Ryou

^....^ Malik to Yami-Malik

*....* Yami-Malik to Malik

()()()()()

~Malik's POV~

Standing next to the sink, wrapped in one of Ryou's father's bathrobes, I moodily plugged in the hair dryer, turning it on myself as Ryou continued to towel his once-again-white hair.

Still looking at the shy teen, dressed in one of his own robes, I noticed him stiffen slightly. Puzzled, I shut off the hair dryer, not caring that my hair was frizzing away from my head a little more then usual. "Ryou, what's wrong?"

Ryou turned to me, letting the towel drop to around his hunched shoulders. "B-Bakura, he's home."

I saw the fear, even in his sightless eyes, and my fists clenched involentarily. I knew my face was burning in anger, and I'm glad Ryou couldn't see it.

My mind flashed back to when we'd first come about five hours ago. Yami and I had been unable to get in the front door, and Ryou had yelled from his window that the back door was probably unlocked. We hadn't been able to see him properly then.

Well, we got in, and yelled for Ryou. He called back that he was upstairs, and when we walked in the room I was almost sure of what had happened.

There was blood all over the bed, as well as Ryou himself, who sat on the floor beside it, hugging his crudely bandaged arms close to him. There was blood seeping through the bandages.

In two strides I was across the floor and beside him. 'Ryou, what happened?'

My yami came up behind me and put a hand on my shoulder. 'You know as well as I that Bakura happened.'

So we'd gotten Ryou's arm rebandaged as best we could, and made a mental promise to take him to the hospital as soon as he was a bit more stable. It had actually been a few minutes before we realised Ryou's eyesight was gone. We'd started to head downstairs, and since Ryou had his hand on my shoulder I didn't think anything of it.

Of course, we hadn't thought to warn him of the stairs, since we'd figured he could see. He'd stumbled with a shout and I barely managed to catch him in time.

Finally we got downstairs and got some food into him, and then he and I went back upstairs to shower...

I was shaken back to the present when Ryou whimpered again. I shook off the cobwebs of my musings and frowned deeper, quickly linking to my other.

^Yami?^

*...Yes Malik?*

^Bakura's home. Ryou can sense him.^

*I know hikari. We are having... a talk.*

In spite of myself I grinned. ^Get him good for me.^

*I did.*

My yami sounded smug, and I chuckled a little. "Don't worry Ryou, my yami won't let Bakura hurt you. Come on, let's get downstairs."

As I helped guide him where to put his feet and came within sight of the livingroom, I could feel Bakura's stare boring into my back. As I helped Ryou down the next step his gaze shifted to his hikari.

~Bakura's POV~

As I sat on the couch, seemingly too frozen to move, Yami-Malik gave me a hard look. "We'll have to take him to the hospital you know. I insist."

I snapped out of my stupor and glared up at him. "No way! How would we explain cause of injury? As you said yourself, young boys don't just suddenly go blind!"

To my surprise, he met my eyes evenly. "How about 'child abuser'?" he said, his tone only bearing the tiniest bit of mockery. "Bakura, he's lost a lot of blood. He knows, but he doesn't know how serious it is. His arm is still bleeding, and if he doesn't get help soon he could slip into a coma from shock. I could always call Yugi to help me persuade you."

I stiffened. "No."

"That's what I thought." He paused and cocked his head, his eyes glazing over slightly. I recognised the possition and stayed quiet, letting him converse with his hikari. "They're on their way down." he said after about a minute, his eyes clearing.

Like Ryou's eyes never will. A small, inner voise whispered. To my chagrin it sounded a lot like Yami.

Shut up! I told it sternly.

But Ryou will never see again, and you know it. Because of you Bakura, because of you...

Stop it! I ordered.

Something sounded from the stairwell across the room and I looked up, grateful for the distraction. Malik's back appeared, leading my hikari down the stairs, one step at a time.

Ryou came into view next, and I felt my jaw drop. He looked awful. I was beginning to suspect Yami-Malik might have been right. Ryou was pale, too pale, almost whiter then his hair, which just isn't right. His left arm and hand were covered in bandages that already showed signs of bleeding through, though I was sure the Ishtars had changed them several times.

'Since when was Ryou so thin? Or tiny?' I asked myself, though I didn't have the answers. His hair hung limp around his face, and his eyes gazed unseeing around the room.

Because of you...

"Stop it!" I screamed, jumping to my feet and looking wildly around for the sourse of the voise. "Shut up!"

Your fault...

"No it isn't! It isn't!!!"

I could feel the stares of the Ishtars on me, and the surprised mental-tone of Ryou. But I didn't care. Striding toward the door I threw it open and ran out. Maybe the voise was just a ghost in Ryou's house or something, and would go away if I outran it.

All your fault...

()()()()()

WSJ: ^_^ I think I'll end it there. Nice, tidy little chapter almost longer then the other two. Satisfy your hungers? Hope so, we're getting ready to move so I doubt I'll be able to post the next chapter anytime in the next two weeks, unless I get a huge burst of inspiration and, like, write it tomorrow or something.

Bakura: *raises his eyebrow* What's with the voice in my head? Am I going insane or what?

Ryou: And how come you said it sounded like Yami? *tries to walk toward WSJ's voice but ends up bumping into a telephone pole* Dangit! That'll leave a mark! *rubs his nose*

Bakura: *blinks* WSJ, I didn't know you had any telephone poles in your realm.

WSJ: *grins* Shhhh!!! ^_~ I didn't until about ten seconds ago.

Bakura: *sigh* Hey, what'd you and Ryou do with Yami-Malik?

*Shot of Yami-Malik hogtied and being batted around like a cricket ball by the muses*

WSJ: Oh... Nothing...