The Return

Disclaimer: Yu-Gi-Oh! belongs to Kazuki Takahashi.

Exactly one year ago today (8/20), I posted the first chapter of this fic on ff.net.

...I want my time back.

Ryou's father's suspicion of drug use is first mentioned in chapter four.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Ryou woke up more tired than he'd been when he fell asleep. His face and head throbbed.

He pushed the covers back, then blinked and made a face when he realized that he was naked. Ryou burrowed his head into the pillow and closed his eyes again, wondering if there was even a reason to get up. If he just stayed there and waited for the spirit to appear again, at least he wouldn't be caught by surprise.

Unable to fall asleep again despite his fatigue, Ryou eventually tilted his head and looked at the alarm. It was ten minutes past the time he was usually up.

Ryou sighed, and then a bad habit of good attendance caused him to sit up and slide out of bed. He padded over to his dresser and began to get ready for school.

When he spotted the Millennium Ring sitting beneath his folded uniform, he glared. A moment later Ryou raised his arm, about to backhand the Ring off the dresser and onto the floor again. Then he changed mindmind and decided that he didn't even want to touch it. He left the room instead.

Once he caught a glimpse of himself in the bathroom mirror, the headache became rather self-explanatory. A dark bruise had formed on his cheek, beside his ear.

Ryou pushed his hair back for a better look and made a brief, annoyed face when one of the strands caught on his bandaid. He knew he'd been hit yesterday, but he hadn't realized it had been so bad...the spirit had never left marks on his face before. It had always been considerate enough to keep them in easily covered places.

Ryou gave a bitter little laugh, and stared at the bruise again. Then he let his hair drop back into place, and gave it a critical look. It wasn't very good, but if he didn't brush his hair, maybe tae tangles would...help hide it? Or something....

Ryou sighed, wished his mother was there so he could steal her hairspray or makeup, and picked up his toothbrush.

Fifteen minutes later, when he was out of the bathroom and walking down the stairs, he frowned slightly. Eggs?

Then he remembered.

Ryou took the rest of the steps two at a time, catching the banister in one hand and swinging himself around when he reached the bottom. "Father!" he called cheerfully as he jogged to the kitchen.

Inside, the table was set for the two of them and Mr. Bakura was leaning over the stove, scrambling eggs. Ryou ran up and hugged him briefly. "Welcome home! How was your flight? Did you--" the sight of the neat kitchen table brought back more of yesterday "--oh, I'm sorry! I was going to make dinner, but I...I was really tired for some reason, and I took a nap...." Ryou moved a strand of hair away from his face, and winced when he touched his cheek. Then his eyes widened as he realized that what he'd done, and immediately pushed his hair forward to cover his face. This was going to be impossible to hide for the next week....

Hoping that his father hadn't noticed the lapse in his conversation, Ryou continued. "Though I guess I shouldn't call it a nap, since I slept all day. I didn't mean to be so lazy, sorry."

"...I understand," Mr. Bakura finally replied. "Bring the plates over here, please."

"Okay," Ryou said carefully, a foreboding feeling beginning to nag at him."I "I want you to come straight home from school today," his father said as he lifted the pan and turned off the burner. "You have a doctor's appointment."

Ryou frowned and glanced over at the calendar on the refrigerator. "I thought my check-up wasn't until November," he said as he set the plates on the counter.

"It is," the man answered. "But I got this appointment so you could go in for a drug test."

Ryou blinked. "What?" Mr. Bakura didn't reply, and ead ead scraped the eggs onto their plates. Ryou shook his head. Then he jerked and brushed his hair back into place. "Why? I...I told you, I'm not taking drugs!"

"I don't believe you," his father said quietly, not looking up.

Ryou stared at him.

A moment later, thn hen held out one of the plates. "Here."

After a pause, Rtooktook it and sat down at the table. He father took the seat across from him, but when the man said nothing else and the silence stretched awkwardly, Ryou picked up his fork and started chewing without tasting. He was hungry, but for some reason the food left him slightly nauseous. He ate anyway.

It made sense, when he thought about it. He always had the house in good order when his father returned, but this time...the clothes on the floor (why couldn't he have at least put it in the laundry basket, before doing the wash? He should have known better!), the shower left running (he didn't want to think of what that was going to do to this month's water bill), food left on the table and still in the grocery bag...sleeping naked on top of the blanket, that probably didn't help, and it would have revealed the bruise, too (or maybe not--he hasn't said anything)...and his uniform probably smelled like warehouse and alley grime. That was all damning evidence right there. It was funny, though--he'd always though it would be the lying that would trap him.

It also explained why his uniform had been washed and the Ring moved. Who else would do something nice for him?

Ryou had a brief image of the spirit trying to work the wag mag machine and gave another bitter little laugh, causing his father to look up sharply. He realized that he'd probably just made the situation worse, but Ryou didn't see much reason to care at the moment. Instead, he pushed his chair back and stood. "I have to go, or I'll be late."

His father glanced at the clock, then nodded. "Be back as soon as you get out," he reminded you you left the room.

"I will," he said, picking up his satchel from the place he had left it, next to the couch.

Ryou heard someone chuckling as he pulled the door shut, but he knew it was just in his head.

~~~
School went badly. He would have been better off sleeping in. No, he would have been better off sleeping in yesterday; then he would never have been caught up in this whole mess.

He'd had the idea of asking Yugi to come home with him that afternoon and explain, leaving out the whole 'spirits, Duel Monsters, Millennium Items' aspect of the story. He wasn't sure how much that would have left, but hopefully it would have been enough that his father would cancel the appointment and drop the whole subject. He also wasn't sure what to tell Yugi to explain spacing out like he had, but he would have thought of something. One of them always did.

His first thoughts when he heard the news from Téa were concern for Yugi and a very insulting comment towards Murphy's Law.

After that, Ryou just trio mao make it through his first three classes without moving his head in a way that shifted his hair or passing out. He didn't understand how he could still be so tired after sleeping for nearly fourteen hours, but it got to the point where he had to slip his hand under his sleeve and pinch his arm just to keep his eyes open.

That would only last for a few seconds at best, though, and it interfered with his note-taking. Finally, Ryou quit and just hoped that the teachers wouldn't notice that his eyes were shut most of the time. If he was lucky, lunchtime would wake him up, but the thought of food still made him want to be sick. The feeling seemed familiar, but he couldn't remember why, or from when. He hadn't been physically ill for a long time, so it wasn't that....

Lunch failed to revive him, or even lighten his headache slightly. Ryou tried to eat, but soon he pushed his tray away and listened to Joey and Téa talk about Yugi's adventure while Tristan sat a little ways away, finishing yesterday's Biology homework "T "The doctor said he'll probably be discharged in another day," Téa added, before pulling off another grape. "They just want to keep him this long because of the smoke inhalation." She offered Ryou the bunch.

He pulled off a grape with a small "Thanks," and then frowned. "Téa, what happened to your hand?"

Joey moved his soda down and leaned over to look. "Hey, yeah. What's th' bandaid for?"

Téa glanced away and pulled the bunch back. "I got a little distracted at work, and I accidentally burned myself on the grill."

"Oh my, are you okay?" Ryou asked.

Téa smiled at him. "Yeah, it's nothing. I'm just wearing this so I don't rub it aga any anything." She pulled off the last grape and put the stem in her bag. "We're going to visit him this afternoon--do you want to come?"

Ryou winced and looked down at the ground. "Thank you, but I can't make it. I have a doctor's appointment."

"For that bruise on your face?" Tristan asked coolly, not looking up from his textbook.

Ryou's eyes widened slightly as he stared at the brunet. He'd been so careful--how had Tristan noticed it?

"Bruise?" Joey asked, eyes narrowing as he set down the can. "What happened? Someone givin' ya a hard time?" He cracked his knuckles, and Téa tilted her head, trying to get a glimpse through his cover of hair.

Ryou instinctively clapped a hand over his cheek before he realized how guilty that had to look. He put on a half-grin. "Oh, that? I got it while I was climbing into the warehouse. It's nothing. The appointment is just a check-up
T
Tristan looked up. "Yeah, I meant to ask--how'd ya get into that warehouse in the first place?"

"...like I told Yugi, I climbed up the fire escape," Ryou said uncomfortably. "Did he not mention that?"

Tristan didn't answer that question. "How'd you get in, though? Was there a window open?"

Ryou frowned. "No...."

[I pried one open. Look at your hands.] The comment was faint, but audible.

"I had to pry one open," he finished.

Tristan jerked a thumb at his hands, and the bandaid around his cracked nail. "Looks like it hurt. That was a lot of trouble to go to."

"Yugi's my friend. I was worried."

Joey drained the can and leaned backwards until he was sprawled over the grass, resting his head on one arm and draping the other over his stomach. He grinned up at Tristan. "Hey man, don't be weird jus' cause he managed ta get inta the buildin' faster'n you could."

Tristan glared and jabbed the pencil at him. "Like you were so great. You couldn't've gotten into that place without my help."

"Ha! I could've gotten in quicker!"

"Like hell!"

Téa sighed dramatically and rolled her eyes at Ryou, then started putting her and Joey's trash into the paper bag.

Ryou s up up and reached out. "Here, I'll take that. I have to go inside and see Mrs. Ueda, anyway."

"Oh, thank you," Téa smiled, handing over the bag. "And if you get out of your checkup before visiting hours are over, Yugi's in room 203. I'm not staying long, since I have dance class, but I'm sure that Joey'll be there the whole time."

"You're welcome. And thank you." He waved slightly as he turned around. "I'll see you guys in class!"

~~~
Mrs. Ueda had been upset when he told her that he wouldn't be able to tutor that afternoon and had asked why he hadn't mentioned the appointment earlier so that she wouldn't have to find a replacement at the last moment, but Ryou just apologized again and said that it had slipped his mind. He left grateful that he didn't have any classes with her, and headed for the bathroom.

Inside, he wet his hands and ran them over his hair, fixing it back over the bruise on his face. If he was lucky--or just less unlucky--it would stay long enough to get him through class. Ryou checked his reflection, and sighed. It would be nearly two weeks until it faded, on a guess. And most of the time would be school days. Just bloody great. How was he supposed to manage keeping it hidden that long?

The spirit had never been this careless. He must have really irritated it, somehow. But he hadn't said anything to it that he hadn't said before....

"That's a lousy disguise."

Ryou started and jerked around. Tristan was leaning against the wall by the door, arms folded over his chest.

"Anyone with half an eye of experience can tell what you're hiding," the brunet added.

"Yes, well...I just didn't want to deal with a lot of questions," Ryou said quietly.

Tristan raised an eyebrow, but his face remained cold. "Questions? Like, how come, if you got that bruise helpin' Yugi like you said, it wasn't starting to show during school yesterday?"

Ryou started to open his mouth, then realized that there was no answer to that.

He glanced reflexively at the way out. Tristan was leaning against the wall right next to the door, and he was halfway across the room--even if he tried to run, the other teen could block the exit before he got near it. He was trapped.

There was another snicker in the depths of his mind, but Ryou ignored it and took a awa away, putting his back against the small corner formed by the stall wall and the sink.

He knew the stories around the school. The three girls who had taken it upon themselves to show him around his first week had informed him that he was making friends with some of the worst kids in their class. Joey and Tristan were a little infamous, for freshmen--there were sophomores and juniors who avoided fights with them.

Tristan noticed his action and narrowed his eyes. "You didn't get that at the warehouse," he said flatly. "So who gave it to you?" He blinked slowly, expression unchanging. "Or 'what'?"

Ryou's hand twitched slightly by his side. Then, suddenly, he reached up and jerked at the collar of his uniform, undoing the buckle. He pulled open the first button on his shirt, then yanked them both to the side, exposing his bare neck. "Whatever you're implying, you threw the Ring off the tower, remember? That's what you told me, at least."

"Yeah, I remember," Tristan said, scrutinizing his neck before glancing back up. "I also remember more of that 'dream' I had, where the three of us were caught by Pegasus." He stared at Ryou's eyes. "Yugi banished the Ring spirit to the Shadow Realm earlier, but he just reappeared again--right when you were threatened. Which makes me think that either you don't have any sort of control over or yor you let him back."

Ryou straightened slightly and looked at the floor. He didn't answer for a minute.

"...I....He just appeared, and I tried to keep him away, but when Pegasus said he was going to take our souls...."

"You just let him return, after he tried to kill us?!"

Ryou's hand clenched around the fabric of his collar, trying to push away the angry, frustrated tears he could feel forming. "I'm sorry that I didn't want to die, Tristan! We got out of the mess--the you got us into. What does it matter how?"

There was a long silence, and Tristan stared at him with that still-narrow gaze. Ryou glanced back down at the linoleum and started redoing his shirt and jacket, feeling too exposed. The first bell rang.

"Yeah," Tristan said finally. "Bringing you in was my mistake." When Ryou looked up at him, he continued. "Whatever masochistic shit you're doing, don't get Joey involved. You understand me?"

"Yes," Ryou said quietly, not looking at him.

Tristan straightened away from the wall, letting his arms drop to his sides. He paused, but left the room with saying anything else.

When the door shut again, Ryou turned and leaned his arms on the rim of the sink, resting his face in his hands.
Ho
How dare he....Tristan was the one had had had the bright idea of wandering around that night, the one who had brought them up to that tower in the first place. The one who hadn't let the spirit just take Mokuba's body, instead trying--stupidly, futilely--to throw the Ring away.

The one who hadn't let him get rid of the spirit and pass it toeoneeone else, and who refused to help him now that he was still trapped.

... Damn him.

A few moments later Ryou straightened and rubbed the heels of his hands against his eyes, then wiped his palms on the hem of his jacket. He wished hethouthought to take some aspirin while he'd still been at home. His head was only getting worse.

[One lucky shot, and he's so confidant,] the spirit's distant voice commented.

Shut up, Ryou told it tiredly.

He left the restroom and started jogging down the hallway, trying to make it to the classroom before the second bell rang.

~~~
The afternoon didn't improve. The ride to the doctor's office wasent ent and tense, the time they spent in the waiting room was silent and tense, and the time he spent answering the doctor's questions and going through the test wasn't silent, but it wasn't any less tense, either.

Ryou was so tired that he just descended into apathy and responded only to stimulus, answering what he was asked and taking the cup when they handed to him. He explained the bruise as a result of helping Yugi get away from a mugger, making up a believable story based on the few snippets that the spirit's voice told him. It helped that he could casually drop Yugi's hospital room number into the tale, thanks to Téa.

All he wanted to do was get out of this office, away from these people, and go to sleep. He hated his bedroom, but once he fell asleep it didn't matter. His dreams didn't hold him to anyone. Nobody accused him of things he was or wasn't innocent of when he was dreaming. And most of his nightmares were only memories; they hurt, but they were easier to handle than all the new surprises that kept getting thrown at him.

Ryou stared at the counter, half-reading the pamphlets on it, as Dr. Metzger sent his father out of the room to do the insurance paperwork.

"How are things goiRyouRyou?"

He blinked and looked over at the doctor. "Hm?"

"How are you?" the man repeated. "Are you having any problems? At school...at home?"

It took him a second, but he caught the implication. "I'm fine, sir, but thank you for asking."

Dr. Metzger gave him a skeptical look, an expression that he was getting very, very tired of. er aer a moment, the man turned around, picked up one of the business cards on the counter, and wrote something on it. He turned back and held the card out to Ryou. "Well, if you ever need--or want--someone to talk to, you can call this number. It's confidential, I promise."

There was another burst of laughter in the back of his head, though it seemed fainter than earlier.

Ryou took the card with a forced smile and a shrug. "Thank you for your trouble, but I'm fine."

"Just in case, then," the man replied. "Your dad should be done payinw,"w," he added, opening the door, "so that's all. I'll see you next week, when we'll have the results."

"Thank you," Ryou replied as he left. "Good-bye."

~~~
"But I tutor tomorrow and Friday!" he had argued. "I can't cancel without any notice, just so I can stay at home all afternoon!"

"I don't want you going out, Ryou. I don't trust you to make the right choices if you aren't watched."

The temptation to clench his fists had been overwhelming, but he had fought it down and kept his voice low. "I have responsibilities, Father. I can't abandon them just because of your distrust."

There had been a long silence, and finally his father had agreed to let him stay just as long as the tutoring program lasted, on the condition tha was was home immediately afterward--his father had timed how long it took him to walk home from school that afternoon. If he were even a minute late, he would be grounded the rest of the week.

The spirit's voice had continued to fade over the days until it was little more than a thin whisper, when it bothered to talk at all--which was almost never. With the physical threat of the Millennium Ring gone, Ryou found himself bitterly resenting parental control from a man who was only sporadically there and who turned a blind eye to the worst things that were happening to his son.

When Ryou thought clearly about it, which was more than occasionally since he had plenty of time that week to think, he realized that his anger was irrational; the man couldn't prevent what he didn't know about. But that still didn't change his feelings.

Ryou was only a little disturbed to realize he was calling him 'the man' rather than 'Father' a great deal more often now.

He had also been spending less time with his friends, even at school. Since his fatigue had been unrelenting, and he still had a hard time forcing food down his throat, he had decided to spend the lunch period copying notes from the classes he dosed through, which allowed him skip eating without being questioned.

Ryou knew something was wrong with him, and it had a familiarity that nagged at him, but he couldn't figure out what it was.

He'd also been spending less time with Yugi and everyone because it allowed him to avoid Tristan's cool hazel eyes, and kept him from having to gently reject Téa's attempts at mothering. She had started referring to him as 'zombie-like' recently, and though he suspected that part of it was only to irk Joey, he could tell that the rest had been said in genuine concern. But there was hardly anything she could do to help, so it had been easier to just stay away.

That was a week ago.

Today, the tension between Ryou and his father was unbearably taut as they walked back into the house. The return visit to the doctor's office had produced exactly the results Ryou had been expecting--he was clean of all scientific, human drugs. His father had seemed both relieved and shamed by the news, and if Ryou had been of the mind to, he could easily have used the man's guilt to get away with anything he wished for the rest of the month. He wasn't, though.

Dr. Metzger had appeared worried at Ryou's haggard appearance, and ordered him to start getting more sleep. Ryou bit back a laugh at that. The doctor had also made a veiled comment about his welfare that had made Mr. Bakura straighten and flush slightly, which--aside from the aforementioned guilt--was another cause of the current tension.

Ryou had only continued to stare lazily at the wall and hadn't said a word in his father's defense, ewhenwhen the doctor had asked him to stay in the waiting room for a while so he and Mr. Bakura could talk. It had seemed only fitting that, if the man were going to falsely accuse him of something, he be accused himself.

His father had understood this for simple teenage spitefulness, but that had not helped his sense of embarrassment in the office. So, instead of apologies and halfhearted forgiveness that would have eventually become total as Ryou came to see his father's side of the situation, the only sound in the Bakura household that evening was silence. The two finished dinner and went to bed with the rift between them still unhealed.

Though this was not the catalyst for Ryou's actions later that night, it sure as hell didn't help matters.

~~~
Ryou woke up abruptly in the early hours of the morning, for a reason he wasn't entirely sure of. He lay in bed a little while longer and blinked at the ceiling, before finally sitting up and sliding off the mattress.

He padded across the room to his dresser and opened the bottom drawer, then rooteoundound in the piles of winter clothes until he found what he was looking for. Gingerly, making sure that he was touching only the rope rather than any of the metal, Ryou pulled the Ring out and stood up again.

The constant drowsiness that had been accompanying him that week had faded. It was replaced by a bone-deep weariness which, though awful, also left his mind less foggy than it had been at any other point that week. His skin tingled painfully as well, as though there were a sunburn underneath it.

He stared at the object dangling from his hand for a minute, before leaving his room and heading downstairs.

In the living room, Ryou turned on the small lamp in the corner. Then he pulled a chair up to the bookshelves and reached immediately for the right spot, dragging the Bible out from beneath the cookbook once again. He climbed off and moved over to the couch, sitting down and dropping the Ring to the cushion beside him before he opened the Book.

No one seemed to be mocking him this time, Ryou decided as he flipped haphazardly through the pages. All he was seeing now was passages about who begot who and proverbs about honey and dogs and wrongdoers. He continued to turn pages randomly, until a thought came into his head and he turned to the back of the Book, hoping there was an index.

[Now what?]

Ryou wondered how that voice, so soft and weak now, could ever have made him flinch. He must be an incredible coward to have been frightened by something like that.

I'm trying to find that 'store not your treasures on earth' passage. The one that said something about 'where thieves break in and steal, and mold comes and claims.' Or however it went. I think it would do you good to hear it.

[Oh, really.]

Yes.

A snort. Ryou ignored it.

He tried to look for a hint of where he could find the quote, but the light was too faint to read by, and his eyes were beginning to hurt. Fina Ryo Ryou shut the Bible again. After a moment of debate, he put it back on the shelf, though he didn't bother hiding it back under the cookbook. He doubted that his father had looked at the shelves in a long time, anyway. And he didn't need it anymore.

The thought that God was everywhere and you would never be out of his reach might comfort millions...but he was living that. He had a personal god, his own Sredni Vashtar, one that he couldn't seem to get rid of no matter how much he slacked in his sacrifice and devotion--the latter of which had never been there in the first place. And...all he wanted was to find that place where he was out of reach--out of reach of the spirit, of his friends, his family...anyone who was trying to see past the hardening mask to the ugly thing he was inside, or anyone who didn't want to see because they didn't want to care.

Maybe, if he was lucky, out of reach of even himself. That would be nice.

[Will you ever grow up?]

Will you ever go away?

[When I have what I want.]

And how much longer are you going to keep me to reach that goal? Ryou asked bitterly. I can't get any further than this from you, and you're still in control.

[...Is that what you think?]

Of course. Why am I so tired and so angry, if it's not because of more of your manipulations?

Ryou hadn't been expecting laughter as a response to that statement.

[Host, this is the farthest out of my reach you've been since before you were given the Ring. I haven't been controlling you at all this week--you've just forgotten who you really are.]

... What? That doesn't--

[Of course it makes sense. You aren't bitter because I'm telling you to be; you're bitter because you've been exposed as untrustworthy by your 'friends,' and because your father is hardly the pillar of love and protection that you've thought him to be.]

Ryou's fist clenched around the fabric of the sofa cushion.

[I suppose you can't be blamed for the last one. He's not around long enough lately for you to see who he is.]

La'>Lately?

[Oh, come now Bakura. Even you must have realized that your father is spending far less time at home ever since he found those letters to your dead little sister.]

It was the mental equivalent of a punch in the Ab Abruptly unable to sit up any longer, Ryou bent over, wrapping his arms loosely ar his his legs and burying his head in his knees.

[Bad enough that you can't control your own actions, but when you don't know your own thoughts....If you can't even tell when I'm twisting your emotions and when you're being yourself, Bakura, do you honestly think you deserve to call this your life?]

Shut up! "Shut up," he hissed, arms tightening around his legs. "I don't want to listen to you." If I wait just another week, your voice will fade completely. I know it will. It has so far. I can be patient.

There was a long silence, and Ryou finally decided that he needed to get up and go back to bed.

[It hurts, doesn't it?]

Huh?

[Your body. It aches, under the skin and in your bones.]

Ryou frowned. ...So?

[It's the Ring.]

What?

[You obviously understand what it means if my voice fades. But have you stopped to think of what will happen to you?]

.... Ryou sat up again.

[You're my body, Bakura. You have the marks that guarantee my co-ownership. And they will not fade, not while the both of us live.]

Ryou's hand drifted reflexively to the scars above his stomach, made what felt like so long ago when the Ring's pointers had decided to bury themselves in his chest one afternoon. I...you don't mean....

[Are you willing to die, just to ensure my end? I promise you, there is no other way to do it.]

You're lying!

Ryou heard that laugh again, and faint though it was, he remembered why he had flinched. [I am the one who made those marks; I am the one who can break the contract. Not you. Now, do you want to die?!]

Ryou stared wide-eyed at the carpet, trying to sort his thoughts out. There were plenty of places where the spirit could be twisting the truth...but the risk he would be taking...if it wasn't....

The price he would be paying, if he wanted to live.

Ryou shut his eyes tightly, then reached out and groped along the cushion until he felt the Ring. He lifted the cool metal, and without opening his eyes, slid the cord back around his neck.

There was a small explosion in the back of his mind, and then the spirit returned in full force, bringing all it was feeling with it.

The pain crashed over Ryou so fiercely that he fell off the couch without even realizing it, a thin, strangled scream coming from his throat. He curled up instinctively, one arm braced across his chest as his free hand clenched the carpet tightly.

This time, the spirit's voice was neither faint nor weak. It was as clear as if it had never left, though it was still thick with similar pain.

[Like I said: hurts, doesn't it?]

Ryou tried again to scream, but his throat was too constricted to work and his ribs felt as though they were going to shatter. He could only lie there, trying to get away from his skin.

Stop it! Please! Anything...I'll do.... Stop!!

[No.]

The spirit was keeping him conscious, though that hurt itself as well, to make him pay for what it had suffered. As soon as Ryou realized this, he remembered the first time it had happened. And as soon as he recalled that, his desire to escape consciousness was magnified.

That strength of will was the secret that the spirit had guardedly kept from him, and so for the first time, Ryou found him sta standing in his soul room voluntarily.

He whirled around and slammed the door behind him, effectively shutting out the pain. Then, as it drained away, he fell to the floor in exhaustion and gratefully blacked out.


~