"Yeah, if a bit describes insanity beyond the capacity of all the mental hospitals in Japan." Seto rolled his eyes.

"Right. Well, anyway, I should go find Ryou," Malik sighed, "Before he blows something up..." He ran upstairs.

There was a murmur of agreement as Isis, Rishid, and Mokuba followed him.

"We would explain more..." Yugi began, "but we can't. Sorry." With that, he and Seto swept up the stairs.

Ryou's POV

What the heck is wrong with me?! I trust those two with my life, what's going on that I just...try to get away from them? What am I afraid of?

{}{}{}{Flashback}{}{}{}

/Please, just leave me alone!!/

Rather hard for me to leave something so beautiful alone... especially when it's mine!!

"Who... who are you!!?!!"

"You should know... you belong to me now!!"

{}{}{}{}{}{}{}{}{}

Is... is that why? No! No, they're changed now, it's different! They care about me!!!

Are you sure?

Oh, so my Yami isn't here and I'm making up new voices! Yes, I'm sure! I'm positive, they'd never hurt me!!

Then why did they hurt you before?

You're not my Yami. Go away.

You're normal now. You have to have another questioning voice.

I don't want another questioning voice. I wanna be alone.

You are alone. I'm just alone with you.

Go be alone with someone else!

I can't.

You're evil. I don't like you. Go away, you dislikable evil questioning voice!

$Do you like this voice better?$

No. Now you sound like a girl. Girls don't belong in my head.

Then you're stuck with me. I'm not a ventriloquist, you know.

Be quiet. I'm trying to think.

Then think.

I can't!!

Thankfully, Malik brought me back to the real world.

"Hey, Ryou." He said.

"Hi. What's up?" I replied, even though I knew perfectly well what was up.

"The ceiling. Have you made friends with it yet?" He laughed and sat down on the bed.

"The floor, which is the ceiling downstairs. I guess it counts." Malik put an arm around me, ruffling my hair. He smells good, like the beach. I guess the desert is a beach, sort of... there's a lot of hot sand and palm trees, even if the tree part is only your imagination. "I'm sorry I..." I started to apologize, but Malik waved it off.

"Hey, no big deal. Besides, you were right, you didn't ask for any of this, you just sort of... got it." He told me.

"But... so did you, so my apology still stands." I defended. I was in a rather argumentative mood.

He sighed, "Yeah, right again. Have to tell Bakura, I think he's got a mental scoreboard." This time I laughed. "I imagine he's proud of his hikari, beating the assassin at his own arguments. And in a smarter sounding way than him, just think!"

I smiled up at him, "He better be, I can occasionally beat the master himself. Unless it's about Yami, and then he's just a stubborn ass. I never knew that the fact that Yami Yugi won every duel against us could be used against him."

"Oh, you bet. But I won't get into that right now." He told me. "I wanna know what's going on. I understand... some, but other stuff... well, you know." He cast his eyes down, and I put my arms around his waist, burying my face in his chest.

Sorry if I seemed sort of snappy last chapter... waah!! Blame it on the Sims!

Yusuke: You're a Sim?

Dizzy: Yeah, dimwit, and own Yugioh to boot!!
Yusuke: You own Yugioh?

Dizzy: GO AWAY!! You're so not a bishie! ...

...

...

I just put a disclaimer with an apology... the apocalypse is coming!!

"Ginny! Ginny, wait, I need to talk to you!" Ron called. Ginny grimaced and quickened her pace. Unfortunately, Ron wasn't one to follow the rules and ran down the hall to her.

"Aren't you supposed to walk?" She said coldly. It wasn't question. Ron cocked his head, completely ignoring the hint. If you could call it a hint, of course. Me, I think of it more as bright neon warning sign.

"I suppose, only, I don't care. Anyway, Ginny, I need to talk to you about that Bakura kid. Don't give me that look, I know you like him! C'mon, we can go find an empty classroom." Not waiting for a response, he grabbed her arm and pulled her into a classroom.

"Well, Gin... this is a bit hard...but you have to understand, you can't go out with him, he's a psychopath!" He told her frantically, preparing himself for a bombardment of questions. Instead, he got a lot of laughter.

"All this just to tell me that!! Oh, Ron, that's funny!! That's rich!!" She calmed herself down. "I'm sorry... it's just... Oh, god, Ron, I've known forever! "Ron raised his eyebrows. "Um, assuming this is about the schizoid thing, right?" Ron nodded. "Yeah, okay. Of course, Ron, you have nothing to worry about. Ryou's only a friend, now anyway, and nothing I don't think is going to happen anytime soon. He's nice... his light side, anyway, but he's got way too many problems than to have to deal with the likes of me, alright?" She told him, still giggling.

"Eh..." Ron didn't know what to say. "Alright..."

"Anyway," Ginny said, "I tend to think of him more as a sociopath."

Yami sighed. "Bakura, I think you had best go back."

Bakura shook his head. "Baka. I can't, I promised Ryou." He answered with a tone of spite in his voice. Bakura was shivering, even under a pile of Kuriboh from the cold of the shadows.

"And since when does that matter?" Yami retorted with equal malevolence. Bakura glared at the pharaoh.

"Since when was it your business!?" He spat.

Yami's POV

Okay...this was weird. That idiot tomb robber is sticking to a promise? Not very Tomb-Robber-ish. Not very tomb robber-ish at all. Ra, what's wrong with this world? I mean, besides the fact that everywhere is a foggy purple and random monsters were hopping/skipping/jumping/running/scurrying/burrowing/crawling etcetera, etcetera... well, everything's wrong here, what do I expect, it's the shadow realm. So... uh... yeah, what's wrong with the not tomb-robber-ish tomb robber to the point that he's not very tomb-robber-ish? Does that even make sense? Nyack, see, I'm questioning myself!! There is something very extremely incredibly wrong going on here.

"Uh... You there? Baka!" A Kuriboh being very rudely thrown at my head drew me out of my thoughts.

"Agh! What was that for?!" I cried, throwing a much less bouncy and soft Baby Dragon back at Bakura. He immediately retaliated with a rather large Jam Breeding Machine. No one knows how he managed to throw it, but he did. Thus, a duel of new proportions began, ending with both of us maniacally laughing.

........................

........................

Laughing... duel... both... those words do not go together. Was I beginning to... beginning to not hate the spirit of the ring? Was that humanly possible?

Ryou did it.

Malik did it.

Yugi did it.

Can I do it?

Yami Bakura's POV

Why am I laughing? I mean, yeah, there's the whole insane tomb-robber thing, but, with the baka pharaoh?

I can't be laughing with him. Never. After what he did!

He doesn't remember... why should I blame him... we're both different, now.

But Kuru Eina...

My family... my friends, my entire village! He destroyed it all, all of it. And then he destroyed me.

No, he didn't kill me. He had the ninety-nine deaths he needed. But he destroyed me all the same. He stole my soul from me to seal away this realm that we're in right now. This place is infinite... but it gets smaller and smaller with every passing second that you remain. You experience every feeling you felt during your life. With every bit of hate there was, it gets colder... I imagine that baka pharaoh was nice and toasty those five thousand years.

I've shut up, and so has the pharaoh. He's staring at me, and I stare right back.

He doesn't understand.

I want to die. I want this never-ending life to be over. Forget want, I need it to be. I despise that annoying little redhead who sings about the sun and tomorrow. Maybe tomorrow is good for them, I don't know. I don't care, either. But for me, tomorrow is always there. The sun won't come out. Well, it might, but that's beside my angsty point. What I mean is, even if the sun does come out, it's still dark for me. I envy those mortals, despite my thing for calling random people that as an insult. They can treasure the days they have. I have forever. It reminds me of that book Ryou once read for class, Tuck Everlasting. A family who could never die, who envied the dying and the dead. The guy in the yellow suit that didn't have a name who was willing to be immortal, the idiot. Immortality only appeals to the living. Immortal and living are not the same thing, as so many try to believe through some grammatical thing or another. It should be an oxymoron. Damn Ryou, putting big words in my thoughts.

It's because you can't stop the hurt. You can't stop the feelings, and you can't forget the ache you don't want. You can never forgive during life. Because forgive is forget, and no one can truly forget. Everyone has this card catalog in their head and when someone wrongs you, you can just go look and throw it in their face.
Unless, of course, you're a hikari and somewhat of a mental case. But, then again, that goes against my angsty, so angsty point.

Ugh, all this thinking is crazy. I'm STILL staring at that stupid pharaoh. Ra, I hate this place.

(Normal POV)

"Malik, how is he?" Isis questioned, appearing out of seemingly nowhere. Malik jumped and gave a seething glare at his sister, who was completely unaffected.

"Ryou, ya mean? I dunno, ask the fifty million people who asked me first!" He huffed. Isis rolled her eyes.

"Yes, but the rest of the world is so afraid of getting yelled at again." Isis pointed out.

Malik sighed. "Yah, so now Ryou's ant-soldier-death-glare is life threatening, huh. He's fine, like he said, he needed a relatively sane time," He glanced warily at a moving staircase. "Although maybe here isn't the best place to be..." he trailed off.

"Well, that's why us other insane people have to be here, so poor little Ryou-kun can feel normal!" Isis chirped. (A/N: Yes, I know Isis is OOC. I know that Isis does not 'chirp'. Phooey.) Malik crossed his arms.

"I know what you're trying to say. I know, I know, I know. But do me a favor. Just leave him be for now, alright. We already sent off the yamis, so give him a break and let him sort out his thoughts for a while." He looked down at his feet and started to walk off.

She caught up with him. "I understand, otouto. We all care about Ryou-kun and his sadistic Yami. Why else would we pry into his private life until he sounded relatively normal?"
Malik shook his head.

"Morning!" Ryou cheeped, seemingly bright as ever.

"It's five o'clock, Ryou, go away." Malik hissed, pulling a pillow over his head. Ryou pulled the blankets off him and pulled the curtains off the window.

"C'mon! It's time to not only bring Yami home but also to figure out how the heck Jounouchi got here! Let's go, up, up, up!!" He pulled Malik's hair and lit all the candles in the room with a flick of his wand.

Malik sat up grumpily. "Fine!!" He cried. Ryou gave a satisfied smile and moved on to Seto and Jounouchi. Malik frowned and opened a quick portal to the shadow realm. He crawled in, grabbed the nearest monster and demanded that it go find Yami and Bakura. The lavender-eyed boy slid out of the portal and held it lazily open until the two yamis had clambered out.

"Well, no blood, that's always a good sign." He commented.

Seeing his Yami, Ryou abandoned his futile attempts to wake the other blond boy and jumped upon his darkness. "Yami!!" He cried.

A startled Bakura looked down at his hikari. Never before had anyone been so happy to see him. He wrapped his arms around his aibou, who was nuzzling into his chest.

" 'Kura..." the light murmured.

Malik smiled. Maybe having the yamis away for the weekend was the perfect remedy for the riffs. Wait a minute, wasn't he supposed to like the riffs so that he could have Ryou? Or did he just want Ryou to be happy? Ra, this was confusing him.

Yami hid a pleased look under the smug exterior. Through that cold weekend in the shadow realm, he had seen past Bakura's cool façade, that he really did care underneath it all. They had also investigated the Shadows and found out for sure that Jounouchi had not been through there, but that had nothing to do with the point the authoress is trying to get to.

Behind Yami, a barely awake Yugi was rubbing his eyes and yawning, almost oblivious to the sweet and fluffy scene before him. He plopped down to the floor and started falling back asleep, and would have succeeded if a certain tan Egyptian had not so 'accidentally' kicked him. He glared at the offending blonde and latched onto his own Yami for protection, who also gave a much more intimidating but nonetheless inconsequential glare. (A/N: Whoa, big words for this chapter... Cool...)

Suddenly, Ryou leaped away from his Yami and out of the dorm room. Everyone but Jounouchi, who still was asleep, had a bewildered look on their face. That was, they did until they heard a copious racket in the room next door, which told them that the white-haired teen was having a time waking the boys in that room up. They heard the door of the next room open excitedly and closed lazily, and then the clamber as the boys went downstairs, and back up within ten seconds. Three lethargic teens were thrown into the room, followed by an unusually hyperactive Ryou. The heavy oak door was shut and locked.

"Hello, hello, and good morning to all!" Ryou grinned. The trio nodded stiffly. They looked up, rubbed their eyes simultaneously, and blinked. Bakura and Yami waved sheepishly.

Yugi began to speak, "I know it was a bit weird the other day.. You know, following us around without really knowing why, and then getting the truth without proof. Apparently, Ryou wanted wake everyone within a ten-mile radius up to show off his Yami." Ryou blushed and shrugged. "He was only unsuccessful in the same place anyone else who has ever tried to wake Jounouchi up was. Anyway, Harry, Ron, Hermione, meet Yami and Bakura." He gestured to each of them in turn. "Yami, Bakura, you've already met them. Ryou, can I go back to bed now?"

Ryou shook his head. "Nope, It's Monday, you've got school." He answered in the tone that one would use to explain to a child that one plus one is two. "And, you, Ron, don't bother telling Ginny that she can't date me because I'm a psychopath, she's known since day one and quite frankly doesn't care, although I'm not sure if there is anything anymore since she knows it would be very difficult to keep anything up because of Malik and Yami. My Yami, not Yami Yugi."

Everyone stared in turn at Ryou's abnormal excessively long sentence. Even Jounouchi sort of rolled over.

"How did Ginny know from day one if we're just now learning?" Hermione finally asked.

Malik took the initiative to answer, seeing that no one else really knew either. "Well... Ginny saw Bakura, and Ryou didn't want to erase her mind... right?" Ryou nodded. "Anyway, they sort of got close, Ryou enjoyed having someone else to talk to about, well, everything, and you know what happened from there. Ron, am I right when I say that Ryou's warning about not bothering to tell Ginny was a bit late?"

Ron shrugged. "Yeah, she told me she already knew... basically what Ryou just said."

"Right, and how many times have we already told them?" Yami asked.

"Three and a half." Bakura answered. Yami rolled his eyes.

"Okay, three and a half times you've been told this, and three and a half times your mind has been erased."

Bakura interrupted, "Four times. Once was on accident, though."

Yami sighed, "Four times then, whatever, and we're still depending on you to keep this secret. The last couple of times we didn't think you were ready to find out. However, lately, you've seemed determined to figure it out, or so I've heard. So, naturally, you'd be able to keep it a secret, if you've managed to be told three and half times. I figure you telling Ginny, Ron, doesn't count, since you were looking out for her."

Malik told the three, "It is very extremely absolutely utterly important that you tell absolutely no one. Do not discuss it in public. Don't even think of it unless you have to. It's not as though people can't have access to your thoughts. We are talking about people's lives here." The trio straightened at this comment. "Everyone in this room could be killed... well, almost everybody, forgot about Yami and Bakura... but we could be killed should information leak. It has come very close to happening before."

Ryou closed his eyes and began to speak in a tone unlike the one he had been using. "Everyone who has ever heard of these Items has associated them with games. They are wrong." He took a shaky breath and continued. "Games are meant to be played for fun, for enjoyment. But we play for our lives and the lives of others. We have killed people to save innocents. I have never... never ever done something that hurts more than killing. And there is nothing harder, no matter what they have done. I don't know, perhaps it is my nature because I am a hikari, but I would trade myself any day for the lives of those people."

There was a murmur of agreement. Bakura sat Ryou down and comforted him.

Mokuba spoke up, "I don't play much, and I haven't ever done what they've done, but watching from the sidelines is hard enough. There gets to a point where nobody's right and nobody's wrong."

"He speaks beyond his years," Yami said. "and is correct. When you learn why someone does what they do, there seems to be none guiltier than you."

No one else could speak, but the air buzzed with unspoken words.

Finally, Yugi said, "Everyone has a motive, Harry, Ron, Hermione, and everyone thinks that theirs is the right one. There is not good or evil at that point, nor is there wrong or right. Like I know you have heard, there is only Power, and those who know how to use it. Never doubt your own reasons, because that will be your downfall. Yet, never underestimate the power of the emotions behind your opponents. Eventually, only fate can decide who should go on, and even she is wrong at times." The effect of the light's words was instant. Not a sound could be heard. Everything was still. Even Jou had awaken and was staring at Yugi, respect shining in his eyes.

"Innocence is not always a good thing." Seto whispered. "Innocence can be dark as well."

"The innocent know not better." Bakura agreed.

Harry said softly, "And yet they are the ones who are always hurt..."

TBC

Angsty, oh so angsty... but it was long! Okay, that sounded weird. I don't know how I got to that, it wasn't where I was planning to go. It seems my fingers have a mind of there own.

I'm mad at Cartoon Network. No more Rurouni Kenshin. They are receiving hate mail as we speak. Actually, no they aren't. I'm a scaredy cat and won't send what I right. I know, not cool. But if I had the nerve, they would be, and you know it!! Oh well... At least they have new episodes of YuSorry if I seemed sort of snappy last chapter... waah!! Blame it on the Sims!

Yusuke: You're a Sim?

Dizzy: Yeah, dimwit, and own Yugioh to boot!!
Yusuke: You own Yugioh?

Dizzy: GO AWAY!! You're so not a bishie! ...

...

...

I just put a disclaimer with an apology... the apocalypse is coming!!

"Ginny! Ginny, wait, I need to talk to you!" Ron called. Ginny grimaced and quickened her pace. Unfortunately, Ron wasn't one to follow the rules and ran down the hall to her.

"Aren't you supposed to walk?" She said coldly. It wasn't question. Ron cocked his head, completely ignoring the hint. If you could call it a hint, of course. Me, I think of it more as bright neon warning sign.

"I suppose, only, I don't care. Anyway, Ginny, I need to talk to you about that Bakura kid. Don't give me that look, I know you like him! C'mon, we can go find an empty classroom." Not waiting for a response, he grabbed her arm and pulled her into a classroom.

"Well, Gin... this is a bit hard...but you have to understand, you can't go out with him, he's a psychopath!" He told her frantically, preparing himself for a bombardment of questions. Instead, he got a lot of laughter.

"All this just to tell me that!! Oh, Ron, that's funny!! That's rich!!" She calmed herself down. "I'm sorry... it's just... Oh, god, Ron, I've known forever! "Ron raised his eyebrows. "Um, assuming this is about the schizoid thing, right?" Ron nodded. "Yeah, okay. Of course, Ron, you have nothing to worry about. Ryou's only a friend, now anyway, and nothing I don't think is going to happen anytime soon. He's nice... his light side, anyway, but he's got way too many problems than to have to deal with the likes of me, alright?" She told him, still giggling.

"Eh..." Ron didn't know what to say. "Alright..."

"Anyway," Ginny said, "I tend to think of him more as a sociopath."

Yami sighed. "Bakura, I think you had best go back."

Bakura shook his head. "Baka. I can't, I promised Ryou." He answered with a tone of spite in his voice. Bakura was shivering, even under a pile of Kuriboh from the cold of the shadows.

"And since when does that matter?" Yami retorted with equal malevolence. Bakura glared at the pharaoh.

"Since when was it your business!?" He spat.

Yami's POV

Okay...this was weird. That idiot tomb robber is sticking to a promise? Not very Tomb-Robber-ish. Not very tomb robber-ish at all. Ra, what's wrong with this world? I mean, besides the fact that everywhere is a foggy purple and random monsters were hopping/skipping/jumping/running/scurrying/burrowing/crawling etcetera, etcetera... well, everything's wrong here, what do I expect, it's the shadow realm. So... uh... yeah, what's wrong with the not tomb-robber-ish tomb robber to the point that he's not very tomb-robber-ish? Does that even make sense? Nyack, see, I'm questioning myself!! There is something very extremely incredibly wrong going on here.

"Uh... You there? Baka!" A Kuriboh being very rudely thrown at my head drew me out of my thoughts.

"Agh! What was that for?!" I cried, throwing a much less bouncy and soft Baby Dragon back at Bakura. He immediately retaliated with a rather large Jam Breeding Machine. No one knows how he managed to throw it, but he did. Thus, a duel of new proportions began, ending with both of us maniacally laughing.

........................

........................

Laughing... duel... both... those words do not go together. Was I beginning to... beginning to not hate the spirit of the ring? Was that humanly possible?

Ryou did it.

Malik did it.

Yugi did it.

Can I do it?

Yami Bakura's POV

Why am I laughing? I mean, yeah, there's the whole insane tomb-robber thing, but, with the baka pharaoh?

I can't be laughing with him. Never. After what he did!

He doesn't remember... why should I blame him... we're both different, now.

But Kuru Eina...

My family... my friends, my entire village! He destroyed it all, all of it. And then he destroyed me.

No, he didn't kill me. He had the ninety-nine deaths he needed. But he destroyed me all the same. He stole my soul from me to seal away this realm that we're in right now. This place is infinite... but it gets smaller and smaller with every passing second that you remain. You experience every feeling you felt during your life. With every bit of hate there was, it gets colder... I imagine that baka pharaoh was nice and toasty those five thousand years.

I've shut up, and so has the pharaoh. He's staring at me, and I stare right back.

He doesn't understand.

I want to die. I want this never-ending life to be over. Forget want, I need it to be. I despise that annoying little redhead who sings about the sun and tomorrow. Maybe tomorrow is good for them, I don't know. I don't care, either. But for me, tomorrow is always there. The sun won't come out. Well, it might, but that's beside my angsty point. What I mean is, even if the sun does come out, it's still dark for me. I envy those mortals, despite my thing for calling random people that as an insult. They can treasure the days they have. I have forever. It reminds me of that book Ryou once read for class, Tuck Everlasting. A family who could never die, who envied the dying and the dead. The guy in the yellow suit that didn't have a name who was willing to be immortal, the idiot. Immortality only appeals to the living. Immortal and living are not the same thing, as so many try to believe through some grammatical thing or another. It should be an oxymoron. Damn Ryou, putting big words in my thoughts.

It's because you can't stop the hurt. You can't stop the feelings, and you can't forget the ache you don't want. You can never forgive during life. Because forgive is forget, and no one can truly forget. Everyone has this card catalog in their head and when someone wrongs you, you can just go look and throw it in their face.
Unless, of course, you're a hikari and somewhat of a mental case. But, then again, that goes against my angsty, so angsty point.

Ugh, all this thinking is crazy. I'm STILL staring at that stupid pharaoh. Ra, I hate this place.

(Normal POV)

"Malik, how is he?" Isis questioned, appearing out of seemingly nowhere. Malik jumped and gave a seething glare at his sister, who was completely unaffected.

"Ryou, ya mean? I dunno, ask the fifty million people who asked me first!" He huffed. Isis rolled her eyes.

"Yes, but the rest of the world is so afraid of getting yelled at again." Isis pointed out.

Malik sighed. "Yah, so now Ryou's ant-soldier-death-glare is life threatening, huh. He's fine, like he said, he needed a relatively sane time," He glanced warily at a moving staircase. "Although maybe here isn't the best place to be..." he trailed off.

"Well, that's why us other insane people have to be here, so poor little Ryou-kun can feel normal!" Isis chirped. (A/N: Yes, I know Isis is OOC. I know that Isis does not 'chirp'. Phooey.) Malik crossed his arms.

"I know what you're trying to say. I know, I know, I know. But do me a favor. Just leave him be for now, alright. We already sent off the yamis, so give him a break and let him sort out his thoughts for a while." He looked down at his feet and started to walk off.

She caught up with him. "I understand, otouto. We all care about Ryou-kun and his sadistic Yami. Why else would we pry into his private life until he sounded relatively normal?"
Malik shook his head.

"Morning!" Ryou cheeped, seemingly bright as ever.

"It's five o'clock, Ryou, go away." Malik hissed, pulling a pillow over his head. Ryou pulled the blankets off him and pulled the curtains off the window.

"C'mon! It's time to not only bring Yami home but also to figure out how the heck Jounouchi got here! Let's go, up, up, up!!" He pulled Malik's hair and lit all the candles in the room with a flick of his wand.

Malik sat up grumpily. "Fine!!" He cried. Ryou gave a satisfied smile and moved on to Seto and Jounouchi. Malik frowned and opened a quick portal to the shadow realm. He crawled in, grabbed the nearest monster and demanded that it go find Yami and Bakura. The lavender-eyed boy slid out of the portal and held it lazily open until the two yamis had clambered out.

"Well, no blood, that's always a good sign." He commented.

Seeing his Yami, Ryou abandoned his futile attempts to wake the other blond boy and jumped upon his darkness. "Yami!!" He cried.

A startled Bakura looked down at his hikari. Never before had anyone been so happy to see him. He wrapped his arms around his aibou, who was nuzzling into his chest.

" 'Kura..." the light murmured.

Malik smiled. Maybe having the yamis away for the weekend was the perfect remedy for the riffs. Wait a minute, wasn't he supposed to like the riffs so that he could have Ryou? Or did he just want Ryou to be happy? Ra, this was confusing him.

Yami hid a pleased look under the smug exterior. Through that cold weekend in the shadow realm, he had seen past Bakura's cool façade, that he really did care underneath it all. They had also investigated the Shadows and found out for sure that Jounouchi had not been through there, but that had nothing to do with the point the authoress is trying to get to.

Behind Yami, a barely awake Yugi was rubbing his eyes and yawning, almost oblivious to the sweet and fluffy scene before him. He plopped down to the floor and started falling back asleep, and would have succeeded if a certain tan Egyptian had not so 'accidentally' kicked him. He glared at the offending blonde and latched onto his own Yami for protection, who also gave a much more intimidating but nonetheless inconsequential glare. (A/N: Whoa, big words for this chapter... Cool...)

Suddenly, Ryou leaped away from his Yami and out of the dorm room. Everyone but Jounouchi, who still was asleep, had a bewildered look on their face. That was, they did until they heard a copious racket in the room next door, which told them that the white-haired teen was having a time waking the boys in that room up. They heard the door of the next room open excitedly and closed lazily, and then the clamber as the boys went downstairs, and back up within ten seconds. Three lethargic teens were thrown into the room, followed by an unusually hyperactive Ryou. The heavy oak door was shut and locked.

"Hello, hello, and good morning to all!" Ryou grinned. The trio nodded stiffly. They looked up, rubbed their eyes simultaneously, and blinked. Bakura and Yami waved sheepishly.

Yugi began to speak, "I know it was a bit weird the other day.. You know, following us around without really knowing why, and then getting the truth without proof. Apparently, Ryou wanted wake everyone within a ten-mile radius up to show off his Yami." Ryou blushed and shrugged. "He was only unsuccessful in the same place anyone else who has ever tried to wake Jounouchi up was. Anyway, Harry, Ron, Hermione, meet Yami and Bakura." He gestured to each of them in turn. "Yami, Bakura, you've already met them. Ryou, can I go back to bed now?"

Ryou shook his head. "Nope, It's Monday, you've got school." He answered in the tone that one would use to explain to a child that one plus one is two. "And, you, Ron, don't bother telling Ginny that she can't date me because I'm a psychopath, she's known since day one and quite frankly doesn't care, although I'm not sure if there is anything anymore since she knows it would be very difficult to keep anything up because of Malik and Yami. My Yami, not Yami Yugi."

Everyone stared in turn at Ryou's abnormal excessively long sentence. Even Jounouchi sort of rolled over.

"How did Ginny know from day one if we're just now learning?" Hermione finally asked.

Malik took the initiative to answer, seeing that no one else really knew either. "Well... Ginny saw Bakura, and Ryou didn't want to erase her mind... right?" Ryou nodded. "Anyway, they sort of got close, Ryou enjoyed having someone else to talk to about, well, everything, and you know what happened from there. Ron, am I right when I say that Ryou's warning about not bothering to tell Ginny was a bit late?"

Ron shrugged. "Yeah, she told me she already knew... basically what Ryou just said."

"Right, and how many times have we already told them?" Yami asked.

"Three and a half." Bakura answered. Yami rolled his eyes.

"Okay, three and a half times you've been told this, and three and a half times your mind has been erased."

Bakura interrupted, "Four times. Once was on accident, though."

Yami sighed, "Four times then, whatever, and we're still depending on you to keep this secret. The last couple of times we didn't think you were ready to find out. However, lately, you've seemed determined to figure it out, or so I've heard. So, naturally, you'd be able to keep it a secret, if you've managed to be told three and half times. I figure you telling Ginny, Ron, doesn't count, since you were looking out for her."

Malik told the three, "It is very extremely absolutely utterly important that you tell absolutely no one. Do not discuss it in public. Don't even think of it unless you have to. It's not as though people can't have access to your thoughts. We are talking about people's lives here." The trio straightened at this comment. "Everyone in this room could be killed... well, almost everybody, forgot about Yami and Bakura... but we could be killed should information leak. It has come very close to happening before."

Ryou closed his eyes and began to speak in a tone unlike the one he had been using. "Everyone who has ever heard of these Items has associated them with games. They are wrong." He took a shaky breath and continued. "Games are meant to be played for fun, for enjoyment. But we play for our lives and the lives of others. We have killed people to save innocents. I have never... never ever done something that hurts more than killing. And there is nothing harder, no matter what they have done. I don't know, perhaps it is my nature because I am a hikari, but I would trade myself any day for the lives of those people."

There was a murmur of agreement. Bakura sat Ryou down and comforted him.

Mokuba spoke up, "I don't play much, and I haven't ever done what they've done, but watching from the sidelines is hard enough. There gets to a point where nobody's right and nobody's wrong."

"He speaks beyond his years," Yami said. "and is correct. When you learn why someone does what they do, there seems to be none guiltier than you."

No one else could speak, but the air buzzed with unspoken words.

Finally, Yugi said, "Everyone has a motive, Harry, Ron, Hermione, and everyone thinks that theirs is the right one. There is not good or evil at that point, nor is there wrong or right. Like I know you have heard, there is only Power, and those who know how to use it. Never doubt your own reasons, because that will be your downfall. Yet, never underestimate the power of the emotions behind your opponents. Eventually, only fate can decide who should go on, and even she is wrong at times." The effect of the light's words was instant. Not a sound could be heard. Everything was still. Even Jou had awaken and was staring at Yugi, respect shining in his eyes.

"Innocence is not always a good thing." Seto whispered. "Innocence can be dark as well."

"The innocent know not better." Bakura agreed.

Harry said softly, "And yet they are the ones who are always hurt..."

TBC

Angsty, oh so angsty... but it was long! Okay, that sounded weird. I don't know how I got to that, it wasn't where I was planning to go. It seems my fingers have a mind of there own.

I'm mad at Cartoon Network. No more Rurouni Kenshin. They are receiving hate mail as we speak. Actually, no they aren't. I'm a scaredy cat and won't send what I right. I know, not cool. But if I had the nerve, they would be, and you know it!! Oh well... At least they have new episodes of YuYu Hakusho...