A/N: This is my Heartshipping (YugixRyou) entry for Computerfreak101's Yugioh fanfiction competition. It flashes back and forth between Yugi and Ryou's views on their relationships with their yamis. The italicized entries are from Ryou's POV. The bolded print is Yugi's. Enjoy.

Venus Flytrap

He lives in a mind not his own. Desperate are his actions. Frequent and fruitless are his bids for freedom. He screams, though no one is around to hear him. His voice echoes away feebly within the recesses of his mind.

He shares a heart with a kindred spirit. A presence deemed more precious than his own life. They converse with thoughts which no one else can fathom. They laugh at notions known only to the recesses of their minds. They are one in ways incomprehensible and utterly perfect.

The Venus flytrap gently lures in its victims with the appetizing, fruit like flesh of its innards. The mouth opens to all manner unsuspecting insects, beguiling them into their depths with their vivid colors and intoxicating aromas. Giving off the image of perfect security. Never betraying the intentions that lie beneath.

Violent eyes mirror a violent heart. Cold stares and malicious grins captivate those unknowing of the trapped soul hidden beneath. Slowly the sensation of drowning presses upon the ensnared essence. Rejected by his very being. Left to wander dark halls of whose ends he knows not. Every closer does he come to insanity. Every more does he wonder what he has done wrong. Why can he not escape?

Shared hearts intertwine. Tender touches and gentle smiles captivate the soul once so lost within itself. Heat radiates between hearts both nonexistent and every present. A guide never seen yet more real than the sweat of his brow or the blood in his veins. Every closer does he seep into the endless realm of warm comfort. Every more does he wonder what gods have decided to smile upon him. What has made him so deserving?

The insect settles upon the meaty, brightly colored leaf. Never knowing what is to come. The flytrap senses the bug's presence, bringing it deeper into its deadly depths before snaring it with a rapid closing of the jaws. And once within its maw, there is no escape.

Oppressive presence to press and pull and taunt. Never to relent. Always to drag out tortures more excruciating than the mind not undone by itself can withstand. It is mutilation without whipping. Agony without scar or trace. And it shall never end.

Thoughts flow like water through mind, body and spirit. All is known. None is secret. Accepted is every flaw and blemish that mutilates their bond. Nothing is rejected. It is love without touch. Connection without face or form. And it shall never end.

Slowly acids seep into the leaves where the living prey is held prisoner. The substances slowly drain the bodily fluids from the exoskeleton. All while the insect still lives.

It all disappears in a flash of light.

Warmth. It flows through his veins, carried by the blood now fueling his own existence. The other is absent. Gone. Alone. The light is blinding him. Penetrating into a soul so long hidden from its graces. Malevolent pressure in his skull reduced to a dull throb. Then nonexistent entity. Deep valleys gouged by the years of servitude within his mind and heart, fill once again with his own essence. Spiraling light that sinks deeper and deeper into the cracks once occupied by evil not his own. Reclaiming what should always have been his. His face alights with expressions of his own creation, not the mask of the one who is no longer. Confusion. Surprise. Overwhelming relief. The beat of his heart is now his own. Drumming out the thrum of his freedom long in coming.

It all disappears in a flash of light.

Cold. A sick dark feeling that seeps into the bones and refuses to release its strangling hold. Empty. Alone. The world is spinning in an endless vertigo. Soft words gone from his mind. Reassuring smiles wiped clean from his heart. Holes where both operators of his body should rest. Chasms that are slowly growing and suffocating and devouring the world around them as he seeps deeper and deeper into the void. The agony drowns him. Outside the façade is passive. Accepting. Nothing compared to the mutilation within. Gradually he sinks away. Disintegrating into nothingness.

The insect is conscious through the slow, arduous ordeal. Alive through the agony of bodily mutilation and flaming death. Slowly sucked dry till nothing is left but a broken and empty shell.

Freewill is a distant memory. Always sought after. Foreign when finally obtained. So long in left in the dark. The light now reeks of danger. The world is too large. There is too much to take in. Quiet spaces and suffocation bring back familiarity. Memories of days longing to be forgotten but unable to be released.

Silence is a long forgotten notion. Never wanted before. Rejected when acquired. So long in the blinding presence. The darkness now throngs with veiled demons. The world is too small. So smothering without the one now departed. Whispered words from trembling lips create the illusion of company. Memories of days imploring to be remembered but slipping through the cracks.

A mind undone meets a soul unclean. A companionship built to fill the crevasses left by their own manifestations.His empty presence depletes the world of some of its daunting girth. His overflowing light illuminates small portions of the shadows. Sorrow feeds is not perfect. Damage once done can never be cleansed. But it is reprieve. It is peace in its meanest form. It is love in ways mysterious and perverse. And it shall never end.

A/N: …Umm….yeah…review?