Dream

By: Neko-chan

A/N: Late birthday ficlet for 'Zoo-san. (Only a couple of days late~! ;_;) Hope you enjoy it and I also hope you _understand_, 'Zoo-san. *hugs* (Ne, and download 'Control.' And hai, that's an order. ^_~) Yami no Bakura/Ryou... or, it can also be taken as: Ryou/Yami no Bakura. =^_^=

Disclaimer: ... *raises eyebrow and looks dubious* ... Meh?

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"Don't you mess with a little girl's dream, 'cause she's liable to grow up mean."--'Control' by Poe

***

"Well?"

Ryou blinked and tilted his head to one side. "What?" he finally responded, staring at his yami with wide, chocolate brown eyes. Bakura continued to scowl and glare darkly at his other half.

"Well, what are you doing here? I didn't invite you into my soul room, yadonushi. So what the hell are you doing here then?" His scowl darkened slightly as he made his way into the darker recesses of his soul room, in effect, running away from his lighter half. Ryou continued to watch, his eyes wide and innocent.

"I have something to give to you, Yami," he finally answered the Egyptian spirit.

The spirit paused for a moment, long enough to shoot Ryou Bakura an incredulous look. "What? Why the hell would you do that for?"

Ryou chose not to answer, just bent forward and dropped the package gently on the floor in front of Bakura's soul room's doorway. Once done with that, he looked up, smiled sweetly, and turned around, closing the door behind him as he left. Bakura paused for several long moments, staring after his hikari.

'Why the hell would he get me something? It's nothing special, he hasn't pissed me off more than usual lately. So why would he get me something if there's nothing special going on?'

He slowly edged forward, eyeing the package as if it might bite. For all he knew, it could. He waited several long moments, waiting for it to twitch if there was something alive inside of it... or waiting for it to explode if there was a bomb instead. Much to his extreme disappointment, nothing happened.

The package was, in all matters, what it appeared to be: A harmless beige box, innocent and demure and all-too bland... much like his hikari.

Still scowling, he kicked the package, flipping it up, catching it, and tearing off the paper all in one quick gesture. Inside the wrapping was an equally bland and dull box. This, too, was soon torn to shred to reveal the object inside. And that object gave Bakura pause, causing him to stare at it in shock.

A snow white teddy bear, pristine and pure and representing everything that was innocent and light and _good_... with a ebony-black velvet ribbon tied around its neck. It stared up at him and he returned it, gaze for gaze.

"What the... ?" Yet another pause. "YADONUSHI!"

Soft footsteps soon echoed outside of his soul room door and he snarled angrily when Ryou finally pushed the door open completely. "Yes, Yami?" he answered after he stepped fully into the room. The door slammed shut behind him with a resounding 'BANG~!' But Ryou never flinched, nor showed any other signs of intimidation.

"What is this, yadonushi?!" Bakura snarled, shaking the teddy bear beneath Ryou's equally pale nose. Ryou blinked, but didn't step away. His only response was to continue to tilt his head to one side, his perpetual half-smile still fixed on his face. "Well?"

"It's a teddy bear, Yami," was the soft answer.

"I KNOW that, yadonushi! Why did you give it to me?! I have no use for such things--they're childish and frivolous and stupid. So what gave yo u the idea that I needed one, let alone _wanted_ one?!"

"I just... knew, Yami."

"And what the _hell_ is that supposed to be mean?!"

For the first time during the conversation, Ryou's eyes lost their lackluster serenity and deepened for one brief moment, showing Bakura an almost completely different person than the one he constantly mocked and used. "Hasn't anyone ever given you a teddy bear, Yami?"

"No," was the terse reply.

"Not ever in your whole life? _No one_ ever gave you a toy? A teddy bear? Something for you to play with when you were little? Nothing to keep you company, to play with when your imaginary friends came to visit? Nothing to comfort you in the middle of the night when no one could hear your muffled sobs; nothing to hold when _no one_ came to you?"

"NO~!!!"

"_That_ is why I gave you the teddy bear, Yami. You had nothing to comfort you, nothing to play with while you were growing up." Ryou's small smile finally returned and his eyes regained their lost and glazed happy look. "I wanted to give you something that no one else had ever given you, Yami. I wanted to give you something special."

"And why should I care about some meaningless bit of fluff? All I have to do is just tug a little bit and it'll be torn to shreds." Bakura's eyes had, by this point, deepened to a crimson hue, like fresh spilt blood. "Why should I care about _anything_ that you give me, yadonushi? Can you answer me that? _Why should I care?_"

"Because..." the small smile deepened momentarily, but Ryou's eyes maintained their dreamy look. "Because, Yami, sometimes even the Darkness is scared of the night. Sometimes even the Darkness gets lonely and wants something to cling to in the deepest hour of midnight. Sometimes even the Darkness will yearn after something but will never reveal that yearning to anyone or anything. But that's the job of the Light, isn't it? To find out what the Darkness' deepest secrets and yearnings are... and to grant them?

"After all, Yami, the Light is there to protect the Darkness and to make it whole."

"What the hell are you talking about, yadonushi?"

For the very first time since Bakura had first come to know his hikari, Ryou refused to answer Bakura's question, choosing instead to smile innocently in answer. "I'm your hikari, Yami. Your omote. Your Light. And, no matter what happens, I accept that with open arms, knowing full well what I accept into my embrace as I so."

Bakura didn't answer, just continued to stare at his Light with wide eyes, not fully understanding what was going on or what Ryou was trying to tell him.

Ryou understood this--after all, how could he not?--and quickly walked forward, rising slightly on tip-toe. When he and his yami saw eye to eye, he maintained that eye contact and leaned forward, kissing Bakura gently on the lips. "Light and Darkness..." he whispered. "It's the Light's duty to protect the Darkness and make it whole. It's the Light's job to teach the Darkness the meaning of _love_, Yami."

Still smiling that odd smile, he leaned away and fell back onto the balls of his feet. Giving Bakura one more glance, he turned around and left the soul room as quietly as he had arrived, closing the door behind him as he left.

The Egyptian spirit reached up and softly touched his lips. He blinked once more and finally looked down, returning his gaze once again to the empty box. And he blinked one last and final time.

At the bottom of the box lay one single white piece of paper. He instantly recognized Ryou's handwriting and squatted down to read the message scrawled across the paper in Ryou's scrawl, picking it up when he was finally low enough to grasp it in one hand. And he just as quickly dropped the note.

'Happy Birthday, Yami.'

"How did he know...? How could he _possibly_ know???"

Off in its own little corner, the alabaster white teddy bear watched it all, a small smile fixed upon its mouth. And, of course, the black ribbon tied around its neck was--once again--overlooked. Light and Darkness.

***

"I'm lost and the shadows keep on changing. I'm haunted."--'Haunted' by Poe

***

A/N: ... 'so many splintered dreams.' *_* Poe is basically my favorite female singer (she and Loreena McKennitt tie for best). Her music is just so... different... from almost everyone else's. So, yes, you must buy her CD or download her music off of the internet.

And, of course, this story was for you, 'Zoo-san. Happy Birthday! *hugs*

3,

Neko-chan