Kayzo: Hi, it's really been a while since i wrote anything. i would love to give a leangthy and creditable excuse as to why i haven't written in so long, but the fact is i'm just a procrastonator.
This story is actually very old, written maybe a few years ago, but i wanted to upload something, and this looked ok. I am unsure if i should leave this as a oneshit or continue it into how Bakura became the thief king we all know and love. if you have an opinion one way or another, please make it known.
forwarning, this has only been beta'ed by yours truly, so there are most likely errors...
Bakura was happily sitting in the only room in his family's one room house. He lived in Kuru Eruna, population 101. Amane was sitting on the dirt floor beckoning her older brother down. His black haired mother was smiling at them and their childish mannerism, but wasn't surprised, considering her oldest was only five.
"Wow Amane, I wish I had hair like yours, my white hair looks freaky." Bakura said sticking his tongue out at the mention of his own hair color. Amane giggled and pulled at her black hair. Bakura plopped down next to the girl, making her look at his hair.
"But Brother, I love your hair!" Amane said patting her brother's head.
"Well," Their mother interrupted, "why didn't you switch?" she said with a smile, placing the bread for dinner on the small table they had.
"Alright!" Bakura gave a smile as his sister looked skeptical.
"Can we really do that?" She asked.
"Of course!" Bakura said standing and picking up his sister as well. He put her on his shoulders letting her long hair cover his own, "see? Now I have your hair!" Amane giggled, making Bakura's smile widen. Bakura set his siter down, after they grinned at eachother, their minds quickly wandered, as all children's minds tend to do.
"When's Daddy coming home, Mommy?" Amane asked, getting up and pulling lightly at her mother's tan dress.
"Well you know it takes a long time to steal from a royal tomb, but I think he will be home soon." She paused as she put her hand to the dirt, "feel the vibrations?" both sister and brother nodded, "that tells me that some one is approaching. And" she started, getting up off her knees and looking out of the only window in their mud house, "since I can't see anything it means that whoever it is, is traveling on horseback, like your father and his men were" she smiled at them, "remember that trick when you both become master thieves ok?" both nodded enthusiastically as she patted both of their heads.
By now the hoof beats were heard through the air, meaning the were very close, but it wasn't that sound that got their attention, it was the yelling.
"The Pharaoh's royal guards are coming to burn the town!" A tan male with brown hair yelled as the three exited the house to see what the problem was.
"What?" Bakura's mom said in panic, turning to the man who had yelled, her husband.
"It's alright honey, we have made it through guards assaults before, this one will he no different." He them turned to the crowd that had formed around him.
"All able bodied males and women good with daggers or arrows get ready to fight!" He said as they started to their homes, "Get ready as quickly as you can and go to the front gate, guards are to stupid to go in any other way." He added as an after thought, making some in the crowd give a laugh.
"Archers to the tops of the buildings and healers get your supplies!" He ordered as the healers and archers left. The healers came with what supplies they had, awaiting where to go next.
"Female Healers, take the children, old and women who can't fight to the underground passages," He bellowed as the girls did as told, but Amane and Bakura stayed with their father, seeing as their mother already left to get her bow and quiver, "Male healers you are to stay in the back houses, we will bring you our wounded from the front line." The six of them nodded and went off to prepare for the worst.
"Is that everyone?" he asked to Bakura and Amane, who had lived through these kinds of attacks before and have come to help their father.
"You forgot to mention the mages." Bakura spoke.
"Ah yes, thank you," He said and them raised his voice so all could here, "Mages! Use your magic all you can but don't tire yourselves! If you do get tired bring a dagger in case." He then walked over to the front line getting his own dagger out and motioning for his children to get into one of the small allies on the side, knowing they wouldn't go to the under ground safe haven. They all saw dots on the darkening night horizon but they were getting closer fast, meaning whoever it was, was on horses.
"This is our village, proud, Kuru Eruna, we aren't going to loose it to some worthless guards, not even the Pharaoh himself will take our land!" Bakura's father said rallying the resistance. Choruses of 'yeah!' and 'down with the Pharaoh!' were head and the brunette nodded his head approvingly.
Once the guards rode in close enough the villagers of Kuru Eruna saw that most were on foot, but running, with spears at the ready. There were also more than the villages could safely take without casualties, a lot more.
But the thieves of Kuru Eruna were known for their bravery in fights and that wasn't about to change.
Bakura held Amane close as they both peaked out form the alleyway they currently occupied.
"Archers! Now!" Their father yelled as their mother and the rest of the archers took aim and shot. Practically every arrow hit it's intended mark and Bakura was thankful that the Nubian archers had taught their village in exchange for not having the thieves' disturb the tombs of their dead.
"Come! We fight for our homes, families, and honor as thieves!" Bakura's father yelled as the village fighters went forward and started to fight the seemingly never-ending line of guards.
"Keep them alive!" a noble on a horse called to his men, "I want to see the look of shier terrier on the miserable thieves faces as their kin is burned alive!" he said cruelly before getting an arrow to the shoulder and crying out.
"Someone get the archers!" another on a horse said before getting a fatal arrow to the heart.
The thieves seemed to be holding their own against the relentless attacks of the guards. But when one thief did get caught all stared to seem to go wrong. The guard who had caught the brown haired, copper skinned female took out a rope and tied both her ankles and wrists together, but first making sure she had no means to cut the rope near her.
"Let go of me you filthy trash!" She yelled as she fought against her bounds.
"You call me trash? I think it should be the other way around!" He gave a laugh and held her up from the ankles.
"Oh?" the girl said getting a smirk, "you can think now too? How sweet!" Her voice seemed dipped in venom and disgust.
The guard growled and through her against the wall, turning to fight another thief, the girl's older brother. By now some of the houses were on fire because of the torches some guards threw into them, luckily, though, none went in to the healers huts, or the building that held the entrance to the underground save haven the women and children were in.
Bakura and Amane were close enough to the girl from the ally they were in to get over and cut her bounds. That's exactly what they did.
"What?" the girl whirled her head to see her attackers, but as she recognized that it what the thief king's children she relaxed and turned around to make sure no one came thier way. Bakura used his knife to cut frantically at his fellow thief's bounded wrists as Amane worked on the ankles. They were both told to always carry a knife for self-protection and it was a good thing they did.
Amane was having a hard time with the bounds, being only four she didn't have the skill that Bakura had with his dagger.
"You two are lifesavers." The girl praised, as Bakura was almost through the rope, but then her tone changed drastically "Hide! The guard's coming back!" she hissed at them, moving her body as best she could to block the view of the children.
"No, almost have it!" Bakura said sawing at the rope feverishly. Amane had already gone back to the ally as told, watching her brother with wide worried eyes.
"What do we have here?" the guard said. Smirking, because he had the luxury to walk around leisurely, the guards outnumbered the thieves so much, "a little boy trying to help his friend? You're the first kid I've seen so far, the others must be hiding somewhere like the rats they are" the guard lifted the five-year-old Bakura easily by the hand that had the dagger in it, prying the weapon away.
"You're the rats." Bakura retorted, spitting in the man's eye.
"Feisty eh? Well I better put a stop to that" The guard lifted Bakura's own dagger to his face, his right cheek to be exact.
Bakura's dad fought frantically to get over to the guard that held his son.
"Let him go!" He bellowed but couldn't move further forward, guards on all sides. The archers were almost all caught and tied, so some of the Guards archers were using the thieves' arrows and bows to injure the thieves on the ground.
The guard smirked cruelly as he pressed the dagger into Bakura's flesh right above his eyebrow, having it go in deep before slowly bringing it over his eyelid and slowly down his cheek. Bakura made a sound of discomfort but didn't scream, knowing it would only give the cruel guard pleasure. The pain on his face was almost unbearible. His eye didn't feel as though it was cut to bad though, so Bakura was hopeful he wouldn't lose his sight in that eye.
"No! NO! Let go of my brother!" Amane ran from her hiding place to beat the leg of the guard with her knife, only doing minor damage.
"Why you little--!" Bakura used Amane's distraction to hurl his body weight into the guard, sending him falling and letting go of Bakura's wrist along with the knife.
Bakura grabbed his knife and hesitated a moment before slitting the man's throat, it was his first kill.
'First time for everything' He thought icily, looking at the corpse.
"Bakura!" Bakura turned to where his father yelled from, he was currently fighting of three attacker at the time, "Go, you and Amane, go to the healers hut, tell them to get out with everyone and thing they can, go to the chamber and lead the group down the narrowest tunnel!" Most would think it stupid for the thief king, Bakura's father, to yell his escape route out, but Bakura knew that it meant to go to the biggest tunnel, not the narrowest. He grabbed Amane who was shaking slightly and looking at the corpse and pulled her along to the back huts.
"Everyone! Get out!" Bakura yelled running in only to find guards had already gotten to the healers and the injured. The guards looked at them, but before they could get up and chase him Bakura bolted with Amane running as fast as she could behind.
They got to the building that had the path to the underground caves, flames licking the walls. They somehow managed to get around the burning objects and down the stairs to a big open cavern when the children and women were all in a group. Some children cried as the women and old said soothing words.
"Come." Bakura said in such a commanding voice the group had to look twice to make sure it came from him, "we are to go through the tunnels, the battle looks to be lost, we are to get out with our lives for the sake of the people who fought for us." Bakura motioned for the others to follow as he headed down the biggest tunnel. The went through endless twists and curves, forks in that path and dead ends, but they were all a bit happier as they saw light at the end of the tunnel.
Bakura stepped aside to let the others through, making sure they weren't being tailed, or anyone got lost. No casualties seemed to arise on the trip so Bakura was about to head out when he felt something…
He put his hand to the ground as his mother taught him hours before; he felt vibrations, and lots of them, meaning some thing was coming. Bakura's first though was to get everyone back into the caves and go another way out, but they couldn't go back to the village, and all other exits went to the deserts with no water for miles.
When Bakura finally came up with a plan it was to late, he heard screaming as the children, women, old and healers were attacked by guards. They were all tied quickly because most were in no condition to fight, even if they did know how.
Bakura was the last to be caught but was happy that he had killed two guards durring the scuffle, but when they threatened his sister's life he came quietly. They all were pushed down stairs entering an abandoned temple by spear point, and noticed that all the others from the village were already there, sitting in front of a vat of melted gold from the looks of it
"How did you know where the tunnel let out?" the thief king snapped his brown hair seeming to stand on end with anger.
"Well I guess I'll answer that as your dieing wish…" The noble who had been shot in the arm with an arrow came from the shadows, and at the close proximity Bakura notice he wore the symbol of high priest.
"We had a spy in your village who just recently was shown the pathways under your disgusting little town."
Bakura though of who was just shown the passages…. 'Saio!' his mind screamed, 'the runaway slave!' Bakura's fetchers twisted into a disgusted face.
"Saio, please come and say hello, or should I say Priest Saio?" The High Priest said as Saio came into view everyone in the village threw him looks, ranging from shock and anger to disgusted.
"Let the Millennium item making commence." Was all Saio said
"You're the Thief King?" the High Priest asked looking down at Bakura's father, "well? Am I right?" The thief king only nodded, giving a look that said 'I am, so what are you gonna do about it?' the Priest gave a smirk that sent Bakura on edge.
"Saio?" the High Priest asked
"Yes?"
"Which one is his wife?" the High Priest asked, not moving his gaze from the thief king
"That one sir." Saio said pointing to Bakura's mom.
"Good" the high priest said, "Guards! Get her! She will be the first sacrifice." Two guards took her struggling form, she didn't want to scare the children any more than they already were so she didn't yell or scream.
The guards brought her to the cauldron of molten gold and threw her body in. Gasps were heard as she screamed from the pain of being burned alive and ultimately drowning in the liquid gold.
"…." Amane was shocked, and couldn't move or speak; Bakura was in the same condition.
Next the High Priest had children thrown in the pot. The villagers yelled at how he was a monster and cruel to kill children. The Priest laughed and motioned for the other priests to start chanting, which they did. Slowly the number of people twiddled down until all that was left was Bakura's father, Amane and Bakura himself. But Bakura didn't feel as though there were only three-he felt as though the villagers were still with him, feeding his anger and hate. Later he would learn that these were the spirits of Kuru Eruna and they were the reason he was able to make his escape.
"Well Thief King," The High Priest laughed, "let us see you burn in front of your children shall we?" Bakura's father had a look of pure hatred when he was pulled up by guards and thrown into the vat.
"NO! NO! DADDY! NO!" Amane yelled, finding her voice
"Aw, the little girl wants to be with her daddy, how cute, guards!" The high priest said as guards got Amane and threw her in the pot as well. Bakura looked at the pot with wide eyes. Her dying scream would forever haunt his dreams
'No… no… he couldn't have… no… this is a dream…I'll awake safe and tell daddy and he'll laugh at me and say to go back to bed…' Bakura though frantically but the pain on his right side of his face relayed it was real. With the hate and anger feeding forces around him his eyes saw red,
Daibound was born.
When Bakura awoke, not remembering when he lost consciousness, he was in his now half destroyed house. Voices were calling from all around him, they sounded so familiar… they were the voices of the other villagers, there spirit voices. Telling him to get revenge, but first to sleep, he was safe for the moment.
Kayzo: And thats that! any comments or otherwise would be greatly appreciated. and again, if you think this should stay a oneshot or be developed into a story please let me know!