Part One of the 'Rain Trilogy'

Bakura x Yami

Maybe You're The Same As Me

The dark, grey sky hung low, the tops of the tallest buildings shrouded in cloud. Rain poured down, running along the streets to eventually collect in huge, oil tinted puddles at the edge of the roads where drains had overflowed. Cars raced along, eager drivers determined to get home to collapse into their warm houses and lovers embraces.

Although the roads were busy, the streets were almost deserted, but that wasn't really that surprising considering the weather. Some people were there though, and some had hoods pulled low over their faces, others had umbrellas: oversized ones in bright colours that contrasted with the sky, or small dark coloured ones, the type that fold away to put back in a handbag or briefcase.

One man, however, walked along the street with nothing to shelter himself with, his face turned up to the sky and water running down his features and saturating the long white hair that fell on his back.

He received strange looks as he walked along, but no one quite dared comment him. Something about the man radiated the aura of someone that was not in the mood to be amicably mocked.

It might have been the strut in his walk, or the glint in his eye, or in the aggressive way his fists kept clenching and unclenching, but no one spoke to him.

Which, he had decided, was exactly the way he wanted it.

He wandered into the park, throwing himself down on a bench, glaring up at the heavens as if it had personally betrayed him.

If he was honest to himself, his anger had dissipated a while back, replaced with something that was more depression than anything else.

Maybe I just want to fly
I want to live I don't want to die
Maybe I just want to breathe
Maybe I just don't believe

Suddenly, his sight of the clouds was blocked out, and the rain stopped hitting his face. He growled upwards at the holder of the immensely oversized black umbrella, only to stop and gape when he saw who it was.

"What the hell are you doing here, you idiot tomb-robber?"

Quickly pulling back in his composure, Bakura glared up at the intruder.

"Exactly what I should be asking you, Pharaoh."

Yami sighed, running one hand through his tri-coloured hair.

"You walked past the game shop window, and you were getting drenched. Knowing you, if you got pneumonia you'd refuse medicine and die, and then my only rival left would be Kaiba, and trust me, there are only so many duels you can take with him before you start screaming if you hear 'Blue-Eyes White Dragon' and start having nightmares along the lines of 'I will win back my title as the King of Games!'."

Yami sat himself down next to Bakura.

"By the time I'd found an umbrella you were long gone, but I figured you'd be here."

Bakura blinked. "How'd you know that?"

Yami grinned.

"This is the only place in the whole city where you can look up and not see any buildings at all. I come here when I'm pissed- I can pretend it's the imperial gardens that were at the palace. You? It'd probably be that desert oasis you were based in as the Thief King that we never did find."

Bakura smirked, but silently he was wondering.

'How did he work that one out? How come he likes to think of home when he's angry or upset, like I do? And how in Ra's name did he find out I had a desert oasis base as Thief King? That was supposed to be my ultimate secret hide out!'

Maybe you're the same as me
We see things they'll never see
You and I are gonna live forever

"Very smart, Pharaoh," Bakura muttered at last, "but what reasons do you ever have to be pissed at anything?"

Yami looked over at him, his eyes honest and open.

"Do you think it was a wise choice to stay in this time? I certainly have doubts, but the worst feeling is knowing I can do nothing about it now. That can be incredibly frustrating, as you well know."

Bakura stared at the ground. He still wasn't sure why he had decided to stay on here, in this time. Sure there were better things to steal, and more of a challenge to do so, but… home was home. He hadn't even considered staying until the Pharaoh had decided to, and he still hadn't quite worked out why. A small part of his brain was still trying to tell him why, but if he listened to that idea then he seriously would have gone soft.

The mere idea that he wanted to stay because at least here, he could see the Pharaoh whenever he wanted was simply ludicrous.

'So,' he had decided, 'I'll just ignore that reason, because if it is the truth, then I don't want to know.'

Maybe I don't really want to know
How your garden grows
I just want to fly

"Do you like the rain, or something, tomb-robber? You don't see many people walking around in downpours if they don't have to unless they really like it."

Bakura let a small smile tilt the corners of his mouth.

"Haven't you ever just stood in the rain when you're angry? It's the easiest way to calm down without breaking something. It's whatever I do when I'm pissed at any of you."

Yami rolled his eyes.

"That explains why you always have colds." He paused. "I don't understand though… how does it help?"

Bakura sighed in exasperation.

"Do I have to explain it? Next time you're pissed or upset or something, just try it. You only live once. Or twice, in our case. Now can you move your damn umbrella away from me?"

Their conversation lapsed into an almost comfortable silence, and after a minute Yami put down his umbrella, and pulled his legs up so he was sitting cross-legged on the bench, his hands on his knees, he face titled upwards, eyes closed.

Bakura turned to look at him, slightly surprised. He hadn't realised that the Pharaoh was annoyed now. He sighed. That was probably his fault, he reasoned, as he turned to watch the man sitting next to him.

Shallow rivulets of water ran down the former-Pharaohs features, dripping off his nose and his chin. His lips were ever so slightly parted, wet with the rain, red because of the cold. It soaked into his clothes, which stuck to his body, and the points of his hair sagged under the weight of the water saturated into it.

He looked, Bakura decided, rather delicious.

The former tomb-robber turned back to his own task of calming down, mirroring the other dark's stance, cross-legged, and face upturned.

Yami smiled into the rain. He really did understand what Bakura was talking about now. All the worry he was feeling seemed to be washing away with torrent that now soaked him, the persistent battering of the rainwater distracting him from thoughts of anything else, the thoughts that had recently started to plague his mind- thoughts of the tomb-robber.

Lately did you ever feel the pain,
In the morning rain,
As it soaks you to the bone?

Yami sighed deeply, and opened his eyes. He pushed back his hair from his eyes with both hands, glancing over at Bakura. As if sensing that he was being watched, Bakura opened one eye and regarded the other man.

"Told you."

Yami grinned at the tomb-robber, making no move to put his umbrella back up, obviously enjoying the feeling of rain on his skin.

"Hey, Atem?"

The former-Pharaoh blinked in surprise. That was the first time Bakura had ever called him by something other than 'Pharaoh', or something insulting.

"Yeah?"

"What were you annoyed about?"

Yami stared evenly at him.

"A lot of things."

Bakura shook his head, smiling ruefully. 'I should have known he wouldn't want to tell me,' he thought, 'I certainly wouldn't want to tell him. Yeah. Telling the Pharaoh I have ever-so-slightly romantic feelings for him is something I'm gonna keep to myself. If I've been given this extra life, I'd like to keep it humiliation free.'

"Hey, Bakura? I'll tell you one thing. Have you ever wished you were brave enough to do one thing, but you just can't, so it starts to drive you mad, and you get angry, and upset, and pissed at the world until you just want to break things?"

Bakura nodded silently. Yeah, he knew that feeling all right,

"That's how I felt."

Maybe I will never be
All the things that I want to be
But now is not the time to cry
Now's the time to find out why

They stared levelly at each other for a moment, before Bakura broke the silence.

"What is it you want to do?"

Yami turned away, looking straight ahead, and Bakura was surprised to see a blush grazing the mans features. Bakura waited impatiently for an answer, only to be slightly surprised when one came.

"D'you want me to show you?"

Bakura stared at him, slightly confused, then nodded once, slowly.

Yami turned around in his seat, tucking his legs under him until he was kneeling next to Bakura, facing him. The thief shifted in his seat slightly, until he was facing the other.

They stared at each other for a moment Yami's blush intensifying, Bakura rubbing the side of his head awkwardly.

Without warning, Yami leant forward, one hand palm down on the bench to prop himself up, closing the gap between them, pressing his lips fiercely against his rivals, briefly, before standing and striding away towards the park gates.

He walked quickly, determined to get as far away as possible from the no-doubt enraged thief. But, before he could get far, he felt someone grab the back of his coat and pull him backwards, spinning him around until he faced them.

The violent blow never came though.

Instead, he felt a hand on either cheek, lifting his face upwards, to be met not with rain this time, but another set of lips that kissed his as fiercely as his had just kissed them. Yami wrapped his arms around Bakura's waist and felt the other man move even closer, pushing their bodies together, his tongue moving in the smaller mans mouth, his hands moving from Yami's face to his neck, tilting his head upwards to deepen the kiss.

They separated reluctantly, warily watching each other. Neither of them saw hostility in the others eyes, so they moved slowly together again, Yami's arms around Bakura's neck, Bakura's around the smaller mans waist.

The thief king leant down to the Pharaoh, whispering in his ear.

"Did you ever hear the expression, 'if you look deep enough into a person's eyes, you can see yourself looking back'?"

Yami shook his head, and the corners of Bakura's mouth tilted up ever so slightly.

"Well, when I look in your eyes, I can see me. Know what that means?"

Yami shook his head and Bakura grinned, fully this time.

"That's good, because neither do I. D'you want to find out?"

I think you're the same as me
We see things they'll never see
You and I are gonna live forever