Yami Bakura's Dark Past

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Disclaimer: I do not own any of the Yu-Gi-Oh characters, or items, or anything else like that. The fic is mine though. Actually, it's a gift from me to you.

Author's Note: This fic is the sequel to Never Doubt the Heart of a Yami, so if you haven't read that fic, I highly recommend you do. It will help you understand this fic better. But hey, it's up to you.

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Introduction

Nothing had been the same after Bakura's death. Bakura's Yami, Yami Bakura, was totally devastated. Because Yami Bakura had split bodies with Bakura, he had not died along with Bakura.

"I wish I had never split bodies with him..." Yami Bakura would often say. "Then I would be dead with him and I wouldn't be suffering now. It's my fault that he's dead, and so don't deserve to live..."

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Chapter 1
Memories Once Forgotten

Yami Bakura placed flowers on Bakura's grave that Sunday morning. Tears of pain rolled down his cheeks as he touched the engraved letters on Bakura's small, granite tombstone with his now gaunt hands that went along with the rest of his slimming body. He whispered to himself as he read the marker of Bakura's grave, "Here lays Bakura Ryou...Why, why did you have to die Bakura? No, it wasn't you...it was me! It was my fault you killed yourself...I pushed you too far. I should be the one in this grave..."

Yami Bakura's long white hair, which reached about half way down his back, flailed in the wind. He felt the wind whisper in his ear, softly and sweetly, like a friend telling him a secret. His skin was paler than it's usual pale color, and his dark brown eyes were tired and bloodshot, as if he hadn't slept in days. He took a deep, weary breath.

A hand was placed on Yami Bakura's shoulder; a familiar voice with an Egyptian accent spoke to him, "Don't torture yourself, Yami Bakura...It hard on me too. I know how much you really loved him."

Yami Bakura turned his head almost all the way around and gazed up with tearing eyes into the purple eyes of Marik Ishtar, a friend. "What are you doing here?! Can't you see I'm in pain?!"

"I'm here for the same reason you are." Marik took off his hood to reviled his long, light blonde hair that reached his upper back in length. He had tan skin, as any true Egyptian should, and cat-like, purple eyes, each of them with a black line tattooed under them. He wore 2 golden earrings among other golden jewelry.

Marik kneeled next to Yami Bakura and put a large, red rose onto the soil in which Bakura's body lied. He turned back to Yami Bakura and stared into his weeping eyes. "You loved him like a brother, like a son, didn't you? I know you did, and I also know your love for him is undying. Please listen to me, Yami Bakura. If your love for him is undying, don't you think his would be the same? Though he is no longer with us he still loves you. He always did. And though you might think that love is fragile, it's not. The love that bonds his heart and your heart is still very strong, and can only be broken by you. There is no reason to torture yourself."

More tears rolled down Yami Bakura's face. "You don't understand...but then again...how could you? Bakura didn't deserve this. I did..." Yami Bakura looked at Bakura's grave and stood up, "I don't deserve life!" Yami Bakura took out his 4-inch pocketknife and put the point over his beating heart. Coincidentally, it was the same pocketknife that Bakura had killed himself with and he had done it the exact same way. He slowly began to push the knife's sharp tip into his chest. Blood started to drip from the newly opening wound that Yami Bakura was making in his body.

Marik stood quickly and grabbed Yami Bakura's wrist. "I'm not going to let you do this to yourself!" With great effort, Marik was able to pry the knife from Yami Bakura's hand. "This is not what you have to do! All you have to do is love Bakura with your whole heart and soul!"

"Death is too easy..." Yami Bakura said to himself. "I must suffer first..."

"No Yami Bakura! That is not the way! You must love him! If you break the bond between Bakura's heart and your heart then Bakura's spirit will become a forgotten memory. Your love is what's keeping his spirit alive. He lives in you, Yami Bakura. By killing yourself you will be loosing his spirit forever. You wont be righting any wrongs."

"You would love him for me...wouldn't you?" Yami Bakura said looking sadly at Marik.

"Why, yes, I would, but it wouldn't be the same coming from me. It's his heart and your heart that are bonded by true and pure love. Now, come with me. We shall go fix you up and maybe even have a little something to eat..." Marik took off his black cloak and draped it over Yami Bakura's shoulders.

"My heart hurts," Yami Bakura whispered. He looked down at his bleeding chest.

"It must," Marik said. He put his hand onto the incision that Yami Bakura had made. Yami Bakura's dark crimson blood dripped between Marik's tan fingers.

Yami Bakura looked back at Bakura's grave, "I love you, Bakura," he whispered.

Marik smiled, "And that's all you need to do." He began to walk Yami Bakura back to Yugi's apartment.

As they came, Yugi walked out of the shop that he and his grandfather, Salomon, owned, just below their apartment, to greet them. "What happened?!" Yugi said, looking at the blood dripping between Marik's fingers. Marik moved his hand, more blood leaked from the hole in Yami Bakura's chest.

Yugi looked concerned, "Suicide? Again? Last week you tried to slit your wrists, and now this?"

Marik looked back at Yugi, "I think we should go get him fixed up." Both Marik and Yugi brought Yami Bakura back inside the house. Marik guided Yami Bakura into the bathroom and wrapped gauze around his torso. Yugi took his own route to the kitchen where he began making coffee.

"You really made some mess," Marik said to Yami Bakura as he tried to wash all the blood off his hands. He heard Yugi's familiar call from the living room, "The coffee's ready!"

Marik brought Yami Bakura into the living room and seated him down at the table. Yami Bakura looked into his cup of coffee. Tears started to flow again. "I can't stand to see my own reflection." Yami Bakura closed his weeping eyes and pushed the cup of coffee away.

"Please drink it Yami Bakura." Yugi sat at the table with a cup of coffee in his hand. "You haven't drank or ate anything in only God knows how long. You have your own body now, which means you have to feed it and take good care of it."

"Not if I want to die, I don't..."

"I know, but starving is such a painful way to die, you don't want to suffer, do you?"

Yami Bakura stood out of anger, "Do you think it was easy for Bakura to plunge that knife through his heart?! He didn't die instantly, so he suffered all the way to his death. I want my death to be more painful than his...I want to suffer more than he ever did! He never deserved to suffer! I did and I still do!"

Marik stood along with Yami Bakura, "That is a horrible thing to wish for...never...never say that in front of me..." Marik pointed the Millennium Staff at Yami Bakura's chest, "You were the only one who had ever successfully resisted my staff's power, but I am not afraid to hit you with it."

"Go ahead. Beat me; beat me to death with it! I wish for death!" Yami Bakura puffed out his chest and looked as though he was awaiting a blow from Marik's staff.

Marik shook his head and sat back down in his seat. "You are impossible to deal with, Yami Bakura, you really are..." He placed the Millennium rod on the floor and took a sip from his coffee.

Yami Bakura looked at the both of them, sitting there so calm, drinking their little cups of coffee. A thought ran through his mind. 'Maybe they just don't care!'

"Sit down, have some coffee. Please, Yami Bakura, be reasonable." Yugi said. "Come sit and drink your coffee."

"Why should I? You don't care."

"I do care, Yami Bakura."

"Stop being stupid," Marik grunted. "Sit down and drink your coffee. If we didn't care, we wouldn't be doing this to you."

"You don't care about Bakura..."

"Yes we do," said Yugi with sad eyes, "but we care about you too."

"I don't care if anyone cares about me...but look at you. Just sitting there with your coffee, acting like nothing ever happened! Like he never existed to begin with..."

"I care about Bakura too. He was my friend..." Yugi said, looking even sadder.

Marik put down his cup of coffee and stared straight at Yami Bakura's face. "We all cared, Yami Bakura, but you are the only one who can't accept the loss. People die, Yami Bakura. It's the way things are, so suck up and take it like the old Yami Bakura would."

"The old Yami Bakura died a long time ago..." Yami Bakura said quietly. His voice became louder. "But he was a monster. I refuse to rekindle his flame."

"Whatever, just sit down and drink your coffee. You aren't leaving this table unless you consume something."

"Make me..."

Marik stood up again, "Do you want me too?!"
"I don't have time for you!" Yami Bakura left the table and began walking down the hall toward the guestroom.

"I should have let him kill himself this morning..." Marik grunted.

Yugi give Marik a sad puppy look.

Marik scowled. "Don't look at me like that! I still hate you for what you did to me! I'm only working with you until Yami Bakura gets better."

"I still don't get what I did."

"Don't play stupid with me, you know what you..." Marik was cut off by the slamming of the guestroom door.

Yugi took another sit of his coffee and just stared at Marik bit big puppy eyes.

'He sure knows just how to look at you to make you feel awful, the stupid little git.' Marik thought. He growled and picked up his staff.

Marik ventured down the hall and to the guestroom door. He turned the knob and was surprised to find it unlocked. He pushed the door opened and stepped into the room.

Yami Bakura lied on his stomach on the guest bed. He wasn't facing Marik, but he knew he was there. "Leave me alone..." He said quietly.

"Cut it out! I'm trying to help you."

"I don't want help. I want to know why I became so heartless...why I did what I did."

Marik got a devious look in his eye. "I could find that out..."

"Don't lie to me. Even I don't remember anymore. You're just a hikari, how would you know?"

"Just a hikari?! My dear, Yami Bakura, I am the beholder of the Millennium rod, possibly the most powerful Millennium item of them all."

"Yeah right. I'm sure it is." Yami Bakura said without a care.

"Do I detect sarcasm in your voice?"

"I believe you do."

"Then let me show you the power of the Millennium rod and prove my point."

"Go ahead, like I care."

"Sit up, Yami Bakura, feel the Millennium rod's great power!" Marik exclaimed.

Yami Bakura rolled onto his back and sat upright, placing his feet on the floor. He looked a Marik with a cynical look. "Where's the so called 'great power'?"

Marik held the staff high in the air. The staff began to glow as Marik chanted a few magic words in Egyptian. Quickly he brought his staff down to Yami Bakura's eye level.

Yami Bakura didn't even blink and the same sarcastic look kept itself on Yami Bakura's face.

There was a silent moment where nothing happened. Yami Bakura kept staring at Marik skeptically. But in an instant, a brilliant ray of shadow energy burst from the end of the rod and hit Yami Bakura square in the face.

Yami Bakura did a back flip over the bed and landed on his stomach, on the floor, on the opposite side of the bed he had been sitting upon.

Yami Bakura's head was turned to the side. He blinked his eyes a few times, but everything was out of focus. He saw a blurred image of Marik approach him. The image said something, but Yami Bakura couldn't make it out. Everything seemed so distant; Yami Bakura's mind went totally blank. His eyes began to close and his vision of the world went black.