A/N: N/A~~~~
...
disclaimer: I own nothing.
"It's late...," a voice spoke through the thick midnight air as the lights of the Duel Disk blimp began to dim; over the intercom, Rolland had just announced the finalists and the schedules for morning, saying all participants of the battle city finals should be awake by 7 am sharp.
Ishizu turned a faint red as she turned around, caught by surprise. The voice chuckled darkly, saying "you shouldn't be out this late... Things could get dangerous. You never know what could be lurking in the darkness,"
She glared in the voice's direction, saying briskly "you do not scare me...," The fact wasn't so as she backed towards the railing, clenching it for her life as the wind began to blow around the arena with enough strength to send the blimp sideways.
Her heart began to race; the voice laughed aloud, saying "How conveniant. It certainly wouldn't do either of us any good to die this way, now would it?"
Ishizu narrowed her eyes, looking around her for any shadows, anything resembling the shape of another person to give her the slightest clue as to who on Earth was speaking to her like this.
Who could be awake so late? She had only one guess, but any suspicion she held diminished when Mariku took his place in his room, leering through the windows as he grinned sickly with homicidal fantasies.
These days his one passion was sadism and the torment of others through his own pain and hatred; any sadness he harbored was inflicted on everyone around him, himself included.
Recalling a conversation she had with Anzu, Ishizu closed her eyes, placing her palm over her heart; she would save her brother, yet.
She had faith in herself.
"Are you going to make conversation or am I wasting my time?" growled the voice irritably, "I thought better of you than to be someone so silent. Do I intimidate you?"
"Silence yourself." Ishizu shouted, still scanning the area for the outline of another person. She did this in vain as footsteps sounded, and she turned around, gasping.
The dim lights of the battle ship lit his hair as he smiled deviously, both eyebrows raised as he extended his hand.
"I believe we never had a proper introduction, Miss Ishtar. My name is Touzoku, but those around me have taken to calling me Bakura,"
Ishizu's eyes widened. Bakura had been taken to the hospital, had he not? Wasn't he in critical condition just hours ago?
She felt suspicion as her sennen tauk began to glow, and her suspicions were confirmed when the ring lit.
This was not the same boy she encountered earlier, whose mannerisms and dialect matched that of a kind teenager.
This person held wisdom beyond his years, and in his eyes, a hatred and pain so deep that Ishizu herself knew that regardless of what Malik had been through, nothing he ever felt could match what she saw.
This...Touzoku... Bakura... had been through worse and held years of anguish on his shoulders, and yet somehow here he was grinning as if none of it was visable.
Here he was, hiding his pain, and yet somehow everything he felt was in plain view.
Ishizu offered her sympathy in silence, but she clenched her hands shut, closing her eyes.
He did not deserve it; she understood so.
"You're no fun," Bakura hissed, crossing his arms as he stood above her, lifting his chin. He stared down at Ishizu hrough his bangs in the wind, and his eyes were covered by the shadows cast from the overhead light.
Ishizu turned a faint red, glaring at him before turning away. Bakura sighed, leaping back over the railings before looking back at Ishizu;
She stared back at him, confused.
He said quietly "Your silence is troublesome."
She replied "I have no interests speaking with someone like you; " Her voice faltered making Bakura grin widely as his eyes narrowed.
He motioned for her to follow him as he said quietly "Your blush tells me otherwise, Miss Ishtar."
She suddenly took a step backwards as she shouted "That's quite enough!"
Bakura chuckled, crossing his arms as he said in a low voice "I can be very persistant when getting what I want,"
Ishizu stared up at him, saying "In turn I can deny your persistance, and will continue to do so until you realize your tries are all in vain. I have no interests in you, Bakura."
Bakura glared, shouting "You're foolish, woman. I find you attractive and that is a rare thing considering most of you mortals sicken me with your ignorance, and here you are, rejecting my offers. Had this been Ancient Egypt, I would have been sure to take you for myself, even if I had to drag you to me by your hair."
Ishizu glared as she shouted "I'LL HEAR NO MORE OF THIS."
Bakura stood over the railing, shouting back "VERY WELL THEN. Have it your way, Isis."
Ishizu's heart jolted upon hearing the name as she looked up at Bakura in question. How did he know Ancient Mythology?
Something inside her told her his reply had nothing to do with the goddess of magic, but Ishizu, herself. She suddenly closed her eyes as the tauk began to glow and the vision of a man with white hair and tanned skin caught her by surprise.
He had a scar under his left eye and was holding her by her shoulders shouting at her, and Ishizu froze in fear by what she suspected was rape. Her eyes widened as she began to glare, but the vision became clear as he ripped off his robe, wrapping it around her wounds as tears filled his eyes.
"Please no...PLEASE NO." he shouted in her face, shaking her as he trembled, screaming "NO! I can't lose you!"
...
Ishizu turned away, suddenly filled with a feeling not too different from remorse. She looked up at Bakura and he looked down at her in a way unlike himself; he held a weakness to his aura, and the way he stared at her with so much pain in his eyes, she was certain the ring must have given him the same vision.
She looked up at him asking "Is this what you wanted of me? My rememberence?"
Bakura said quietly "Your questioning is boring me. Damn these human emotions..." tears filled his eyes and Ishizu saw them shining under the lights of the arena, and caught them falling from his face as he wiped them away in silence.
"Damn you...Look what you've done..." he said quietly "I just wanted to talk with you and you reduced me to a weakling. I am stronger than this," he growled, saying "I am far more than what you made me to be. You see nothing but my own idiocy seeping through my eyes in pity for what we could have been...Isis..."
Ishizu's heart jolted.
She gasped.
"For what I wanted of us...but you and I; we have always been different. You have always remained loyal to your murderer for a pharaoh and I... I will always be, but a petty thief to you,"
Ishizu glared at Bakura saying "How dare you slander my pharaoh's name in such a way. He was no murderer."
Bakura snickered sarcastically. "Your ignorance does your beauty absolutely no justice... I can feel myself growing weary of it. I just wanted to give you this and be on my way now that I've found you again."
Ishizu watched as Bakura flung a ring from his coat pocket and threw it over the railings of the arena.
Running towards it, Ishizu caught the ring in her hands as Bakura shouted "What's done has been done. Speak of this to no one... Isis...my Isis...,"
"Bakura!"
Ishizu's eyes narrowed as she tried to see the ring in her hands and suddenly another vision caught her eyes.
The same man with striking resemblances to Bakura was holding her, trembling over her as he whispered "What have I done..."
There were flashing lights in the background; Ishizu noticed the vision took place in a cave and caught sight of the ring on his finger. His hands held hers as he growled "One day I'll see you again and make this up to you... Please believe me,"
Ishizu closed her eyes, grasping the ring to her chest before walking towards the elevators. Bakura must be in the halls by now; she was certain she would catch him.
The doors opened after minutes passed by and through the darkness, Ishizu caught Bakura by the shoulders and his eyes filled with something lost to them in what seemed like centuries.
Was this a genuine smile?
Ishizu dared not ask; the moment could be broken seeing as how he was ill mannered and short tempered.
Silence filled the atmosphere as he caressed her cheek, bringing their lips together as he murmered to her "This is my apology, priestess..."
She gasped as he closed his eyes, wrapping his arms around her as he embraced her in the dark, opening his mouth slightly feeling her face heat against his.
Seconds passed...minutes passed... the ring and the tauk lit dimly in unison as Ishizu felt his hands wrap around her back, and as they continued their kiss, she saw beneathe her eyelids, the man from her vision in the dark Sahara desert.
She felt his wounds and scars in the palms of her hands as she touched his bare back in the sand, felt his tears against his face as he smiled against her neck, whispering his promises she knew he couldn't keep...
One thing was certain, though. She understood that they had to depart for their own sake.
He had to avenge Kul Elna and she had to defend her pharaoh.
Those reasons alone seemed trivial; they wanted to keep this forever but couldn't, and one night during another shadow war with Diabound, the monsters being summoned had attacked her as the result of Bakura's blind rage.
Once he realized he had killed her, he rushed to her aid catching her just as her soul was sent to rest, and in his fingers lied the ring he had bought for her; the first ring he ever bought without stealing or threatening the merchant, and here everything was, dying in his arms.
Ishizu opened her eyes; Bakura was staring at her weakly, looking almost like Ryou with the same sincerety the hikari held in his eyes.
He said quietly "I'll be gone now," before brushing his hands against her ears, whispering "I'll fight for your brother and the scars on his back are mine to see; I have no doubts that you're against this. I can only wish you the best if you do the same for me, but you and I are both different. This is why we could never be,"
Ishizu leaned into his neck, nodding as he said quietly "I never stopped loving you, Isis, but my hatred has me distorted. Now leave before I turn your purity into filth."
Ishizu nodded, whispering "I love you always, Touzoku," as he brushed his fingers against hers pleased to see the ring on her hands;
With one last glance, they both departed, soon to become enemies once again by morning.
Even knowing this, they somehow knew they had this memory and this moment alone; in the shadows lied their one true love for eachother, only to be swept away by bitter reality and the light of dawn.
Bakura walked with reason to Rishid's room, prepared to fight Mariku.
Ishizu returned to her own room for sleep.
They knew they would meet again one day, but until then, they couldn't change fate.
They were sworn enemies, and that is how they knew they should treat eachother, and nothing more.
Bakura knew one thing for sure though; Ishizu would never part from that ring, and the tears in his eyes would always be his secret, alone.
The ring went dark; he glared ahead of himself, opening the door to Rishid's room, catching Mariku in the midst of attempted murder. He smirked, wiping his lips as he chuckled lowly in the shadows.
Mariku turned around, clenching the rod in his hands as he asked "Who's there?"
Bakura's eyes lit with excitement as he grinned.
"I brought a friend...recognize him?"
With this, their fates continued unaltered as the clouds turned to shadows and the atmosphere became haunted with meloncholy.
Any memory of the hallway between Ishizu and Bakura had been sealed away in secrecy.