Ok guys! Thank you for reviewing and following! It really means a lot. I appreciate it!

Also, I apologize for my mistakes. I type really fast and a lot of the times I either miss or mix up letters without realizing it...Ryou is a "he" and not a "she"! I am sorry for that confusing typo. Thank you for pointing it out to me!

Italics in this chapter will be flashback. Also, this chapter doesn't have much dialogue. It's a lot of inner monologue from Bakura. Sorry if it's boring! But it's necessary to further the plot.

This is technically chapter 1. The previous chapter was the prologue in the book. But yes. Here we go. Review please!

One Year Later

I'm a man without a ship.

And it's a terrible feeling. Much worse than anything else I'd ever known.

I missed the feeling of water under the boards, rolling the ship around and reminding you that you're always moving. I missed the storms, man verses nature. I especially missed the dangers of pirating. The battles, the possibility of capture or even a hanging. The riches and wealth within your grasp.

And yet here I am, a wanted man with a huge bounty on my head and no ship to call my home.

I looked up after downing the rest of my beer, scanning the room for the barmaid. As soon as I saw her through the thick smoke that always seemed to cover these sleazy bars, I held up two fingers. She nodded and winked, letting me know that I'd be getting two more drinks soon.

As I waited, I absentmindedly twisted the ring on my finger. A useless trinket made of fools gold and cut glass. Damn thing! Caused me to be marooned on a damn island and lose the respect of the captain.

But even worse than that is the fact that the stupid boy in the hold still haunted me to this day. I don't even know his name yet I can't seem to get him out of my head! He'd had a dagger pressed to his throat yet he was still so defiant and thought so quickly on his feet. I could still see his dark, chocolate eyes and his white hair that spilled over his shoulders. It was so soft. Almost as soft as his lips.

He must have been some sort of mage with some power over me because ever since that day, I haven't seen anyone else that can entice me like he could. There's no other explanation except that the damn boy is some sort of spell caster.

Right then, the barmaid came back and set two tankards on table in front of me.

"You know," she said with a wink. "I could offer more than a drink to such a handsome lad after we close." I had to resist scowling at her as she attempted seduction. Women...

"Thank you for the offer," I replied, smirking. "But I'll likely be otherwise occupied later." Suddenly, she angled her head as if in deep thought.

"You look familiar, lad," she said.

"I'm not sure why I would," I said, perhaps to hastily. "I'm not from around these parts."

"There's just something about ya," she said, still trying to think. I prayed to any god that would listen that it wouldn't come to her. I could easily escape from here, but it would cause trouble for me to have to find another place to go. "Maybe it'll come to me. If you change your mind about later..." She left, taking my empty tankard with her. I again resisted scowling at her, having no plans to change my mind.

"Is one of those for me?"

I'd been so busy with the idiotic wench that I had missed the arrival of Ryuji. He had been a worthy pirate back in the day but in that battle on that damn boat with the white haired witch, he'd been stabbed in the arm, leaving him with a bad infection. He was deemed useless and marooned with me on an island. I had to cut out the infection or watch him die painfully. I didn't feel like being alone on the island, so I decided to cut out the infection, leaving his arm useless at his side.

Usually, despite the connotation, pirates compensated their mates for loss of limb. Unfortunately, Ryuji and I did not have the most compassionate captain. Touzoku-ou Kelly. The legendary Thief King. He'd even abandoned me, his favorite of his pupils.

He'd taken me in at a young age and considered himself my teacher, something I used to my advantage on the ship. Others couldn't really abuse me or yell at me because they were afraid of the captain. I definitely didn't mind because as the youngest on the ship, I was liable to be picked on. And before I could stop, my mind wandered back to that day.

I stood next to Kelly, as usual, as they sailed away from the sinking ship. They could see a long boat going in the opposite direction and I was glad to see white hair flowing in the wind.

"They seemed to have had a lass on board," Kelly muttered, looking through his spyglass. "I wonder how we missed her."

"He's a boy," I replied, foolishly. As soon as I said it, I knew it was a mistake. Usually, the women and more effeminate men were held captive on the ship, for obvious reasons. The glare I was receiving from Kelly was one that would cause even the toughest of pirates to shake in their boots. "He paid me well in return for his safety," I said, holding up the ring. Kelly snatched it and held it firmly in his gaze before tossing it at me. I had to grab at it to keep it from falling into the sea.

"It's a fake! A bit of glass!" the pirate captain growled. "You'll see how well you were paid when I'm done with you!"

I should've taken the damn necklace. Or him! He'd be a worthy prize. Now all I have is this ring. A reminder of my foolishness.

It had been months before a merchant ship had seen our signal fire on the island. Six months to be exact. Six months of eating fish and lizards. When the merchant ship reached a port, Ryuji and I immediately jumped ship. That was the first time I'd seen the posts.

A pirate hunter was putting out a wanted notice for me. As soon as we saw it, we jumped aboard another ship and ever since we've just been jumping back and forth on different ships. But nowhere was safe. The posts were everywhere with my name and face. Lucky I hadn't been noticed yet, but I still had a bandana around my head, hiding my obvious hair. That would give me away immediately.

I turned my attention back to Ryuji, who was busy guzzling the tankard I pushed towards him.

"Did you do as I asked?" I said, narrowing my eyes and tapping my fingers on the dirty table. I was never a huge fan of Ryuji, but he was very good at getting information out of people. I had a sneaking suspicion that it had to do with his looks, seeming as men and women tended to flaunt over him, but I ignored his tactics and just put him to good use.

"Of course," he replied. "Did you expect any less? The pirate hunter is on our tracks. A ship called The Dangerous Mage just docked today." I'd known all of this, so he didn't really get me much information yet.

"It's said she's lead by a teenage captain at that," Ryuji continued.

"As I've heard."

"But you don't believe," Ryuji noted. "I've known teenage pirates. Very well, if you catch my drift." He winked and I did nothing to hide my scowl from him.

"Pirates yes. But not a privateer," I growled, taking a swig of my own grog. "No governor would issue a letter of marque to a teenager."

"So you think it's a fake?"

"The Dangerous Mage is not captained by a teen," I said, as a matter of fact.

"Believe what you will. But who ever it is, they're passing these around." Ryuji pulled a folded up piece of parchment out of his pocket and shoved it across the table. I didn't need to look at it to know what it was. It was the reason we were living in the shadows for the past few months. I opened it anyways.

It was like staring into a looking glass. Even the scare was etched on the paper perfectly in the right spot. Someone had gotten a good look at my face and wanted me enough to print up these posts with a reward involved. The reward underneath my face totaled one hundred pounds.

I resisted the urge to crumple up the post and throw it on the ground, but then I'd risk someone seeing it and that reward was something that would cause any to capture me. Something like that would surely put a dent in my plans.

"A reward like that would tempt any man to turn you in," Ryuji said, as if reading my mind.

"Are you tempted, Otogi?" I asked, shoving the parchment into my own jacket.

"Of course not! You saved my life and I owe you yours," he said, downing the rest of his tankard.

But no other man owed me, and that could cause problems. The barmaid was smiling in my direction again. I remember her saying I looked familiar. She'd seen the post for sure. How many others had? We'd have to get out and soon.

"I found a captain willing to take on two experienced sea men," Ryuji continued, reading my mind yet again.

"Ha! Even a one armed sailor like yourself?" I asked, teasingly.

"You only need one arm to cook," he retorted, not even the slight bit offended.

"You've never cooked before," I scoffed.

"So what?" he shrugged. "You interested in joining? The captains not asking any questions."

"I'm assuming this ship isn't of the legal sort."

"He's not asking questions so I did the same," Ryuji muttered. Not that it mattered. I needed a place to go and didn't have time to be picky.

"When do they sail?" I asked quickly.

"First mornings light."

"Good."

"Well finish your drink and I'll take you to meet the captain," he said, motioning for the barmaid to take his own cup and slipping her a coin. I downed my tankard in one swig and did the same. She batted her eyelashes at me, but I ignored her and headed for the door, Ryuji following closely. Neither of us needed to go fetch any of our belongings. We had everything we owned on our person. My pistol, cutlass, and the clothes on my back.

I love living this nomadic life. Nothing tying me down. But I've always wanted a more steady place. A ship to call my own with a loyal crew doing whatever I asked out of either admiration or fear. It would have to be a good, seaworthy ship. But those are expensive and hard to come by.

We reached the street after weaving through the drunken tavern. It was nearly midnight and a soft sort of mist was swirling around the ground, the lanterns hanging every few feet giving it a sort of eerie glow. We worked our way along the narrow streets, not worrying too much seeming as most people were inside at this point.

"This way." Ryuji stepped in front of me, leading me down a dark alley where no lanterns spread light. I can only describe it as a place where I would only go to rob someone.

I walked close to Ryuji. I hadn't ever been scared of the dark, but I could trip over something unseen in this terrible lighting. Perhaps it was because I was paying such close attention, but I heard a small, whisper of a sound. Quickly, I slid my cutlass out of it's holder and held it tightly.

"Hey! There's no need for that!" Ryuji muttered, noticing my unease.

"Something's not right," I muttered. No sooner had I said it than Ryuji let out a loud screech and disappeared into the shadows as a flame lit up behind me. I turned quickly, drawing a knife from my boot so I held two weapons, one in each hand.

There were at least six men blocking the path and behind me, I heard more footsteps, meaning they were blocking that side too.

"Drop your weapon, Akefia, and you won't be harmed!" one of the men yelled, holding up his own sword.

"If you want it, come and get it!" I yelled back, laughing as if facing a bully on a ship. I swung the cutlass down as warning. Almost a dare. In response I heard a the unmistakable swing of a sword behind me and I turned quickly, catching it with my cutlass and thrusting forward with the knife. My opponent jumped back in time though.

I was at a disadvantage and I knew it. There were too many men here and no possible way of escape. But there's no way I'm going down without a fight.

"There's no fighting this! Surrender to the captain of The Dangerous Lady!"

"I'll never surrender to you!" I retorted, turning to him.

"I'm not the captain," the man said, holding his sword up again.

"Ah! So he's too much of a coward to do this himself," I spat angrily.

Suddenly, I fell to the ground, a sharp pain in the back of my skull. Someone must've come up behind me while I was distracted and the weapons were torn from my hands as my head swam. I had a difficult time staying awake as that hit had been pretty hard. I was yanked to my feet and felt the bite of rope as my hands were tied. Then I heard the enticing clink of coins and turned in time to see the man pouring the money into Ryuji's open hands.

"Bastard," I growled.

"Sorry, Bakura. But you took my arm. You owed me." His smirk angered me more than anything else, and I expected the next part. He drew back and punched me square in the jaw with his good hand.

"Enough!" I recognized that voice immediately.

Of course. I don't know why I hadn't seen it before.

Despite the bonds on my wrist making it awkward, I turned my head to watch as he came out of the shadows, white hair billowing behind him. He walked up to, chocolate eyes focused on me and only me.

"We meet again," he said, quietly.

And the look in his eyes said he had every intention of sending me straight to hell.