[Hello! ^__^ Thank you to all that have reviewed. I really appreciate it. Ugh I kind of fell really sick right after the second chapter. I'm writing this with a terrible headache. ___ Take care everyone! ^_^]
To Subaru-S: Arigatou!! ^__^ Ah yes there are alot of plotholes at this current point as I wanted Bakura to explain it all as he went through Egypt getting the cure. Hint: It has got something to do with the dagger and Yami knew about it. His drastic change in character will be somewhat explained. ^__^ I hope. Hehe, for what Bakura whispered to Ryou, you'll know at the end. *evil grin* And yes, you are completely right when you said Takut means Afraid (Lol, contradiction). Lol I didn't know what else to put for a name so decided to choose that. I would have chosen a better word but I'm not good at the language and couldn't find my dictionary. (I actually wanted to put it as Gila [Insane] but Takut sounded more Egyptian) ^__^ Thank you for reviewing. (Wow that was long.)
To Malenyn of the Shadows: ^__^ Yup S/J rulez!
To LazyLiza: Lol I'm messed up too so its really all okay. ^__^ Join the club!!
To Anime the Fallen Angel: ^__^ To save or not to save, that is the question.
On to the story! ^__^
_____________________________________________
Seto led the Pharaoh and the tomb robber to a spare room he had and left them there. It was Christmas Eve and trying to save Ryou was the most unexpected thing they were doing on such a day.
"Thank you... Pharaoh... For stopping Kaiba from following me a well as..." Bakura said, he couldn't believe he was actually thanking someone.
"You're welcome. I'm doing this for Ryou, I know how much he means to Yugi. Besides, Kaiba really wouldn't be able to catch up with you. I would follow you if I could but Yugi needs someone and I myself believe that you will move faster alone" The Pharaoh said, pausing a while. "Because you're going to the palace aren't you?"
Bakura nodded. Of course Yami knew, he was the Pharaoh. Naturally he had noticed the royal insignia carved onto the hilt of the gem-encrusted dagger. It was present on all the weapons used by the rulers of Egypt and being a tomb robber, it would not be surprising that Takut could lay his hands on the blade; one of the many treasures buried with the mummies of the previous pharaohs. And as a royal weapon, it was injected with poison while it was being forged thus being able to kill anything slowly, even with just a small scratch of the blade.
"When you want to come back, snap this apart." Yami instructed, handing him a very thin gold chain he had enchanted. Bakura nodded once more and shut his eyes, contemplating what he would do once there.
When Bakura opened his eyes again, he was back in Ancient Egypt. 'Well, no time to think now, I've got to head to the Royal Palace. It's a royal poison, so there's got to be an antidote at the palace.' He thought to himself, mentally laughing at the thought of the Pharaoh having to consume the antidote after testing the sharpness of the blade and accidentally poking himself with it. Just before he dashed off again, he noticed how comfortable he felt suddenly. He looked down at himself and noticed that he was clad in his old torn white linen kilt and dark coloured robe. He put a hand up to his face. Running from the bottom of his right eye downwards was the familiar scar he had obtained. The Pharaoh had sent him back as his old self. It would help; he could blend in easily. It wouldn't do to draw the royal guards to him.
As he ran towards the palace, thoughts flooded his mind. There were a million questions in his head but he had no answer for any of them.
'Why am I doing this?.. Don't tell me I've fallen for the little brat... After seeing him like that... Why am I overcome with guilt?..What I did three nights ago was fine... wasn't it?' He thought. Suddenly, he stopped dead in his tracks.
'No.. it wasn't fine. I shouldn't have hurt him like that...Wait. Why the heck am I suddenly caring so much? This isn't me. This can't be.. I'm not this weak.'
"Weak". The word reverberated through the dark cave of his thoughts as all other things he was thinking about fled from his mind. Then, like a bolt of lightning, it struck him.
All the while, he had been taking everything out on Ryou. His anger, his pain, subconciously even the fact that Takut was dead. For years he had been blaming everyone else but himself. Painful memories hit him as he remembered the day Takut fell sick.
___________________________________________
~Flashback~
The night before, the both of them had gone on a raid. While walking around the pyramid to get back home, Takut had unknowingly bothered a snake. It bit him on the ankle and he fell, grabbing for anything to hold on to. What his hand grabbed was Bakura's kilt. Thankfully, it didn't fall off. Agitated, Bakura had to carry him home that night. He had seen the snake as it slid off, it was not a dangerous one. Takut's body would be able to expel the poison on its own in a day, all he needed was rest.
When they got back however, Bakura realised that his beloved dagger was missing. Angrily, he turned to the nearest person he could and blamed him. To him, it was obviously because Takut had grabbed his kilt that the knot holding the hilt of the dagger had become undone. Takut remained silent the whole time with a forlorn look etched across his face. Bakura didn't want to go back and get it; it was too risky. With only two hours left to sunrise, Bakura went to sleep.
As Bakura drifted off, Takut stood up and limped towards the door. He was intent on getting the dagger back although he knew that he didn't quite cause the loss of it. He would have just told Bakura off, saying that it fell off probably because of his weak knots, but he didn't; he loved Bakura too much. He traced their steps back until he found the place where he had been bitten. Kneeling down, he felt around in the sand until his fingers came upon cold hard metal. There was only 15 minutes left to sunrise. Hurriedly, he made it home.
When Bakura woke up, he found his dagger lying near his head. Turning towards his friend, he saw Takut sleeping with a frown on his face. He shook the dark haired teenager up.
"...I got your dagger back for you.." Takut told him sleepily.
"Well, if you didn't I would have pummelled you by now." Bakura said, scowling. There was no "thank you" or "how do you feel?", just a violent threat.
Takut rolled around in his bed so that he wouldn't see Bakura. Or rather, so that Bakura wouldn't see the tears that had begun trickling down his face.
"We're going to raid Nefertina's tonight." He announced.
"I can't go..." Came Takut's weak reply. "I don't feel well."
"Heh, I should go without you then yeah?" Bakura said, evilly. He didn't mean it. In fact, he didn't even know why he had said such a thing. He hadn't thanked Takut for retrieving the dagger, and now he was hurting the other tomb robber with his words. There was no reply.
"Eh.. Another night then." He said coldly, grabbing his knapsack. He wanted to go to town and get some provisions as well as some medicine for Takut. It was bugging him that the poison was having this sort of effect and getting medicine just in case sounded like a good idea. 'Not like I care for him. Its just better to have someone to send ahead of you in raids.' He reasoned with himself, denying the fact that he liked the other teenager.
When he came back late that night, there was blood all over the place, with Takut coughing blood in the middle of the room. There was a sign painted into the wall with Takut's blood; the insignia of the Royal Guards. It was obvious that they had gotten to him while he was away.
Hurriedly he rushed to the Egyptian's side, lifting his body into his arms. Takut was trying to tell him something but it was almost inaudible with all the blood that was coming out of his mouth at the same time.
"..You...you told... on me... didn't you... You.. must've used.. the ..time.. to ..raid the tomb.." Takut said in a soft whisper. It was painful for him just to talk. Bakura lowered the body and was about to explain it fully to Takut when the teenager took his last breath.
_______________________________________
As the memory flashed past him, he began to quicken his pace again. It had now become obvious why he wanted to save Ryou so badly. He had already lost someone he knew loved him before and he was not about to let it happen again. He had always associated love with being weak but he stopped. He couldn't run away from it any more. Seeing his hikari lying like that had really woken him up and he didn't want his nightmare to repeat itself.
It had been ages since he had even been near the Pharaoh's Palace but he knew it like the back of his hand nonetheless. All tomb robbers knew the floor plans of the palace well. They were only waiting for the rulers to go into political strife so that there would be so much chaos they could raid the palace and get away with it. As it was, the whole place was swarming with guards and to even try to enter was extremely foolish.
Today though, Bakura was going to be extremely foolish. His safety didn't matter to him anymore. The only thing that mattered was saving Ryou, and he would do it, even if the Pharaoh decided to enleash his whole army on him.
As he was running through the crowded streets of ancient Egypt, the palace came into view, not more than a kilometer away. Immediately, he took a right and ran down one of the many alleys. After about one hour of steering himself through the myriad of paths and passing the most rowdy of people (such like him), he came upon a huge drain. It's source was an unguarded side of the palace. However, to get anywhere from that particular spot, one would have to pass at least twenty patrolling guards.
Readying himself, he jumped two meters down into the drain and began trekking upwards, the stench of the dirty water filling his nostrils. By the time he reached his destination, it was late evening and he was covered in small abrasions which he had while climbing upwards.
He had gotten himself into one of the main corridors that led to the Healer's room. It was the only way there and possibly one of the most well guarded places, since the Healer was always situated near the Pharaoh's chamber, should something unfortunate happen. All the way there he had avoided guards, hiding behind corners, ducking behind huge earthenware urns; but now he couldn't. There were four standing two on each side, beside the large oak doors. They would be a problem but that didn't faze him.
Reaching for his dagger from under his robe, Bakura lashed out from behind the corner and charged for the nearest guard who was extremely surprised at his entrance. No one dared to enter the Palace in such a manner. Bakura took advantage of his shock and plunged the weapon into the guard's heart.
He then ducked to avoid the onslaught of the other three, barely missing the blades by a few millimeters. With great speed, he used his foot to trip the next one, positioning his blade in such a way that the guard fell onto it, thus killing him as well. Next he turned to the other two who looked like they were going to faint in fright. He grinned and licked his blade. That was all it took for one of them to go running off. 'Shit.' He thought to himself. 'Now he's going to alert all the rest of those goons. Oh well, at least that's one less to deal with. All I need is to get in, get the potion and get out.'
In anger at seeing his comrades die, the last guard flung his weapon at Bakura. The tip barely missed his chest. As the hand passed before him, he reached out and grabbed it, using the momentum of the guard's force to twist his arm in a painful manner and ultimately fling him down. Without hesitation, he used his dagger to slit his throat.
Letting go of the body, Bakura stood at his full height and pushed open the door. What he saw surprised him quite a bit.
______________________________________________
[The end of the second last chapter. ^__^ So er I hope it was all explained ne? If there's anything I missed out please let me know. Thank you once again to all who reviewed and especially Subaru-S. (Before I had read your review, I kinda knew what I wanted to write but was still groping around in the dark, so you've helped greatly.)]
In the next chapter: Bakura wanted to go in, get it and get out, but it isn't as easy as it sounds.
To Subaru-S: Arigatou!! ^__^ Ah yes there are alot of plotholes at this current point as I wanted Bakura to explain it all as he went through Egypt getting the cure. Hint: It has got something to do with the dagger and Yami knew about it. His drastic change in character will be somewhat explained. ^__^ I hope. Hehe, for what Bakura whispered to Ryou, you'll know at the end. *evil grin* And yes, you are completely right when you said Takut means Afraid (Lol, contradiction). Lol I didn't know what else to put for a name so decided to choose that. I would have chosen a better word but I'm not good at the language and couldn't find my dictionary. (I actually wanted to put it as Gila [Insane] but Takut sounded more Egyptian) ^__^ Thank you for reviewing. (Wow that was long.)
To Malenyn of the Shadows: ^__^ Yup S/J rulez!
To LazyLiza: Lol I'm messed up too so its really all okay. ^__^ Join the club!!
To Anime the Fallen Angel: ^__^ To save or not to save, that is the question.
On to the story! ^__^
_____________________________________________
Seto led the Pharaoh and the tomb robber to a spare room he had and left them there. It was Christmas Eve and trying to save Ryou was the most unexpected thing they were doing on such a day.
"Thank you... Pharaoh... For stopping Kaiba from following me a well as..." Bakura said, he couldn't believe he was actually thanking someone.
"You're welcome. I'm doing this for Ryou, I know how much he means to Yugi. Besides, Kaiba really wouldn't be able to catch up with you. I would follow you if I could but Yugi needs someone and I myself believe that you will move faster alone" The Pharaoh said, pausing a while. "Because you're going to the palace aren't you?"
Bakura nodded. Of course Yami knew, he was the Pharaoh. Naturally he had noticed the royal insignia carved onto the hilt of the gem-encrusted dagger. It was present on all the weapons used by the rulers of Egypt and being a tomb robber, it would not be surprising that Takut could lay his hands on the blade; one of the many treasures buried with the mummies of the previous pharaohs. And as a royal weapon, it was injected with poison while it was being forged thus being able to kill anything slowly, even with just a small scratch of the blade.
"When you want to come back, snap this apart." Yami instructed, handing him a very thin gold chain he had enchanted. Bakura nodded once more and shut his eyes, contemplating what he would do once there.
When Bakura opened his eyes again, he was back in Ancient Egypt. 'Well, no time to think now, I've got to head to the Royal Palace. It's a royal poison, so there's got to be an antidote at the palace.' He thought to himself, mentally laughing at the thought of the Pharaoh having to consume the antidote after testing the sharpness of the blade and accidentally poking himself with it. Just before he dashed off again, he noticed how comfortable he felt suddenly. He looked down at himself and noticed that he was clad in his old torn white linen kilt and dark coloured robe. He put a hand up to his face. Running from the bottom of his right eye downwards was the familiar scar he had obtained. The Pharaoh had sent him back as his old self. It would help; he could blend in easily. It wouldn't do to draw the royal guards to him.
As he ran towards the palace, thoughts flooded his mind. There were a million questions in his head but he had no answer for any of them.
'Why am I doing this?.. Don't tell me I've fallen for the little brat... After seeing him like that... Why am I overcome with guilt?..What I did three nights ago was fine... wasn't it?' He thought. Suddenly, he stopped dead in his tracks.
'No.. it wasn't fine. I shouldn't have hurt him like that...Wait. Why the heck am I suddenly caring so much? This isn't me. This can't be.. I'm not this weak.'
"Weak". The word reverberated through the dark cave of his thoughts as all other things he was thinking about fled from his mind. Then, like a bolt of lightning, it struck him.
All the while, he had been taking everything out on Ryou. His anger, his pain, subconciously even the fact that Takut was dead. For years he had been blaming everyone else but himself. Painful memories hit him as he remembered the day Takut fell sick.
___________________________________________
~Flashback~
The night before, the both of them had gone on a raid. While walking around the pyramid to get back home, Takut had unknowingly bothered a snake. It bit him on the ankle and he fell, grabbing for anything to hold on to. What his hand grabbed was Bakura's kilt. Thankfully, it didn't fall off. Agitated, Bakura had to carry him home that night. He had seen the snake as it slid off, it was not a dangerous one. Takut's body would be able to expel the poison on its own in a day, all he needed was rest.
When they got back however, Bakura realised that his beloved dagger was missing. Angrily, he turned to the nearest person he could and blamed him. To him, it was obviously because Takut had grabbed his kilt that the knot holding the hilt of the dagger had become undone. Takut remained silent the whole time with a forlorn look etched across his face. Bakura didn't want to go back and get it; it was too risky. With only two hours left to sunrise, Bakura went to sleep.
As Bakura drifted off, Takut stood up and limped towards the door. He was intent on getting the dagger back although he knew that he didn't quite cause the loss of it. He would have just told Bakura off, saying that it fell off probably because of his weak knots, but he didn't; he loved Bakura too much. He traced their steps back until he found the place where he had been bitten. Kneeling down, he felt around in the sand until his fingers came upon cold hard metal. There was only 15 minutes left to sunrise. Hurriedly, he made it home.
When Bakura woke up, he found his dagger lying near his head. Turning towards his friend, he saw Takut sleeping with a frown on his face. He shook the dark haired teenager up.
"...I got your dagger back for you.." Takut told him sleepily.
"Well, if you didn't I would have pummelled you by now." Bakura said, scowling. There was no "thank you" or "how do you feel?", just a violent threat.
Takut rolled around in his bed so that he wouldn't see Bakura. Or rather, so that Bakura wouldn't see the tears that had begun trickling down his face.
"We're going to raid Nefertina's tonight." He announced.
"I can't go..." Came Takut's weak reply. "I don't feel well."
"Heh, I should go without you then yeah?" Bakura said, evilly. He didn't mean it. In fact, he didn't even know why he had said such a thing. He hadn't thanked Takut for retrieving the dagger, and now he was hurting the other tomb robber with his words. There was no reply.
"Eh.. Another night then." He said coldly, grabbing his knapsack. He wanted to go to town and get some provisions as well as some medicine for Takut. It was bugging him that the poison was having this sort of effect and getting medicine just in case sounded like a good idea. 'Not like I care for him. Its just better to have someone to send ahead of you in raids.' He reasoned with himself, denying the fact that he liked the other teenager.
When he came back late that night, there was blood all over the place, with Takut coughing blood in the middle of the room. There was a sign painted into the wall with Takut's blood; the insignia of the Royal Guards. It was obvious that they had gotten to him while he was away.
Hurriedly he rushed to the Egyptian's side, lifting his body into his arms. Takut was trying to tell him something but it was almost inaudible with all the blood that was coming out of his mouth at the same time.
"..You...you told... on me... didn't you... You.. must've used.. the ..time.. to ..raid the tomb.." Takut said in a soft whisper. It was painful for him just to talk. Bakura lowered the body and was about to explain it fully to Takut when the teenager took his last breath.
_______________________________________
As the memory flashed past him, he began to quicken his pace again. It had now become obvious why he wanted to save Ryou so badly. He had already lost someone he knew loved him before and he was not about to let it happen again. He had always associated love with being weak but he stopped. He couldn't run away from it any more. Seeing his hikari lying like that had really woken him up and he didn't want his nightmare to repeat itself.
It had been ages since he had even been near the Pharaoh's Palace but he knew it like the back of his hand nonetheless. All tomb robbers knew the floor plans of the palace well. They were only waiting for the rulers to go into political strife so that there would be so much chaos they could raid the palace and get away with it. As it was, the whole place was swarming with guards and to even try to enter was extremely foolish.
Today though, Bakura was going to be extremely foolish. His safety didn't matter to him anymore. The only thing that mattered was saving Ryou, and he would do it, even if the Pharaoh decided to enleash his whole army on him.
As he was running through the crowded streets of ancient Egypt, the palace came into view, not more than a kilometer away. Immediately, he took a right and ran down one of the many alleys. After about one hour of steering himself through the myriad of paths and passing the most rowdy of people (such like him), he came upon a huge drain. It's source was an unguarded side of the palace. However, to get anywhere from that particular spot, one would have to pass at least twenty patrolling guards.
Readying himself, he jumped two meters down into the drain and began trekking upwards, the stench of the dirty water filling his nostrils. By the time he reached his destination, it was late evening and he was covered in small abrasions which he had while climbing upwards.
He had gotten himself into one of the main corridors that led to the Healer's room. It was the only way there and possibly one of the most well guarded places, since the Healer was always situated near the Pharaoh's chamber, should something unfortunate happen. All the way there he had avoided guards, hiding behind corners, ducking behind huge earthenware urns; but now he couldn't. There were four standing two on each side, beside the large oak doors. They would be a problem but that didn't faze him.
Reaching for his dagger from under his robe, Bakura lashed out from behind the corner and charged for the nearest guard who was extremely surprised at his entrance. No one dared to enter the Palace in such a manner. Bakura took advantage of his shock and plunged the weapon into the guard's heart.
He then ducked to avoid the onslaught of the other three, barely missing the blades by a few millimeters. With great speed, he used his foot to trip the next one, positioning his blade in such a way that the guard fell onto it, thus killing him as well. Next he turned to the other two who looked like they were going to faint in fright. He grinned and licked his blade. That was all it took for one of them to go running off. 'Shit.' He thought to himself. 'Now he's going to alert all the rest of those goons. Oh well, at least that's one less to deal with. All I need is to get in, get the potion and get out.'
In anger at seeing his comrades die, the last guard flung his weapon at Bakura. The tip barely missed his chest. As the hand passed before him, he reached out and grabbed it, using the momentum of the guard's force to twist his arm in a painful manner and ultimately fling him down. Without hesitation, he used his dagger to slit his throat.
Letting go of the body, Bakura stood at his full height and pushed open the door. What he saw surprised him quite a bit.
______________________________________________
[The end of the second last chapter. ^__^ So er I hope it was all explained ne? If there's anything I missed out please let me know. Thank you once again to all who reviewed and especially Subaru-S. (Before I had read your review, I kinda knew what I wanted to write but was still groping around in the dark, so you've helped greatly.)]
In the next chapter: Bakura wanted to go in, get it and get out, but it isn't as easy as it sounds.
