The days between that first night and the race were passing quickly, only two days were left before she was ride and her nervousness was increasing with each hour that passed, especially since at night she would sleep on a pallet so close to him that she could smell his warm skin but not close enough that they were touching. A part of her was relieved because being so close to him was a temptation she couldn't afford but the other part, the far more outspoken part felt rejected being so far away from him. Her skin burned at night, her body hot with a passion she couldn't describe and sticky from the sweat that rolled off her, and for the life her she couldn't sleep. Maybe that was his strategy, teach her the meaning of how a woman's body fits a man's and then tease her with the possibilities until it was all she could think about, if that was his plan then dammit it was working.

She still couldn't get the feel of his hands on her body out of her head since that one night at camp, it made her palm damp as she lie on the pallet next to Bakura, watching his strong face in sleep, made soft and more vulnerable. Thifa had the urge to reach out and brush her hand over the scar again, feel the warm skin beneath her hand, feel the roughened skin. She almost moaned.

"You're watching me again." He said deeply, startling her.

Thifa pretended to be asleep, hoping to lure him back to sleep. "You can pretend all you like, but I know you're awake."

"How the hell do you know I'm awake?" she said then winced.

"You just proved it."

"You tricked me! It doesn't count!"

Bakura laughed. "Why aren't you asleep?"

She hesitated. "Just thinking."

"About?"

"Nothing really specific."

He was silent for a moment. "Me."

She was stunned, how the hell had he known? "A bit presumptuous aren't we?"

"Were you?"

"No." Thifa said defensively.

He chuckled again, his eyes still closed. "Are you curious about after the race?"

"No." she said too quickly, cursing herself.

"Not even a little?"

"Are you teasing me?"

"Yes."

Thifa huffed in the dark and turned on the pallet, facing away from him, he was entirely too perceptive for her own good, he seemed to see right through the guards she had put up to protect herself from those who wished to hurt her. Bakura was only one who had so far managed to break into the most private part of her, her heart and was very quickly filling it with his presence, making it difficult for her to just rip him out when she left. She didn't want to risk having her heart broken.

"It's all right to be curious you know."

"Not for me." She murmured. "Nothing about this will ever be alright."

He was quiet for a long time, making her think that maybe he had fallen asleep. "Things are never easy."

"If it was easy, we would never learn."

"This is true." There was so much pain in his voice she wanted to turn to him and ease it but held back.

She wondered was Atem was thinking of her, she wondered if he had noticed yet that she was gone, it had been a few days since she had gone missing but her brother tended to be a little distracted and didn't notice the little things. It was more likely that Isis had noticed and was raising quite a fuss, since Thifa wasn't there to make her daily absolutions to the gods or commit to the daily fuss of suitors. Freedom, though, was the greatest happiness to her.

"Tell me about yourself." He said quietly.

"You want to know about me?"

"Yes."

Thifa was surprised, to her it seemed as though she was just a body, why did he want to know about her? "I was raised in Cairo with my brother." She started softly. "No parents that I really remember just one of the priestesses and some close friends…. We were all really close….. but those were the happiest moments of my life. My brother and I would race all the time down the road and back up and play pranks on everyone else."

"Sounds like you were happy."

"Yeah, very. Things were simpler then, I didn't have to worry about the gods or responsibilities or anything, all I had to think about was us and how to make him laugh. Even then there were so many problems he had to fix, so many expectations on him to do what they thought was right, in the end though he came through for them." Thifa sighs. "I miss those days, mostly because it feels like I lost my best friend."

"You and your brother are close?"

"Yes, and when he's not busy or being hounded by those who want his attention it almost feels like before."

"Are you happy now?"

She hesitated, because the question was so tenuous, things were being weighted on it, her feelings for the man, her feelings towards her brother, her pride and her loyalty. "I don't know."

"You don't know?"

"It's a hard question to answer."

"How hard is it? Are you happy?"

"Because my automatic response would be yes, but so many things have changed and I'm not sure what happiness feels like."

"Hmmm."

"Being free for a few moments tells me that I was feeling to comfortable there, too restless, I needed to get away, but also being away creates conflicting emotions."

"Do I hear a thank you?"

Thifa laughed. "No."

"Ahh damn, too much to ask for then?"

"Yes."

Two Days Later

The morning of the race had dawned bright and early, too early for Thifa was lying in the bed with her eyes wide open and her hands shaking badly, her heart was racing fast and hard in her chest and her eyes were gritty from lack of sleep.

"Time to wake up." He said softly above her.

She shook her head. "Not yet."

He chuckled. "Need more time to adjust to losing?"

"God no!" she exclaimed sitting up. "I don't intend to lose."

Bakura grinned and pulled the blanket off her, making her moan in protestation and close her eyes again, he hauled her out of the pallet and plunked her on top.

"C'mon, get up."

"I don't want to."

"Too bad."

"Can we postpone it?"

Bakura groaned. "You mean wait? Not unless you want to change the wager."

Thifa blushed. "No thank you."

"Okay then, time to get up!"

"Fine."

Twenty minutes later Thifa left the tent and stood wearing a repaired dress for horse riding and her hair pulled back behind her head, her face was set with determination while her hands were clutching the air. Sweat rolled over her brow and her eyes were wavering but there was no doubt that she was ready, even the way she walked spoke of unwavering determination to win. Two horses had been prepared, Bakura's horse and one for her own use, it was tall and sleek with long lines and hard muscle with a long black mane.

"His name is Boreas."

"Good name." she said drying, watching the stallion paw the earth.

"He's tame."

"Funny, I heard the same thing said about you."

Bakura chuckled then walked over to his horse and mounted in one easy fluid motion, settling easily on the horse's back. "Still time to back out."

"I'm no coward."

"Then saddle up."

Glaring at him, she mounted the other horse, crooning lovingly in his ear to calm the stallion then walking him in paces around the tent to stretch his legs a little.

"You ready?"

"Ready whenever you are."

TBC