Ruby: *hides behind desk*

Luna: ...?

Ruby: Sssshh....*points to angry readers coming in swarms*

Luna: Slacked off on your updating again?

Ruby: ......maybe.....;

Luna: --;;;;

Ruby: *comes out to press the 'Update' button before crawling away*

Luna: *sweatdrop* Ruby doesn't own anything......not Yu-gi-oh, nor Ryou, nor Bakura, nor any of Linkin Park's songs.....Sassarai is hers though......yeah....*walks away*

Side Note from the Authoress: Arigatou to all those who helped me Bakura's past! Unfortunately it was a little late to change the Sassarai bit, but the other parts helped a lot! ^__^ *hands out cookies and plushies to reviewers*

*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

*Cards fly across screen to encircle Yami* *Yami's voice is heard* Previously, on MPPPPFFFF!!! *Yami is muffled and replaced by a feminine voice* Change of Heart!

"And just what makes you think I'll let you go by, /Thief/" His tone on the last word ruffled my fur, but I held my temper for Ryou's sake.

"I /will/ see Ryou, Pharaoh. I need him back."

*~

"...I don't know how to convince Ryou that I'm sorry...." I stared at the soft beige carpet again, and I guess at that moment I had the image of a wounded puppy, not knowing where to turn.

"Tell him the truth..." came Yami's reply before he walked past, towards and down the stairs.

*~

"Let me show you...why I am the way I am....I'll take you back with me..." I told him gently.

"I-I don't know...." Ryou's face became suspicious, "What if you're trying to trick me...." I held up my other hand in defense.

"No trick....just, hear me out...please....and then make your decision about me..."

*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*

*Ryou's POV*

I blinked, my eyes adjusting to the light. I tried to rub my eyes, only to find my hand passed through my head like a ghost. I blinked once. Then twice. Holding my hands in front of me, I tried to put them together, only to have them pass through one another. I couldn't feel anything, and it was actually looked rather funny. In, out. In, out. I chuckled.

"If you're QUITE finished," a voice came from behind me. I turned to see Bakura, apparently floating in midair, with the same ghostly-figure as me. I blushed and grinned, and Bakura remained silent, turning to stare over my shoulder with glassy eyes. I turned to find a landscape I had only heard of lying behind me. Sandy hills, sharp winds, and tall buildings that were in the peak of their beauty. Ancient Egypt.

It's easier to run

Replacing this pain with something numb

It's so much easier to go

Than face all this pain here all alone

"Why are we in Egypt?" I asked quietly, "And how come we're like ghosts?" Bakura continued to look wistfully at the Egyptian land.

"We're in my memories, the ones stored in the Ring. We don't have any place here so we have no physical form. And we're here because I promised to show you the truth. This is where it all began," He floated over to me and took my hand, which oddly enough, didn't pass through his. "Come," he said, taking me down to a small town off to one side. I was surprised that he hadn't been ferocious or abusive in any way yet. Still, I remained wary--he had played this game before. He would act all nice, letting my guard fall before the blows began.

"There," said Bakura, pointing towards a certain house as we floated above the ground. I followed his gaze, only to set eyes on a young boy. He appeared to be a toddler, yet he already had a mane of white-silver hair sprouting in all directions. He held his arms up to a man, waving them a bit, and the man obliged, picking the boy up, carrying him on his shoulder. The boy squealed in delight as the man called out inside the house. A woman soon exited, promptly tucking her short, wavy white hair under a cloth with a circlet to hold it in place. Smiling at whom Ryou assumed was her husband, she slipped her arm into his, and they walked off, a perfect picture of a happy family.

"Is.....was that...." I murmured, afraid to ask.

"That was me, in my youth. And my parents," Bakura's voice was full of longing as he stared after the trio.

Something has been taken

From deep inside of me

A secret I've kept locked away

No one can ever see

Just then, the whole scene swirled in a mass of gray, black and red. It was the same place, but everything was different. Houses were burning, people were screaming, people were being killed. There was so much bloodshed--people were literally being sliced open. Had I not been a spirit, and this not a memory, I would have been scared. Suddenly, a shadow fell across the horrific scene.

A man on horseback, clad in a priest's robes, stared down on the burning town with a stone face. His eyes, a dark brown, showed no emotion whatsoever at the pain beneath his steed's feet. A couple of people shouted bitter curses at the man attempting to strike him with weapons of their own, only to be battled back by more of who appeared to be the Pharaoh's guards. The man merely remained silent, watching as puddles of crimson liquid formed on the ground, staining his horse's hooves as he walked past.. I winced at the gruesome sight, turning my attention toward the man on horseback. I did not recognize him, so I turned to my yami for help.

"His name was Akunadin, and he was one of the Pharaoh's top priests. He would also become the holder of the Millennium Eye,"

Wounds so deep they never show

They never go away

Like moving pictures in my head

For years and years they've played

I looked back at the man, who was now climbing down from his horse, but no, he had two eyes.

"At this point in time, the Millennium Items had not yet been created...but they soon would be," Bakura said, as though reading my thoughts. "And this town, my town, was to be their sacrifice," My mouth formed an 'o' but no sound came out, my gaze instantly snapping back to the town below me.

"But....but why??" I exclaimed.

"Kuru Eruna, this town, was a town of thieves and robbers. We had always been considered a threat, but no one had bothered to do anything about us, so we lived on. That is, until it was decided that the great power of the Shadow Games had gone on long enough, and that it was time to make something that could control those evil influences. The Pharaoh, Aknumkanon, finally agreed to allow Akunadin to create the Millennium Items, using a power he had discovered in a book and 99 sacrifices. And who better to sacrifice then a thief town? Two problems cleared in one," Bakura's voice was dripping with bitter hatred both toward the pharaoh and to his priest. And I could understand why.

A flash of white caught the corner of my eye, and, looking closer, I could just see Bakura-chan, hiding in the shadows of a building, wide-eyed as he watched the people of his town slaughtered before him. There was no sign of his father and mother.

Akunadin, followed by other priests, stepped up to an altar in the center of town. At last, the killing had stopped--the sacrifice was complete. The priests began a chant so deep and ominous it sent chills down Ryou's spine. At first nothing happened, but then there was a bright light, blinding the scene. The last thing Ryou saw was a large stone tablet emerging from the earth, imprinted with a man bearing seven golden items, embedded into the stone.

If I could change I would

Take back the pain I would

Retrace every wrong move that I made I would

Slowly, the image began to fade away, leaving Ryou and Bakura in the darkness.

"I---your family--did they--" Ryou said quietly. Bakura nodded slowly, his face downcast. For the first time, I could suddenly associate with my yami. He, like me, had lost loved ones tragically, left broken-hearted and alone. Bakura looked up, staring into my eyes with a kind of understanding.

"Yes, Ryou....you and I are much alike...." he said. I opened my mouth to ask how he knew what I was thinking, but he simply made a gesture with his hands. The Millenium Ring suddenly appeared around the both of our necks. "So long as we both hold the Ring, we are bonded again," Bakura turned his head to stare wistfully into the darkness. "But you know Ryou, there's a big difference between you and I...After that incident, I allowed a darkness to captivate my soul, berate it with a lust for revenge..."

If I could

Stand up and take the blame I would

If I could take all the shame to the grave I would

Another image panned into view at this point, one of a desert that spanned the horizons with its cascades of sand. Yet, in the midst of the sandy color, there was a flash of white hair, which Ryou recognized immediately.

"I walked through the desert for what seemed like forever, trying to find somewhere to stay..." Bakura narrated to his other. Ryou glanced around to see that Bakura-chan was making his way towards a small house in the middle of the desert. He trudged along, sweat pouring down his face to mingle with the blood that was already trickling down from his cheek, his mouth gaping and obviously parched. With a last gasp, the boy collapsed, his face falling into the sand.

Ryou gasped, floating over to try and help the little boy up. However, his hands simply passed through the boy uselessly. As Ryou tried to help Bakura-chan, someone else came running up to him. He was an older man, his head bound by a turban, think robes covering his body. His dark brown eyes flashed with sympathy as he observed the unconscious boy on the ground, and he deftly lifted him, carrying him bridal-style back to what Ryou presumed was his house.

"Who was that?" asked Ryou, rising back in the air next to his darker side.

"Sassarai," Bakura said, the name holding almost as much amnesty on his tongue as when he spoke of Akunamukanon. This image as well, slowly faded away.

Sometimes I remember

The darkness of my past

Bringing back these memories

I wish I didn't have

The next image that panned into view was again of the desert sand and Sassarai's house. Bakura-chan looked taller, older, and leaner, holding a long pole in a defensive position. He was shirt-less, revealing a well-developed body, and wore the traditional skirt-like cloth about his waist, as many Egyptians did to beat the heat (Let's just say I was resisting the urge to stare and drool). His hair was cropped short and there was a scar across his face, one line running down his right cheek with two other cutting across it. Across from him was Sassarai, whose face was beginning to show the lines of old age, but whose body, shirt-less as well, was still fit and in shape. He also held a pole, and seemed to be contemplating over the white-haired boy across from him.

As though started by an unheard signal, the two charged at each other, their poles slapping together ferociously. I turned to my yami in confusion.

"Sassarai," Bakura said slowly, "Let's just say he wasn't the best of father figures. He took me in, fed me, kept me hidden for ages. He also taught me things: the ways of the robbers and tomb thieves, one of which he had been many years back, before going supposedly legit. His lessons were....more physical then necessary, shall we say," Bakura turned and looked at me with a strange expression. My eyes widened in realization as I looked into my other's dark eyes, turning my head quickly to look back at the memory before me.

At that moment, Bakura-chan was hit in the face with Sassarai's pole, causing a bit of blood to trickle down his cheek. Blindsighted by the hit, Bakura stumbled for an instant, and that was an instant too long. Sassarai struck Bakura down so that he fell on his back in the sand, and Sassarai held his pole firmly on the boy's abdomen in victory.

"Never," Sassarai said slowly and, surprisingly enough, in a language I understood, "let yourself be distracted by minor injuries. Understand?" His tone was level, but there was an undertone that I recognized. It was the same sneering tone Bakura had always used on me. As I watched Bakura-chan wince while Sassarai pushed the pole into his abdomen, I came to realize just where Bakura had learned how to hurt.

Sometimes I think of letting go

And never looking back

And never moving forward so

There would never be a past

"The day Sassarai died should have been the happiest day in my life. I was finally free of his reign over me," Bakura said softly, "And yet, I couldn't feel joyous. No matter what he had done to me, no matter what he had said, I knew that somewhere deep down, he had cared about me. He had taught me his ways because he knew I would need them. And it was these thoughts that made me sad to lose him," I nodded silently, understanding completely. It was exactly what I had felt after breaking away from Bakura.

"Instead of feeling sadness, I only felt anger, directed to Akunamukanon, his priests, and his son..."

"Yami..." I breathed. Another scene floated into sight, that of a burning house, one that looked very familiar. Outside it, a teenage Bakura was calling out wildly, shouting Sassarai's name again and again. Someone emerged from the house, but it was not Sassarai. Clad in the noble-wear of a soldier, he drew his sword, holding it firmly and confidently, obviously unafraid of the mere adolescent before him. Bakura-chan growled low in his throat and cried out, charging with speed and agility that Ryou knew far too well. A blade appeared in his hand from some hidden location and, in one liquid motion, he swept past the guard, sliding to a halt. As though in slow motion, the guard dropped his weapon, clutching at his chest where a rapidly darkening damp patch was forming. With a choked breath, he fell and lay silent. Bakura-chan did not move, tears streaming down his shadowed face. I risked a glance at my yami, whose lips were drawn in a taut line, obviously trying not to let himself succumb to the scene before him. At last we were surrounded by darkness again.

Just washing it aside

All of the helplessness inside

The next scene that floated in was obviously much later on. A man whom Ryou recognized as Bakura stood before a throne and seven priests. Bakura looked so different in the scene, 30 at least, with raggedly cut hair and a large, fit build. Before him on the throne was someone I recognized all too well, since, although much tanner and clad in much more jewelry, he wasn't very different from present-day appearance--Yami.

"When Akunamukanon died, I turned my anger and hatred towards Yami, the new pharaoh and holder of the Millennium Puzzle," Indeed, there was the pyramid, hanging from Pharaoh Yami's neck. "I had decided to go after the things that had killed my family and friends, the Millennium Items. I knew that, if one wielded them all and they were placed in the stone tablet that still lay in the remains of Kuru Eruna, that one would gain the ultimate power of darkness. Thus, I pillaged the ex-pharaoh's tomb and entered the palace itself, to gain what I sought," It was only then that I noticed the rope in Bakura's hand, tied around the neck of a mummy which was lying uselessly on the ground. After some sort of conversation between Bakura, Yami, and the priests, too quiet for me to hear properly, there was an outcry from Bakura and an enormous monster appeared behind him, of which appeared to be a man with birds wings sprouting from his back and a serpents head and body instead of a lower half.

"I fought alongside by Ka spirit, or soul spirit, Diabaundo, and together we plundered and stole, and I soon earned the title, 'The King of Thieves'"

Pretending I don't feel misplaced

Is so much simpler than change

"After a time, I did manage to obtain the Millennium Ring, as well as a couple of other Items during a last battle in Kuru Eruna itself. Even the Millennium Puzzle," There was a slight longing in Bakura's voice as he spoke. "But in the end I was defeated. Sealing a portion of my soul into the Ring, I vowed to continue to live on, to obtain the Millennium Items, and to regain what I had once lost as a child--my family, my friends, my life. All because of the pharaoh."

The palace scene swirled into nothingness and no images came to replace it. I turned to my yami, my eyes starting to fill with tears that I had not expected to come. As though by instinct, I grabbed my yami's shirt, burying my head into it as though to drive away the horrible sights I had just witnessed.

"I'm so sorry," came my muffled cry as my tears began to dampen Bakura's shirt. Bakura stared at me for a moment before gently pulling me away, holding me by the shoulders.

"You don't have anything to be sorry for. You did nothing wrong. I'm the one who should be apologizing for everything I did to you. I was so blinded by my own past, I began to take it out on you, to try and use you to correct myself. I'm the only one to blame, so please don't cry," Bakura drew my chin up, forcing me to look into his dark chocolate eyes, now softened, pleading forgiveness.

"I understand now." I told him, my voice becoming clear again. "And you're forgiven,"

Suddenly, a light emerged from the both of our chests, revealing the Millennium Ring, which fell gently around its masters' necks. The two rings glowed brightly and the darkness disappeared, surrounding and engulfing us in light.

It's easier to run

Replacing this pain with something numb

I moved my arm slightly, only to feel something shift underneath me. My eyes snapped open only to see the dark material of Bakura's T-shirt. Pulling my head up, I realized that I was lying on top of Bakura, my head resting on his chest, legs sprawled on top of his. I must have fallen there after our souls had been pulled into the Ring. My face turned bright crimson but I didn't move, wanting to enjoy being so close to Bakura for as long as I could. Soon, Bakura opened his eyes as well, only to see me on him and he smirked devilishly, as though our position was very funny to him.

"Well this is a change of scenery," he said with a light chuckle. "So I am forgiven?" His eyes shone with a hope I had never seen before, and I pulled myself up, crawling up a bit until our heads were parallel and I rested my forehead on his.

"Forgiven and forgotten," I said with a slight smile, and I pressed my lips against his gently. He pulled me closer such that I was lying directly on top of him, and he kissed me back with a fiery passion. There was a warm feeling in my heart, like a gentle pulsating hum, and suddenly I knew everything was going to be fine. The demon had been quelled, and the angel had learned anew. Change of heart.

It's so much easier to go

Than face all this pain here all alone

~*~*~

Luna: Is that it? That's the end??

Ruby: Are you kidding? No way!!

Luna: Aww....

Ruby: Just one more chapter to go, folks!

Luna: *facefault*

Ruby: And look, I'm really sorry about the update thing, but seriously, Bakura's is waaay more confusing then anything anyone told me. @.@ I mean, now there's something about him not actually being Bakura in the first place? Oi....*clutches head*

Luna: So, does this mean we can finally take that down? *points to the pile of junk heaped up against the door*

Ruby: I guess so!

Luna: Thank Ra! *levitates the junk aside and darts down the stairs* Fooood!!!

Ruby: *sweatdrop* Well anyway, since the next chapter is the last, I'm not only gonna have a Linkin Park song, but a song NOT by Linkin Park! *dun dun DUN!* ^^U This song will be a sing for Ryou and Bakura to dance to, and I want YOU *points to readers* to help me choose!

Luna: *pokes head in* In other words, she can't decide for herself....

Ruby: Ahem! Anyway here are the choices!

It's Been Awhile~by Staind

And it's been awhile

Since I could look at myself straight

And it's been awhile

Since I said I'm sorry

Iris~by the Goo Goo Dolls

And I don't want the world to see me

Cuz I don't think that they'd understand

When everything's made to be broken

I just want you to know who I am

Wonderwall~by Oasis

Because maybe

You're gonna be the one who saves me

And after all

You're my wonderwall

Luna: There's only three songs....pick for yourself!!

Ruby: *whaps Luna with a hammer* Haven't you ever heard of active audience?! Ahem, So take your pick and place your vote! Let's say.....a song wins if it has a t least two more votes then any of the others. So get going already, what are you still doing here! Scroll down and press the purple button!

Go!

Scroll down dammit!

Why are you still reading this!

Argh! *clutches head*

Luna: *comes on and drags Ruby off with a large candycane* That's your cue to shut up....

Chibi Ryou: *randomly bounces in* Weview, weview, weview!!