The Others: The Second Year

Disclaimer: Yu-gi-oh! Duel Monsters is owned by Kazuki Takahashi, Studio Gallop, Nihon Ad Systems, TV Tokyo and 4Kids Entertainment. All names were changed to the characters of this fandom in order to protect the real people involved in the following incidents.

Warning: Contains mentions of nudity and sexual situations.

Chapter 10: You're My Prostitute

My back hit the back of a tree and I bit back a grin, "Seems ironic, doesn't it?"

Atem's hands were in my hair, her mouth brushing against mine as she pulled out of the kiss for breath, "What do you mean?"

"The first time you tried to kiss me," I chuckled darkly, "was against a tree." I kissed her soundly. "In the dead of night." Another kiss that made my knees give out. "Hiding from your comrades."

She climbed onto my lap and my hands found her hips, "If a Death Touch jumps out of the bushes, I'll end you."

I laughed outright at that before my face was pulled back towards hers.

I couldn't have told you when this started, the furious kissing in the darkest of corners on the blackest of nights. Most nights I ended up in her bed, though we slept together in the most innocent and literal sense of the phrase. All I could say was that, somehow, this was completely mutual – that Atem wanted me just as badly as I wanted her and that we'd been stupid enough to deny ourselves of this for as long as we had.

"What would you have done?" She asked suddenly. I pulled back in confusion.

"Done what?"

"That day. If I'd kissed you."

I dipped down low and pressed my mouth against the hollow of her neck, "Don't really know. Was scared out of my mind."

"At the Death Touch?"

"Yeah, him too," that brought a laugh out of her that I could feel all the way to my toes. "I wish you wore more clothes."

Atem gasped as I rocked forwards and she landed on her back. I crawled over her and went back to lavishing her collarbone with my tongue.

"W-why's that?" Her voice shuddered as my fingers trailed low on her waist.

"Wanna mark you, so bad, but we can't let anyone see," I hissed. "Wanna touch you until you scream my name, but we can't let anyone hear. Wanna show everyone that you're mine and that they should keep their filthy hands off of you because you're mine –"

Her hands brought my face up to look her in the eye. For a moment, I saw our usual argument in them – that what we were doing was forbidden, that I'd be killed and she shammed beyond the hope of redemption. But that passed and she sighed, "If I wore more clothes, wouldn't that defeat the purpose of you marking me. No one would know that they were there."

I shrugged, uncaring, "I'd know."

Atem smiled brightly just then and my heart leapt in my chest. I leaned down, pressing my forehead against hers.

"I love you," I whispered.

She tensed under me and I realized that this was the first time that I'd ever voiced those words aloud. I tried to stammer some form of explanation, but I couldn't. Atem grabbed me, swinging me around until I was the one on my back and she was the one towering over me. She kissed me with such intensity that my fingers went numb.

"Atem, what - "

"Want you," her voice was hoarse with desire and I'd never heard sometime more arousing in my entire life. "Want you. Can't have you, but I want – going to touch you. Right now. Right here."

Atem ripped off what clothes I had on and kissed her way down my chest, passed my navel, down and – oh, oh gods!

Afterwards, I lay down on the cool earth as she snuggled up beside me. My voice was rough from overuse, "Not that I'm complaining, but…what was that?"

Atem blushed in embarrassment, "The other soldiers…sometimes they talk about what they do when they take others to their beds. Sometimes I overhear. I thought you'd like it."

"Yes," I sighed contently, still not understanding just what she'd done. I rolled over and hooking my legs around her hip, pulling her close. Her face seemed to get all the more red. I blinked before a sly grin made its way across my face.

"You're not done," I pointed out. Atem hid her face in my shoulder. I chuckled, "That's alright. Want to try something."

"What?" She asked before yelping as one of my hands slowly slid up her thigh and under her clothes.

"Wanna find out if it feels good for you, too."

Wednesday, November 8th, 2017

I woke up with a start, heart slamming against my ribs. Heat rose to my cheeks as I remembered the dream I'd just had before reality came crashing down on me. I scrambled to pull down the thin sheets I was sleeping in and stared at the damp crotch of my jeans.

"Son of a bitch," I swore, more embarrassed then anything else. Damn it, that was the second pair in a week.

I grabbed my rucksack and made a made dash to the washroom. Atem was still sleeping and probably would remain that way for a long while, but I made sure that I was silent. I didn't want to wake her and have to explain what I'd seen her and my past self doing on a forest floor.

I changed my clothes quickly enough, all the time swearing at myself for being stupid and hormonal. God, I hadn't been like this since I was twelve. I'd felt so little sexual attraction to anything during my pre-Atlantis years that I might as well have been hanging out around a bunch of lamps, for fuck's sake. And then Atem walks into my life and everything got weird. Good weird, but weird nonetheless.

I slipped out of the motel room, bag still in hand, and began to look for a place to do laundry. I stubbornly sat with my back to the washing machine as my jeans and underwear chugged around inside of it, jaw clenched tight and fingers furiously tapping out Dark God's series of sixes against my leg.

I unlatched the lock of the room upon my return and threw my bag on the ground beside my bed. Atem was still fast asleep, hands still cuffed to the headboard above her. I remembered what I learned about her last night and scowled.

Infected. God damn it. What the hell had she been thinking when she picked that fucking stone up? In what universe had using the Orichalcos ever seemed like a viable option for her to take? Not this one, that was for sure.

I wondered who else knew. The Kaibas most definitely. Kisara, too. It always seemed to be those three who were constantly in the know. My heart skipped a beat as I remembered earlier this year, seeing the three of them doing the same thing to a screaming Atem that I'd done last night. Ishizu and Mahad had been there as well. They knew, as well.

I sat down on the bed opposite her with a thump. My teeth ground against each other and my hands continued with their tapping. I was irritated and annoyed. Why had she never told me? I deserved to know, damn it. I shouldn't have had to figure out something like this on my own –

Wait. I hadn't been on my own. The other spirits had told me. I shook my head to clear my thoughts, not wanting to know if that reaction had been Touzoku's or Dark God's.

Hopefully Touzoku's. Probably Dark God's. Shit, I was a mess.

Atem twitched just then, her eyes clenching before opening slowly. She blinked the sleep out of her eyes before turning and focusing on me. Her face turned into a blank, unreadable mask when she saw my expression.

"You know."

"No shit," I growled back at her.

She sighed, looking away, "What do you want me to say? That I'm sorry?"

"I don't know. Are you?"

"No."

Her answer, so simply and frank, startled me, "Why?"

Atem glanced back at me and her eyes softened, "I'm not him. Or you, for that matter."

"What has that got to do with anything?" I snapped.

"Everything," she answered. "I don't have your powers, Bakura. If I'd tried to resurrect him on my own…I'd have died before I got the second word out. I had to."

"Why? Damn it, what in the world possessed you to even try bringing me back? The first time we spoke, you said that once death takes you, you can never permanently return to the world of the living. That was the first thing I ever learned from you," I was practically shouting at this point. "What in the world were you thinking?!"

Atem said nothing for a moment, before whispering, "Could you take these off of me?"

I hesitated for a moment, "You gonna have another fit?"

"No. I've got the main symptoms under wraps. I just need time to recover now."

I nodded slowly, before flicking my wrist. The handcuffs unlocked and fell behind her head. Atem sat up slowly, stretching her arms out. Her face was hidden behind her hair.

I approached slowly, as if walking towards a wild animal that was easily spooked. Given how she tensed as I got closer, I was right to be worried.

But then her gaze shifted upwards to me and she looked all twelve hundred of her years. There was no sadness in her eyes, no shame. Just fear. Like me, she feared that I would run if I knew the truth.

I wasn't quite sure that she was wrong to believe that I might.

"What was I thinking?" She asked, repeating my question from before. She chuckled to herself, but it was tired and stale, "I was thinking that if I could see him again, it would be worth it. Worth any price."

Suddenly, I found myself next to her, my face cupped in her hands. Atem smiled an utterly heart wrenching smile. She shouldn't have been as tragically happy as she was, in that moment.

"And now I know it was worth it."

Then she kissed me, slowly and carefully, as if she was doing it for the sole reason of tasting me. A shiver ran down my spine as I felt in her an emotion that I didn't understand and dare not attempt to name.

I pulled back, breathless and shaken to my core. It took some time before I could work up the courage to look back into her eyes. When I did, though, I found I could not look away.

"Who are you to me?" I asked, air caught in my lungs.

Atem didn't answer, merely pulling me into a hug. My arms instinctively went around her, but I couldn't tell who was holding whom. Her fingers clutched desperately at the back of my shirt as inhaled the smell of sweat that lingered on her skin. A shuddering breath escaped my lips and seemed to pass into her body.

"I need a shower," she murmured against my skin.

"So do I," I responded.

There seemed to be an unspoken agreement that passed between us in that instant. Only moving back enough that we didn't trip over our own feet, all the same while refusing to let go of the other, we moved together into the bathroom. As the door shut behind us, our clothing fell from our bodies and into a haphazard pile on the floor.

Aside from a few lingering kisses and hands that simply refused to part from each other's skin, it was surprisingly non-sexual. The scent of motel shampoo filled the air as I washed Atem's hair. In turn, her hands rinsed the suds of bar soup off my arms. Her hands came to a scar on the side of my chest.

"What happened here?"

"In May," I answered softly. "When I fought the Gigas, I took a pretty bad hit. Rib punctured the skin."

She bent down low and pressed her lips to the raised tissue. My breath hitched, but my eyes remained locked on hers.

I learned the stories behind some of her scars as well. During the American Revolution, she'd taken a bullet to the stomach and survived through a freak miracle. The tiny burns on her fingers were from the escaping sparks of her lightning arrows. The thin faded line across her right cheekbone was a shrapnel wound from the battle that had killed Thief King. At the end of each tale, I kissed her scars in return.

I didn't ask about the long one that hooked around her right shoulder. I could take a guess, knowing that there was only one person that she'd let get that close to her with a broad sword.

Later, when we'd toweled ourself dry, we lay in bed next to each other. Atem was still naked and as was I. Her head was tucked under my chin and her eyes closed as she listened to the beat of my heart. I traced the curve of her bare hip with my fingertips.

"Are you still mad?" Atem breathed.

I thought for a moment and then answered, "Yes. No. I don't…I don't really know."

"Oh," she sounded surprised and a bit confused. I didn't blame her. I still was.

"Still can't believe this is happening sometimes," I whispered into her hair.

"Believe what?"

"Magic. The Orichalcos. The war. Having friends," I hesitated and then swallowed hard. "You."

"Me?"

"Yeah," I snorted. "I mean, if someone told me a year ago that I'd be laying in bed with a beautiful, naked woman in some motel in Santa Fe, I'd have laughed at them. And then suggested that they go check themselves into the mental ward."

"If someone had told me a year ago that I'd be laying in bed with you, seeing you when I thought you gone, I'd have shot them in the face," Atem responded.

"Why?"

"Because I thought that, after Akeifa, that was it. Six souls, the gods said. Just six. Akeifa had been the last, but still I hoped," her fingers moved softly over the skin of my chest. "And then the millennium passed and there was no sign of you. I dared not believe after that."

I kissed her forehead, "I'm sorry for making you wait."

I could feel her smile, "It wasn't your fault."

Silence fell over us once more and I closed my eyes in contentment. I must have fallen back asleep, because when I opened them again, the sun was at the position of high noon.

"Seems ironic, doesn't it?" I bit back a grin.

"What do you mean?" Atem answered groggily.

"The first time after I saw you have a craving, you were coming out of the shower. And you threatened to de-man me if I ever saw you naked again," I sniggered slightly.

I expected her body to seize up, to remember that I'd said similar words and used the same joke as I had in my first life. But Atem merely let out a laugh and poked me in the side, making me jump a little.

"It wasn't funny then, Bakura. What makes you think it would be funny a second time around?"

We were both dressed by the time the manager came around looking for money to pay for the next night. I growled low and ferial when he began undressing Atem with her eyes. I handed him a few green bills and the handcuffs before slamming the door in the goy's face.

Atem raised an eyebrow at my reaction. I scowled, "He thinks you're a prostitute."

"I've known a fair few in my time. They're quite knowledgeable as to the going-ons of their regular client's lives. I'll take it as a compliment," she said before she returned to leafing through the library book that we'd stolen almost a week ago from the library in Roswell. I took a breath before continuing in a stammering voice.

"He thinks you're my prostitute. That I'm paying you for…sex. That he can pay for you when I'm done," I shuffled from side to side uncomfortably.

"Oh," she looked up at me, smirking. "He's not my type, Bakura."

"I know that!" I pouted.

"Also, you don't have any money. So I'm definitely not your prostitute because you sure aren't paying for me."

"Thanks for reminding me that we're surviving off of very illegal debit cards," I sighed. "Find anything?"

"Nothing yet," she sounded frustrated. "No other mentions of a Martha that I can see."

"Want me to take a look? I read faster then you," I asked. The look she gave me could have felled a charging rhinoceros.

"I can read!"

"I know that. I just said I could do it faster." She continued to glare, so I held up my hands in surrender, "Fine. It's not like we're going anywhere."

"Yes we are. We've only got until Sunday," Atem frowned.

"What's on Sunday?"

"You have to go back to Atlantis."

I blinked in surprise. Right. Atlantis. I'd completely forgotten about that. Back to Marik and Mana and Mai. Back to Leon, whom I had promised to let Touzoku loose on so that he could learn to control his powers as a Death Touch. I should probably get on with planning those lessons out with the samurai so that he didn't terrify the kid by doing something that would be weird by modern standards.

"Oh," that was pretty much all I could say to that. I bit my lip, "What about you? What are you going to get up to while I'm at school?"

"I don't really know. I go where ever Seto needs me to," she shrugged. "And if not, I'll definitely be around."

I smiled at that. Atem was too, I saw. That made me feel all warm and fuzzy on the inside.

"Food?" I asked suddenly, realizing that I hadn't eaten anything since waking up.

"I'm up for that. Though can we avoid that diner? They were giving me odd looks because I drank four pitchers of water," she winced.

"Yeah, explain this one to me: after drinking all of that yesterday, how have you not needed to piss?" I asked sarcastically as I grabbed my bag and held the door open for her.

"Good question," Atem shrugged. "I haven't got the faintest clue."

The manager was apparently still making rounds around the motel, so while he was out, I stole a few twenties from behind the desk. I mean, it wasn't as if you could blame me. The guy was a dick.

We ended up in some kind of high-end coffee shop. Atem was still thirsty, but managed to control herself from downing her hot chocolate in one fell swoop. I glanced from my plate of waffles (whoever came up with the idea of all-day breakfast was a gloriously, wonderful being) up to her and then over to the door.

Something wasn't right here. I could feel it in my gut.

There was a television in the corner of the room that was playing the news. It was currently running some story about a hospital in the downtown area, but I couldn't hear what was being said from where I was sitting. I looked across the way to some of the other patrons of the restaurant. Four ladies chatted softly to each other in a booth. A couple shared caring glances a few tables away, fingers interlocked with one another. There was a lone man sitting by the window, eyes focused on his book.

And then there was them. Two older looking men in heavy jackets sat near the door, leafing through the morning paper. A shiver ran down my spine.

"We've got trouble," I murmured under my breath. Atem didn't react, merely blinked in acknowledgement of what I'd said. She didn't want to give anything away.

"Where?"

"By the door. Recognize anyone?"

Her eyes flicked over to the two men there before returning back to me, "They were in the diner."

"Yeah. Not good, huh?"

"No. Not good at all."

I shoved another piece of waffle into my mouth, "They Converts?"

"I don't know," Atem looked very worried. "I'm still not at full strength. Even my sense for tracking the Orichalcos is down."

I cursed under my breath, glancing over at them again. The man facing me quickly looked down at the paper, which had Atem's mug shot sans her wig, splashed across the front. I was suddenly glad that we'd thought to bring all of our stuff with us from the motel – unlike the last time we had to run quickly. There would be no Namu with his robot bug, Glitch, to grab it for us this time.

"Any chance that you can tag along with me if I were to I teleport?" I asked.

"No," she answered me. "I doubt they'll attack us in broad daylight or in public. So we're safe for the time being."

"No offense or anything, but I don't exactly feel safe," I growled. I dropped my cutlery on my plate, unable to eat another bite with my uneasy stomach.

"You need to draw them out," Atem said.

"Me? Why me?"

"I can't fight right now, moron," she hissed back.

"That's just great. Considering you are the powerhouse out of the pair of us," I looked back at the two men.

"Don't go thinking that. You go into battle planning to lose and you will lose," Atem warned. "Always plan for victory, so that even if you fail, you know you gave it your best."

"They teach you that in the army?" I smirked.

"Yes, actually. My commanding officer told me that on my first day," she smiled fondly.

"I don't think I've ever met him…I mean, I haven't dreamt of him," I frowned. "Why is that?"

"I don't know. You met him a few times. You didn't like him, from what I could tell," she shrugged.

"Why was that?"

"I'm not sure. You two just rubbed each other the wrong way."

I nodded, dropping the subject. Scanning the coffee shop for anything at all, my eyes fell upon the washroom. A plan started to develop in my mind.

"I'll be right back. If I haven't returned in ten minutes, get out as fast as you can," I told Atem before getting up and heading to the back of the shop. I pushed open the door with the male stick figure, finding the room to be empty. Perfect.

I ignored the urinals and headed straight to the middle stall. Locking the door behind me, I clambered onto the toilet, sitting on the tank lid. Then I covered myself in an illusion, making myself invisible to the rest of the world, and waited.

I wasn't disappointed. Within a minute, the main door of the washroom opened up and two pairs of footsteps echoes against the tile walls. I had a brief flashback of hiding in stalls in high school, trying to avoid getting caught by overzealous jocks with my pants down, before coming back to reality.

The door to the stall crashed open as one of the men kicked it down. However, they were greeted by what looked like empty space. One of them turned to the other, making a noise of confusion. I took at as an opportunity to lash out.

Grabbing the first man by his ears, I slammed his head against the bowl of the toilet. He made a choking sound right before I used my foot to kick the lever, giving him a swirly of doom. My illusion dropped as I threw myself forwards, gripping the second man's shoulders and swinging upwards into a handstand.

Using gravity to my advantage, I let my legs drop behind him until I was standing on the ground and his back was bending backwards at a horrible angle. I channeled Combat magic into my arms and threw the man over my head and into the mirror on the opposite wall. He slid, head first, into the sink before toppling forwards onto the floor.

For a few seconds, I stood there and caught my breath. And then it happened.

I felt invisible hands grasping the side of my head and shoved me face first into the toilet water. Liquid poured down into my lungs and I choked and struggled as I drowned on dry land. Something smacked into the back of my neck (a foot, I thought) and I heard my windpipe and spine crack in tandem. And then everything went black.

I awoke again on the tile floor and tasted bile in my throat. I spat it out on the ground and shook my head as I rose to my feet. I didn't dark glance back to the body that was still lying face down in the toilet bowl, knowing that I'd caused that – that I'd felt his death. I didn't have time to think about that.

I exited the bathroom as quickly as I could, walking swiftly back to where Atem was already standing. We moved briskly to the door and out onto the streets, not looking back for a moment.

"How long until someone notices the people in the loo?" I snorted.

Just as we were crossing the street, I glanced back and saw that one of the people manning the cash register was on the phone and staring directly at us. I swore under my breath, "Cops are on their way."

"Damn. We need to get out of here," Atem's eyes darted around the street, as if analyzing each person in the crowd. "You can drive, right?"

"Yeah. Why do you ask?"

A man bumped into her just then. She turned, flashing him a bright smile, and apologized. He sneered, clearly in too much of a hurry to be slowed down by a pair of teenagers, and went back to trying to jaywalk his way to the other side of the road. Atem waited until he was out of sight before holding up the keys that she'd just pickpocketed from him.

"I knew there was a reason I liked you," I grinned.

The man's car was a few blocks away. It was a two-door, bright red hatchback that looked to be a few years old. I clicked the button on the key fob and heard the locks unlatch. Swinging into the front seat, I adjusted the mirrors and seats as the car started up.

"Where are we headed?" I asked as I pulled into traffic.

"I had an idea while you were…busy," Atem said. "I think we should check out Yusei's old apartment and see if there's any clues there."

"Because even if he didn't find the Thousand Spell Book, he'd at least know something as to where it was hidden," I finished her train of thought. "Good idea. Any clue as to where he lived?"

She didn't, so I fished my phone from my pocket and tossed it to her, "Could you call someone and find out?"

Atem raised a confused eyebrow, staring at my mobile in her lap as if it would blow up if she touched it wrong. I sighed, somewhat frustrated, "Do you know how to use that?"

"I can do the basics," she looked almost embarrassed.

"Here. I'll talk you through it."

We had exited Santa Fe proper by the time she was finally able to make the call. Moving passed the cookie cutter houses of the land of suburbia, Atem talked awkwardly into the speaker and asked for information about Yusei Fudo. After a little while, she nodded and asked me how to end a phone call.

"So?" I asked as she set the phone down.

"Syrus said that he'd be emailing us Yusei's personal information, whatever that means…" Atem spat out that last bit in annoyance, before starting to mumble darkly about what I assumed what her general dislike of technology.

The device let off a chirp that told me a message had been received. I grinned sadistically, "Know how to use email?"

"I really hate you sometimes."

I laughed out loud, "I know."

Friday, November 10th, 2017

Road trips, as I had come to understand, were a large part of American culture. Packing everything and the kitchen sink into the family car, shoving the kids in the backseat, and setting forth to trapeze across the country – all in the name of a vacation. There was boredom, screaming children, and the dreaded question 'Are we there yet?' Honestly, after all I'd seen in the movies, I had wondered by any sane person would ever want to go through that kind of torture.

Maybe it was the lack of crying toddlers. Maybe it was the fact that the only luggage we had were a pair of backpacks. Maybe it was because no one dared utter that question. But this impromptu road trip with Atem from Santa Fe to New York City was actually kind of fun.

At our first rest stop a few days ago, I'd disabled the OnStar security system with my awesome skills (read: called up Namu who promptly told me where to start hacking with Dark God's axe). A strangely gleeful Atem threw what was left of the wiring out the window somewhere along the interstate. I assumed she liked destroying technology as much as the next person. Maybe a little more. Meh, to each their own.

I'd played with the satellite radio until I found a station I liked. Atem closed her eyes and listened along to the songs, somethings chuckling when I unconsciously sang along to the lyrics. She'd been in a much better mood when her magic returned to normal earlier this morning. But this, somehow, led into a discussion about music where I learned a tiny thing about her that needed to be fixed.

"You're never heard Piano Man?"

"I'm assuming that's a song title. No. Why? Is it good?" She cracked open an eye and looked at me out of the corner.

"Is it good – woman, are you crazy? It's a classic, the ultimate drinking song. Once you know the words, you can't help but sing along. It's right up there with Bohemian Rhapsody."

"Bohemian what?" She asked before suddenly looking up.

I didn't get to retort because right then, something utterly massive slammed into the front end of our car and sent us spiraling off the side of the road, into a ditch. I blacked out for a few seconds, but when I came to, that same something was tearing the roof off.

My eyes widened in shock and fear as the snarling, slobbery face of a Gigas entered my vision.

Just then, I realized that my body was trapped in a cage of twisted metal. I couldn't move. I breathed out the only two words that were appropriate in this kind of situation.

"Oh fuck."

I return to the internet!

I'd like to thank those who reviewed for the last chapter: Aqua girl 007, InsanityByDefinition, and ilovemanicures. You guys are awesome!

I'm terrible. I'm horrible. I don't update for months and then I leave you on a cliffhanger. I'm sorry. Really, I am. That being said, I'm going to try my best to get the next chapter out as soon as I can because, like hell, I'm going to leave Bakura and Atem in this kind of trouble for long.

I have been writing, though, so the last three months weren't the result of writer's block. It's just that it isn't The Others material, so I didn't post it. Well, sort of - some of it was, but mostly it wasn't. Hell, some of it has been on the backburners since last year and I just haven't gotten around to finishing it. So Odd Happenings is going to get an update after I'm done here. Get ready for some more Female!Bakura and some Really-In-The-Future!Bakura tomorrow.

Thank you all for sticking with me for this long. I hope to hear from you soon. Also, to all my American readers out there: Happy Memorial Day. To all those brave men and women who serve or have served in the name of their country, we thank you. To all those who have fallen in the line of duty or at home, we remember your sacrifice. You will never be forgotten.

Until next time,

AlcatrazOutpatient