Disclaimer: I do not own Yu-Gi-Oh or any related materials...in America.

AN: I really put in a lot of effort into this chapter and with the help of my amazing beta, am astounded by the end result. I'd really appreciate your opinions on it.

Today's Super Special Awesome is awarded to all my reviewers who have reviewed every chapter consistently. Aka: Arkmer, Angel Dairy, dancers of the night, MagicalMana, And Vaseshipper. You guys are amazing and one of the reasons this story was updated.

Now without any more waiting let us continue the adventure!

Chapter X

The Promise of a Thief

Yugi stared blankly out the window at the glistening waters of the Indian Ocean. He'd been sitting in pretty much the same position for about five hours now and consequently, he was getting very sore. He looked over at the Pharaoh who was sleeping soundly in seat next to him, the blue seat back slightly visible though his semi-transparent body.

Seeing nothing that amused him, he turned his attention to the Thief King sitting opposite them. He was also starring out into space, carelessly picking his teeth with the point of a deadly looking dagger. Man I'm glad we didn't have to go through security with him.

As though he could sense Yugi's gaze, the thief turned his cold brown eyes on the boy. Immediately Yugi looked away, closing his eyes as if he had been asleep instead of staring holes in Bakura's head. The momentary distraction caused the thief's hand to slip, resulting in a sharp pain on his gum and the familiar metallic taste of blood in his mouth. "Anubis take it," he hissed angrily, throwing the knife violently into the seat back in front of him. His free hand shot up to is injured jaw, putting light pressure on the bleeding area.

By the nine hells, why am I doing this? None of them trust me! I'm not even sure Bakura really does.

Ha! Did I really expect anything different?

Still they're making this extremely difficult. Maybe I would be better off on my own... He winced as his mouth twinged painfully. No, that would mean the possibility of failing and I can not, will not fail again...

sssSsss

Yugi was jerked awake as the jet roughly touched down on the Egyptian air strip. He glanced out at the surrounding landscape and was forced to cover his eyes; the setting sun was reflecting fiercely off of the sand dunes, causing them to look like they were on fire.

"We're here..." whispered Bakura, his voice much too close to Yugi's ear. Yugi quickly shrank back but it was a worthless maneuver because the taller boy was already walking swiftly down the aisle towards the cockpit doors. Yugi quickly got up and followed. Once outside the plane, both boys stopped, unsure of what to do next.

"Um, Bakura? You wouldn't happen to know where Marik, Ishizu, and Odion live, would you?" questioned Yugi hesitantly.

"That would be a no. You're his friend, I figured you'd know where he lived."

"I know he lives in Cairo..."

The white haired boy turned to Yugi, fixing him with a glare. "If you think that I'm going to search the entire city for them then you're—" But whatever Yugi "was" remained a mystery because Bakura's rant was interrupted by light tug on his shirt and a small, "excuse me, sir."

Bakura stopped mid sentence and glanced down. There was a small Egyptian girl of about eight or nine years pulling softly on the hem of his shirt, her large brown eyes staring curiously up at him. He rather rudely dismissed her with a wave of his hand and a short, "go away little girl."

At first it seemed by the frightened look in her eyes that she would obey but no sooner had he turned back to Yugi he felt the annoying tugging once again. He turned rather angrily toward her. "Look, I thought I told you not to bother me! Now run along like a good little girl before I lose my temper."

"Bakura," hissed Yugi. "Be nice! You'll frighten her!"

On the contrary though, she seemed quite determined and didn't so much as flinch at the thief's harsh words. "I said excuse me, are you Bakura?"

He was rather taken aback. How could this child know who he was? "What's it to you, little girl?"

"My teacher told me to give a message to Bakura." She smiled. "And I know you must be Bakura because I don't think there are many teenagers with white old people hair."

Bakura narrowed his eyes. He would have responded with something that would have sent her crying but Yugi shoved the Thief King aside and quickly knelt down between him and the unruly child. "Yeah he's Bakura and my name's Yugi. Could you please tell us your teacher's name?"

"Sure, her name is Miss Ishtar."

Both Yugi's and Bakura's eyes widened. This sure makes things a lot easier, thought Yugi happily. "Do you mind telling us where she is?"

"That's what I'm supposed to do. Miss Ishtar told me to tell Bakura, in English, that she is waiting for him in the Cairo City Hospital."

Yugi felt his heart skip a beat. No...so something did happen...

"She said it was an important matter and to come right away."

Before Yugi could interrogate her further, she skipped off happily, and he lost sight of her in the crowd.

"Well you heard the brat, let's go."

sssSsss

About twenty minutes later the two "friends" were following a nurse down a spotless white hallway. She gestured towards a door to her left that looked identical to every other one in this place. The door opened into a cold blank room, about which hung the air of sadness and despair. Ishizu was sitting stoically by the room's only furnishing: a small bed dressed in stark white sheets. Upon the bed lay the motionless body of her adopted brother, Odion. His face was a deathly pale, despite his normally dark completion. The only sign that he was still amongst the living, was the soft rising and falling of his chest, prompted by the large respirator to his left. The room was deathly silent, only broken by the soft thump and hiss made by the respirator and the soft beep of the EKG monitor.

The sharp sound of the shutting door caused her sagging head to jerk up and turn towards the source of the sound. She fixed her sad turquoise eyes on the two boys. Only seconds after they focused on the Pharaoh, Ishizu threw her self onto him, weeping uncontrollably. Realization hit him, and though the Pharaoh did his best to console her, he knew he could do nothing to heal her broken heart. Odion was severely injured, perhaps dying, and her brother was lost to the shadows. No one could do anything to stop the grief that was burning through her soul.

sssSsss

Several hours had passed. Odion's condition remained unchanged but during the time elapsed, Ishizu had told them, as clearly as she could, the events of five nights ago. By the time she had finished the sun was well below Egypt's horizon.

"Ishizu?" asked the Thief King in a voice that was much gentler than normal, causing the Pharaoh to stare at him as though he'd just grown a second head. Bakura ignored his look and continued his inquiry. "How did you know to send that little girl to find us?"

Her misty blue-green eyes looked directly in to his hard brown ones. "While I was lying unconscious after...after the attack. I had a vision. And when I awoke, this was around my neck." She reached within the folds of her robe and produced a glittering object, which on closer inspection proved to be an artifact the Pharaoh thought he'd never see again. Lying in Ishizu's outstretched hand was the Millennium Necklace.

"But how?" gasped Bakura, "I thought they had all been destroyed except for the Puzzle."

The Pharaoh nodded. "They were."

"How then?"

"I don't know," said Ishizu. "But I have a feeling that only trouble can come of it."

The Thief King sat still for awhile, deep in thought. If the Millennium Items were mysteriously reappearing then things could be much more complicated than he first thought. He turned back to Ishizu. "But why not send the girl looking for the Pharaoh? Why did you send her specifically for me?"

"Because in my vision I did not see the Pharaoh, only you. I know that you will play a vital role in stopping the Dark Lord. Your goals are honorable and your intentions true. I am sure that you are to be trusted."

Both he and the Pharaoh stared in shock at her. "How can you trust him after all that he's done?!" asked the Pharaoh angrily.

Again her eyes locked on to his. "Because, I know why he's helping. Believe me, Pharaoh, he will not betray you."

The Pharaoh did not protest anymore, yet he still couldn't bring himself to believe Ishizu's words.

Several minutes of uncomfortable silence passed. Finally Bakura excused himself unable to take anymore. Once outside and a good distance from the busy hospital, he relaxed visibly. The harsh, familiar desert wind comforted his tormented mind as it blew his already wild white hair about. He closed his tired eyes and for a moment he allowed all his barriers to slip away and the emotions he'd been hiding for millennia to come to the surface. For a moment, he believed he was home.

Suddenly the thief shook his head clearing away his delusions and coming back into cruel reality. The once comforting desert air had become cold and thick with the feeling of danger.

Bakura cursed himself for letting his guard down and wandering so far from the center of the town. He carefully scrutinized the surrounding darkness for the source of the unsettling feeling which was causing the hair on the back of his neck to stand on end. A flash of gold light and the swish of a cloak to his left caught his attention. He whipped around, pulling his knife as he did so. Seconds passed, nothing so much as moved and not a whisper could be heard over the howling desert wind.

'Yami? What are you doing?' his hikari asked.

'Quiet!' Bakura snapped. Narrowed eyes flicked back and forth, searching for any sign of movement while every muscle in his body tensed, ready to move.

The moment Bakura began to relax, a wicked laugh echoed form somewhere on his right. Again he whirled around but again he saw nothing out of the ordinary. Not that he could see much, the wind had picked up blowing around the endless supply of sand, making it hard to see clearly for more than a few feet in front of him.

"Show yourself, coward!" the thief shouted angrily.

"Who said I was hiding?" whispered a silky voice next to his ear.

Before Bakura could react, something crashed into his chest and threw him several feet backwards through the air. He landed hard on his right shoulder and somewhere in the process, managed to lose his grip on his knife. The glinting weapon landed in the still hot sand just out of his reach. He growled and quickly moved towards its shinning surface.

His fingers were only inches away from the hilt when another blast of dark energy caught him in the side and threw him far away from his best defense. His head made contact with a low stone wall belonging to one of the many abandoned building that littered the outskirts of the town.

The thief tried desperately to get to his feet but the hard blow had caused him to completely lose his sense of balance. Within seconds he felt strong hands pull him roughly to his feet and slam him mercilessly against the wall again. He struggled to kick his attacker off but his limbs were being held firmly in place by the same black magic that had thrown him across the desert floor moments ago.

Completely defenseless, the Thief King could only wince as a hard fist made contact with the side of his face. He spit the metallic tasting blood on the sand and managed to sneer up at his attacker. "What, Malik, are you too much of a coward to face me in a fair fight?"

The cold laugh sounded again from the impenetrable darkness. "You were a fool to ever cross the Dark Lord and an even bigger one for coming out here where you're completely at my mercy."

"Now, why would I be afraid of a puppet?" Bakura mocked.

Another fist snapped the Thief King's face to the side. "What did you say!?"

"You're a puppet, Malik. Zorc plucks at the strings of your cheap pride and you dance like a marionette…it's pathetic." Bakura smiled mockingly as he watched another fist pull back. "That's right. Dance, puppet, dance…"

Cold fury settled on Malik's face as he lowered his fist. "You should be grateful that I have a use for you. Otherwise, I'd destroy you!"

"Forgive me for not shouting for joy," sneered Bakura, still struggling uselessly against the invisible bonds.

His remark earned him another slam onto the bone-shattering hard wall. The thief winced but didn't give Malik the satisfaction of hearing him cry out.

"You will learn in time to obey me. At least for your sake, I hope you do."

Still gasping from the pain, Bakura managed to spit out. "No one may command the King of Thieves!"

Malik smirked. "I had hoped it wouldn't come to this but in your case, I'll enjoy it.." Suddenly he drew back a hand cloaked in black and purple fire and shoved it deep into Bakura's chest.

The thief screamed in agony as Malik's wandering fingers began to rip his very soul in two. Dark sparks of energy crackled around Malik's hand as he began to withdraw it, pulling part of Bakura's spirit out with it. But instead of the Thief King's soul being removed, Malik was revealed holding his screaming hikari who had up until this point been watching helplessly from his Soul Room. He allowed the Thief King to fall writhing to the desert floor which was wet with his own blood. "If you don't do what I say, I'll kill the boy."

"What makes you think I care?" he gasped from the ground.

"Well if that's the case..." Malik began to squeeze the young boy's shining spirit, causing him to howl in pain as dark power began to arc along his body.

The Thief King winced as his hikari's cries resonated in his ears. He gritted his teeth, trying to ignore them but Malik was right. He hadn't meant to but somehow he had developed feelings for the boy that could have passed for his twin. As much as he wished he could, he just couldn't bring himself to let his other half die. "That's enough!" He lunged forwards, hands outstretched in an attempt to strangle Malik.

Malik laughed and easily side-stepped, letting the thief's momentum carry the Thief King past him and into the sand. Grinning maliciously, Malik dropped the still screaming boy next to the thief. Bakura immediately grabbed for his yami, still sobbing uncontrollably from the pain that still burned through his body. "I knew you'd see it my way. But just in case you decide to betray me." He took out a small black dagger from his belt and Bakura's eyes narrowed.

The dagger's blade was decorated with various symbols and runes, all of them seeming to suck the light out of the air around them. The Thief King had seen its like only once before. "A Soul Dagger!"

"Correct. I assume you know how they work. You make a blood oath and then, if you fail to keep it…the black magic causes your soul to devour itself from the inside out."

Bakura winced, even he couldn't withstand that kind of pain.

Malik knelt down next to him and grabbed Bakura's hand roughly. "Swear it."

The Thief King hesitated, his pride refusing to yield. "I serve no one!"

"You will serve or you will die!" Malik hissed menacingly.

"I'll…" A pain wracked-cough. "I'll do it…"

Both Malik and Bakura glanced over at the hikari, who was reaching for the dagger. "I'll take…the oath…"

Malik burst out laughing. "This is incredible! After all you done to him, the poor boy still wants to save you!"

Bakura glared at his other half. "What are you doing, boy!? Stay out of this!"

The British boy managed to smile painfully. "It's okay…Yami…I don't…want you to suffer…anymore…"

"Fine by me." Malik turned his attention to the boy. "One servant's as good as another…" He grabbed the boy's wrist…

But Bakura caught the dagger on its descent, digging his palm into the blade, just as Malik knew he would. "I swear to serve you." Blood dripped from his hand on to the hot sand. "Just leave the boy out of this."

"Ha…" Malik sneered and pulled the dagger free of the Thief King's grasp. "Awfully noble of you, wasn't it?"

"Don't be foolish." Bakura sneered, hiding his concern beneath arrogance. "I need that boy to live. If he dies, so do I."

"Well then, you won't mind if I do this." Malik gestured and Bakura felt himself being shoved backwards into a building wall. "Just a little extra incentive for you to keep your word…" He grabbed the hikari and hauled the boy to his feet by his hair.

"No!" Bakura's scrabbling hands found his knife and he flung it at Malik with all the strength he had but the dark spirit and his other half vanished in a swirl of shadow, leaving the knife to sail through the empty air harmlessly.

"No…" Growling in anger, the thief punched the wall beside him…then again….and again…and again until he could feel his bones aching and blood running between his fingers. "I'm sorry Hikari…I failed you too..."

But it wasn't until he felt wetness on his face that he realized how much he had failed. For the first time in what seemed like an eternity, Bakura, The King of Thieves, was crying.

sssSsss

-Asiera