Sorry for taking so long to update! This week has been crazy busy with school work and I've been distracted by a certain boy band by the name of One Direction. :P If you don't know who they are, I suggest you look up the song "What Makes You Beautiful" or "One Thing" on YouTube. They are absolutely amazing.
Anyway, thank you to all reviewers! I really appreciate all the reviews I get! :)
Oh and to Dakota Ishtar, I have some nosy friends who I don't want reading this. :P
Chapter 12
The afternoon sunlight slanted in through the window when Kahlaya woke. She wasn't sure if it had been the sun that woke her or her nightmare. She decided to go with the latter because she was shaking and breathing heavily.
Rising from the bed, she looked out of the window. It was well into the afternoon. There was some food and water on the table, so Kahlaya sat down and ate. She hadn't realized how hungry she was and the food was soon gone.
After drinking the last drop of water, Kahlaya changed into her black dress and brushed her tangled hair. When she was done, she sat on the edge of her bed.
Bakura was mad. She knew that much. Kahlaya had had one job and she had failed. He had disguised his anger the night before, but she could sense it. He was right to feel that way.
She growled softly, angry at herself. As the anger and disappointment in her rose, Kahlaya felt something stir within her. There was a sudden wrench in her gut. She knew exactly what it was: she was about to shift.
Just as she shifted, Kahlaya managed to throw her dress onto the chair. It landed as she fell onto paws.
Shaking out her fur, Kahlaya walked to the door. Great. She couldn't get out. Growling, she turned around and paced the room.
How had she shifted? Why? It was nowhere near the full moon. That had passed. Plus, it was the afternoon. No moon in sight. Kahlaya was worried. She had never changed during the day before. That was twice now that she's shifted without the moonlight. With no explanation. Of course, nothing in her life ever had much of an explanation.
Kahlaya sat down on her haunches and huffed loudly. Being a wolf wasn't so bad. She liked it more now that she kept her human mind. The only thing was: she didn't want to be a wolf right now. She wished she could control it. Kahlaya had a pretty good understanding of her aura powers. Now all she needed to do was tame the beast.
Annoyed that she couldn't get out of the room, Kahlaya rose to her feet and, inwardly smirking, tilted her head back. The wolf's voice rose in her chest and escaped. The sound echoed off the walls and bounced back to her. The howl spilled out of the window.
She only sang for half a minute and then lowered her head and sunk to the floor watching the door and straining her ears with her head on her paws. Sure enough, there were soon footsteps coming from down the hall, heading to her room. The door slowly creaked open and Bakura looked into the room. His eyes started at the bed, and then fell to her on the floor. His eyebrows creased as he stepped inside. Folding his arms, he frowned and looked down at her. She just watched him without moving.
"I thought you didn't howl," he said, though his expression didn't change.
Kahlaya did a wolf smile. "Only when I'm bored."
"Why did you change?"
She sighed. "I don't know."
He came into the room and sat down on the wooden chair. Kahlaya couldn't see him from her position, but she didn't bother moving.
"I really am sorry," she told him quietly.
He sighed in exasperation. "I know."
Kahlaya lifted her head and twisted her neck to look at him. "When do you think they'll come?"
"They were on horseback and Odji will be more than pleased to hear that you are here as well. They won't take long. And, this time, we won't win."
She got up and went to the window. Her gaze focused outside she said, "Let's just leave, then."
"That's what we were planning. But it won't be that easy. I'm known all over. You are too. It'll be hard to go anywhere."
Kahlaya whined under her breath then turned and rested her head on Bakura's knees. He didn't move for a while, just sat stone still before raising a hand and placing it reassuringly on the top of her head. She closed her eyes and enjoyed the warmth of his hand for second before coming back to reality, wishing her life weren't so complicated. Opening her eyes, Kahlaya looked up into Bakura's face. He was watching her with a soft expression.
"I'm... afraid," she whispered into his mind.
His eyes narrowed. "You shouldn't be."
She laughed without humor. "I doubt that if I'm taken by the Dark Destroyers that I'll get off quite as easily as I did here."
He shrugged. "Who knows? Maybe you fall for all of your captors."
Kahlaya peered at him from under her eyelashes. "But will they fall for me?"
He smiled. "I don't think Odji could fall for anyone. Of course, I thought the same about myself."
Kahlaya felt a sudden surge of compassion for him. She wanted, more than anything at that moment, to hold his hand, kiss his cheek. She wanted to be human. His emotions seemed to never stay hidden when he was with her. He was comfortable talking about anything. Kahlaya loved the trust he had in her.
Her stomach tingled. She quickly lifted her head, his hand falling away as she did. He looked at her with mixed expressions of curiosity and annoyance. The tingle became a shaking and she backed away from Bakura, hitting the bed.
"Get out," she said.
Bakura rose to his feet.
"I'm shifting! Get out now!"
He quickly left the room and closed the door. As soon as the door was shut, she became human. It was a quick and easy shift and Kahlaya wasn't even out of breath or in pain. Standing, she took her black dress and threw it on then went to the door. Bakura was standing just outside.
"That didn't take long," he stated.
She nodded. "It's pretty easy now."
"Why are you shifting so much?"
"I wish I knew."
He walked back in and sat on the bed. Kahlaya shut the door and sat next to him. She thought of something. If she was going to fight the Dark Destroyers, she'd need her daggers.
"Where are my daggers?" she asked. "They were taken when I first... arrived. I'd really like them back." She paused. "They were a gift from Okpara."
He nodded. "I've seen them. Tarik took them. I'll get them back for you."
"Thanks." She leaned her head on his shoulder.
"Comfortable shoulder?" he asked.
She closed her eyes and nodded. "Mmhm."
Kahlaya tilted her head to look up at his face. His gaze moved down to her, his hair brushing her face. She stretched her neck up toward him as he leaned down. Her eyes closed when their lips collided. It was gentle, much like their first kiss, but they both gained confidence and it became more real. One of Kahlaya's legs folded onto the bed, so that her body turned toward him. His arms went around her, one behind her head, his fingers burying themselves in her hair and the other on the small of her back, bringing her closer. Kahlaya put one arm around his shoulders and into his hair. The other was folded between them, her hand resting on his chest. His heartbeat pulsed against her palm, beating rapidly. Hers pounded in her chest, threatening to break free of her rib cage. The kiss was long, much longer than their first one, but, when they broke apart, Kahlaya found herself feeling the same way she had the first time: wishing it had lasted longer.
They leaned a little away from each other, but not so far as to not feel each other's breath on their faces. Their arms remained in the same spots. Kahlaya smiled and opened her eyes. Bakura's violet gaze bore into her own, a smile forming on his lips. She loved his smile. More than the stars in the night sky or the rising sun.
She didn't know what to say. What were you supposed to say after something like that? Not caring much for the silence, Kahlaya said the only thing that was on her mind.
"I love you."
He closed his eyes for a moment as if to let her words sink in. When he reopened them, she was surprised by the burning fire in them. "I love you as well."
Kahlaya smiled. She was glad to hear him say it. She had felt the emotion in his aura and now that he had admitted it, she knew it was true. Her fist closed around the fabric of his tunic and she leaned forward partially, her eyes closing.
The tingling returned to her stomach. Her eyes snapped open and she jumped up, panicked. She tried to push it away with as much force as she could. It wouldn't work. The wolf would soon come out.
"You have to get out," she told him through clenched teeth. "I'd rather not rip this dress."
Nodding, he got to his feet and left, without a word, closing the door behind him.
Kahlaya paced, trying to keep the animal down. She concentrated as much as she could on it, feeling the beast rise. It was somewhat working, otherwise, she would have already shifted. Without knowing what was causing it, she couldn't focus on fixing the problem. All she could do was push down the wolf with as much strength as she had.
She began shaking and knew that she was losing the fight. Quickly, she pulled the dress over her head and dropped it over the back of the chair. Her bones and muscles morphed into their wolf form. It was just as quick as her last shift and not painful.
Shaking out her pelt, Kahlaya went to the door and hit it twice with the back of her paw.
"I'm decent," she told him before backing away from the door and sitting down.
Bakura came into the room and stood by the door, eyes on Kahlaya.
"I'm getting really freaked out by this," she said.
He nodded. "It is strange."
"I just want to know why it's happening. It's never happened so much in so little time before. It's never happened without the full moon."
He frowned, thoughtful, then walked into the room and flopped down on the bed, his ankles crossed and his arms folded behind his head. Kahlaya huffed and rolled her eyes at his boldness.
"Maybe you're just too overwhelmed by me." He gave her a sideways look.
She scowled. "I'm being serious."
"So am I."
She considered his words. She was shifting a lot more when she was around him, but he couldn't be the cause. If he was, she would have shifted long before this.
"What would you have to do with it, though?"
He thought for a second, and then shrugged. "Emotions."
Kahlaya watched him curiously. It was a good assumption. She had recently been having an overload of emotions. That could explain things. That afternoon, she had been having multiple swings of varying emotions. Each time her emotion got too high, she shifted.
She smirked. "You are smarter than you look."
He returned the smirk. "Glad I could help."
If it was emotions, all she had to do was keep them in check. She'd put his theory to the test.
"I need to be feeling a strong emotion." Getting to her feet, Kahlaya walked closer to him until her nose was right in his face. He looked at her from the corner of his eye. She gazed at him from under her eyebrows, her eyes going wide. She laid her ears back on her head. His face broke into a smile at her puppy-wolf face.
He sighed. "How am I supposed to help with that?"
Kahlaya's ears flipped back up. "You said you were the one overwhelming me."
His smile widened. "True." He propped himself onto his elbows. "What emotion are you going for?"
She lifted her head and shrugged. "I think anger would be easiest."
He laughed slightly and lay back down. "Tarik. Sanura. The Pharaoh. Myself. You have plenty of reasons to be angry."
Her head tilted to the side. "You? Why would I be mad at you?"
Bakura stared at the ceiling. "I got you into all this mess. There's no reason for you not to be."
"There are a lot of reasons for me not to be." Kahlaya studied his face. "More than I could count. I'm not angry with you. And, for the record, this is all my fault. I followed Sanura here. I started everything."
"Perhaps, but who took her in the first place?" When she was silent, he continued. "Me. I did. I took my own sister for my own selfish needs."
Kahlaya's eyes went wide and her jaw dropped. She stepped away from him. "What? She's your sister?"
"Yes." He glanced at her for a second. "I thought you'd have figured it out by now."
Her eyes narrowed and she closed her mouth. How had she missed it? It was obvious now that he said it. They were somewhat alike. Sanura did have a lot of Bakura qualities to her. It explained how he knew what she was and how he knew where she was. Plus, their names. Almost identical.
She blinked a few times and looked at him, her surprise still rising. "A lot is explained by that."
"Is it?"
"You never told me."
"Why would you need to know?"
She shook her head. "I don't know. It just would have been nice to have known."
He smirked and looked at her. "Are you mad at me now?"
For some reason, the question and the way he asked it created a burning anger in her stomach.
"Yeah, I kind of am."
He smirked again and looked back at the ceiling. That action, too, made her angry. How could someone go from saying they loved her to acting so terribly she wanted to hit him. Or bite him, since that was all she could do as a wolf.
Kahlaya's lip curled and she growled. He laughed softly at her reaction, making her growl louder. Anger boiled in her and travelled through her veins. Her body started to shake and Bakura rolled onto his side, looking away from her. Eyes narrowed, Kahlaya realized what he was doing. Getting closer to the chair and her clothes, Kahlaya soon shifted back into a human and she pulled her dress over her head.
"Not bad," she said as he rolled back onto his back.
"It looks like my theory was correct," he said, smirking.
She walked over to the bed and sat down on the edge.
"So… Sanura?" she asked, looking at him from the corner of her eye.
His eyes met hers for a second before he looked away, to the ceiling.
"She lived in the village with my family and I. I always knew there was something dark about her, but then I wasn't sure what it was. After the soldiers destroyed my village, she and I fled. I knew I couldn't take care of a two year old, so I left her with a family. Not the same one that lived near you. I don't know how she managed to end up with them. A few months ago, I saw her in the village and when I felt the evil about her, it finally dawned on me that she was a Shadow Walker. I thought I should get her out of there, figure out what she was planning and try to convince her to use her powers for me."
"And how's that working out for you?"
He smiled slightly. "Not exactly as I had planned."
They sat without thinking for a while, each just lost in their own thoughts. Finally, Kahlaya got tired of the silence.
She smiled and took his elbow in her hand, pulling his arm. He looked at her curiously.
"Come on," she said. "Let's go practice fighting or aura target practice or go for a walk or... something! We cannot just sit in here."
Bakura raised an eyebrow and let her pull him to his feet.
"I'll get you your daggers," he told her.
She beamed. "Great! I'll wait outside."
They both left the room, Kahlaya running and Bakura walking. Watching her go, he wondered how he had ever gotten into this situation.
Kahlaya found herself at the mercy of Bakura's sword, again. It was sunset and they had been practicing for little over an hour. Bakura had won three times. Kahlaya was improving though. He was showing her a few of his manoeuvres and she caught on easily. They usually fought longer and she gained the advantage sometimes and had almost beaten him, only to have him pull off another skilful trick and turn the tables.
Panting, Kahlaya fell to her knees on the sand. "I'm never going to be able to beat you."
He smiled warmly down at her. "I know."
"Way to encourage me." She rose to her feet and wiped her forehead with the back of her hand. "Have you taught Dakarai fighting as well?"
He nodded. "Since I met him."
"I saw how similar you two fight."
Taking his hand, Kahlaya ran toward the oasis.
"Now what?"
"Hello? We're all sweaty. That calls for some washing off," she smiled and kept running.
His eyebrows pulled together. Somehow, the sound of that made him nervous.
They quickly reached the oasis. Kahlaya stopped beside the washing pool and let go of his hand.
"Okay," she said. "You first."
"Wha-" he didn't have time to finish before Kahlaya pushed him into the water.
Bakura hit the water with a large splash and the water engulfed him. Laughing, Kahlaya jumped in after him. She landed just as his head came out of the water and she splashed him right in the face.
He smirked and pushed his hair out of his eyes. "That was unnecessary."
She laughed again and put her arms around his neck. "Maybe, but at least you're clean now."
Scowling he replied, "And soaking wet."
She smiled. "An unfortunate side effect."
She kissed his lips quickly and then glided away from him. He turned away and swam to the edge then pulled himself out of the water. Kahlaya swam over to where he was and looked up at him.
"You're no fun," she muttered, pouting.
He ran his hands through his hair and looked at her. "I never said I was."
She heaved herself out of the pool and wrung out her hair, then her dress. Walking closer to him, she wrapped her arms around his waist and hugged him tightly, her head resting on his wet chest. His arms went around her and he looked down at her while she tilted her head to look at him.
"That's fine by me," she murmured.
"It seems like it has to be."
She laughed. "I guess so." Her laugh disappeared and she moved her gaze away from his face. "What are we going to do? The Dark Destroyers are coming."
"So I've heard," he sighed. "There isn't much we can do. Fight. Sanura might help, considering her options. And then there's you. You could tip the scales."
Kahlaya smiled half heartedly. "It's a long shot."
"I know."
Kahlaya yawned. The sun had disappeared and shadows were falling. She didn't know why she was so tired. They hadn't practiced long, but she had also shifted a lot during the afternoon. It must have taken a lot out of her.
"Alright," he murmured, taking her hand. "Let's go."
They walked, hand in hand, back to the temple.
I don't know when I'll update again; I have another busy week. But I'll try to make it faster than this one was.
And that's how Bakura had known so much about Sanura. The name thing had not been intentional. (Remember, this wasn't supposed to be a fanfic with Bakura. There had originally been a girl named Sanura. :P )
Review! Please! :)
-WhiteTiger
