Disclaimer: I do not own Yu-Gi-Oh, and all people, places, and events from the original Yu-Gi-Oh! were written and are the rightful property of Kazuki Takahashi (as it should be; if any of us fanfiction writers get our little hands on it... well, then it wouldn't be Yu-Gi-Oh!).

Author's Note: Wow, how many new reviews did I get for that last chapter? About 4? That's pretty sweet! Thanks guys, for all the cool reviews! Just wait til later, though, cause it's about to get way worse (the situation for Anzu, I mean. Not my writing skill. Never that! Oh holy mother of ... if that ever happened I would figuratively die…)

Author's Note: All thoughts are in italics, as well as yami/hikari conversations of the like. Enjoy!

Revival of the Heart

By: Angel's Nocturne

Chapter 12: Escaping the Past….

Samira stood in the middle of Yugi's bedroom, watching the world of the night unfold before. She had watched from the window as Anzu and the mysterious person ride into the dark, and she grimaced, disappointed; both Joey and Tristan were sent after them, never once disobeying the will of their master.

But this one…. Samira turned to look at the spiky-haired boy before her, his lifeless eyes gazing ahead of him. This one is different. So strong-willed… just like his yami. I can't risk another failure, so I will wait before to send him out on any operations. The shadows enveloped the princess like a fog as she approached her mind slave; Samira brought a delicate finger up to touch Yugi's forehead, illuminating the room with its misty blue light of the Eye. Still, he might prove to be quite useful… once I permanently erase his memories.

She cackled aloud, and then disappeared into the darkness, with Yugi obediently in tow.

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Anzu and her savior as far as they could, as fast as they could, never daring to look back; it took a while, but after a time Anzu no longer felt like Joey and Tristan were right on their tail. All seemed to be going well until the motorcycle began to slow down a bit.

"Son of a …", Anzu heard the driver of the motorcycle mumble, though she wasn't sure if that was it since she really couldn't hear him with the motorcycle roaring and his helmet muffling his speech. Before the motorcycle finally ran out of gas, the mysterious guy parked over in an abandoned alleyway, out of sight from anyone- particularly any of Samira's brainwashed servants. He got off the bike, and then walked off into the shadows of the alley before Anzu could even tell him thank you.

Who was that guy? Why did he save me?

It only took a second for Anzu to realize then that she was all alone; goose bumps traced her skin with every noise she heard, since any one of those noises could be Joey or Tristan coming to kill her. Fearing for her safety, the brunette reluctantly followed the stranger into the dark.

"Wait! Wait!" Anzu's cries made the guy stop, but he didn't turn around; all the way at the edge of the alley and veiled by the night's shadows, Anzu couldn't see much of him, except that he had removed his helmet and had long flowing hair. Before he could leave her, Anzu quickly ran to catch up with him. "Hey, I need to talk to you!"

Whether it was fate, or a coincidence, his identity was revealed the moment Anzu came within steps of the savoir. Just as he was about to make a run for it, light for a passing car's headlights flooded the small alley in seconds shadowed his from even more. Stunned for a time by the light, he accidentally turned in the wrong direction, straight towards Anzu's incoming form-

THUD! The ground came to meet them both, their bodies tumbling innocently onto the rough asphalt. In the distance Anzu could hear a terrified cat screeching as it bolted from one of the garbage cans, but that was all beyond the moans of pain coming from the person underneath her. Struggling to find a way up off the ground, Anzu could finally see the face of her rescuer-

"Ryou?" The white-haired teen was barely on his knees after his run-in with Anzu; besides a scraped-knee or a bruised arm, he was fairly okay in terms of his physical shape, but mentally he wasn't sure that he was okay at all sane. One moment he was in his room, having an oddly civilized conversation with his dark half, the next he was lying on his back in some filthy alleyway with Anzu on top of him. Considering that Anzu was, for some reason on top of him, or the thought of having a conversation with his yami that did not involve him being stuffed like a suitcase into the back of his mind, were both crazy to begin with, seeing them both occur in one night left him wondering if he had hit his head on something. He expected a large bump under his white hair as he nursed his head, confused.

"Anzu? Oh my… what are you doing here, with me?"

"What? I was going to ask you the same thing, Ryou." Offering her hand, Anzu brought her bewildered classmate to his feet. "I mean, after you saved me and all."

Now Ryou was sure that he had hit his head against something. Or had drugs put in his food… unlikely, but possible. "Did I save you?" Anzu gave him an equally mystified look. "Oh my… if I did, I know nothing of it. I was in my room, talking to the Spirit of the Ring, and then I was here. I don't remember a thing about what happened in between.

"You still have your yami in the Millennium Ring, Ryou?" Anzu glanced down at the gold pendant hanging from his neck, its surface glittering in the celestial moonlight that had only recently appeared from behind a passing cloud. He nodded solemnly.

"Yes, I still do. You would think that he would leave, after the Pharaoh's death, but I suppose not." He sighed. "Some things never die, especially the sour ones." The ring sparkled unnaturally, its dangling fold arms moving about as if insulted by its master's words. Or delighted, whichever came first. "Anyway, I still have him, and it was so ironic that I was actually talking to him earlier-". Ryou stopped short, his breathing suddenly halted. Memories of his dark roommate overtaking his body and running into the sunset erupted from his clouded thoughts. He looked very pale all of a sudden.

"Oh my…."

"Ryou, what's wrong?" The weirdness of the night seemed to be unfolding with the new information all the time, and Anzu was already exhausted from the latest burst of excitement. After all, Ryou wasn't at all the type of person she was expecting in terms of "savior".

"Uh, I can't believe him… my dark half, my yami, must have taken over me earlier and came for you." His kind caramel eyes looked into hers in realization. "I remember now. We were talking about why ha stopped coming out of the ring, and then he just took over my body and rode the motorcycle down the street. The last thing I remember hearing him say was 'I'm going to find Anzu Mazaki'. That's all, though."

Now Anzu was truly mystified; under normal circumstances the mere mention of Yami Bakura made her think of the Shadow Realm, stealing, the dark energy of the Millennium Ring, but adding "hero" to the list made her head spin because of the irony in it.

"Well, do you know why he did that?" Anzu questioned Ryou, doubtful that he even had a clue as to what was going on, but it was worth a shot anyway. "His reason for rescuing me?" Ryou was about to give an answer but a dark, serious voice came from the Millennium Ring instead.

There's no time for idle chit-chat. At least not until we are in a safer location. Let me handle this, Ryou. A flash of light blinded Anzu for a second, her eyes shut tight out of habit, and when she opened them again, Bakura stood before her; he had changed much in his appearance, for the blue jeans, light blue jacket, and stripped blue-and white shirt were still the same (though the jacket was billowing a bit more behind him), and his hair might have had an extra lock or two, but nothing had really transformed. Only his eyes did, because they were now sharp, elusive, and held all the cunning of his former self, the King of Thieves. Though she was never usually aware of it, Anzu could feel the different atmosphere around him from the switching of their souls; Anzu could oddly feel darkness flow off him like a mist, and the kind look of Ryou's eyes had been replaced by those of mystery and ancient power. She shivered at the thought that this evil entity actually rescued her from the grasp of Samira and Yugi.

"We need to leave soon", he said. "It won't be long before Samira's minions will come to find you, and staying in one place without an escape vehicle could be dangerous."

"You have a place in mind then. Where we can hide?" Anzu wanted to know about Bakura's plans; if he did have the intention on saving her, perhaps he also had an escape route to some hideout he had. Anzu could think of a couple of places to hide in, like the library , but hearing what the spirit had to say made more sense. He shook his head.

"I was going to ask you about that. I'm sure if we do find a place, it will probably be infested with Samira's servants by now."

"What? Already? We only rode around for fifteen minutes, at most, so how could she do that?" Another question popped into her head shortly after. "And how do you know Samira?"

He paused, as if thinking about how he should answer that. Then he gave her a frown. "I don't think I need answer myself to you on such terms, Anzu. Remember, I did save you, and I can easily leave you here to be found if I feel like it." Silence ruled the moment until Bakura realized how harsh he had sounded, though he was in no position to apologize to the likes of her. He sighed deeply.

"By now, Samira must have gathered at least thirty new servants." Yami Bakura's once-piercing brown eyes were now slightly murky as he stared off to the side. "With all that rage, Samira can create an entire army within a quarter of an hour. And I don't wish to answer your other question. How I know her is irrelevant. What we need to do now is focus on we do now."

"Which is?" The idea of fighting an entire army turned Anzu's stomach, especially if Yugi, Joey, and Tristan were leading it.

"We run. As simple as that. Eventually we will find a hideout, but until that time we can't remain here. It isn't safe to stay in one spot for too long, when we are being hunted so." Almost by cue, the sound of coming footsteps and men talking drew closer to the two; Anzu's head turned to see approaching shadows from the street.

"That's not good." As the shadows moved from the street closer to the garbage cans, Anzu could see their forms clearly, and both of them had a sharp dagger in their hands. Their mumbling also became clear as they drew nearer, and it was to Anzu's fright that she discovered what they were saying. In creepy monotonous chants, they spoke.

"Kill Anzu Mazaki…kill Anzu Mazaki…."

"Come!" Yami Bakura thoughtlessly grabbed Anzu's shaking hand and pulled. "They will kill you if you don't!" The felling of the spirit's hand squeezing hers made Anzu blush for some reason; following behind him, Anzu ran to the end of the alley, away from the mindless murderers behind them. Alerted by the sound of sudden footfall, the mind slaves charged into the alley, attempting to find their prey inside.

"Where are we going!" Anzu shouted, the adrenaline pumping her body surging with each step she took, her breathing too quick for her to even know she had taken one. "Where are we running to!"

Yami Bakura glanced back toward her, determination bright in his eyes, as well as something Anzu knew he was trying to not to show: helplessness. It was then that Anzu knew that the thief was as tired of all this crazy excitement as she was, but he was far more capable at dealing with it than her, despite the fact that she has gone on multiple adventures with Yugi and the guys. He could only must one word, one that didn't give much hope for Anzu, but it was enough to tell Anzu that this was going to be a long night.

"Anywhere", he said.

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Author's Note: Can't wait for the next chapter? Neither can I! I'll update soon (hopefully tomorrow), and you'll just have to wait until then. Have a good day (or night) everyone!