Disclaimer : I don't own Yu-Gi-Oh!, the characters within, or any references mentioned. Shira is copyrighted by me, and remains my creation forevermore.

Chapter 14

Bakura's POV

It was game over now, I suppose. Tenchi's eyes were flicking from me to Tailera, pleading for help. That made me think; what happened to the Tenchi back in Domino? The one that never gave up in a fight, the one that never feared anything? I admit, she was excellent in this fight, but it kind of surprised me that she didn't do some tricky or impressive move that, magically, caused her captor to release and eat the dirt on the ground. I looked over at Tailera, and her jaw was held tight in annoyance, looking at the slim Egyptian, who was looking suave. She refused to move, however, in caution to not trigger the snaps of her sister's arms.

The only movement I sensed in the room was the suave Egyptian crossing his arms, looking from me, to Tailera, to Tenchi, then back to me again. He smirked a very unimpressive smirk in my opinion. I wondered how a wimp like him became the leader of these Egyptians.

"Well, that was rather entertaining," he said smoothly, eyeing the surroundings. When his eyes stopped moving I looked to what he was looking at, and I saw that guy Tailera attacked. He still lay unconscious on the floor.

The Egyptian then clapped his hands. "I have to congratulate you, girl," he smiled at Tailera, "for taking Dakarai down. He's a Deadly Scorpion."

I looked at Tailera and she lifted her head up to face the ceiling, but she kept eye-contact with the Egyptian with an uninterested look. Her jaw was still held pretty tight.

"My name is Hasani, and I'm the Head Scorpion of this place."

"Like I care who you are," Tailera sniffed, scratching her throat in a bored fashion. "Head Sissy or Stupid Servant, it doesn't run by me as something worth knowing."

My smirk grew wider as I saw Hasani's face twist in anger. But then he said, "Hurt her a bit," and Tenchi gasped in pain as her captor tightened his arm-lock. I saw Tailera's eyes flicker and burn, but the only thing that moved on her face was one twitch of her lips.

"Let go of my sister, please," she said calmly. Not a drop of begging dripped into her voice. It was expressionless.

Hasani laughed. "You're in no position to make decisions."

"Then what do you plan to do, might I ask?" Tailera sneered. "I'm dying to know."

Hasani's lip twitched, almost the same way Tailera's did, then turned to the guy named Bakari, who held onto Tenchi with his muscled arms. "Throw her to them."

Bakari sort of shrugged his shoulders, shifted his hands onto Tenchi's ribs, and threw her across the room. She landed on the ground running, but she couldn't stop. She almost tripped if it weren't for Tailera catching her and setting her straight.

"You okay?" she asked Tenchi, and Tenchi nodded, glaring at Bakari and Hasani. Tailera then turned to me and said in a low voice, "Got any ideas what to do?"

I looked up at the ceiling and thought, then looked at her again. "Bribe, probably. We're surrounded now," I glanced around at the other Egyptian Scorpions, flexing their fists, and a few girls, who looked amused. One caught my eye, and she started to giggle hysterically. I cocked my brow, and Tailera looked at the girl and huffed.

"Bribe, huh?" Tailera whispered back after leering at the girl, "What d'you have in mind?"

"Let me do the talking."

I turned to Hasani, who looked suspicious about my mutterings with Tailera. "So what exactly do you want with us?" I asked nonchalantly.

"What I want?" Ra, was he idiotic. "Oh, well, nobody's allowed on our turf in this building."

"I wonder why," Tailera said sarcastically under her breath, causing Tenchi beside her to snicker.

"Instead of beating you people up," Hasani continued, attempting his suave expression again, "I've decided that you're too good at fighting to be let go. So you'd be made a great Scorpian addition to our crew, and those two pretty girls with you could be used for satisfaction."

Tailera's jaw dropped in fury, and could've jumped across the room and strangled the kid if I hadn't held a hand in front of her. After glaring at me for getting in her way, she stood behind Tenchi, her hands on her sister's shoulders. I realized that Tailera's frequent reaction was a tight jaw.

"And what if we refuse?" I asked, side-glancing at Hasani. He looked around at his comrades, almost on the verge of laughing.

"Did you know everyone in this room has a blade on them? Even the pretty girls in the back."

The girls giggled girlishly again, and as if to prove a point, lifted up their shirts a bit, showing their stomach and a knife strapped on their belly. The one that caught my eye before smirked at me, as if she was showing off what I was missing under her clothing. Tailera got the message from that, and her grip tightened on Tenchi's shoulders. Only did Tenchi yelp quietly did Tailera loosen her fingers. Her knuckles were white.

"I'm getting the idea that you don't want to join us," Hasani said, lifting his brow.

"Who would?" I closed my eyes and tried my best not to laugh. But Tailera proved difficult to ignore.

"Yeah, we'd rather not," I answered after I coughed. "We've got business to do here in Egypt, and we don't give a damn about joining some Egyptian gang. I don't know if you're even worth joining."

"Hell yeah, of course we're worth joining!" Chuma boomed. "We OWN this village!"

"Let's just slit their throats!" Bakari bellowed. "It's their loss if they don't want to join us. Besides, I'm itchin' to just kill them!"

Hasani rubbed his chin, considering it. Then he smirked. "Nah, I've got a better idea. I feel the sudden urge to dance."

I looked at Tailera, and she looked at me. "...O...k..." Tenchi said, looking at Hasani strangely.
Hasani grinned. "That Kaiba bloke had just released a new and improved Dance Dance Revolution, which coincidently is in this building. How 'bout this; if you beat three of us, one-on-one, I'll consider letting you go unscarred. You guys up for it?"

I thought it was a retarded idea, to be honest. Come on...dance? For freedom?! Whoever heard of such a corny idea? Never in my life have I heard such stupidity. Hasani has us totally surrounded, probably at his mercy, whatever the hell you want to call it, and he wants us to dance... besides I don't know how to-

"Sure," I turned sharply to Tailera, glaring. What did she just...?!

She ignored me, her lips stretching into a smirk. "I'm game."

"So am I," Tenchi said firmly, and both girls turned their attention to me. My eyebrow twitched, and I sighed.

"Fine! How'd you drag me into this crap, anyway? Sheesh, I should just kill them all somehow, and then we'd be free-"

"Thanks for being a good sport, Kaleb," Tailera said sweetly, which I strangely found mocking and amusing at the same time. She and Tenchi laughed at my expression.

"Alright, it's on!" Hasani raised his arms, looking triumphant. "Let's beat these bitches!"

"And don't forget bastard," Tailera smirked, nudging my shoulder with her own. She saw my look of annoyance. "Oh, come on, Kaleb! It's just a dance; we'll destroy them!"

"Er, the thing is, I don't know how to-"

"Dance?" she whispered, watching Hasani as he boasted to his posse. She giggled quietly, "It's not that difficult. Once you hear the echo through your whole being, your body feels the urge to move. That's what dancing is. So you basically already know how."

A sense a familiarity flooded through me as she spoke. Someone else I knew said that...

"Well, I'm not very good, then," I huffed automatically.

"Oh, stop being so negative!" At this she brushed my hand, causing the familiarity sense to grow about two sizes inside me. And yet I could not remember the person. "You'll do fine. Believe me."

"It's not a very good idea to believe in someone," I advised, suddenly thinking of it from her choice of words. "They could let you down, and you'll fall and get terribly hurt."

Suddenly Tailera looked down at the ground, her eyes saddened. "I learned that the hard way, long ago."

Her answer surprised me for a second, and before I could speak again, some Scorpian pushed us and Tenchi forward.

"Come on, wretches!" he snarled, wielding a knife at us. "We're going; get moving!"

I'm not the one who takes orders from others - I'm the King of Thieves, for Ra's Sake! - but I had to move, to keep our word with Hasani. I was still thinking about what Tailera said, though, because everything was giving me some kind of hint...

End of Chapter

Star: Aw, Kura doesn't know how to dance?

Bakura: What? Of course I do!

Vixen: Not according to this plot. You're a dunce when it comes to it.

Bakura: -fume-

Shira: Eheh, R&R and hikari loves you!