Hey folks, so happy to see you all again...

Little warning, there will be a bit more in the way of bad language for this chapter...but then again, Bakura IS Bakura, so what'dya expect?

Disclaimer: Yu-Gi-Oh owned by its creators. Those don't happen to include me, unfortunately...


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Someone was whistling.

It was some sort of tune that was high-pitched, chirpy-cheerful, and off-key. That and the fact that he hated whistling with a hatred that burned with the white-hot intensity of a thousand suns made Bakura even less thrilled than normal with this visitor's arrival.

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Not that he had ever liked the bitch to begin with.

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Anzu swaggered right by Bakura's cage, ignoring his presence entirely as she focused on the cage containing her target. Bakura almost felt vindicated that Yami was not only still unconscious, no shaking of his cage would be rousing him now.

"Oh, phooey," Anzu said in a mocking tone, "What a time for this lazy guy to take a nap!"

Bakura 'harrumphed', drawing her attention his way.

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"Oh, I know you," she said with an unpleasantly pleasant grin, "Hello, Mop Head."

"Hello, Human Bitch," he replied, sneering right back at her.

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As much as Bakura had avoided her, he knew perfectly well how much Anzu hated being a member of her own species. Just as he'd predicted, her face went red and she growled at him.

"Charming as ever, I see," she said.

"Only for you," he laughed.

"Well, then, you can enjoy your charms by yourself," Anzu snorted, turning and walking away.

"Oh well, I'll be sure to tell Yami that you came by," Bakura called after her, "I'll be certain to emphasize when you admitted your own patheticness."

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"Hah," she said, turning around and walking back over to his cage, "And which one of us is in the birdcage, bird-brain? Although I think…nah. I wouldn't want to spoil your surprise."

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"Oh. No. Not a surprise," Bakura deadpanned. "Whatever shall I do? I shall have a heart attack and die. Such a surprising surprise this is."

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"Cute," Anzu said, her tone showing clearly that the opposite was true, "But I might as well tell you, since it looked like Yami's catching up with his beauty sleep. If Yami doesn't go totally Grey on you, you can even pass it on to him…"

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Bakura snarled. Not that he was particularly fond of Yami, but Anzu's joke was one of the worst in bad taste in Ban-Ile society. 'Going Grey' was the term for when a Ban-Ile faded away.

It was a literal term as well: when a Ban-Ile was pushed too hard, suffered too much, and just couldn't take the strain of life anymore, they went to sleep and never woke up. Their bodies slowly became transparent, growing fainter and fainter until that Ban-Ile didn't physically exist anymore.

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Anzu smiled, knowing exactly what effect her slur had had on her current source of entertainment.

"I just got back from giving the beloved Hive Queen my report," Anzu said, "Information, which pointed out to me exactly where Yami's latest batch of human friends are going. Seems they have something we want."

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Bakura looked in another direction, feigning total boredom. As he'd anticipated, Anzu snapped her fangs together in irritation.

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"I already shredded one of his mortal buddies," she announced proudly, "Some idiot that didn't even have the sense to get out of town with the others. The best trackers are already on their way after the others."

"Ah," Bakura laughed, "And that explains why you're here with us. Not such a great demon, are you Human Bitch?"

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"I'll tear you to pieces for that!" she shrieked, kicking at the side of the cage.

"Ooh," he retorted, "She's going to beat up someone inside a cage! You live so DANGEROUSLY! Such bravery must be sung throughout the ages!"

He punctuated his remark with a maniacal laugh.

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Anzu sneered.

"I can fight you out here if you want, coward," she informed him, "I have a key!"

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She held out a fat metal key. It was the size of a human hand, and judging from appearance Bakura judged it to be made of iron. Anzu waved it at him enticingly.

"Stole it from the guard, did you?" he inquired.

"Hmph," Anzu answered, "You've been here long enough to know there's dozens of these keys everywhere. But if you ask me very nicely I'll let you out of that cramped little cage for a few minutes…maybe I'll even go easy on you…although we don't actually need to fight if you want to try doing something else…"

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Now Anzu was almost pressed up against the bars of the cage, pulling on her talent for enticement for all it was worth. Bakura waited a minute, then burst into peals of laughter.

"You are such a little WHORE, Human Bitch!" he cackled, "I wonder, how much do you charge for your little favors? Or should I grow you another tail as payment?"

Annoyed, Anzu stuffed the key in a pocket and turned to walk away.

"I'm bored and you're no fun at all," she declared, before walking out of the cage-filled room entirely.

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Once she was gone and he was completely certain that she was not coming back, Bakura leaned back in his cage, feeling very pleased with himself. Idly, he twirled the fat iron key around in his hands and gleefully smirked.

"Heh heh heh. Stupid bitch."

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Something was poking his shoulder.

Annoyed, Yami tried to ignore it. The clamor that had half-woken him - a temporary triumph of paranoia over exhaustion - was gone, and without any more reason to stay awake, he wanted to go back to sleep.

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Unless you counted this infernal nudging a reason. Yami was considering it, especially since the poking in question had migrated to the side of his head. He would have swatted at it, but moving felt like too much work.

"Wakey, wakey, Little Yami," someone was crooning.

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And that did the trick. Of all the things Yami utterly despised, more than anything living or dead in the whole of existence - including trees - being teased about his less-than-average height was the single most effective way to infuriate him.

Yami's eyes shot open. And the sight that they first took notice of wasn't at all helpful in reigning in his anger. Bakura's face was right in front of his, and the white-haired Ban-Ile was smirking and snickering.

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Luckily for Bakura's continued health, one of Yami's wings flapped open, and when he realized there was nothing but air surrounding him Yami pushed himself up and looked around.

There were the cages…firmly closed, probably still locked too…and here, outside the cages, were himself and Bakura.

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"Good morning sunshine," Bakura laughed, "Oh, and guess who you owe a debt for rescuing you now?"

"…We're still in a dungeon," Yami reminded the other, rubbing his dry throat to ease the soreness, "Don't most rescues involve leaving the area of captivity at some point?"

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"Not that," Bakura replied coolly, "Before. When your friend the Human Bitch showed up. She had a key and was probably going to molest you. I probably saved your pathetic life from permanent trauma and horrible mental scars."

"Gee, thanks," Yami said, "And we got out of the cages without her how?"

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"I did say she 'had' a key, right?" Bakura mentioned, face serious as he held up an iron key.

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"I hadn't noticed," the other said, turning to check his wing.

'Well, at least its still attached,' Yami sighed, wincing as the appendage screamed back into horrible agonizing life upon being noticed.

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"Would you rather have it chopped off? I could go ask the guards, since I'm sure they'd LOVE to help out with that," Bakura asked in an unnaturally chirpy voice.

"Just help me fix it so we can get out of here," Yami shot back.

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Bakura was more than happy to help pop the wing back into its socket - Yami bit his tongue to keep himself from amusing the other with a cry of pain - but the break proved tricky. In the end, since both of them were worried that a guard - or worse, Anzu - might come by, Yami was forced to wrap his robe around the wing and worry about a better brace later.

The robe - made of a special silvery material that only Ban-Ile could manufacture - was in its own way very much alive. Even though it had been in tatters by the time Yami had switched to human clothes, he'd had it wrapped around his torso underneath the leather. Enough time had passed that the robe had regenerated.

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In the dimness of the cavernous lair of the demons, Bakura's robe - not to mention his hair and wings - made him into a living nightlight.

That was part of the reason Yami let Bakura lead the way out.