Hello! I'm here with a new chapter. This chapter gives you more information about Bakura and Marik's past as well as a new mystery concerning Yuugi. Oh, and there is some magic there, too. I need to apologize in advance for all the technological nonsense in this chapter. All I know about hackers and hacking programs comes from stories and movies. Hopefully, what I wrote makes some sense.
Once again, I want to thank my trio of friends: my Bakura, Julia and Kathy for their great support! I'm writing this story for you and that's enough for me! Julia, this time I made sure the cat had the right name xD
I hope you like this chapter. My Bakura, I made some slight changes here, trying to explain what Bakura actually did a bit more.
Chapter 6
Marik was the first to break the silence that filled the room. "Did you feel any magic?" he questioned the crimson eyed boy. "Anything that may indicate that one of the two tried to use magic on you while you were in the car?"
Atem thought about it, feeling a bit better knowing that at least one of his friends was serious about it. He hadn't considered that maybe Joey or Yuugi also had magic, but Marik had a point. "I can recognize our kind of magic when it is at work and I think I would have sensed it if something similar was happening in such an enclosed space. If it was magic, it was too subtle to pick up." He rubbed his chin, deep in thought. "I don't think either of them could wield magic. I don't think they did it."
The boys already knew that there were other wielders of magic but they all had some kind of aura that helped recognizing them. Marik's older brother, Rishid, was one of them. Much like his brother, Rishid could manipulate reality but his magic was much weaker than Marik's. Being six years older than his baby brother, Rishid had tried to slowly introduce their heritage to Marik but the boy didn't believe magic existed. Even though both boys loved and respected each other, magic had been a touchy subject that disturbed Marik a lot because it made him wonder if his brother was crazy. Rishid had tried to prove to him magic was real, wanting him to be prepared for when his powers would become potent, but illusions didn't work on Marik. Still, when the inevitable happened and Marik got his powers as soon as he turned sixteen, the first of the three boys, Rishid had been there for him and had kept him from going mad. He had been his mentor and protector, teaching him how to properly channel his magic and making sure he didn't recklessly use his powers.
Bakura was the next one to turn sixteen. He knew what to expect but it wasn't any easier to handle it than it was for Marik. However, he knew what to do with his powers. He worked hard to gain control over them and honed them to use them as the weapon they could be. He knew they were the key to his freedom from his abusive father. Even though he found the idea of causing his death appealing, Bakura didn't want his blood on his hands. So he and Marik carefully orchestrated a scheme to get rid of him by helping the police do its job.
Bakura's father, the notorious Hiroto King, was a professional thief and assassin well-known in the underworld of Kyoto where the boys used to live before they had to move. He had tried to live an honest life when he met Bakura's mother, Yua, but his old life caught up with him two years after his only son's birth and he welcomed it with open arms. Trying to maintain some normalcy and balance between his quiet family life and his night activities quickly tired him. He loved his wife but he wouldn't let her shape his son into a weakling so he was harsh towards his son, often demeaning and beating him. Secretly, he was proud of his boy's defiance and his fights on the streets with the neighbor's boys. Bakura was quick and agile. He was also quite smart. He would make an excellent thief. That was the future he had wanted for his son, to follow on his footsteps.
Hiroto had always been a difficult man but he became even worse when Yua died. Bakura was eight years old when Yua got seriously sick and some weeks later left her last breath in a hospital. For quite a while, his father lost his mind. At first he took to the bottle, only staying somber when he had to work. He became even more violent and he took out his frustration to his son that had his mother's eyes. Seeing how his performance at work was affected by drinking snapped the man out of his alcohol induced paranoia. In his profession, showing weakness meant you were open to attacks. No one would say Hiroto King was weak. No one lived to tell such a tale.
Yua used to be a teacher and her job was a clean one with good money. Hiroto had a part time job in a logistics office ran by one of his friends and he used it as a cover for his night activities making sure his wife knew the minimum about it. Now that his wife was gone, all he cared about was his real job. He became more eclectic, choosing what assignments he would take and pretending all the money he made was a result of his regular job. He stashed most of his money under some loose planks in his bedroom but there was always enough to make sure Bakura wouldn't go hungry and their bills were paid. Even though he didn't completely stop drinking and he was still vicious in his punishments, Bakura never went hungry or had to ask for anything. He had enough to even share with his best friend, Marik, whose family was quite poor.
Bakura and Marik had met during a scuffle when they were ten years old. Marik had punched an older child who kept daunting and making fun of him because, even though he was tall for his age, he was quite skinny to the point of being starved. Marik knew he would return home bloodied and beaten, but he had gathered all his energy, broken the other's nose and stolen his bread. Seeing the anger in the other boy's eyes, he fled with his prized possession, but the other boy brought a friend and cornered Marik. Bakura heard the commotion and went to investigate. Seeing the boy with the dark complexion hold the bread so protectively reminded him of his mother who always helped those in need. Even though he wasn't one with the softest heart, he decided to help. Both Marik and Bakura were bloodied and beaten when they returned home but the other two boys were even worse and Marik still had his bread. But most importantly, that day they both had gained a friend.
Surprisingly, Hiroto didn't mind his son's friendship with the skinny boy and he allowed Bakura to share his food with his friend. The man saw potential in the boy and started training him with his son. None of them were really planning to become thieves, but they recognized that knowing how to throw knives, open locked doors, and be stealthy were valuable skills. So, they let Hiroto believe what he wanted to believe while making sure when the time came, they would have the skills to escape and get a better life.
Bakura had food and good living arrangements, but Marik had a loving mother and a hard working brother. Lapis, Marik's mother, was a lovely Egyptian woman with long dark hair and beautiful azure eyes. Her husband, Amon, and she had left their country seeking a better life, following a dream Amon had; telling him that he needed to leave his country and move to Japan. Amon had grown up having dreams that guided him and so he believed in them. He had moved his wife and baby son across the world, finding a job as a translator for a company that made business with Egypt. The family had lived comfortable for ten years, Rishid growing up in a safe environment, and even had a second son, Marik. Unfortunately, when Marik was four years old, Amon was involved in a car accident and died leaving Lapis alone to raise her two sons. She worked herself to the bone, cleaning houses and doing needlework, but she couldn't afford living in the place they had so the family had to move to another neighbor, one that wasn't famous for its safety. Even when later on Rishid was old enough to get a part time job, there was barely enough money for them to pay the rent and not starve. When Hiroto started feeding Marik, Lapis felt relieved, so Marik kept from his mother Hiroto's activities and training, letting her believe he was just a lonely man who was glad to have another son to talk to and pass his wisdom.
Rishid, on the other hand, knew exactly who Hiroto was, so he took it upon himself to make sure both Marik and Bakura wouldn't be corrupted by him and would stay on the straight and narrow path. He also made sure both boys would do their homework and continue going to school. Their background was no reason for them not to get proper education. Even Hiroto thought being educated was useful and encouraged his son's talent concerning electronics and computer systems. Bakura took to it with great interest and even though he hated school, he studied hard to make sure he would be able to study in his desired field, computer networks.
Bakura was often at Marik's house because he enjoyed being mothered by Lapis. He wouldn't show it but Lapis knew it and she made sure to treat him no different than her children. When Hiroto was away, working, the white haired boy would often stay over at the Namu household and listen to Lapis's stories about Egypt. Yua's father had also been Egyptian but Bakura had never met him. Nevertheless, his mother used to tell him stories about Egypt too, so Bakura loved Lapis's stories. When Marik turned thirteen, he inherited his father's journal; discovering another connection to his Egyptian heritage. It was Amon's wish for Marik to have the journal at that particular age.
In it, Amon had written down some stories about the distant past. At first his son saw them as simple stories but as he learnt more at school and from his mother about Egypt, he understood that in them there was information not commonly known. The story of Pharaoh Atemu was one of them. The story of the King of thieves and his second in command was also in there and it was the boys' favorite. With the journal also came a letter from Amon to Marik. It was written a month prior to his death. Amon didn't seem to know he would die but he mentioned he had a feeling he had to write down all these things because Marik would need them. In the letter, he also told his son he was special and that one day he would discover the secret powers inside him as well as meet other people with similar powers. He closed his letter telling him he was proud of him and knew he would make the most of life.
Rishid confirmed he had a similar letter but in his their father entrusted Marik to his protection and asked him to be his guide in the difficult path he had to follow. Years later, Marik came to understand his father also had magic but it came to him through dreams and he didn't know how to channel it in a different way. It was enough though to help his sons and make sure they wouldn't go crazy when their powers appeared. Marik believed that his father wouldn't agree with the way Bakura and he had used their powers to lock Hiroto up but he was also sure that he wouldn't want his son to become a thief, and Hiroto had started becoming too pushy. He had tried to involve the boys in his jobs and would become too violent when they wouldn't agree to help him.
Since he couldn't take out his rage on Marik, Bakura would get the full blast. Bakura's control over his magic was flimsy so he knew fighting back would end up with at least one corpse in his living room. But with each beating, Bakura found it harder and harder to care if his father would make it out alive or not. Deep inside he knew he didn't want to be a murderer but he had enough. So, when Rishid finally agreed to help, Bakura and Marik were ready.
First Bakura made sure his father was wasted. It wasn't that hard, really. Then, he had Marik work his mind control on the older man, forcing him to sign some papers that made Lapis Bakura's legal guardian. The two boys pocketed all the money that the man had earned from his job in the office, deciding to leave what Rishid considered 'dirty money' for the police to find, before bringing out all evidence that Hiroto was connected to a series of robberies and murders around Kyoto. Both boys had used their time with Hiroto to learn where he kept all the things that could lead to his demise. He was a man who loved to brag about his work and kept spoils as memories of his best contracts. Wanting to make sure Bakura would keep all his belongings and none of them would be confiscated by the police, the boy had moved everything he needed to the Namu household first. The place still had touches of a teenager living there, but there was nothing in it that Bakura would miss losing.
When the police, tipped by Rishid, broke into the house, they not only found contracts and stolen goods but also Hiroto confirming all he had done in a fit of madness. Rishid was using his powers to make him think the dead were after him while Marik kept his mind control on him, forcing him to admit his crimes. The final touch was when, with the help of Bakura's magic, Hiroto created an explosion that didn't hurt anyone but was enough to convince everyone the man had to be locked up for good. Attacking policemen was the last nail in Hiroto's coffin, and the only thing that would had made Bakura happier that day was telling his father that he had been the one to send him to prison.
Drained, since magic took a lot out of them, the three boys went back home. They knew that when the police would search the King's apartment, they would find Bakura's papers and seek him in Lapis' place. So it happened. Since the boy was already sixteen and the papers were legit, Bakura was left to live with Marik and his family. Lapis wasn't happy about the way the boys had made things happen but she welcomed Bakura like a son. Hiroto's money kept them afloat for a while and with all the boys doing odd jobs, they managed to survive.
"Father's story often mentioned the Prince but how likely is it that Solomon Mutou knows about him? It's a minor information and no one would really care about it but the fact he knows it is suspicious. Could it be that the blonde thought that, indirectly, you were hitting on his brother?" Marik wondered aloud, finally sitting on the mattress once again. Seeing Atem ready to start arguing again, he added, "It's not that I don't believe you and I definitely think this is too much of a coincidence but we should first check off every other explanation."
Bakura thought about it. "Do you have a way to contact Yuugi?" The crimson eyed boy nodded. "Let today pass and tomorrow invite him to the bar. Would he want to meet you again?"
"Yuugi was quite friendly. He is a really nice young man and we have a lot in common." Atem answered, diplomatically. His mouth had gone dry thinking of seeing Yuugi again. Instinctually, he touched his phone in his pocket as if to make sure it was still there. It was definitely there; as was Yuugi's saved number. "However, I don't think he is the kind of person that would frequent a bar."
The white haired boy stared at his friend. There was something about the way Atem talked about Yuugi. There was warmth mixed with fear. Atem acted as if he wanted to avoid meeting the boy. A grin played on Bakura's lips, understanding that the truth could be found between the lines of all the things Atem had said. His grin widen.
"He's a college student. I'm sure he's visited a bar or two. He'll come to check the place you work, if you invite him for a drink." He said, casually, fishing a coin from his pocket and tossing it in the air. "He liked you enough to invite you over to his house." The coin landed on his palm but he didn't look at it.
"He gave me the impression of a person who easily makes friends." Atem commented also in a casual tone, not raising to the challenge. He said each word slowly as if he had to explain something simple to someone who wasn't really paying attention. "I don't deny that there was a connection there but you must admit you don't find every day a person that looks so much like you and shares some of your interests. It's bound to make you curious about the other."
Atem wasn't sure if his words described how Yuugi felt. Was that why the boy had invited him over? Or was that how he felt about Yuugi? The boy was different than most of the people Atem knew. Atem believed that what had pulled him in was mostly curiosity and a need to understand what made the other boy so different. The crimson eyed boy had missed being a regular person in the crowd, getting to meet another soul and connect to it. Having a conversation with a stranger and getting to know more about them was something that happened to people every day and yet Atem had shut down this part of life so effectively that when Yuugi appeared with his kindness, the assault was so soft and sudden that he didn't even notice he let his barriers down. Then, he discovered that Yuugi was a connection to all the things he wanted to avoid. He had ignored the first hint- Yuugi's knowledge of Atemu- but finding out that the boy who looked so much like him was Mutou's grandchild couldn't be ignored. Atem didn't believe in coincidences anymore. And he definitely trusted his instincts that told him Solomon Mutou and Joey Wheeler knew who Atem was, or was supposed to be.
Bakura flipped the coin once more and let it fall on the coffee table. "Would it really hurt spending some more time with little Yuugi? From what you told us he was quite interested in the story of the pharaoh." His brown eyes took in the way the coin kept spinning on the table. "If you play your cards the right way, maybe he will become a valuable source of information, and he may not even realize it." Instead of slowing down, the coin was spinning faster and faster. "But if you can't do it, all you have to do is invite little Yuugi and introduce him to Marik. Maybe he can do it his way."
The coin was launched from the coffee table to the other side of the room with a loud bang that shook the whole room. Atem stood perfectly still, his face pale, his forehead sweaty. His fists were clenched and his eyes were a red mist that kept shifting. The other two boys in the room didn't move an inch from the position they originally were and not even Mana dared to mew. Then, the tricolor haired boy grabbed his jacket and left the apartment without a word. Each step was strained and yet he kept walking until he was out the building's door once again. When the echo of his steps disappeared, Bakura stood up and picked the coin. It was cracked in half.
"What does this mean?" Marik asked, approaching his friend and taking a look at the cracked coin. "What's going on, Bakura?"
Bakura ran a hand through his rough white hair, a shiver running down his spine. "This means we need to be careful, my friend. No matter how much our dear pharaoh wants to deny it, the boy's appearance changed something." He held the two halves of the coin in his hand. They were both quite warm.
Marik's brows furrowed slightly, understanding downing on him. "Things are going to change." He bit the inside of his lip. "Maybe we shouldn't push him to meet Yuugi again. We've been trying to stay away from this madness for years. Why are we now trying to dive deeper into it?"
"I'd like to know more about what we have to deal with." Bakura placed the two halves in his pocket and picked up his backpack, taking out his laptop once again. "The more we know about this situation, the easier it will be for us to manage it."
Energetically, he started typing on the laptop, his eyes moving across the screen. While Bakura hacked system after system, Marik made some coffee. He was half way through his cup when Bakura let out a curse.
"What is it?" Marik asked, sitting by Bakura and peeking on his computer screen. "What's this?" He pointed at the folder the boy was currently accessing.
"I've got a hold of his school records, mostly straight As. He wasn't good at gymnastics but he's won some painting competitions for his school. His parents' death and his grandfather's retirement are mentioned in quite some newspapers. There is a photo from the opening of his grandfather's game shop-Yuugi isn't in it- but nothing else, which is something I expected. Atem mentioned the boy missed a semester due to his hospitalization so I tried to access his medical records." He grinned a bit, showing his sharp white teeth. "This is from a private clinic. You'd think with all the money these people make, it'd have better security. It was easy to hack into their system." Actually, what had taken him a while was finding the place Yuugi had been hospitalized. It was only due to the fact he had his own program planted in the university's system that he had managed to find the information he needed. "Look at this." He pointed to a specific file.
"Yuugi Mutou was brought in on the second day of April suffering from smoke inhalation. His skin was pale and bluish due to lack of oxygen and he had lost conscience. He suffered first degree burns all over his body. Chest x-rays, blood tests, and bronchoscopy were performed. His heart stopped twice and restarted again. The second time, he regained consciousness for some seconds. We administrated oxygen to him and he was placed in a compression chamber. The boy came in and out of consciousness until he fell into a coma. The patient stayed in coma for seven days. During that period his burns disappeared and the carbon monoxide was removed from his blood. He woke up disoriented but his lungs were in excellent condition. The other doctors called it a miracle. All necessary examinations of his brain and vital organs were performed but the patient showed no complications other than signs of extreme fatigue. He was kept in hospital for seven more days in order to have all the necessary tests performed." Marik read the report, horrified.
"According to the other files here, Yuugi was quite healthy most of his life. His files mention the regular shots and visits a child is supposed to have to a doctor. But after his hospitalization, he was admitted twice for infections. The doctors report his immune system seemed to be weak and prescribed him vitamins and supplements." Bakura added, wondering how the boy had ended up in a fire. He could find no paperwork explaining what had happened.
"The second of April…" Marik muttered, trying hard to grasp a distant memory. "Could you look up the date and warehouse fire?"
Bakura started typing again without questioning the other boy, his long fingers hitting the keys barely making a sound. "Look at this!" he exclaimed, disturbed.
As he was about to show Marik what he had found, the door to the apartment opened again and Atem walked in. He looked even more tired than before. Picking up the energy in the room, he tensed. The alarming look in his friends' eyes showed him this had nothing to do with what had happened some minutes ago. After all, it wasn't the first time one of them had lost his temper.
"What?" He still growled, defensive.
When Bakura filled him in about what the doctors' reports said, Marik started talking again. "I don't usually care much about dates, but I remembered something as I was reading the report. Back in the beginning of April, I was to see a man about a job down at the docks. You know how that area is full of warehouses. I've never got there though because there was a big fire in one of the warehouses that was followed by multiple expositions and the area was closed to the public." Marik remembered all the screaming and the smoke coming out in thick waves as multiple expositions were heard and the crowd and police took cover. He had been far away so he hadn't actually seen the flaming warehouse but he had stayed enough to make sure access to the area was denied. "I'm sure multiple ambulances were in the area and more than one left with someone inside."
Indeed, the article Bakura had pulled mentioned that there were four men involved in the incident, all of them treated for superficial burns and injuries. There was no mention of Yuugi. On the contrary, the article talked about four people involved in shady dealings gone wrong. They had all been arrested after they had seen a doctor but none of them could say how the fire had started. Since gunshots had been heard before the expositions and the warehouse was filled with explosive materials and electric cords, the police had determined the fire had been an accident.
"There is more to this mystery. Anyone with the right of entry to the university's system such as administrators or professors can access Yuugi's profile to check his grades and certificates. In the system, it is recorded that he dropped during the previous semester. No further information was given." Bakura rhythmically tapped his fingers on the keyboard. "At first I thought maybe the boy didn't want to say he dropped so he lied that he was sick. Aren't we lucky I have Doma running and collecting information in their system since our dear Pharaoh joined their university? I found a completed form kept in the principal's private files."
Bakura's was quite proud of his work and he didn't mind showing it. Atem acknowledged his friend with a nod, satisfying the white haired boy's ego, before he addressed his concern. "Are there any other accidents that day in Domino? Maybe it was a car accident or a house fire."
Since the boy's injuries were quite extensive, the accident must have made the news. It would have definitely been mentioned in the police reports. Bakura worked on his computer searching the internet before checking any mention of a fire or car accident in Domino's Police Department's site for the second of April. The only thing he found was the warehouse fire.
The three boys stayed silent for a while. Somehow Yuugi had found himself in that warehouse and had almost lost his life in it, yet someone had made sure there would be no connection between the boy's hospitalization and that fire. They had even gone as far as erasing from the university's system the real reason why Yuugi had missed a semester. Obviously, it wasn't Yuugi's doing. The boy had openly admitted he had missed a semester due to his poor health. So who could it be?
Atem was the first to recover from the shock of what they had discovered. He looked at his friends and took a deep breath, making a decision. Deep inside, he knew that even without the new information, his decision would have been the same. He had come to that conclusion while walking around the block to cool down, but lying to himself seemed like a good way to stay sane at that moment.
"Tomorrow, I will invite Yuugi to The Dice."
Once again, I must apologize if what Bakura did doesn't make sense. I'd say it's a good thing I don't know how you hack systems but in my story I want Bakura to be this crazy smart hacker who can break into almost every system (A modern thief). I've heard/read about programs that you can plant into another's computer (even remotely) and get access to everything they access. So, this is what I am trying to describe here.
Other than the technical stuff, this is the chapter that started complicating my life. Now that this is up, there is no going back. So, what did you think? In one chapter, you got Bakura and Marik's life stories, a bit of magic and Atem's temper as well as more information about Yuugi's hospitalization. Oh, and is that a date? ;)