Sorry for the long update guys. I got to my ship in Japan and I'm still getting used to the new work schedule. Updates are going to be slower or multiple chapters at one time when I have wifi. Sorry but the military doesn't stop for fanfics. -sweatdrops-

Disclaimer: This is getting real tiring. Still don't own anything.

Chapter 8

Thunderstorms and Noises

The rain continued to fall ruining any chance of outdoor activities. Large puddles started to form in low places and nearby creeks and streams began to rise very slowly. Frogs hopped from the banks of a few ponds into the water below while a few brave animals scurried about quickly. By now most animals had given up on venturing out and many humans had lost interest in anything they were doing.

One pair were staring up at the ceiling in the room they were both in. Several new found leaks had them running around earlier trying to collect the dripping water into bowls or pots. Lucky enough for them none of the leaks appeared in the bedroom or the bathroom. Ten bowls and pots were scattered about the living room and the kitchen the constantly plopping sound of water meeting water a constant.

"Should I dare ask a question that could jynx us the rest of the day?" The male asked as he laid out on the floor hands behind his head.

"I'd prefer you'd not but hell we're already lost so it's not like it's jynxed already." The female responded uncaringly from her position on the couch.

"Alright, then could this day possibly get any worse?" The male smirked as the girl mock glared at him. "This is the first time I've ever actually felt boredom. Any ideas come to your mind yet?"

The girl shook her head. They had both spent a good deal of the afternoon trying to find some sort of activity to preoccupy themselves. The cleaning process of the kitchen took longer than expected when they realized just how dirty the kitchen really was. Turning her attention away from the leaky wooden ceiling Serenity gazed down at Yami Bakura. A question had been bugging her since they had gotten lost and she couldn't find a better time then now, the oatmeal explosion had interupted her attempt the last time.

"Here's a question for you that's been bugging me for a while." Yami Bakura turned his head slightly to the girl who was looking down at him. "If you're supposed to be all evil and such why haven't you done anything to me? I mean besides lashing out a few times you've been somewhat decent towards me."

"I have no quarrel with you. My fight is with the spirit of the Millennium Puzzle. To start something with you would just be a bother so let's just say I'm being 'nice' to you because you haven't pissed me off yet. However, if you do piss me off you're fair game to my wrath so I highly discourage it." Yami Bakura watched the girl smile a little in relief before she asked her next question.

"I know I asked before but why are you fighting with Yugi? What happened that makes you hate him so much?"

"Pharaoh, as I know him to truly be, destroyed my entire life in the past. I'm seeking revenge for what he did to me. What he did I can never forgive nor forget and he doesn't remember a damn thing about it which enrages me even more." Yami Bakura's face clouded with anger as he scowled up at a wooden beam. He barely heard the next question Serenity asked because fear had turned the volume on her voice down.

"What did he do that destroyed your life?" Serenity's hands were clasped as she prepared herself for the backlash that was sure to come. A sigh alerted her to the fact that retaliation wasn't going to come as the white haired demon closed his eyes in an attempt to calm himself. It was an innocent question and it's not like she caused him any pain. Maybe it was about time he opened up a little to someone and Serenity seemed more than willing to be the person to talk to.

"He murdered my entire village and when I finally found hope again in my wife and daughter he dashed that as well."

"Why? How? What happened?" Serenity looked surprised that anyone could do such things.

"I'd rather not go into full detail. I may have most of my memories but some areas are still fuzzy. Besides after I was sealed I don't know what happened. I never found her in all my years of searching." Yami Bakura's memories from the night before played inside his head unwillingly. Sometime during his small rant he had sat up and moved against the couch. His fists clenched in his lap as he tried to calm down once again.

"That's horrible. I'm so sorry." Serenity murmured sadness written all over her face. She slipped off the couch onto the floor and encircled her small arms around the spirit's shoulders in an awkward hug. The ancient spirit froze in shock for a moment before relaxing. It actually felt, nice.

A loud crack of thunder had both of them jumping up onto their feet. Serenity let out a tiny shriek in fright as the lights went out. There was still some daylight out but not much to impact the darkness that surrounded the two. Yami Bakura made quick to trying to start a fire while Serenity made her way slowly to the kitchen to locate the flashlight they found earlier. She bumped into the wall and stubbed her toe on the door frame cursing softly.

"I blame you for this!" Serenity giggled from the other room as Yami Bakura took a lit match to the tinder.

"You said I could ask." Yami Bakura smirked while watching the small pieces of wood become emblazed.

"That was sarcasm." Serenity stated as she walked back out of the kitchen a large red metallic flashlight in her hand. The sky was starting to darken quickly as this unexpected storm made it's way in. Bright orange flames slowly grew as more fuel was added to it warming the room and providing a great deal of light to cast away some of the darkness.

"I'm going to go get some more wood from outside. Hopefully I don't get soaked completely but if we want this fire going until we go to bed more logs are needed. I hope you're not too scared of being in here by yourself." Yami Bakura made his way out the door while Serenity curled up on the couch. Thunder rumbled deeply followed by lightning which lit up the room in a brilliant shade of white. Serenity shuddered as she grasped the flashlight tightly.

"Please return soon. I'm scared." Serenity whispered to herself as she pleaded for Yami Bakura to return. He had been gone for what seemed like forever. The cabin gave her the creeps as it was, the storm was just adding onto her fears. A figure standing in the doorway caused her to scream in fright and scrambled off the couch holding the flashlight over her shoulder ready to swing it like a bat.

"Whoa! Relax it's me." Yami Bakura said as he stepped into the fire's range of light kicking the door shut behind him. Serenity relaxed and set the flashlight on the table as a precaution. The spirit dropped the armful of logs next to the fireplace before turning to the female. His hair was dripping and stuck to his face while his shirt clung to him like a second skin."Jumpy much?"

"I hate storms and this cabin isn't making it any better." Serenity mumbled hoping that he wouldn't see the fear in her eyes. Leave it to her to underestimate him on what he could and couldn't do.

"I agree with the cabin part but not the storms. Then again it takes a great effort to frighten me with anything. So unless you want to know what I saw out there I can either keep it to myself and spare you the nightmares or tell you and have you practically swinging that flashlight at anything that moves." Yami Bakura sat down on the couch after Serenity handed him a towel. He vigoursly began drying his hair sending it standing up in random directions.

"What did you find?" Serenity asked in a tiny voice as she tried to keep her fears from consuming her. "Was it anything horrible?"

"There was a fresh set of footprints going around the house, and I don't mean an animals, unless they started wearing shoes. One set stopped outside the bedroom window and another at the kitchen window." Yami Bakura watched as the girl tried to contain every ounce of terror that was flooding her body. He peeled off his shirt in hopes of throwing it in the dryer soon.

"If they were rangers they would've noticed the lights on or seen us in here." Serenity voiced both of their thoughts. She fell onto the couch eyes wide in alarm as goosebumps formed on her skin. A pair of pale arms pulled her small frame into their master's larger frame. One large hand stroked her head as the other held her close. A light color of pink rose to Serenity's cheeks as she realized her head was resting on Yami Bakura's bare chest.

"I don't do hugs so I don't want any criticism about it. Trust me, I won't let anything harm you. I don't want your brother killing me before I get my hands on the Pharaoh."

Yami Bakura chuckled as he watched Serenity's face turn an even more beautiful shade of red. He was getting a kick out of doing this to the poor girl. The girl nodded and relaxed into the awkward hug. It felt too right and it scared them both. An extremely loud clap of thunder had Serenity shrieking as she clamped her hands over her ears. Yami Bakura held her tighter until she calmed down, he could feel her pulse racing underneath his hands.

"How about we make some ramen noodles and get some sleep? Maybe by the time we wake up the storm will be over." Yami Bakura suggested as he stood bringing the fragile girl up with him. She nodded mutely and followed him into the kitchen.

Tea sat on the edge of the green, blue, and white squared tiled indoor pool. The water was warm from the heaters in the walls and her dipped in feet were enjoying it. Her brown hair dripped onto the white fluffy towel draped around her shoulders. Her four friends were too busy wrestling in the water to notice she had left them. One of her arms rested on her knee as she thought about the past two days. How in just several hours they had become angry with a girl they hardly knew. A sigh escaped her lips as she looked down at the water surrounding her feet. Standing, she made her way to the locker room. It was time she owned up for what she had done and if Clarissa was joining in on the search she didn't want the girl to feel completely excluded.

Clarissa paused her music that had been blaring out Radioactive by Imagine Dragons when she heard a knock on her door. She knew it couldn't have been Justin as he said he was going to work out in the gym. She jumped off the bed and walked to the door. Peering through the peep hole she sneered seeing a familiar brunette standing outside the oak door. Opening the door she was about to tell her off when the look on Tea's face stopped her.

Tea was standing there hair still damp, she didn't feel like taking a hair dryer to it, and looking forlorn. Her hands pulled slightly on the red and black t-shirt she wore while her jean clad legs kept shuffling as if ready to run away. The ebony haired girl raised an eyebrow at her one hand on the door to shut it if necessary while the other rested on the inside of the white door frame.

"You are one of the last people I expected to show up here. What do you want?" Fiery emerald eyes met sad pathetic looking brown ones.

"Can I talk to you?" Tea asked so quietly that Clarissa was wondering if the girl was sick. Normally she was a loud mouth and not afraid of being heard. "I wanted to apologize for yesterday. I can't speak for the others but I can speak for myself."

Clarissa really felt like scoffing at the last statement but bit her tongue in better judgement. Stepping out of the way she waved her arm to signal for the other girl to enter. Motioning to one of the chairs Clairssa plopped down on the edge of her bed, which was no longer neatly made due to being jumped on irradically.

"Before you begin I just want you to know, you piss me off and I can't promise you'll make it out the door without a bruise or two." Clarissa warned her face full on serious. The teen that sat across from her nodded before clasping her hands together and staring down at her shoes.

"When Serenity stated acting differently it set us all off really. It wasn't like her. She's normally very calm and sweet. I guess maybe we overreacted when blaming you and it wasn't fair. We talked about it and Yugi agreed with you and Justin. Serenity does need to spread her wings and live a life of her own. I guess a few of us are scared to see her changes as quickly as she has been. Maybe she has been like this and we always snuffed it out because we didn't want to see it. As her friends we should be there to support her not confine her.

I shouldn't have slapped you like I did last night. Putting blame on you for them getting lost was a lame excuse at trying not to agree with you. I didn't want to but yet everything you said was right so I stooped to the lowest level. When you saw through it I lashed out at being found. I didn't want to you too see how I really felt and I was frightened. I know you may never forgive me for what I have done and I know none of us will every fully forget the incident but I'm asking anyways. Can you please forgive me? I don't wish to put my friendship with Serenity on the line over my mistake."

Clarissa mulled over everything Tea had said. She hadn't played to nicely in everything either. Both parties were fighting for a girl who didn't ask them to do battle. Serenity would be miserable if she had to choose between her friends. Sighing she stood up and held out her hand.

"Alright I forgive you but only you and Yugi. The short stack didn't really piss me off as much as the rest of you. When the other three apologize then I'll forgive them until then maybe we should try to be friendly with each other. For Serenity's sake."

Tea's grin spread across her face and she grasped the other girl's hand in her own and shook it. The tension that had been hanging in the air vanished as the two girls smiled at each other. Agreeing to talk more over dinner at the restaurant the two walked out of the room chattering about different subjects.

Yami Bakura woke up suddenly sensing something was wrong. The storm howled outside the room practically dark except for the few flashes off white. Both of them had gone to bed shortly after eating a bowl of ramen each. As he turned his head to look behind him Yami Bakura realized Serenity was missing from her side of the bed. It had taken a while to get her to fall asleep and when she had she was holding his hand as a security blanket.

The albino stared at the empty spot trying to figure out where she had gone. A creek of a floor board alerted him to someone in the hall. Thinking it was the girl the male sat up a little. He jumped out of the bed when he heard the flushing of toilet indicating that the girl was not the cause of the squeak. Pulling his knife from his boot that sat on the floor he made his way out into the living room. His eyes started to adjust to the darkness as he scanned the room. A siloutte could be seen near the couch. Yami Bakura's grip tightened on the hilt of the blade.