Chapter 7
The Recollections of Sand Play
Bakura just stared at his environment, his dark chocolate eyes wide with amazement, he was not sure whether to panic or laugh out loud.
He had just overtaken his hikari. Ryou's seemingly feeble spirit did nothing to stop Bakura as he gained control of his body.
He was standing around with the foolish mortals that Ryou called his 'friends' in a marketplace. He was struck by the familiarity of the place.
'Oh dear Ra.... This can't be....' he thought with sudden recognition 'home....'. He gazed around some more, delight crawling into his handsome face when a voice cut through his thoughts of past glories and triumphs
"Come on Ryou you don't want to be left behind" Tea urged him, beckoning her hand to follow.He scrunched up his face to her, baring his white canines,
"If you knew whom you were dealing with you wouldn't be ordering me around like this woman" he snarled treacherously, enjoying the look of shock on the idiotic mortal's face.
She stared at him for a few moments stunned but she quickly pulled herself together
"Well I never!!" she huffed angrily, she put her hands on her hips as if she were about to patronize him.
Bakura rolled his chocolate brown eyes in severe annoyance and made his way around her by pushing her roughly to the side to follow after Yugi and the others, who were trying to make sense of a map of downtown Cairo.
'Hmmm' he thought curious as he searched through Ryou's most recent memories
'apparently Yugi asked my hikari Ryou to help by joining Joey, Tristan, Tea, Mokuba and Yugi to look for...Kaiba!?' he reflected with surprise, soon his astonishment faded as mirth began to bubble up in his throat
' So the not so high and mighty Priest got lost in his very own homeland! Oh Ra this is too much!!!' he mused as he burst out laughing.
Yugi and the others turned to stare at Bakura wide eyed, wondering what on earth he could be laughing about at time like this.
When Bakura quieted down he noticed the stares of his companions
"I was thinking of something I saw last night on the plane" he said quickly trying to capture Ryou's pathetic meekness, thankfully they bought it and turned back to the map that they were trying to decipher.
"Umm, Yug I think the hotel's thattaway"
"But that's just it Joey, you don't think" a cool voice replied wittily,
"And what Tristan, might I ask does THAT mean?" the blonde asked, a reproachful tone ringing in his voice
"I mean that you're dumb! Dummy!" Tristan retorted grinning like mad cause he knew he pushed the blonde's button.
"Errr! Why I oughtta!!" he growled as he tried to lunge at Tristan but was being held back by Yugi and Mokuba
"Now, now guys, let's not fight over silly things like that," Tea's feminine voice chastised.
Joey a little flushed from sun, anger and embarrassment at being held back like an animal that couldn't control itself, shrugged Yugi and Mokuba off him
"ya know, Tea's right Tristan, we shouldn't be fighting over little things like this. We should save that for the big things..... Like fighting over girls!!"
"You know what Joey, you got a point there, buddy!" Their conversation continued on like that as Tea sighed and shook her head, Yugi gazed at the map transfixed, and Mokuba looked around urgently his little head snapping at everything that moved.
Bakura inwardly sighed, 'why on Ra's earth am I trapped with these idiots?' he thought darkly as he watched them start to fight amongst themselves again.
A thought crossed his mind; his chocolate eyes darted to a vendor's little shop
'What if...?' A smile grew on his face as he slyly slipped away from the little group of moronic mortals.
He strolled freely in the marketplace enjoying the feeling of home and stopping every so often at a vendor to discreetly pick the pockets of the people who were looking at jewellery or some fruit.
He enjoyed the sensation of the 'good old' times'. He treasured the familiar feeling of exhilaration and adrenaline pumping through his veins as he hopped from person to person, stealing their cash without them knowing that they were being robbed.
He was fond of the risk of being caught but always managing to slip away. He wasn't stealing because he needed to; he was doing it because he still could and that thrilled him.
As he was handling a leather money purse, a sign of wealth, a sight captured his attention.
Three children, about 6 years of age, were sitting in the cool shade of a limestone shop.
In their hands were mounds of sand; but what was peculiar was what they were doing with the sand.
They were pouring the water out of their leather canteens onto the sand, the damp sand created a mud-like substance that was easy to manipulate into any shape.
As Bakura watched the children carry out this simple task as a game, memories bubbled up to the surface of his own childhood.
Memories he thought he had long forgotten. Memories of her....
~FLASHBACK~
"Is he alive?" a young voice asked hesitantly, the voice was already uneven for its young age
"I don't know. Go and get me a stick so I can poke him" another noticeably smoother voice piped up.
The next thing he knew, Bakura dimly recognized the sensation of a sharp stick gently prodding into his side, he was so fatigued that he ignored the strange faint jabbing.
Then to his dismay the gentle prodding became a somewhat not so faint jabbing, at this he moaned weakly, he barely heard the gasp of his tormentors.
After a few moments of awed silence the smooth voice spoke
"That answers your questions, eh Anu?"
"Good 'cause I don't think Papa would like it if a commoner was dead in front of his door" the whiny rough voice said impolitely.
At the commoner remark Bakura managed to open his eyes to try and catch a glimpse of his rescuers and of the one who said the comment, the Egyptian sun glared relentlessly into his eyes and Bakura had no choice but to close them quickly gasping with pain.
"Oh look! He's conscious! We better put him in the shade!" the smooth voice called out relieved
"Yeah! Ok Ka grab his left leg, I'll take the other," the snobbish voice replied.
Bakura could feel his legs being held by two pairs of small hands and being dragged across the rough sandy ground.
He moaned feebly when his head was bumped on a rock
"Oh Ra, Anu! Be careful! He's in a bad enough shape already!!" the even gentle voice reprimanded,
"By the look of his clothes he is just a commoner Ka! Why is he so important!?" the haughty voice replied uncaringly
"Anu! Don't be so rude!! I am sure that if he can open his eyes he can hear you too!!"
"I really don't care" the arrogant voice retorted.
Bakura moaned as they propped him up against a cool wall. He heard water sloshing and a few moments later he felt the fresh liquid upon his parched lips.
He drank as much as he could all the while the smooth voice easing him into comfort
"Now, now, don't drink to fast or you will go into shock"
Cool fingers pressed onto his forehead
"Hmmm, Anu this is not too good. He's got a slight fever," the soft voice whispered as not to disturb him from his blissful rest.
He slowly opened eyes and gazed apon his saviour, all he saw at first were shapes but his vision slowly came into focus and he fixed his eyes apon a girl.
She looked like she was about the same age as him, 7 years of age. She was very pretty for a little girl, with her big sparkling swirling eyes, rich creamy white skin, gossamer red lips, black silky hair with gold and silver streaks.
He gazed apon her, his heart filled with unimaginable gratitude. She looked him in the eye and welcomed him back to the world he narrowly nearly left
"Hey...we were worried about you," she said gently, his eyes widened when he recognised that she was the owner of the smooth wise voice.
"Thank... You..." he whispered weakly his throat closing up on him.
She smiled and gestured her hand to him
"I'm KaRaah-Anktuhn-SuRaa and this is my sister----..."
"STEP-sister Ka, and don't you forget that" the other girl cut in coldly, she daintily held her hand to him
"My name is Anuk-Tahnkun-Kumuun" Bakura's eyes widened when he realized that they were of noble blood, his type did not mix with the nobles.
"I... Errr..... My name is... Bakura" he finally gasped out, his strength flowing back to him. KaRaah smiled
"How did you get in such awful condition?" he looked down apon his tattered rags and scratched up arms
"I would rather not say, noble lady" he replied ashamed to be in the presence of noble blood and looking like a beaten slave. She blushed charmingly at what he had courteously called her
"Oh you don't have to call me that. I am only a girl not even close to being a lady at that too," she giggled gladly
"Personally its too much high maintenance" at that Anuk rolled her eyes.
Bakura smirked broadly, liking this KaRaah already; and it happened rarely that Bakura liked someone after a first encounter.
"Do you think you can stand?" she asked gently, concern sparkling in her radiant desert-orange eyes.
"I think so" he replied. She turned to the other girl
"Anu help me lift him up" Anuk made a face that if she had to touch a commoner she would faint on contact.
KaRaah turned back to him clearly perplexed
"No matter I'll help you up anyway" she said, determination marking her young face.
Slender but strong arm closed around him gently pulling him upward. His legs nearly crumpled under the effort of holding him up but with the help of KaRaah she lead him into the entrance of her dwelling.
She lived like a noble family did. Her house was like a miniature version of the imperial palace, but Bakura did not see much of it since he nearly passed out when she brought him in.
For the next three days he stayed in the hospital wing of the building, she stayed by him for the whole three days, ignoring her parent's plea to go to bed; she stayed with him until his fever broke.
In those three short days Bakura's gratitude towards her blossomed into something deeper.
Love ...
~END FLASHBACK~
'Damn!' Bakura thought furiously as he fought against tears threatening to fall.
Suddenly he was no longer in the mood to pick pockets; dejectedly the handsome white-haired 17 year old weaved his way around people as he tried to look for Yugi and the others.
Unbeknownst to him a little white cat with strange eyes watched him walk away into the overcrowded bazaar....
Bakura just stared at his environment, his dark chocolate eyes wide with amazement, he was not sure whether to panic or laugh out loud.
He had just overtaken his hikari. Ryou's seemingly feeble spirit did nothing to stop Bakura as he gained control of his body.
He was standing around with the foolish mortals that Ryou called his 'friends' in a marketplace. He was struck by the familiarity of the place.
'Oh dear Ra.... This can't be....' he thought with sudden recognition 'home....'. He gazed around some more, delight crawling into his handsome face when a voice cut through his thoughts of past glories and triumphs
"Come on Ryou you don't want to be left behind" Tea urged him, beckoning her hand to follow.He scrunched up his face to her, baring his white canines,
"If you knew whom you were dealing with you wouldn't be ordering me around like this woman" he snarled treacherously, enjoying the look of shock on the idiotic mortal's face.
She stared at him for a few moments stunned but she quickly pulled herself together
"Well I never!!" she huffed angrily, she put her hands on her hips as if she were about to patronize him.
Bakura rolled his chocolate brown eyes in severe annoyance and made his way around her by pushing her roughly to the side to follow after Yugi and the others, who were trying to make sense of a map of downtown Cairo.
'Hmmm' he thought curious as he searched through Ryou's most recent memories
'apparently Yugi asked my hikari Ryou to help by joining Joey, Tristan, Tea, Mokuba and Yugi to look for...Kaiba!?' he reflected with surprise, soon his astonishment faded as mirth began to bubble up in his throat
' So the not so high and mighty Priest got lost in his very own homeland! Oh Ra this is too much!!!' he mused as he burst out laughing.
Yugi and the others turned to stare at Bakura wide eyed, wondering what on earth he could be laughing about at time like this.
When Bakura quieted down he noticed the stares of his companions
"I was thinking of something I saw last night on the plane" he said quickly trying to capture Ryou's pathetic meekness, thankfully they bought it and turned back to the map that they were trying to decipher.
"Umm, Yug I think the hotel's thattaway"
"But that's just it Joey, you don't think" a cool voice replied wittily,
"And what Tristan, might I ask does THAT mean?" the blonde asked, a reproachful tone ringing in his voice
"I mean that you're dumb! Dummy!" Tristan retorted grinning like mad cause he knew he pushed the blonde's button.
"Errr! Why I oughtta!!" he growled as he tried to lunge at Tristan but was being held back by Yugi and Mokuba
"Now, now guys, let's not fight over silly things like that," Tea's feminine voice chastised.
Joey a little flushed from sun, anger and embarrassment at being held back like an animal that couldn't control itself, shrugged Yugi and Mokuba off him
"ya know, Tea's right Tristan, we shouldn't be fighting over little things like this. We should save that for the big things..... Like fighting over girls!!"
"You know what Joey, you got a point there, buddy!" Their conversation continued on like that as Tea sighed and shook her head, Yugi gazed at the map transfixed, and Mokuba looked around urgently his little head snapping at everything that moved.
Bakura inwardly sighed, 'why on Ra's earth am I trapped with these idiots?' he thought darkly as he watched them start to fight amongst themselves again.
A thought crossed his mind; his chocolate eyes darted to a vendor's little shop
'What if...?' A smile grew on his face as he slyly slipped away from the little group of moronic mortals.
He strolled freely in the marketplace enjoying the feeling of home and stopping every so often at a vendor to discreetly pick the pockets of the people who were looking at jewellery or some fruit.
He enjoyed the sensation of the 'good old' times'. He treasured the familiar feeling of exhilaration and adrenaline pumping through his veins as he hopped from person to person, stealing their cash without them knowing that they were being robbed.
He was fond of the risk of being caught but always managing to slip away. He wasn't stealing because he needed to; he was doing it because he still could and that thrilled him.
As he was handling a leather money purse, a sign of wealth, a sight captured his attention.
Three children, about 6 years of age, were sitting in the cool shade of a limestone shop.
In their hands were mounds of sand; but what was peculiar was what they were doing with the sand.
They were pouring the water out of their leather canteens onto the sand, the damp sand created a mud-like substance that was easy to manipulate into any shape.
As Bakura watched the children carry out this simple task as a game, memories bubbled up to the surface of his own childhood.
Memories he thought he had long forgotten. Memories of her....
~FLASHBACK~
"Is he alive?" a young voice asked hesitantly, the voice was already uneven for its young age
"I don't know. Go and get me a stick so I can poke him" another noticeably smoother voice piped up.
The next thing he knew, Bakura dimly recognized the sensation of a sharp stick gently prodding into his side, he was so fatigued that he ignored the strange faint jabbing.
Then to his dismay the gentle prodding became a somewhat not so faint jabbing, at this he moaned weakly, he barely heard the gasp of his tormentors.
After a few moments of awed silence the smooth voice spoke
"That answers your questions, eh Anu?"
"Good 'cause I don't think Papa would like it if a commoner was dead in front of his door" the whiny rough voice said impolitely.
At the commoner remark Bakura managed to open his eyes to try and catch a glimpse of his rescuers and of the one who said the comment, the Egyptian sun glared relentlessly into his eyes and Bakura had no choice but to close them quickly gasping with pain.
"Oh look! He's conscious! We better put him in the shade!" the smooth voice called out relieved
"Yeah! Ok Ka grab his left leg, I'll take the other," the snobbish voice replied.
Bakura could feel his legs being held by two pairs of small hands and being dragged across the rough sandy ground.
He moaned feebly when his head was bumped on a rock
"Oh Ra, Anu! Be careful! He's in a bad enough shape already!!" the even gentle voice reprimanded,
"By the look of his clothes he is just a commoner Ka! Why is he so important!?" the haughty voice replied uncaringly
"Anu! Don't be so rude!! I am sure that if he can open his eyes he can hear you too!!"
"I really don't care" the arrogant voice retorted.
Bakura moaned as they propped him up against a cool wall. He heard water sloshing and a few moments later he felt the fresh liquid upon his parched lips.
He drank as much as he could all the while the smooth voice easing him into comfort
"Now, now, don't drink to fast or you will go into shock"
Cool fingers pressed onto his forehead
"Hmmm, Anu this is not too good. He's got a slight fever," the soft voice whispered as not to disturb him from his blissful rest.
He slowly opened eyes and gazed apon his saviour, all he saw at first were shapes but his vision slowly came into focus and he fixed his eyes apon a girl.
She looked like she was about the same age as him, 7 years of age. She was very pretty for a little girl, with her big sparkling swirling eyes, rich creamy white skin, gossamer red lips, black silky hair with gold and silver streaks.
He gazed apon her, his heart filled with unimaginable gratitude. She looked him in the eye and welcomed him back to the world he narrowly nearly left
"Hey...we were worried about you," she said gently, his eyes widened when he recognised that she was the owner of the smooth wise voice.
"Thank... You..." he whispered weakly his throat closing up on him.
She smiled and gestured her hand to him
"I'm KaRaah-Anktuhn-SuRaa and this is my sister----..."
"STEP-sister Ka, and don't you forget that" the other girl cut in coldly, she daintily held her hand to him
"My name is Anuk-Tahnkun-Kumuun" Bakura's eyes widened when he realized that they were of noble blood, his type did not mix with the nobles.
"I... Errr..... My name is... Bakura" he finally gasped out, his strength flowing back to him. KaRaah smiled
"How did you get in such awful condition?" he looked down apon his tattered rags and scratched up arms
"I would rather not say, noble lady" he replied ashamed to be in the presence of noble blood and looking like a beaten slave. She blushed charmingly at what he had courteously called her
"Oh you don't have to call me that. I am only a girl not even close to being a lady at that too," she giggled gladly
"Personally its too much high maintenance" at that Anuk rolled her eyes.
Bakura smirked broadly, liking this KaRaah already; and it happened rarely that Bakura liked someone after a first encounter.
"Do you think you can stand?" she asked gently, concern sparkling in her radiant desert-orange eyes.
"I think so" he replied. She turned to the other girl
"Anu help me lift him up" Anuk made a face that if she had to touch a commoner she would faint on contact.
KaRaah turned back to him clearly perplexed
"No matter I'll help you up anyway" she said, determination marking her young face.
Slender but strong arm closed around him gently pulling him upward. His legs nearly crumpled under the effort of holding him up but with the help of KaRaah she lead him into the entrance of her dwelling.
She lived like a noble family did. Her house was like a miniature version of the imperial palace, but Bakura did not see much of it since he nearly passed out when she brought him in.
For the next three days he stayed in the hospital wing of the building, she stayed by him for the whole three days, ignoring her parent's plea to go to bed; she stayed with him until his fever broke.
In those three short days Bakura's gratitude towards her blossomed into something deeper.
Love ...
~END FLASHBACK~
'Damn!' Bakura thought furiously as he fought against tears threatening to fall.
Suddenly he was no longer in the mood to pick pockets; dejectedly the handsome white-haired 17 year old weaved his way around people as he tried to look for Yugi and the others.
Unbeknownst to him a little white cat with strange eyes watched him walk away into the overcrowded bazaar....