Chapter 16
Silencing of the Heart
Bakura opened his eyes and gazed up at the ceiling. His chest hurt. His back hurt. Everything hurt. He realized that he was in the guestroom at Yugi's house. The one he had slept in the night before. He got up slowly. And immediately felt a sharp achy pain in the left side of his chest. He gently prodded his left side and moaned loudly. It hurt. He could hear the cracking of his ribs over and over in his head. That was the last he could remember about last night, everything that happened afterwards was just a blur.
Someone knocked on the door loudly. The sound of it made Bakura's head ache. "Come in...just please stop banging on the door..." Bakura said weakly.
The knocking stopped and the door cracked open slightly. An elderly, purple eye, surrounded in tanned, wrinkled skin, looked at Bakura from the slightly opened door. The door creaked open fully, to reveal that the eye belonged to Salomon. "Feeling better, Bakura?" He said with a grin.
"Good morning, Mr. Mutou." Bakura said, trying to be as pleasant as possible through his pain. "I'm not really sure how I was feeling before, so I can't exactly answer that question."
"It's alright." Salomon said, wandering over to the side of the guest bed and sitting on it. "And by the way, it's about noon now. We were afraid you might have been in a coma."
"You aren't going to take me to the hospital, are you?" Bakura shivered slightly at the thought of going back to the hospital.
"Well..." Concern grew into Salomon's voice. "I was going to take you to the hospital...and I think that it is important that I still do."
"There's no need, Mr. Mutou, sir. I'll be alright." Bakura said and thought back to the cracking of his bones, which certainly didn't make Bakura all right.
"Your injuries seem pretty serious, along with all of those cuts and scars you have all over you." Salomon said pointing at the left side of Bakura's chest.
Bakura cupped both of his hands over the area with the 3 broken ribs as though trying to hide them. "I'll be fine. Don't worry yourself. I don't need to go to the hospital. Is Yugi okay?"
"Yugi? Well, he has a big bruise on his back and he's a little shaken up, but he will be alright."
"I'm glad he's okay," Bakura said before taking a deep breath and then letting it go.
"Yes, it is a wonderful thing that he is okay, but I'm not so sure if you are okay." Salomon tried to put into words the way he felt about what Bakura had done for him. "You really are a wonderful employee. You work hard, you do more then your share, you even do work on the side, and you never ask for anything in return. You did work that would usually take Yugi and I a week to do, in 2 days. I've never found a deal like that, that came without a catch, although you claim there's none." Salomon took a deep breath before continuing. "You've worked yourself to death. Either you've got the kindest heart in the world...or there's something you want from me, and you must want it pretty bad to work the way you do for it."
Bakura quivered slightly thinking about the true mission his Yami had sent him there for. "Sir...I don't know what to say. I can assure you that there's nothing that you have that I desire that badly. I needed a place to stay. That's all I really wanted. But if you are implying that you do not want me to stay, I'll leave." Bakura thought again about his lie. But he came to the decision that it wasn't really a lie, just slight of tongue. He wasn't here for anything of Salomon's. The Millennium puzzle was Yugi's. And Bakura had no desire for the puzzle; it was Yami Bakura who wanted it. Bakura only wanted a place to stay, because life with his Yami was Hell.
"Not want you to stay?! That's nonsense! You're the best worker I've ever had. Why would I not want you to stay? You're welcome here as long as you like; in fact I encourage you to stay with us."
"Thank you, Sir. You're hospitality has been wonderful. I don't know what I can do to repay you for your kindness..."
"There you go again. Stop being so modest. You've done more than enough. I owe you, not the other way around."
Bakura just looked away, out the window. The sun hug overhead, shining off the metallic surfaces of cars the drove passed the shop.
Salomon knew it was probably a sign that Bakura didn't want to converse anymore. "I'll leave you to yourself then..." Salomon stood on his old creaking bones and walked out of the guestroom closing the door on his way out.
Bakura's sad, clouded eyes burned with the bright rays of the sun that shined off the chrome of one passing car. He really was a mess. His whole life had been a mess; he began pondering about this. Why him? What had he done to deserve what life had dealt him?
'Life...mine is a fate worse than death. Ever since my mother died it's just been all downhill for me. I've been unhappy for so long, I don't know if I could ever be truly happy again. I've been tortured my whole life since my mother died. I wish it had been me instead of her. How I miss her. She was such a wonderful woman. She was the only person I truly loved. I never got very close to my father; he was always away on business trips. But then again...my Yami...I love him too, although he despises me. I don't know why I love him...my dark half. Maybe because without him I feel incomplete...'
All of these thoughts jumbled themselves up in Bakura's head. He pondered them for a while when on thought in particular struck him hard.
'Why do I live? What place do I have on this earth? Clearly I am not wanted, nor needed if my life is this terrible...'
Bakura looked over at the nightstand. His journal sat there in its black, tattered, leather bindings with a half eaten pencil next to it. It certainly wasn't Bakura's pencil, because he never chewed on his. He picked up the chew toy of a pencil and began jotting all the ideas down on the next clean sheet of his journal.
As soon as the pencil tip touched the water-stained paper he was off writing, even with his lack of strength.
After about half an hour of writing and checking over his entry, Bakura heard the creak of the door being opened. He closed his journal and looked up to see none other than his small friend, Yugi. He was in his red tractor pajamas and he had a folded up chessboard under his right arm. He frowned slightly at the sight of Bakura, which made Bakura's heart sink. He felt ashamed, that even his friend frowned at the sight of him.
In truth, Yugi was frowning because of the state that Bakura was in. Seeing Bakura so sad and sickly made Yugi feel sad.
The light that came from the window only reached as far as the bottom of the bed, casting Bakura into shadow. His skin was paler than usual and he had dark circles around his eyes, which looked even darker in the shadows, giving him an almost corpse-like appearance; like a skeleton with white skin stretched tightly over the bones. The sad look of his dark, clouded, bloodshot eyes didn't help either. And to top it all off, he looked excruciatingly anorexic. His cheekbones stuck out from his cut and bruised face. Even under the loose shirt, his protruding ribs could easily be seen from his dangerously slender torso. The indent from where the 3 broken ribs were, could be seen also.
Yugi and Bakura stared at each other for a while, until finally Yugi forced a smile and held out the chessboard. "Chess, Bakura?"
Bakura nodded and smiled weakly. "I would like that."
Yugi pulled up a chair, placed the chessboard on the nightstand, and began to set up the pieces. "Do you know how to play?" Yugi asked.
"Yes, though I don't believe I'm very good at this game."
"Don't worry, I'm not either."
Bakura just smiled weakly again, but in the back of his mind, he thought of how disgusted he was with himself, ignorant to the fact the Yugi was only frowning because he felt bad for Bakura.
The game progressed. There was little small talk among the two. Bakura's pieces slowly moved closer to victory. As it turned out, Bakura was better than he had put on. But Yugi, being very strategic, put up a very good game, but not good enough to win.
"Checkmate." Bakura said softly.
"What?"
"I said...checkmate."
Yugi looked over the pieces, seeing if there was a route of escape for his king. "You're right...you win. Good game. You're better than you say."
"Nah, I'm just lucky, that's all. You're still the king of games."
"No, I'm not, my Yami is." Yugi looked down and patted his Millennium puzzle proudly.
Bakura then remembered his mission. Without thinking he reached out and touched the puzzle, almost entranced by its greatness. Then, suddenly, he grabbed it and pulled it towards him, pulling Yugi with it.
Yugi slipped his neck out from the Millennium puzzle's chain and looked up at Bakura, very surprised. He looked at Bakura's eyes, which were focused on the puzzle and had a somewhat distant look in them, even through their mysterious haziness.
"Bakura?" Yugi's voice questioned, a little quiet because he was still slightly in shock.
Yugi's voice seemed to bring Bakura back to reality. Tears seemed to well up in his eyes slightly, but he didn't remove them from the Millennium puzzle that he held in his hands.
Yugi watched him for what seemed like a long time, even if it was only a few minuets.
"No..." Bakura finally said. "I can't. I won't. I could never..." Bakura dropped the Millennium puzzle back into Yugi's lap and looked away from him.
"Bakura, what's wrong?! What happened?!" Yugi's voice was marked with worry.
"I cannot tell you. Please do not ask. May I be alone?" Bakura said quietly. He waited a few moments but heard no reply neither did he hear the sound of Yugi leaving. Bakura turned his head back to what he expected to be Yugi's face, but to no avail. It was Yami Yugi's face instead.
Bakura watched in shock and silence as Yami Yugi raised his hand to Bakura's face. The Senen eye on Yami Yugi's forehead glowed and Bakura felt a jolt to his own forehead before he passed out, falling back onto the bed.
Yami Yugi stood; anger grew in his violet eyes from the knowledge he acquired from Bakura. "I knew you were behind this." He said in a low tone. "You poisoned this poor, sick boy's mind, you twisted maniac. I think it's time we had a talk...Yami Bakura..."
Yami Yugi looked down at the red tractor pajamas that he was wearing. "But first I think I'll change into something decent..."
Yami Yugi walked down the street in his usual leather attire. His destination? The alley where Yami Bakura hid away. The more Yami Yugi thought about the condition Bakura was in the more his hatred grew for Yami Bakura. At this point, he was enraged.
Yami Yugi came across the alleyway and walked in between the wall and the dumpster.
Because it was late by this time and the sun had mostly gone down behind the horizon, and because there was a building blocking the light from the sun, it was dark in the alley. Yami Yugi looked around. From what little he could see, there was no Yami Bakura.
There was a loud slam on the dumpster and Yami Yugi spun around quickly to look. His gazed up into two glowing, blood red eyes and the dark crouching figure on the dumpster that those two eyes belonged to.
"Yami Bakura..." Yami Yugi said, trying not to let all of his anger get the best of him.
Yami Bakura's figure stood, tall and trim, shoulders back and chest out. His eyes didn't avert from Yami Yugi's face, but they did glow brighter, illuminating Yami Bakura's face with their eerie red glow, showing his large, evil, insane grin. "I sensed your arrival, oh great pharaoh." His voice was harsh.
"Cut it out and get down here and face me you coward! We need to talk!" Yami Yugi narrowed his eyes.
Yami Bakura jumped off the top of the dumpster and landed right in front of Yami Yugi, then stood to his full height, which was quite a taller than Yami Yugi.
"Ouch." Yami Bakura said sarcastically and clutched his chest. "You got me right where it hurts." Then he starting laughing in his own insanity.
"I don't have time for this! This is serious business!"
Yami Bakura stopped laughing and looked at Yami Yugi blankly. "And I care?"
"You should, Yami Bakura! This is important! So important that I wont risk the chance of any mortal overhearing. Come with me to the Shadow Realm."
"I've never listened to you, and I'm not starting now."
Yami Yugi took a deep breath, trying to keep his anger from escaping. "Please, just come with me to the Shadow Realm, there we will talk and I will leave you alone after that."
"Leave me alone? Why, you just don't get it, do you? You wont be leaving...because I will kill you and your Millennium puzzle will belong to me." He chuckled and reached for the knife in his back pocket and began to pull it out.
"Yami Bakura! If you come with me and listen to me I will give you my puzzle! Now please, come with me!"
Yami Bakura put his hand back in its normal resting position and the knife fell out of his pocket and onto the concrete, although Yami Bakura didn't seem to notice. "I don't trust you...but either way your puzzle is mine. Fine, Yami Yugi, I go to the Shadow Realm and have a little heart to heart with you."
Yami Yugi rolled his eyes, "Why do you have to make things so difficult for me?"
"Because I hate you." Yami Bakura said with a grin.
Yami Yugi shook his head, as the world around them became the dark misty world that Yami Bakura had beaten Bakura so often in.
Yami Yugi stared straight into Yami Bakura's eyes, which were no longer glowing. "Listen, Yami Bakura, and listen well. I saw what you did to Bakura, and I know what you were trying to make him do for you."
"The little bastard told, eh?"
"No, I had to read his mind to get the information out of him. He refused to tell me otherwise."
"Well, at least he did what I sent him to do. He brought the Millennium puzzle to me, but I get to kill you as an extra bonus."
"I didn't just come here to get killed and have my puzzle taken from me. I want to talk to you about Bakura."
"Why? What's to talk about? He's stupid and worthless."
"He's not stupid and he's not worthless. I want to talk to you about the way you treat him."
Yami Bakura's voice got colder. "What's wrong with the way I treat him? He is inferior. He is mine and I can do whatever I want to him."
Yami Yugi swallowed his anger. "You do not own him. You are both equal, but then again, you make me wonder sometimes. You act pretty
low."
"You're saying that he is the superior one?!" Yami Bakura's voice was as cold as ice. "NEVER!"
"Just because you're more aggressive and you can push him around, that's not what makes the man..."
"I think you're wrong..."
"And I think you're a psycho."
"You asshole..." Yami Bakura said under his breath.
Yami Yugi ignored the rude comment and continued talking. "Have you seen Bakura recently? He's dying...from the inside out, and it's already showing on the outside. He's practically dead already, Yami Bakura, and it's all because of you!"
"I don't care! I don't need him anymore!"
"He loves you, Yami Bakura! Can't you see that?! He'd do anything for you, even after you literally beat him to his grave! He still loves you! ...And I think that you love him too, really deep down...you're just afraid to admit it."
Rage built in Yami Bakura's eyes. "Shut up! He means nothing to me! He was just a puppet! I could care less weather he's alive or dead!"
Something told Yami Yugi that this subject really upset Yami Bakura. "It's hard for you to admit things, isn't it, Yami Bakura? Like your love for your hikari..."
Yami Bakura got even angrier. "I said, SHUT UP! I have no love for that stupid bastard of a hikari of mine!"
Yami Yugi actually enjoyed watching Yami Bakura try to deny it all. "Isn't there a soft spot for Bakura in that icy rock that beats in your chest?"
Yami Bakura's anger gathered in his tightly clenched fists and it all met Yami Yugi's face all at once in one powerful punch. Yami Yugi flew backwards and landed on his back about 10 feet from where he was first standing.
Anger still engulfed Yami Bakura and it burned in his dark eyes like wildfire. "I DON'T HAVE A HEART AND I DON'T CARE ABOUT BAKURA!!!"
Yami Yugi chuckled and sat up, nursing his now aching jaw. "The more you deny it the more you discover that you really do love him, because I don't think you know yet. And isn't it funny? That's the first time in this whole conversation that you've actually addressed Bakura by his name instead of an insulting word. Would you have called him by his name if I had said anything different?"
Tears began to well up in Yami Bakura's eyes but he didn't change from his aggressive pose. "Just shut up! I hate you...and I'm going to kill you!"
"Ah, I have found you're weak spot. Now, all I want to know is why you tried to hide your love for Bakura."
"I don't love him!" The tears in Yami Bakura's eyes started streaming down his face.
Yami Yugi stood up and shook his head. "You're so stubborn. Stop trying to hide it, just admit it...I know the truth, and killing me will not change the truth."
"I will never admit to anything! I can't! I wont..." Yami Bakura's voice began to crack a little at the end of his last sentence."
"The only person you're denying the truth from is yourself! Stop and just accept the fact!" Yami Yugi was beginning to get a little annoyed but he knew he was getting somewhere.
"That's it! I've had enough!" Yami Bakura yelled and took a sloppy charge toward Yami Yugi.
Yami Yugi jumped out of the way and Yami Bakura fell to the ground on his knees. He sat there and didn't move.
Yami Yugi watched him for a few minuets and then finally decided that it was safe to get close to Yami Bakura after he heard Yami Bakura sniffle slightly. Yami Yugi kneeled next to the crying Yami.
His voice became unusually quiet. "Yami Bakura, are you okay? Everything will be all right; you don't have to cry. Just tell Bakura how you feel. He doesn't hate you. He loves you too much to hate you."
Yami Bakura sniffled and said quietly, "I can't face him...not after what I've done to him."
"I'll tell him for you."
"No."
"What's wrong with me telling him?"
"Because I don't want to love him. The last time I really ever loved anyone it hurt me. When she was killed it hurt so bad. I didn't think I could go on living. I miss her still and I promised myself that I'd never love anyone again so I would never have to feel the pain of heartache again. I knew I loved Bakura, but I didn't want to. I tried to hate him, so I beat him, because I hated loving him. But I can't get rid of my feelings for him..." More tears came.
"From what I know from Yugi, Bakura lost his mother, and he loved her very much. But he still had the will to go on loving and when he met you he had someone to love again. It's the same story with different people. The only big difference is that Bakura realized that life is empty without love."
Yami Bakura didn't say a thing. He just whimpered quietly.
"Okay...I'll let you think it over for a little while. Tell me when you're ready to leave." Yami Yugi stood up and stepped away from Yami Bakura, but kept a close watch on him.
Bakura opened his eyes. His head stung with acute pain. The first thing that ran through his mind was, 'Yami Yugi knows...'
Bakura slipped out of the guestroom, even in the pain he was in, even though he was weak. He quietly left Yugi and Salomon's house and shop. He stepped out of the building and into the night air. He took a deep breath of it into his lungs but stopped after filling his lungs about half way because it made his broken ribs start to hurt. Then he quietly hustled off under the streetlamps to the alley that he and Yami Bakura had hid in.
It wasn't a very noisy night. No one was on the streets either. But that made no difference to Bakura. He was set on getting to that alleyway.
Bakura slipped silently between the wall and the dumpster. In the dim light of a streetlamp that flooded in through the small walkway Bakura had entered through, Bakura saw no one. He saw the same dirty puddle that waited over the clogged drain. He saw the same blood stain on the wall and a stain on the ground from where Bakura had bled. But there was no Yami Bakura.
Bakura stepped back slightly, about to leave, when something shiny and metallic caught the light and attracted his attention. Bakura bent down and picked it up to get a better look at it in the dim light of the streetlamp. It was Yami Bakura's 4-inch pocketknife. The same one that Yami Bakura used to pull all of those pieces of glass out of Bakura's skin. Bakura stared at the knife for a moment and remembered something that he had thought earlier.
'Why do I live? What place do I have on this earth? Clearly I am not wanted, nor needed if my life is this terrible...' But that wasn't all that Bakura thought now. He decided that he wanted to ad onto that thought. 'No one loves me. As long as I'm not hurting or bothering anyone else, who cares what I do?'
Bakura looked at the knife and thought back to Yami Bakura's eyes. That wonderful place Bakura had seen. 'Lies! It was all lies! It was just an illusion. How could I be so dumb as to think that anyone could love me?'
Bakura opened the pocketknife to the sharp, 4-inch blade. "I love you Yami Bakura...I wish you could have felt the same way for me..."
Bakura closed his eyes and aimed the blade's sharp point at his heart. His heart trembled as he pressed the blade against his chest. He clenched his teeth and he didn't make a sound as he drove the blade into his own flesh and bone. Blood poured from the wound. Even more blood poured as the blade entered Bakura's beating heart.
His hands lost their strength and his legs couldn't support his weight. He took a step back in a desperate attempt to stay standing but fell onto his back. The knife was still lodged in his chest and in his heart, but he wasn't dead yet. The handle of the knife trembled every time his heart beat. Eventually he would bleed to death, which wouldn't be too long from then. Blood poured out of the sides of the incision. He was too weak to pull the blade out of his chest and let the blood flow out quicker and easier.
Nothing Bakura ever did went without suffering. Not even suicide. So he just lay there, eyes closed, a trembling knife in his chest.
Yami Bakura stood up with a start. Yugi jumped back, a bit startled, he didn't know what to make of this. It surprised Yugi even more to see Yami Bakura clutch his chest and weaken in the knees while his dark eyes filled with pain.
Yami Yugi rushed over and flung Yami Bakura's arm over Yami Yugi's shoulder to try to keep Yami Bakura standing. "What's wrong?! Are you okay?! What happened?!"
Yami Bakura shivered and turned his head towards Yami Yugi. A painful expression took over Yami Bakura's face. "...It's...it's...Bakura..."
Yami Yugi gasped and looked at Yami Bakura. 'What could Bakura have done?' thought Yami Yugi.
"We must get to him..." The look of pain on Yami Bakura's face was gone and determination took its place. He threw Yami Yugi's arm off of his shoulder and the dark world around them became the alleyway once again.
Yami Yugi looked down at his shoes and saw that most of the alley was flooded with blood. His eyes quickly followed the blood to its source...Bakura. His skin was as white as his hair and blood was smeared all over him. His eyes were closed but he was still alive. His chest rose and fell in a jerky manner and it seemed hard for him to breathe. The knife in his chest trembled at a quickened pace.
"BAKURA!" Yami Bakura yelled, his eyes large as saucers and his face absent of color. In less then a second, Yami Bakura was kneeling next to Bakura's dying body.
Bakura was still conscious because his dark, cloudy eyes opened and he looked up at his Yami. His white lips slowly drew up in a small, weak smile. "Hey, Yami..." He said quietly, which was as loud as he could get.
Yami Bakura put his hand under Bakura's head and lifted it up to Yami Bakura's chest, letting Bakura lounge in his arms. "You idiot..." Yami Bakura said quietly, "What have you done to yourself?!"
"No one cares about me...it'd be better for everyone if I wasn't alive, I just cause trouble..."
"Bakura...I do care about you! I need you here with me..."
"Yami...are you crying?"
Tears were streaming down Yami Bakura's face. "Yes, Bakura." Yami Bakura said very quietly. "Yes...I am crying...for you."
"No need to cry, Yami, it doesn't hurt..." Bakura knew that it was a lie, but Yami Bakura didn't need another thing to think about.
Yami Bakura looked through his blurry eyes, down at Bakura's bleeding chest. He put his hand gently on the knife in Bakura's chest and felt it throb in unison with Bakura's heartbeat. Yami Bakura didn't remove it because he knew that Bakura would just die faster from a loss of blood. "It hurts me, Bakura..."
Bakura was quite confused with Yami Bakura's behavior. "Yami...this makes me happy. I wont suffer ever again..."
"Why?!" Yami Bakura seemed to be yelling this at himself more that at Bakura. "Why did it take me until now for me to realize that I really love you?! Why?!"
Bakura's smile grew bigger and he closed his eyes again.
Yami Bakura's voice got really soft. "No, Bakura. Please...don't die...don't leave me..."
"Don't worry Yami...I'm just resting my eyes because I feel tired..."
"We have to get you to a hospital."
"No, Yami, I want you to stay with me...right here...for now..."
"You're going to die Bakura..."
"That's the way I want it..."
"Bakura...I want you to live. Please..."
Bakura hushed Yami Bakura. "Shh, Yami, it's okay..."
"Bakura...please. I was wrong to have ever hurt you. I love you. Stay with me, alive."
Bakura opened his eyes and looked deeply into his Yami's eyes. "My whole life was a mess. I only wanted for you to love me...it's too late for me now, though..." Tears started welling up in Bakura's eyes also.
"I know, Bakura...I was wrong, but it's not too late, not yet..."
Bakura slowly and weakly reached up with his bloody hand and touched his Yami's face. "Thank you, Yami...thank you for loving me, it's all I ever wanted...I'm just sad that I wont get to enjoy your love for much longer..."
"Bakura, stop...I'm going to make sure that you live."
Bakura shook his head weakly. "No...I don't have the will to continue living anyways...Please hold me, and love me so I can enjoy my last minuets..." Bakura's eyes begged for Yami Bakura's love and for his last request to be filled.
More tears dripped down Yami Bakura's cheeks, but he obeyed. Yami Bakura pulled Bakura closer and held him in his arms tighter. Bakura rested his head on Yami Bakura's chest and his heavy eyelids shut over his eyes; his breathing became heavily labored.
As he sat there, his dying hikari in his arms, Yami Bakura thought about what had happened, what had led to this horrific occurrence. 'If only once I had said that I loved him. If only once I had stopped beating him and thought about how much I cared about him. If only once I had thought about him before myself. If I had done any of those he wouldn't be dying. It's entirely my fault. What have I done...what have I become?!'
The tears poured from Yami Bakura's eyes like the blood poured from Bakura's wounded heart. Yami Bakura felt a soft tug on his shirt collar. Yami Bakura turned and looked down at Bakura, nestled in his chest.
Bakura's eyes were open. Yami Bakura looked into them, those dark cloudy orbs of pain and misery, and Bakura looked back at Yami Bakura through them.
Bakura weakly put his hand behind his Yami's head and pulled Yami Bakura's face closer to his own. Bakura moved his head up slightly and whispered in Yami Bakura's ear. "I love you, Yami Bakura..."
Bakura closed his heavy eyes and pressed his lips on Yami Bakura's cheek softly and soundlessly in a sweet, friendly kiss. The knife in Bakura's chest moved slowly and his breathing was almost nothing.
Yami Bakura hugged Bakura as close as was possible and whispered, "Bakura, please don't go, don't leave me here, don't die. I need you because I love you..."
But there was nothing Yami Bakura could do. Bakura breathed out and didn't take in another breath. His heart slowed to a halt. The knife in his chest was still. Yami Bakura the hand on the back of his head become limp and slide off, falling and splashing into the sea of blood below.
Yami Bakura's heart almost stopped itself as he looked at his hikari in a slumber that he would never again awake from.
Yami Yugi couldn't hold back the tears that he was holding in. The tears rolled down his face as he watched Yami Bakura look at his lifeless hikari.
"I love you too, Bakura." Yami Bakura whispered quietly. He bent over and softly pressed his lips on Bakura's pale, blood covered forehead. The sparkling tears fell from Yami Bakura's eyes and mixed with Bakura's blood. There was nothing Yami Bakura could do now except for mourn, mourn the loss of the only person that ever meant anything to him, Bakura.
Silencing of the Heart
Bakura opened his eyes and gazed up at the ceiling. His chest hurt. His back hurt. Everything hurt. He realized that he was in the guestroom at Yugi's house. The one he had slept in the night before. He got up slowly. And immediately felt a sharp achy pain in the left side of his chest. He gently prodded his left side and moaned loudly. It hurt. He could hear the cracking of his ribs over and over in his head. That was the last he could remember about last night, everything that happened afterwards was just a blur.
Someone knocked on the door loudly. The sound of it made Bakura's head ache. "Come in...just please stop banging on the door..." Bakura said weakly.
The knocking stopped and the door cracked open slightly. An elderly, purple eye, surrounded in tanned, wrinkled skin, looked at Bakura from the slightly opened door. The door creaked open fully, to reveal that the eye belonged to Salomon. "Feeling better, Bakura?" He said with a grin.
"Good morning, Mr. Mutou." Bakura said, trying to be as pleasant as possible through his pain. "I'm not really sure how I was feeling before, so I can't exactly answer that question."
"It's alright." Salomon said, wandering over to the side of the guest bed and sitting on it. "And by the way, it's about noon now. We were afraid you might have been in a coma."
"You aren't going to take me to the hospital, are you?" Bakura shivered slightly at the thought of going back to the hospital.
"Well..." Concern grew into Salomon's voice. "I was going to take you to the hospital...and I think that it is important that I still do."
"There's no need, Mr. Mutou, sir. I'll be alright." Bakura said and thought back to the cracking of his bones, which certainly didn't make Bakura all right.
"Your injuries seem pretty serious, along with all of those cuts and scars you have all over you." Salomon said pointing at the left side of Bakura's chest.
Bakura cupped both of his hands over the area with the 3 broken ribs as though trying to hide them. "I'll be fine. Don't worry yourself. I don't need to go to the hospital. Is Yugi okay?"
"Yugi? Well, he has a big bruise on his back and he's a little shaken up, but he will be alright."
"I'm glad he's okay," Bakura said before taking a deep breath and then letting it go.
"Yes, it is a wonderful thing that he is okay, but I'm not so sure if you are okay." Salomon tried to put into words the way he felt about what Bakura had done for him. "You really are a wonderful employee. You work hard, you do more then your share, you even do work on the side, and you never ask for anything in return. You did work that would usually take Yugi and I a week to do, in 2 days. I've never found a deal like that, that came without a catch, although you claim there's none." Salomon took a deep breath before continuing. "You've worked yourself to death. Either you've got the kindest heart in the world...or there's something you want from me, and you must want it pretty bad to work the way you do for it."
Bakura quivered slightly thinking about the true mission his Yami had sent him there for. "Sir...I don't know what to say. I can assure you that there's nothing that you have that I desire that badly. I needed a place to stay. That's all I really wanted. But if you are implying that you do not want me to stay, I'll leave." Bakura thought again about his lie. But he came to the decision that it wasn't really a lie, just slight of tongue. He wasn't here for anything of Salomon's. The Millennium puzzle was Yugi's. And Bakura had no desire for the puzzle; it was Yami Bakura who wanted it. Bakura only wanted a place to stay, because life with his Yami was Hell.
"Not want you to stay?! That's nonsense! You're the best worker I've ever had. Why would I not want you to stay? You're welcome here as long as you like; in fact I encourage you to stay with us."
"Thank you, Sir. You're hospitality has been wonderful. I don't know what I can do to repay you for your kindness..."
"There you go again. Stop being so modest. You've done more than enough. I owe you, not the other way around."
Bakura just looked away, out the window. The sun hug overhead, shining off the metallic surfaces of cars the drove passed the shop.
Salomon knew it was probably a sign that Bakura didn't want to converse anymore. "I'll leave you to yourself then..." Salomon stood on his old creaking bones and walked out of the guestroom closing the door on his way out.
Bakura's sad, clouded eyes burned with the bright rays of the sun that shined off the chrome of one passing car. He really was a mess. His whole life had been a mess; he began pondering about this. Why him? What had he done to deserve what life had dealt him?
'Life...mine is a fate worse than death. Ever since my mother died it's just been all downhill for me. I've been unhappy for so long, I don't know if I could ever be truly happy again. I've been tortured my whole life since my mother died. I wish it had been me instead of her. How I miss her. She was such a wonderful woman. She was the only person I truly loved. I never got very close to my father; he was always away on business trips. But then again...my Yami...I love him too, although he despises me. I don't know why I love him...my dark half. Maybe because without him I feel incomplete...'
All of these thoughts jumbled themselves up in Bakura's head. He pondered them for a while when on thought in particular struck him hard.
'Why do I live? What place do I have on this earth? Clearly I am not wanted, nor needed if my life is this terrible...'
Bakura looked over at the nightstand. His journal sat there in its black, tattered, leather bindings with a half eaten pencil next to it. It certainly wasn't Bakura's pencil, because he never chewed on his. He picked up the chew toy of a pencil and began jotting all the ideas down on the next clean sheet of his journal.
As soon as the pencil tip touched the water-stained paper he was off writing, even with his lack of strength.
After about half an hour of writing and checking over his entry, Bakura heard the creak of the door being opened. He closed his journal and looked up to see none other than his small friend, Yugi. He was in his red tractor pajamas and he had a folded up chessboard under his right arm. He frowned slightly at the sight of Bakura, which made Bakura's heart sink. He felt ashamed, that even his friend frowned at the sight of him.
In truth, Yugi was frowning because of the state that Bakura was in. Seeing Bakura so sad and sickly made Yugi feel sad.
The light that came from the window only reached as far as the bottom of the bed, casting Bakura into shadow. His skin was paler than usual and he had dark circles around his eyes, which looked even darker in the shadows, giving him an almost corpse-like appearance; like a skeleton with white skin stretched tightly over the bones. The sad look of his dark, clouded, bloodshot eyes didn't help either. And to top it all off, he looked excruciatingly anorexic. His cheekbones stuck out from his cut and bruised face. Even under the loose shirt, his protruding ribs could easily be seen from his dangerously slender torso. The indent from where the 3 broken ribs were, could be seen also.
Yugi and Bakura stared at each other for a while, until finally Yugi forced a smile and held out the chessboard. "Chess, Bakura?"
Bakura nodded and smiled weakly. "I would like that."
Yugi pulled up a chair, placed the chessboard on the nightstand, and began to set up the pieces. "Do you know how to play?" Yugi asked.
"Yes, though I don't believe I'm very good at this game."
"Don't worry, I'm not either."
Bakura just smiled weakly again, but in the back of his mind, he thought of how disgusted he was with himself, ignorant to the fact the Yugi was only frowning because he felt bad for Bakura.
The game progressed. There was little small talk among the two. Bakura's pieces slowly moved closer to victory. As it turned out, Bakura was better than he had put on. But Yugi, being very strategic, put up a very good game, but not good enough to win.
"Checkmate." Bakura said softly.
"What?"
"I said...checkmate."
Yugi looked over the pieces, seeing if there was a route of escape for his king. "You're right...you win. Good game. You're better than you say."
"Nah, I'm just lucky, that's all. You're still the king of games."
"No, I'm not, my Yami is." Yugi looked down and patted his Millennium puzzle proudly.
Bakura then remembered his mission. Without thinking he reached out and touched the puzzle, almost entranced by its greatness. Then, suddenly, he grabbed it and pulled it towards him, pulling Yugi with it.
Yugi slipped his neck out from the Millennium puzzle's chain and looked up at Bakura, very surprised. He looked at Bakura's eyes, which were focused on the puzzle and had a somewhat distant look in them, even through their mysterious haziness.
"Bakura?" Yugi's voice questioned, a little quiet because he was still slightly in shock.
Yugi's voice seemed to bring Bakura back to reality. Tears seemed to well up in his eyes slightly, but he didn't remove them from the Millennium puzzle that he held in his hands.
Yugi watched him for what seemed like a long time, even if it was only a few minuets.
"No..." Bakura finally said. "I can't. I won't. I could never..." Bakura dropped the Millennium puzzle back into Yugi's lap and looked away from him.
"Bakura, what's wrong?! What happened?!" Yugi's voice was marked with worry.
"I cannot tell you. Please do not ask. May I be alone?" Bakura said quietly. He waited a few moments but heard no reply neither did he hear the sound of Yugi leaving. Bakura turned his head back to what he expected to be Yugi's face, but to no avail. It was Yami Yugi's face instead.
Bakura watched in shock and silence as Yami Yugi raised his hand to Bakura's face. The Senen eye on Yami Yugi's forehead glowed and Bakura felt a jolt to his own forehead before he passed out, falling back onto the bed.
Yami Yugi stood; anger grew in his violet eyes from the knowledge he acquired from Bakura. "I knew you were behind this." He said in a low tone. "You poisoned this poor, sick boy's mind, you twisted maniac. I think it's time we had a talk...Yami Bakura..."
Yami Yugi looked down at the red tractor pajamas that he was wearing. "But first I think I'll change into something decent..."
Yami Yugi walked down the street in his usual leather attire. His destination? The alley where Yami Bakura hid away. The more Yami Yugi thought about the condition Bakura was in the more his hatred grew for Yami Bakura. At this point, he was enraged.
Yami Yugi came across the alleyway and walked in between the wall and the dumpster.
Because it was late by this time and the sun had mostly gone down behind the horizon, and because there was a building blocking the light from the sun, it was dark in the alley. Yami Yugi looked around. From what little he could see, there was no Yami Bakura.
There was a loud slam on the dumpster and Yami Yugi spun around quickly to look. His gazed up into two glowing, blood red eyes and the dark crouching figure on the dumpster that those two eyes belonged to.
"Yami Bakura..." Yami Yugi said, trying not to let all of his anger get the best of him.
Yami Bakura's figure stood, tall and trim, shoulders back and chest out. His eyes didn't avert from Yami Yugi's face, but they did glow brighter, illuminating Yami Bakura's face with their eerie red glow, showing his large, evil, insane grin. "I sensed your arrival, oh great pharaoh." His voice was harsh.
"Cut it out and get down here and face me you coward! We need to talk!" Yami Yugi narrowed his eyes.
Yami Bakura jumped off the top of the dumpster and landed right in front of Yami Yugi, then stood to his full height, which was quite a taller than Yami Yugi.
"Ouch." Yami Bakura said sarcastically and clutched his chest. "You got me right where it hurts." Then he starting laughing in his own insanity.
"I don't have time for this! This is serious business!"
Yami Bakura stopped laughing and looked at Yami Yugi blankly. "And I care?"
"You should, Yami Bakura! This is important! So important that I wont risk the chance of any mortal overhearing. Come with me to the Shadow Realm."
"I've never listened to you, and I'm not starting now."
Yami Yugi took a deep breath, trying to keep his anger from escaping. "Please, just come with me to the Shadow Realm, there we will talk and I will leave you alone after that."
"Leave me alone? Why, you just don't get it, do you? You wont be leaving...because I will kill you and your Millennium puzzle will belong to me." He chuckled and reached for the knife in his back pocket and began to pull it out.
"Yami Bakura! If you come with me and listen to me I will give you my puzzle! Now please, come with me!"
Yami Bakura put his hand back in its normal resting position and the knife fell out of his pocket and onto the concrete, although Yami Bakura didn't seem to notice. "I don't trust you...but either way your puzzle is mine. Fine, Yami Yugi, I go to the Shadow Realm and have a little heart to heart with you."
Yami Yugi rolled his eyes, "Why do you have to make things so difficult for me?"
"Because I hate you." Yami Bakura said with a grin.
Yami Yugi shook his head, as the world around them became the dark misty world that Yami Bakura had beaten Bakura so often in.
Yami Yugi stared straight into Yami Bakura's eyes, which were no longer glowing. "Listen, Yami Bakura, and listen well. I saw what you did to Bakura, and I know what you were trying to make him do for you."
"The little bastard told, eh?"
"No, I had to read his mind to get the information out of him. He refused to tell me otherwise."
"Well, at least he did what I sent him to do. He brought the Millennium puzzle to me, but I get to kill you as an extra bonus."
"I didn't just come here to get killed and have my puzzle taken from me. I want to talk to you about Bakura."
"Why? What's to talk about? He's stupid and worthless."
"He's not stupid and he's not worthless. I want to talk to you about the way you treat him."
Yami Bakura's voice got colder. "What's wrong with the way I treat him? He is inferior. He is mine and I can do whatever I want to him."
Yami Yugi swallowed his anger. "You do not own him. You are both equal, but then again, you make me wonder sometimes. You act pretty
low."
"You're saying that he is the superior one?!" Yami Bakura's voice was as cold as ice. "NEVER!"
"Just because you're more aggressive and you can push him around, that's not what makes the man..."
"I think you're wrong..."
"And I think you're a psycho."
"You asshole..." Yami Bakura said under his breath.
Yami Yugi ignored the rude comment and continued talking. "Have you seen Bakura recently? He's dying...from the inside out, and it's already showing on the outside. He's practically dead already, Yami Bakura, and it's all because of you!"
"I don't care! I don't need him anymore!"
"He loves you, Yami Bakura! Can't you see that?! He'd do anything for you, even after you literally beat him to his grave! He still loves you! ...And I think that you love him too, really deep down...you're just afraid to admit it."
Rage built in Yami Bakura's eyes. "Shut up! He means nothing to me! He was just a puppet! I could care less weather he's alive or dead!"
Something told Yami Yugi that this subject really upset Yami Bakura. "It's hard for you to admit things, isn't it, Yami Bakura? Like your love for your hikari..."
Yami Bakura got even angrier. "I said, SHUT UP! I have no love for that stupid bastard of a hikari of mine!"
Yami Yugi actually enjoyed watching Yami Bakura try to deny it all. "Isn't there a soft spot for Bakura in that icy rock that beats in your chest?"
Yami Bakura's anger gathered in his tightly clenched fists and it all met Yami Yugi's face all at once in one powerful punch. Yami Yugi flew backwards and landed on his back about 10 feet from where he was first standing.
Anger still engulfed Yami Bakura and it burned in his dark eyes like wildfire. "I DON'T HAVE A HEART AND I DON'T CARE ABOUT BAKURA!!!"
Yami Yugi chuckled and sat up, nursing his now aching jaw. "The more you deny it the more you discover that you really do love him, because I don't think you know yet. And isn't it funny? That's the first time in this whole conversation that you've actually addressed Bakura by his name instead of an insulting word. Would you have called him by his name if I had said anything different?"
Tears began to well up in Yami Bakura's eyes but he didn't change from his aggressive pose. "Just shut up! I hate you...and I'm going to kill you!"
"Ah, I have found you're weak spot. Now, all I want to know is why you tried to hide your love for Bakura."
"I don't love him!" The tears in Yami Bakura's eyes started streaming down his face.
Yami Yugi stood up and shook his head. "You're so stubborn. Stop trying to hide it, just admit it...I know the truth, and killing me will not change the truth."
"I will never admit to anything! I can't! I wont..." Yami Bakura's voice began to crack a little at the end of his last sentence."
"The only person you're denying the truth from is yourself! Stop and just accept the fact!" Yami Yugi was beginning to get a little annoyed but he knew he was getting somewhere.
"That's it! I've had enough!" Yami Bakura yelled and took a sloppy charge toward Yami Yugi.
Yami Yugi jumped out of the way and Yami Bakura fell to the ground on his knees. He sat there and didn't move.
Yami Yugi watched him for a few minuets and then finally decided that it was safe to get close to Yami Bakura after he heard Yami Bakura sniffle slightly. Yami Yugi kneeled next to the crying Yami.
His voice became unusually quiet. "Yami Bakura, are you okay? Everything will be all right; you don't have to cry. Just tell Bakura how you feel. He doesn't hate you. He loves you too much to hate you."
Yami Bakura sniffled and said quietly, "I can't face him...not after what I've done to him."
"I'll tell him for you."
"No."
"What's wrong with me telling him?"
"Because I don't want to love him. The last time I really ever loved anyone it hurt me. When she was killed it hurt so bad. I didn't think I could go on living. I miss her still and I promised myself that I'd never love anyone again so I would never have to feel the pain of heartache again. I knew I loved Bakura, but I didn't want to. I tried to hate him, so I beat him, because I hated loving him. But I can't get rid of my feelings for him..." More tears came.
"From what I know from Yugi, Bakura lost his mother, and he loved her very much. But he still had the will to go on loving and when he met you he had someone to love again. It's the same story with different people. The only big difference is that Bakura realized that life is empty without love."
Yami Bakura didn't say a thing. He just whimpered quietly.
"Okay...I'll let you think it over for a little while. Tell me when you're ready to leave." Yami Yugi stood up and stepped away from Yami Bakura, but kept a close watch on him.
Bakura opened his eyes. His head stung with acute pain. The first thing that ran through his mind was, 'Yami Yugi knows...'
Bakura slipped out of the guestroom, even in the pain he was in, even though he was weak. He quietly left Yugi and Salomon's house and shop. He stepped out of the building and into the night air. He took a deep breath of it into his lungs but stopped after filling his lungs about half way because it made his broken ribs start to hurt. Then he quietly hustled off under the streetlamps to the alley that he and Yami Bakura had hid in.
It wasn't a very noisy night. No one was on the streets either. But that made no difference to Bakura. He was set on getting to that alleyway.
Bakura slipped silently between the wall and the dumpster. In the dim light of a streetlamp that flooded in through the small walkway Bakura had entered through, Bakura saw no one. He saw the same dirty puddle that waited over the clogged drain. He saw the same blood stain on the wall and a stain on the ground from where Bakura had bled. But there was no Yami Bakura.
Bakura stepped back slightly, about to leave, when something shiny and metallic caught the light and attracted his attention. Bakura bent down and picked it up to get a better look at it in the dim light of the streetlamp. It was Yami Bakura's 4-inch pocketknife. The same one that Yami Bakura used to pull all of those pieces of glass out of Bakura's skin. Bakura stared at the knife for a moment and remembered something that he had thought earlier.
'Why do I live? What place do I have on this earth? Clearly I am not wanted, nor needed if my life is this terrible...' But that wasn't all that Bakura thought now. He decided that he wanted to ad onto that thought. 'No one loves me. As long as I'm not hurting or bothering anyone else, who cares what I do?'
Bakura looked at the knife and thought back to Yami Bakura's eyes. That wonderful place Bakura had seen. 'Lies! It was all lies! It was just an illusion. How could I be so dumb as to think that anyone could love me?'
Bakura opened the pocketknife to the sharp, 4-inch blade. "I love you Yami Bakura...I wish you could have felt the same way for me..."
Bakura closed his eyes and aimed the blade's sharp point at his heart. His heart trembled as he pressed the blade against his chest. He clenched his teeth and he didn't make a sound as he drove the blade into his own flesh and bone. Blood poured from the wound. Even more blood poured as the blade entered Bakura's beating heart.
His hands lost their strength and his legs couldn't support his weight. He took a step back in a desperate attempt to stay standing but fell onto his back. The knife was still lodged in his chest and in his heart, but he wasn't dead yet. The handle of the knife trembled every time his heart beat. Eventually he would bleed to death, which wouldn't be too long from then. Blood poured out of the sides of the incision. He was too weak to pull the blade out of his chest and let the blood flow out quicker and easier.
Nothing Bakura ever did went without suffering. Not even suicide. So he just lay there, eyes closed, a trembling knife in his chest.
Yami Bakura stood up with a start. Yugi jumped back, a bit startled, he didn't know what to make of this. It surprised Yugi even more to see Yami Bakura clutch his chest and weaken in the knees while his dark eyes filled with pain.
Yami Yugi rushed over and flung Yami Bakura's arm over Yami Yugi's shoulder to try to keep Yami Bakura standing. "What's wrong?! Are you okay?! What happened?!"
Yami Bakura shivered and turned his head towards Yami Yugi. A painful expression took over Yami Bakura's face. "...It's...it's...Bakura..."
Yami Yugi gasped and looked at Yami Bakura. 'What could Bakura have done?' thought Yami Yugi.
"We must get to him..." The look of pain on Yami Bakura's face was gone and determination took its place. He threw Yami Yugi's arm off of his shoulder and the dark world around them became the alleyway once again.
Yami Yugi looked down at his shoes and saw that most of the alley was flooded with blood. His eyes quickly followed the blood to its source...Bakura. His skin was as white as his hair and blood was smeared all over him. His eyes were closed but he was still alive. His chest rose and fell in a jerky manner and it seemed hard for him to breathe. The knife in his chest trembled at a quickened pace.
"BAKURA!" Yami Bakura yelled, his eyes large as saucers and his face absent of color. In less then a second, Yami Bakura was kneeling next to Bakura's dying body.
Bakura was still conscious because his dark, cloudy eyes opened and he looked up at his Yami. His white lips slowly drew up in a small, weak smile. "Hey, Yami..." He said quietly, which was as loud as he could get.
Yami Bakura put his hand under Bakura's head and lifted it up to Yami Bakura's chest, letting Bakura lounge in his arms. "You idiot..." Yami Bakura said quietly, "What have you done to yourself?!"
"No one cares about me...it'd be better for everyone if I wasn't alive, I just cause trouble..."
"Bakura...I do care about you! I need you here with me..."
"Yami...are you crying?"
Tears were streaming down Yami Bakura's face. "Yes, Bakura." Yami Bakura said very quietly. "Yes...I am crying...for you."
"No need to cry, Yami, it doesn't hurt..." Bakura knew that it was a lie, but Yami Bakura didn't need another thing to think about.
Yami Bakura looked through his blurry eyes, down at Bakura's bleeding chest. He put his hand gently on the knife in Bakura's chest and felt it throb in unison with Bakura's heartbeat. Yami Bakura didn't remove it because he knew that Bakura would just die faster from a loss of blood. "It hurts me, Bakura..."
Bakura was quite confused with Yami Bakura's behavior. "Yami...this makes me happy. I wont suffer ever again..."
"Why?!" Yami Bakura seemed to be yelling this at himself more that at Bakura. "Why did it take me until now for me to realize that I really love you?! Why?!"
Bakura's smile grew bigger and he closed his eyes again.
Yami Bakura's voice got really soft. "No, Bakura. Please...don't die...don't leave me..."
"Don't worry Yami...I'm just resting my eyes because I feel tired..."
"We have to get you to a hospital."
"No, Yami, I want you to stay with me...right here...for now..."
"You're going to die Bakura..."
"That's the way I want it..."
"Bakura...I want you to live. Please..."
Bakura hushed Yami Bakura. "Shh, Yami, it's okay..."
"Bakura...please. I was wrong to have ever hurt you. I love you. Stay with me, alive."
Bakura opened his eyes and looked deeply into his Yami's eyes. "My whole life was a mess. I only wanted for you to love me...it's too late for me now, though..." Tears started welling up in Bakura's eyes also.
"I know, Bakura...I was wrong, but it's not too late, not yet..."
Bakura slowly and weakly reached up with his bloody hand and touched his Yami's face. "Thank you, Yami...thank you for loving me, it's all I ever wanted...I'm just sad that I wont get to enjoy your love for much longer..."
"Bakura, stop...I'm going to make sure that you live."
Bakura shook his head weakly. "No...I don't have the will to continue living anyways...Please hold me, and love me so I can enjoy my last minuets..." Bakura's eyes begged for Yami Bakura's love and for his last request to be filled.
More tears dripped down Yami Bakura's cheeks, but he obeyed. Yami Bakura pulled Bakura closer and held him in his arms tighter. Bakura rested his head on Yami Bakura's chest and his heavy eyelids shut over his eyes; his breathing became heavily labored.
As he sat there, his dying hikari in his arms, Yami Bakura thought about what had happened, what had led to this horrific occurrence. 'If only once I had said that I loved him. If only once I had stopped beating him and thought about how much I cared about him. If only once I had thought about him before myself. If I had done any of those he wouldn't be dying. It's entirely my fault. What have I done...what have I become?!'
The tears poured from Yami Bakura's eyes like the blood poured from Bakura's wounded heart. Yami Bakura felt a soft tug on his shirt collar. Yami Bakura turned and looked down at Bakura, nestled in his chest.
Bakura's eyes were open. Yami Bakura looked into them, those dark cloudy orbs of pain and misery, and Bakura looked back at Yami Bakura through them.
Bakura weakly put his hand behind his Yami's head and pulled Yami Bakura's face closer to his own. Bakura moved his head up slightly and whispered in Yami Bakura's ear. "I love you, Yami Bakura..."
Bakura closed his heavy eyes and pressed his lips on Yami Bakura's cheek softly and soundlessly in a sweet, friendly kiss. The knife in Bakura's chest moved slowly and his breathing was almost nothing.
Yami Bakura hugged Bakura as close as was possible and whispered, "Bakura, please don't go, don't leave me here, don't die. I need you because I love you..."
But there was nothing Yami Bakura could do. Bakura breathed out and didn't take in another breath. His heart slowed to a halt. The knife in his chest was still. Yami Bakura the hand on the back of his head become limp and slide off, falling and splashing into the sea of blood below.
Yami Bakura's heart almost stopped itself as he looked at his hikari in a slumber that he would never again awake from.
Yami Yugi couldn't hold back the tears that he was holding in. The tears rolled down his face as he watched Yami Bakura look at his lifeless hikari.
"I love you too, Bakura." Yami Bakura whispered quietly. He bent over and softly pressed his lips on Bakura's pale, blood covered forehead. The sparkling tears fell from Yami Bakura's eyes and mixed with Bakura's blood. There was nothing Yami Bakura could do now except for mourn, mourn the loss of the only person that ever meant anything to him, Bakura.
