A/N: Readers of my diary series better listen...*sniffle* the Two Towers has come out. Slowly but surely, my mind has gone back to Middle-earth. And back to poor Glorfindel, who I left blind and pretty much stranded in the wilderness, and Legolas who will never get his friends back from Vlad Tepes! (No, really, I did; look at 'Hidden Starlight'.) So this story, 'Bonded', will be my last new YGO fic for a while. Updates to the diaries will be slower. I'M SO SORRY! Curse J.R.R. Tolkien if you must! Send hate mail to Peter Jackson! I know I will! Just thought I'd warn you. So, I've decided to try one chapter with a host from the show. Cuz it's fun to read those and I'd like to write one.
*Yami Yugi steps out, dressed in the 'patented' brown corduroy suit from YYMO and reads the above notes*
YY: Did you just plug one of your own fics?
Pachelbel: No...*spills a container of White-Out on everything but the mention of Hidden Starlight* ...Ok, maybe.
YY: *rolls eyes* Right. Clearly, Silver doesn't own Yu-Gi-Oh. I mean, she's not even Japanese.
Pachelbel: Neither are you!
YY: I was created in Japan, you nitwit. That makes me Japanese.
Pachelbel: *holding a sawed-off shotgun* Keep going with the disclaimer.
YY: *looks at the script, unfazed by the gun* She also doesn't own 'Slave' which is the prequel to this piece of crap.
Pachelbel: Hey!
YY: It is! You hate it, remember?
Pachelbel: Yes, I do...but you're the one suffering from my lack of romance-authoring skills, anyway.
YY: To answer questions, Malik is the main villain in YuGiOh right now. He's cool, suave, sexy and evil. Bakura is Ryou Bakura, Yami Bakura is...well, the psycho half of that deal. The one wading in the shallow end of the gene pool. *has read everything completely monotone. Thinks about what he has said, looks at Silver and back at the script* Anyway...can we start the fic now?
Pachelbel: Read the purple page first.
YY: *flips through 29 pages* You saved ads for chicken grease? And stapled them with the script? *throws the junk mail at the author* It says here that this story is going to be dark and violent...*re-reads part of it* You can't make me do that! It's not cannon!
Pachelbel: *finishes tacking up a 'Alternate Universe' poster on the summary* Yes, I can! A girl's gotta trash the cannon a few times in her fanfic writing life. It's been a while since I did, so here we go!
I end up staying with Malik all day. I wouldn't have had a choice, even if I had wanted to go home. There is invisible wire binding me to his side, and he is the only clear thing left in the world for me. Mostly Malik has just stayed sitting across from me at a table in a completely deserted restaurant. Neither of us has said more than a few words.
After the first hour, I stood to go (though to me it appeared I was standing on the wall, and Malik was somehow on the ceiling) but I got no further than the door. Malik laughed as I stopped just inside the threshold and had to lean on the doorway for support. I was too sick and dizzy to do anything but follow his voice back to the table, like an anchor to some twisted version of reality.
"You will go nowhere without my permission," he says when I look at him. "All clear?"
I stare at him, wanting to strangle the life out of him, but my body rebels, My head nods in agreement. Cold amusement lights in his eyes when he sees my confusion. We've been sitting there ever since.
I can vaguely feel Yugi searching for me, but Malik stops me from answering. "You may speak with him through your little bond when our errand is done and the Millennium Ring is in my hands."
"Why are you keeping me here?" I demand. "If you want the Ring, let me go find it. Bakura isn't going to come in here and hand it to you."
The blond's expression is almost bored, like a teacher who has been asked a very redundant question. "I don't know how dedicated you are. Nor do I know how good of a liar you are." I don't tell him how uncertain of those things I am myself. "I know you have no remorse when it comes to killing for what you want...but Bakura is someone of importance to your little host, is he not? And it is well known how much you care for the little twit."
I stiffen, open my mouth to defend Yugi, but all that comes out is a near-scream of pain as whatever mental choke collar Malik has put on me tightens.
"So," he speaks as if nothing is happening to me, "you will go and watch them. You will see exactly what it is they have that your 'lover' will never give you. And never forget that Bakura's yami is just as desperate for the Puzzle as I am for the Ring."
The pain disappears slowly. Malik is showing me his strength, to remind me of my place in his schemes.
I grit my teeth until I feel I can speak clearly again. "I know that the Ring isn't the only Item you are after, Malik. How do I know you won't go after the Puzzle while I am getting rid of Bakura?"
In one fluid motion, the other spirit has risen and pressed the sharp edge of his dagger into my neck. "Because I already *have* the Puzzle," he whispers, sliding the knife back with a smirk. "Now go."
And without a protest, I go. I'm frightened to find that I'm almost eager to find the white-haired boy.
I assume that he will be with Yugi, or else at his house. I can't remember exactly where Bakura lives, so I go to find my aibou first. I'm stunned when he hugs me and I can't feel it. There's no warmth, no pressure, nothing where he wraps himself around me.
The world is still gray and black, even him. The ceiling is still....somewhere off to the side, the ceiling fan sticking out of the wall where there used to be a door. The door is folded into a corner on the ceiling, which has been carpeted.
I shut my eyes and try to hold Yugi to me, but I can't feel him anymore than I can feel the air around me.
"What's wrong? Where were you?" he asks, his voice muffled because his face is buried in my midriff.
"Nothing, aibou. Nothing is wrong," I whisper, sounding terrified even to myself.
He looks up at me, his eyes glassy. "Where did you go? Joey said that you-"
"I hit him." My grip has tightened, if you can tighten your hold on what you can't feel Yugi gasps and squirms in pain, so I let go.
"Why?" I don't answer. Yugi reaches up and grabs my shoulder, trying to make me look at him. I oblige. "Why did you hit him, Yami?"
"I don't know." I turn away, worried that he will figure out what Malik has done. Malik would kill him if he threatened our...his...plans.
"Did he say something wrong?" Yugi knows how hard I have worked to protect not only him but his friends. We both know that if I were behaving normally, I would never have laid a hand on Joey.
I sigh. There is a warm spark in my mind and memories of when Joey and Tea tried to keep me from finding out about Yugi and Bakura's relationship come flooding back. The anger I felt then, the betrayal that revisits me every night...and above all, the disgrace that I have become. I glare at Yugi, though to me he appears as alien as the rest of the world and cannot be the precious hikari I knew.
"Yes." My own voice is so harsh and low it almost hurts to speak. "He did."
It takes a while for Yugi to recover from his shock. "What did he say?"
I feel Malik's presence in some part of my mind, a part that I have long kept hidden from Yugi. Except once. It is Malik who speaks, because I can't. "It doesn't matter. I shouldn't have done it. He just...doesn't seem to be very happy with the relationship I have with you and Bakura."
"He's not?" Yugi is surprised, and I really doubt that Malik can make him believe Joey would speak badly of us.
"Where is Bakura?" Both Malik and I ask this. It feels wrong to be speaking the same words as the man I consider my most deadly enemy.
"He's out looking for you!" Yugi runs to the phone, at last remembering to tell all of his friends that I'm not really gone.
Twenty minutes later, Bakura is sitting on the couch in between Yugi and I. He is still separating me from the only person I have ever truly loved.
Bakura's dark eyes are full of concern for me, but to me it's like feathers hitting a brick wall. Nothing Bakura has to offer me will ever be accepted. That's just as well, since nothing he offers to me is sincere. It's for Yugi's sake; just like me tolerating him is for Yugi.
*Not any more,* Malik's voice floats into my head. I find myself nodding and stop just before Bakura notices.
"...missed you today." As soon as Malik has stopped talking, I am able to catch the last of Bakura's sentence. Yugi has gone off to the kitchen. At least, I assume he went to the kitchen, because that's where the telephone is kept and it was ringing. Too many noise makers are in this house.
I narrow my eyes, alone at last with Bakura. "Of course you did," I hiss.
"What?"
I remember the first time I saw Bakura after the Puzzle was solved. I remember his Yami crouching over Yugi's still form. He assumed Yugi was gone and that my Puzzle was his. I know that the dangerous thief is still there, and Bakura has done and will do nothing to protect those he calls friends.
He touches my cheek. "Are you alright?"
I don't react, as I can't tell if his hand is really there or not. "I'm fine." The phone is still ringing. "Where is Yugi?"
Bakura frowns, his hand going up to my forehead. It's a stupid action; I have no temperature for him to feel, and even if I did, I don't get sick now. "He went to help his grandfather unload a shipment. Weren't you listening?"
"So we are alone up here?" I look at him out of the corners of my eyes.
He smiles. "Yes."
"Good." I can't tell if it is Malik or me who moves. Perhaps it is both of us again. But my body tackles Bakura, pinning him back on the cushions of the sofa. His hands are instantly on my shirt, undoing the buckles with eery simplicity.
My own hands are on his chest as well, but for a different reason. One hand keeps his Ring pinned down while the other brushes through his hair. Now it has to be Malik; I don't remember enough about death strikes to know how to do what he is planning to do.
My right hand draws back and then plunges down suddenly to Bakura's throat, at the soft hollow pit just above where his clavicle and throat meet. Bakura gags, forgetting my clothes in his panic, and rolls halfway off the couch grabbing at his neck.
His lower half is still pinned under my legs, and I swiftly reach down and yank off his Millennium Ring. I put it on and re-buckle the top part of my shirt to hide it, then strike the back of his neck this time. I know that I missed the spine, so he will live, though for now he's out like a light.
Just after I finish hauling Bakura back onto the couch, Yugi walks in.
