BlackRose: I know I haven't done it yet and here we are 12 chapters into the fic, but I wanna thank all of you really nice people who reviewed this so far.  I'll say what I said in Dark Mind, Tortured Soul.  You have no idea how much each and every review means to me, and I love you all for being so kind, although I don't think I deserve such nice things said.  There are many, many, many people that write a helluva lot better than I do yet you all still are so kind.  ^.^  *huggles all reviewers and gives them lollipops and roses*  On with the chappie!    

Tristan slowly walked down the dark corridor, trying to be as quiet as possible.  He dragged his hand along the wall.  A flash of lighting briefly lit up the room, revealing that he was walking down a rather long hallway. 

"Kaiba must be obsessed with hallways," he mumbled.  He heard someone walking behind him and whirled around.  To find no one there.  He shook his head. 

C'mon, this is no time to lose your head, Tristan.  His fingers passed by a knob.  He hadn't even realized he had reached a door.  Instinctively he opened it and crept inside.  Another flash of lightning, followed by the boom of thunder greeted him.  He realized he was in a child's room.  

"Must be Mokuba's."  He walked around slowly, eyes searching for something.  Maybe, although he doubted it, Mokuba had a flashlight or something in here.  Something in the corner caught his eye.  An aluminum bat lay propped up against the wall.  He picked it up.  Couldn't hurt to have something to defend himself with, now could it?  He immediately entered the hall again, pausing for a moment to look around, then starting down the hall again.  His heart thudded against his Adam's apple as he heard footsteps muffled by the carpet behind him.  This time he wasn't hearing things.  Something was following him.  His fingers tightened instinctively around the bat, but he didn't turn around.  Best wait until….there was a turn in the hallway up ahead.  Forcing himself to stay at the same pace, he continued walking.  Just as the corner came in view, he turned and pressed himself against the wall.  His pursuer was breathing rather loudly, their breath ragged and wheezing.  He could hear him, but not see his face, as it was rather dark.  He brought the bat back and swung.  Hard.  It landed with a satisfying crack in his pursuers face. 

"GAH!!"  Tristan dropped the bat. 

"Ba-Bakura?"     

"Who the hell else would it be mortal?"  Bakura held his nose as he felt blood trickle down his face. 

(A.N- Bakura: *cackles* I'M ALIVE!) 

He immediately rounded on the spikey-haired brunette. 

"WHAT THE FUCK IS WRONG WITH YOU?  YOU DON'T GO HITTING PEOPLE IN THE FACE WITH BATS!" 

Tristan rubbed the back of his head.

"I thought you were someone else."  Bakura growled. 

"You better have," he muttered, still holding his nose.  It hurt like a son of a bitch. 

"If you broke my nose, I'm going to kill you." 

"Hey, it's not my fault you decided to creep up on me.  You could have just said something, you know." 

"I thought you were Mage." 

"Who?"  Bakura sighed. 

"Never mind." 

"Why would you think I was someone else?  Does he look like me or something?" 

"I doubted you managed to live this long." 

Tristan scowled. 

"I'm not an idiot, you know." 

"Could've fooled me."  Tristan's eye twitched. 

"What the hell are you doing here, anyways?  And where's that mutt and the Pharaoh's brat?"   Tristan shrugged. 

"They kinda…er…went up ahead."  Bakura laughed. 

"So they actually did something intelligent and left you behind."  Tristan's face flushed and his hand curled into a fist, flying through the air to land a punch on Bakura's cheek.  Or, try to, as Bakura easily caught it and sent the brunette to the floor.

(A.N- Bakura:  Idiot.  Like he could actually strike me.  BlackRose:  but he hit you in the nose with the bat.  Bakura:  Shut up.  That was different.  BlackRose: How so?  Bakura:  -.-  Just shut up and stop interrupting the chapter.  I'm sure the readers want to read the story, not your stupid interruptions.  BlackRose:  Reow!) 

"Asshole," Tristan mumbled. 

"You were stupid enough to think you could hurt me.  Now whose fault is it you fell?"  Tristan didn't answer, only tried to burn a hole through Bakura's forehead with his glare.  Bakura snorted. 

"I'll take that as an 'it was my fault so I'm not going to answer and make an ass out of myself.'  Now, get up off your ass and come with me."  Tristan stood and glared, folding his arms across his chest stubbornly. 

"Why should I go with you?" 

"You can stay here…if you'd rather end up just another corpse in this insane asylum." 

"Odd way of putting, considering it came out of your mouth.  I would have thought the nuthouse was your second home." 

"There is a fine line between sanity and insanity." 

"Yeah, and you crossed over into insanity in Ancient Egypt." 

"Like your perfectly sane?  You can't possibly be, considering who you choose to befriend." 

"You just insulted Ryou by saying that, you know?  Then again, I'm sure you've done much worse to him." 

"You barely know him.  I wouldn't call him a friend of yours since you hardly ever talk to him.  And as for that last part, not that it's any of your business, but I don't raise a hand to Ryou."  Not anymore, he added silently. 

"Bullsh-"

"Get down you moron!"  Bakura pulled Tristan out of the way, just in time to avoid a swinging pendulum slicing off the back of Tristan's head, putting the former tomb robber in a very awkward position as Tristan landed on top of him.  They lay that way for a few moments, staring at each other's faces in surprise.  Bakura blinked and growled. 

"GET OFF ME!"  Tristan's cheeks flushed as he stood as quickly as possible, almost losing his balance as he did so.  He extended a hand to help Bakura up, only to have it slapped away. 

"I don't need your help," he hissed as he too stood, brushing himself off.  He was muttering to himself and didn't notice the pendulum heading straight for his head. 

"Heads up!"  He ducked just in time and heard the blade whoosh past his head.  He scrambled away from it and bumped into Tristan.

"Gah, damn it!  We have to get out of here…NOW!" the highly pissed off and embarrassed tomb robber snapped.  Without thinking more of it, he grabbed Tristan by the hand and, skirting around the swinging pendulums, led him down the way he had come.  Not that he missed every one.  He would have been sliced in half had Tristan not noticed and pulled him back a split second before it hit him.  Although he wasn't completely unscathed, hissing as the blade caught his abdomen.  Pendulums were coming out of ever crack in the wall, making it a very deadly game of dodge.  By the time they had gotten down the hallway, they were both panting. 

"You know…this feels…feels…oddly…familiar," Tristan gasped as he doubled over.  Bakura's eyes snapped up at him. 

"How so?" 

"Well, lesse…running from things…you saving my ass…more running from things…you saving my ass again…is this getting through to you?"  Bakura's eyes narrowed. 

"This…is nothing like…Duelist Kingdom.  Unless you just happen to be carrying another soulless body on your back and I wanted to steal it from you." 

"As of right now…I'm all out of soulless bodies." 

"I wouldn't want a you as a new host anyways…if that's what your thinking.  Unless you would like me to put your body to use."  Tristan sweatdropped. 

"Uh…you're joking, right?" 

"I'm perfectly serious."  The sweatdrop on Tristan's head grew bigger and he began to edge away from Bakura, who scowled. 

"I was joking, you idiot." 

"Oh…I knew that."  Bakura made a face. 

"Idiotic mortal."  He looked around. 

"Hmm…how the hell did we get to the stairs?  They weren't there before."  Tristan looked up. 

"What are you talking about?" 

"Those," he pointed, "Were NOT there before."  

"Oh.  Well, maybe it leads downstairs."  He expected the former tomb robber to shoot another insult at him, but was pleasantly surprised.  Bakura considered it for a moment. 

"It's possible.  I wouldn't be surprised, what with all of the strange shit that's happened so far.  C'mon."  He grabbed Tristan again, who didn't really mind the touch, and began to pick his way carefully down the stairs.

(A.N- Bakura: WHAT?!  THAT RA-DAMNED MORON HAD BETTER NOT HAVE ENJOYED THAT!)     

"Watch your step.  These may be rigged."  Tristan nodded as Bakura let go, his hand guiding him down the wall.  Tristan followed suit.  They made it down the stairs, only to bump into something solid. 

"Shit.  I knew there was a catch.  There's a door," he tried the knob, "and it's locked.  Damn it!"  He kicked the door angrily and stepped up a few stairs, ramming into the obstacle that blocked their way downstairs.  He looked at Tristan. 

"Care to help? Or do you just want to fucking watch?"  Tristan didn't respond, only backed up and rammed the door with his shoulder.  There was a crack, but the door held.   

"This isn't working.  On three, we hit.  One.  Two.  Three!"  And with that, they both rammed into it a final time, to hear a satisfying smack as the door finally gave, allowing the two to breathe in fresh air.  Wait a minute…

"We're outside?" 

"No…we're at the arcade.  What do you think?"  Bakura glared at Tristan, grinding his teeth, but didn't try to hurt him.  No one ever talked to him like that…except for the Pharaoh, and even that pissed him off.  He was knocked out of his dark thoughts as a hand took his own and dragged him across the empty lawn and up to the front gate. 

"What are you...let go of me!"  Tristan complied, letting Bakura's hand fall limply to his side as he began to climb the gate.  He paused and looked at the former tomb robber. 

"Well? You coming?" 

"Where are you trying to go, exactly?"  Tristan looked at him as if he had grown a second head. 

"To get the hell out of here and go get help."  Bakura returned the incredulous looked.    

"Why the hell do you think your 'authorities' would help us?  They wouldn't believe us! And I don't doubt that by the time we got back, everyone would be dead!"  Tristan jumped back down next to Bakura, frowning.  He considered it for a moment, then nodded. 

"You're right.  There's something freaky going on here and the cops probably wouldn't believe us anyways.  But now what do we do?  Stay outside and wait until morning?"  Bakura shook his head. 

"No," he paused, "We're going back in there." Tristan blinked and looked back at the mansion looming up behind them.  He gulped, and then nodded again. 

The gears in Bakura's mind were turning as instinct helped him look for the window that seemed the least intimidating.  After a few moments of silence, he seemed to make his decision and began walking back to the mansion, ignoring the streak of lightning that got uncomfortably close to him.  Tristan blinked, then ran after him to catch up.   

"What are we doing?"  Bakura glanced at him exasperatedly. 

"Looking for a window to break into."  The exasperation made itself known in his voice.

"Why don't we use the door?" 

"Think about where that would most likely lead us to, you idiot!  Unless you want to be slaughtered by the pendulums, we're going in through that," he motioned, "window." 

"Great.  First I get stuck with you, nearly get killed, and now I have to break into Kaiba's house.  Just wonderful."  Bakura lost his temper, as they were now right next to the window, and he pinned Tristan to the wall, bringing his face so close that Tristan could feel his breath on his face. 

"Listen to me, mortal, and listen well.  There are quite a few other people I'd rather be with right now other than you.  The only thing keeping me from sicking my Man Eater Bug on you is the fact that I would most likely screw myself over in the process.  Now, I suggest you shut the hell up and quit your bitching before you make me kill you.  Understand?"  He waited for Tristan to nod, then smirked as he allowed Tristan to pick himself up from the wall. 

"Good.  Now, let's go back inside, shall we?"  With that, Bakura walked over to the window, and, without a second thought, brought his fist back and punched it through the glass, shattering it.  His smirk grew wider and he stepped inside.  The smirk faded as he had to help Tristan in, still slightly pissed off that he got stuck with him of all people.  Hell, even the Pharaoh would have been of more use.  He shook his head as Tristan frantically tried to get the cobweb off of his hair and rolled his eyes. 

 I'm fucked.  He snapped at Tristan to quit screwing around and follow him as they walked out of the room and into yet another hallway, Bakura hoping that he had made the right decision in going back inside.  He could only hope his hikari had managed to last this long so he could find him and get the hell out of this madhouse. 

BlackRose:  Sorry, I know, hardly any action here too.  *apologizes profusely*  I promise the next chappie will get better.  ^.^  We finally get to see what happens to Ryou. 

Bakura:  *grumbles*  First I get killed by someone who was pretending to be Yami, now I get stuck with this moron.  Why do you hate me? 

BlackRose: I dun hate you, 'Kura.  You my favorite character.  That's why I have you with me when I type. 

Bakura: -.- How many times have I told you NOT TO CALL ME THAT?

BlackRose: Aw, I love you too 'Kura.  *huggles* 

Bakura:  O.O  Get...the fuck…off me.  Now!  *gags*  Can't…breath! 

BlackRose:  REVIEW PLEASE!