(Lilo: ohayo! Can you believe this: my mom decided to inspect my computer! I was like: WHAT??? She thinks that I have some stuff on my comp that is, um, inappropriate! Grrrrrrrrrr! I mean, what the hell?! I had to download stuff onto my floppy disks (things I don't want her to see) so ya, I had one hell of a week. Being under stress that my mom will break into my comp and stuff…… she didn't! She is happy now cuz she knows that there is nothing of such, but I had to literally stuff my locker with floppies…… hehe. So dumb. She was even more disappointed when she realized that I deleted all history!  Lol, anyways, hello Xonnie! (she is one of my friends)  I will personally sue you for not reading this whole entire thing! Lol! Oh, and I think someone asked me if I will make it a slash (sorry, I can't find your review), I won't, I mean, slash is yaoi(sp?) ? if so, then no, cuz I….. well, can't. Sorry if this will offend you in any way but I just can't think of same sex (gender u perverts!) relationships. Sorry, but my stories are…. Well, straight? Anyways, here is the next chapter and no, Tea won't die. I don't like character deaths.

Marikue: lilo doesn't own Yu-Gi-Oh! So ya, I am having Pepsi! Yay!

Lilo: I want some too!!!!!

Marikue: *wicked smile* after you finish this chapter!

Lilo: *pouts:* fine! )

~The Curse~

They were all seated around a small fire as a beautiful sunset was playing in the background. Quite a beautiful sight with birds flying gracefully through a pinkish-purplish sky. Everything was peaceful, everything but a group of people seated round a camp fire, looking in to the eyes of one of their companions as he stared at something  no other could see.

"well?" Joey asked impatiently while Isis fidgeted with the hem of her shirt.

"yes,  but I don't think it is the time to be talking about wells" Yami replied somewhat sarcastically. He watched in amusement as Joey turned slightly pink and looked away, too embarrassed by Yami's comeback.

"I thought so" Yami said, something like a small sparkle appearing in his eyes for the first time that afternoon. There was a dull ache in his heart, got he knew that tonight blood would be spilled and he couldn't do anything to prevent it, especially that he was so far from the city and Bakura would probably be traveling at the speed of light and then wait for his pray to get vulnerable

"don't change the subject!" Mai snapped. Damn, that guy had a gift with confusing everybody and then turning away from the matter at hand as if he had known what their reactions would be and then skillfully avoiding everything, but not this time.

"I simply made a statement" Yami replied in a calm tone. If he was going to tell them, he might as well make it an entertainment for himself.  "there is nothing wrong with it, is there?"

"n…" Serenity was cut off by Mai.

"Yami, just get the point and stop walking in circles," she paused and looked at Joey who looked at Yami who was seating in the same spot, not walking. " literally" Mai added and Jeoy formed a silent 'oh'.

"all right" Yami replied, somewhat amused. " if you want to know what I know about this then I shall tell you, but before I start, I would like to ask you all a question"  he pause, looking around the group of people whose eyes were literally burning holes in his head.

"well?" Mai, asked impatiently, drumming her fingers on an empty box from chicken noodles. Her patience was wearing thin, heart beating at an accelerating pace with worry for her friend's safety.

"all right, do you want to tell me what had happened in the past and the tell you the situation in the present or explain the situation in the present and screw the past?" Yami said, suddenly getting a brilliant idea.  He knew, of course, that if he would tell them the truth, they would try to go help and stop Bakura, which was an impossible task for two reasons. First one being the fact that they would never reach Bakura in time and the second one being the fact that if they would find him before the moon would cease its full form, they would be dead.

"screw the past and tell us about Tea!" Mai practically threw a fist at Yami but stopped herself. What's the use of him when he is unconscious?

"all right!" Yami clapped his hands together, looking like a child who had just entered a candy shop and was aloud to buy anything his little heart desired. Isis and Kaiba, on the other hand, raised their eyebrows in question but Yami gave them an unnoticed wink from the rest of the group, all except of Serenity. She furrowed her eyebrows. She will get an explanation … later.

"well, the mark you now see on Tea's head connects her, um, soul to Bakura's. Meaning that she can see through his eyes, or see everything that he sees but is unable to do anything." Yami added hastily at the shocked faces of his friends. They still remembered Peguses. At that thought, Yami gave a mental smirk, he would sidetrack them.

"go on pal" Joey said, getting over a petrifying thought of Bakura-turned-Pegauses with Tea's soul in another one of those cards.

"well, if we touch the mark that you see on her forehead, or any human being at that, her body would forever be lost in the shadow realm while she would have to share a body with Bakura, which I am sure she wouldn't like." He added. Of course, he neatly walked around a fact that Tea would be stuck between life and death, unseen by others and the host, Bakura, himself. No one would be able to hear her, and after her host will pass away, she will forever be tied to his soul, being transformed through time and space where a new host for his soul will be created and so it shall go in circles, with the girl loosing her sanity but unable to die. It's worse than death itself.

"so, she is fine as long as we aren't touching her?" Joey, asked, a little surprised to find that it was really nothing and Yami was just blowing a fuss about nothing at all. However, Mai didn't seem satisfied with Yami's explanation, beside, didn't he say that they won't be able to sleep well earlier?  Narrowing her eyes, she gave him a suspicious look as he gave her a completely innocent smile at which she practically melted. He was such a ----- grrrr!

"well, he will probably wonder the woods, killing every living thing in his path but if it would be Tea's blood……" he trailed off, enjoying their shocked faces and their gasps of horror.

"Tea's blood?????????" Serenity screeched.

"well, not exactly. It means anything that has Tea's blood, like her parents or…" he trailed off at that, looking around the group once again. Mai and Joey were convinced in his true/false story but Serenity, no, she was another story. Her eyes were all but tiny splits and she was giving hms and Kaiba a very dirty look. Damn.

"her grandmother?" Mai finished Yami's sentence for him. She wanted to drop the topic now, not wanting to know anything else for she was worried already. What will Bakura meet on his way? Will he, like Yami had said, destroy every living thing? She wouldn't sleep well at all this night. What if it would be her? Mai shuddered involuntarily, looking up to see a night's sky, with not a single star in sight. Only a huge, magnificent, blue-silver moon which was hovering over their heads like a bomb waiting to be dropped, eliminating everything in its' way, just like Bakura.

"precisely" Yami said, closing the topic with the next well chosen sentence. "he will go to the east, not in our direction so we should worry not. Let's get some sleep." With that, Mai rose to her feet and stretched her arms.

"you aren't good at spooky stories." She said, turning to Joey and motioning for him to follow her, and trotted in the direction of their tent.

"night people" Joey said, somewhat grumpily as he got up as well, and followed Mai to their tent.  Serenity, on the other hand, just kept staring Yami straight in the eye,  sitting there, unmoved, as if she was waiting for something else, like a little kid waiting for the elder to tell them the next chapter of the story before they would go to sleep. Yami was a perfect liar, also he was putting the truth in between the lines so that he would not be accused to be a permanent liar, you just had to read between the lines.

"Serenity?" Kaiba began cautiously. He wanted to talk to Yami alone about the situation they were in, but Serenity just wouldn't go away.

"so, tell me the real story. I have time to spare." Serenity said, her voice filled with confidence as she stared at Yami who shifted a bit uncomfortably under her pushing gaze, thinking fast of a way to trick her as well. Too bad it didn't work, because Serenity practically read his mind.

"no lies. I won't leave you alone until you will tell me the real story. "turning her gaze to Isis, she put her hands in a pleading sort of way. " please" she spoke quietly. "please, I want to know what really happened, I won't tell the rest" turning her gaze back to Yami, she notice that his expression when from the one of innocence and carefree smile to the one of great grief and despair. As if he knew that there would be an earthquake in some city which will kill everyone and he just sat there and did nothing. Well, it was partially true.

"Pharaoh," Isis spoke. "we did intend on telling them at the beginning. They deserve to know and this was not of your doing. "

"I wanted to help him" Yami was barley able to hold in his anger, smashing his fist into the ground. " I thought that he came back!"

"the lust took over him! Beside, wasn't it the millennium ring he swore on to avenge her death? Yes, and you gave it back to him a couple of days ago. It was fate. It had to happen! Her spirit will be at peace now!" Isis spoke urgently in a hushed tone. All she needed now was Yami going on a rampage as well and that would be a global destruction. Thankfully, Yami took a long breath and shook his head.

"Fate is a bitch" he swore, getting off the ground, and turning his back to them, he started to walk towards the place where they first found Tea.

"huh?" Serenity asked, bewildered.

"come on" Isis said quietly, giving Serenity a hand to help her get off the ground.

"where are we going?" she asked.

"to watch if he will get enough souls and end this, dying in these 100 years, or, to live 5000 more and then ending the curse that he, himself placed." Kaiba said from behind. He hoped beyond hopes that Tea's town would be enough.

"what?" Serenity asked in shock. Bakura lived to collect souls? For what? He placed a curse upon himself/ why? What the hell?

"you see, Serenity" Yami began without turning around but drawing attention to him like a magnet. "Bakura live in a village that no one knew of. It was connected to millennium items in practically every way but we are not here to talk about that. In the past, that very village was under attack of soldiers, commanded by the person who cared the millennium ring, now known as the dark magician, one of my loyalist priests. He had an order from my father to destroy the village where Bakura resided peacefully with his mother and other people. Everyone around there thought that he was a bit. …. Should I say weird? Yes, that would be the word. He was a daydreamer and he had a few very deadly gifts up his sleeve. He could turn into a black, void like figure which was impenetrable but he kept that gift to himself. The gift that he used a lot was walking through solid objects, walls." He paused, still walking. They were close. The woods had this deadly silence that sent even strongest creatures into hiding. From where he was, he could see gold light emitting from the clearing where Bakura marked his prey.

"however," Yami continued. "before the soldiers attacked, Bakura was four but he was wiser than any other in the village, and was discriminated for his abilities. He could absorb information like a computer, even though he usually acts as if he doesn't. That fated day, the kids in that village got into a fight with him and he was very close to loosing his control and killing everyone in his sight when soldiers attacked. His mother knew not that her child was practically invincible, and defended him with her lie. In their house, she was trying to fight off a guard, alone, defending Bakura who was cuddling in the corner in tears." Yami paused again. Serenity drew in a shuddered breath. She could see the light coming off the clearing they were in before, and now they stopped right in front of the trees that hid the activities that were going on inside. After much debating, Yami continued.

"the guard removed his sword and thrust it into her forehead, delivering the final blow, but it so happened that due to her constant movements, when the sword was in her forehead,  she jerked and while falling, created an angle on her forehead. Seeing the child's shocked eyes, the guard decided to hit her with the sword again, creating a triangle of blood. That, that day ….. Bakura used his shadow powers to his full extent, tuning into void and cutting the guard slowly to pieces, enjoying his screams of agony. Those cries were heard and my priest, who is ….. the dark magician now, came to investigate. It was then that Bakura saw the millennium ring dangling around the priest's neck, and it reminded him. Reminded him of her death and he swore on the ring to avenge her every hour of being among the living, killing everything that was in his way the way she, herself, was killed. The millennium ring became the judge and after a furious fight, betrayed its master and served Bakura ever since. Its lust for blood always starts when the sun in Egypt touches the pyramid that was built in place were the village was. She, or what remains of her, rises and forces Bakura to complete his oath. Every hour of her life is avenged by another's soul. Only then will she be able to rest in peace. Only then." Yami finished, stepping into the light of the clearing, closely followed by the others.

Serenity gasped, her knees giving away at what she saw.

(Lilo: ^_______________^ yay! Done. Damn, there is something wrong with my left eye! Grrrr, my mom wont let me go on the comp. (who the hell gave her the right anyways?) so ya, I am posting this in secret.  I suppose in the next chapter I will end this stuff ……. So ya, and then we will go back to chasin… hfffffffffffffffffmmmmm!

Marikue: *has his hand over her mouth* shhh, don't give things out!

Lilo: *nod* *nod*

Marikue: good. Now, lets go get more pepsi. Oh, and pls R&R!

Lilo: before I go, I would like to say that I am very thankful to all of you people who reviewed. Oh, and I am also updating regularly now! Yay! Ja Ne.)