A/N: For this chapter, Yami Bakura is Bakura, and cute Hikari Bakura will be called Ryou. Obviously, when Ryou calls his yami, he means Bakura, not Atemu.
/…/Ryou to Bakura
…Bakura to Ryou
Caution: Slight Téa/Anzu bashing and yaoi…
Yu-Gi-Oh! is owned by Kazuki Takahashi. If I did…evil cackle
Chapter 5: Okaeri
"Bakura… Bakura…" Cold voices called his name in a monotone, sending shivers down his spine. He was in a dilapidated stone building in the ancient Egyptian Kai-Elna Village, the village of the bandits. There lay the souls of the people who had been sacrificed to save the warring nation—to create the seven Millennium Items, a Millennium Book of Magic had been deciphered, and ninety-nine humans had to be sacrificed. All this had been done by the government—the holders of the Millennium Items.
And now the dead wanted revenge against the pharaoh, Bakura was going to help them get it. Which was when everything had gone wrong. The fatal mistake that Bakura had made was try to negotiate with them, and they had attacked. Now he was bound in their icy grasps, no matter how he struggled or pleaded, they wouldn't let go.
"I've killed the pharaoh! So you've got your revenge!" Bakura screamed, clutching the Millennium Puzzle and Ring that hung round his neck. Barely hours ago he had acquired the Puzzle from Atemu, when they had faced off on a dangerously steep ledge. He had used his Spirit Monster to make the ground below Atemu collapse, seizing the opportunity to remove the sacred Puzzle from around his neck.
"The Millennium Items…" the voices murmured eerily in the dim light of the building. "Destroy… destroy…destroy…"
"No!" Bakura insisted, "You've got your revenge! The Millennium Items are mine!"
Dark powers would be unlocked when the Millennium Items were put together on a stone structure set on the ground, and the controller of the power would be immortal. But the world would spiral into an endless darkness.
This was all wrong! Hidden deep in the recess of Bakura's mind was the faint memory that he had successfully had them attack Atemu, and not him. But they were getting closer, time was running out. He felt like he was being suffocated by the metaphysical forms that were engulfing him… Would Atemu actually outlive him? He had never felt so much hatred for the pharaoh before.
Gasping, Ryou sat bolt upright in bed, beads of sweat tricking down his forehead. The moon was shining through the window, casting a creepy glow on the tiled floor of his room. Rubbing his eyes, he wondered what exactly had woken him up. It could have been a nightmare, but he didn't remember a thing. There was nothing uncanny about the things in his room, but he couldn't help but feel a sort of fear nibbling at him from deep inside. He'd never felt comfortable about sleeping with the lights off, but having Bakura around made him feel slightly more secure. Despite his sinister appearance, he was actually rather kind, and cared a lot about his hikari.
Hikari, you okay?Bakura asked kindly, appearing out of nowhere, and seeing that Ryou was shivering slightly, slid his arm around the latter, who snuggled closer.
/Yami. I…/ Ryou trembled as his other half gave him a comforting hug, resting his chin on top of hikari's head. "Don't worry aibou… Go back to sleep, we have school tomorrow."
/Do you think Yugi and his yami were as close as we are?/ Ryou asked softly, leaning into the warm embrace of his yami.
Of course. Maybe closer… knowing that crazy pharaoh…
/Baku!/ Ryou laughed, feeling calmer that he had felt when he first awoke.
You said your friend Yugi can't talk to Yami, right?
/Yeah… Is there a way… we could help?/
If we could help him believe in pharaoh-sama again…
/We'll try tomorrow at school, 'kay?/
Ryou heard the front door shut—his museum-curator father had probably just returned home. And he could hear the muffled voices of his parents. Exchanging a look with his yami, Ryou pulled away, lay on his back pretending to be asleep, as Bakura vanished.
"…Bakura… is he okay…?" Ryou's ears pricked up as he heard his name mentioned. "…that necklace… still wears it?… not healthy for a boy his age to have no friends… he's always dreaming…"
Ryou knew his parents thought he was strange. And he used to have a box of wooden dolls hidden beneath his bed. Of course, he had gotten rid of them as soon as his parents had found out. Little did they know that at one point in time, souls had been imprisoned in those glassy-eyed things. It wasn't his fault that he was… different.
Flashback
"Bakura! I'm back! And I've brought you a present!" Ryou's father announced to his twelve-year-old son.
"Dad! I missed you!" Ryou threw himself into his father's arms, and yelled, "I have a present?! Yay!!"
His father slipped the Millennium Ring over his head. "I got it from a store in Egypt. It's really rare—I hope you like it."
"Thanks dad! It's so cool!"
At that time, Ryou did not know that he had been chosen by the Ring, and that a dark spirit resided within it—the spirit of a bandit…
The next day, he wore the ring to school. And was beaten up, as usual.
"Give me your money or else!" Kuro, the school bully, who was also the bane of Yugi's existence, yelled at Ryou.
"No! My dad says I have to eat lunch!" he cried feeling braver than he had ever been before.
Launching a punch into his chest, Kuro laughed like a maniac, as Ryou's anguished cries filled his ears.
The Millennium Ring glowed, shocking everyone present, and the psycho stopped in his tracks as Ryou stood up, possessed by Bakura.
"Stop it!" the Bandit Lord of the Ring stepped towards the crazed bully, and took him by the collar of his shirt.
"That is the last time you are going to hurt anyone, especially my hikari!" Flinging the smaller boy down the corridor, there came another blinding flash of light, and Ryou reverted to his old self.
"Morning!" Ryou greeted as he took his seat beside Yugi. It was to their luck that Tea, who used to sit beside Yugi kept interrupting the lesson with her oh-so-important opinions and by yapping away to her 'friends' (not including Yugi), so her punishment was to sit at the far corner of the classroom for the rest of the year, where Ryou used to sit. After the switch in places, Ryou found himself feeling less lonely, with Yugi and Kaiba to talk to. And watching Kaiba during math class was exceptionally interesting. He was very far ahead in math, so he usually used the time to play DMRPG. After a few weeks of obsession with DMRPG, the three had somewhat lost interest in it, even Kaiba, but of course everyone found it more interesting than school…
"Yugi… I…" Ryou stammered, wondering how he was going to bring up the subject of Yugi's Yami without wounding his feelings.
"What's up, Bakura?" Yugi asked.
"Um. Can you hear your yami yet?" Ryou blurted out, wondering whether he had done the right thing.
"No…" Yugi murmured sadly in disappointment.
"You know… the other Bakura… he said that maybe if you… believed in Yami… with all your heart, it could work…"
"But… I do believe in Yami with all my heart!" Yugi cried, impassioned, making a few heads turn.
Just then, the teacher arrived, ending their conversation.
/Yami… I believe in you… but why won't you speak to me?/ Yugi murmured unhappily to himself. /Unless you don't believe in me…/
Aibou… maybe you're not listening hard enough…a certain pharaoh replied softly.
At Yugi's house after school
If Bakura can speak to his Yami, so can I.
/Yami!! Where are you?!! Why don't you hear me?! YAMIIII!!/
Yugi screamed loudly in his mind, determined to hear at least a faint reply of "Aibou!" from Yami, but to no avail. It seemed that Yami was oblivious to him, no matter how loudly he yelled. Talking to Yami had been just like speaking to someone right beside him. Why wasn't Yami listening? Maybe he had been kind to Yugi only because they had to share the same body, and he'd felt obligated to protect Yugi, since he'd been the one who had assembled the Puzzle.
/Yami, don't you care about me any more? Do you hate me? I know I'm weak, but… you were always so nice… You didn't scorn at me when I cried, like everyone does… I felt so strong when you were around, but now… I'm just a pathetic baka… The Puzzle gave me a true friend—and that true friend was you. But now… It's pointless to continue living… Maybe if I died I could be with you./
Exhausted and teary-eyed, Yugi fell into a deep sleep, trying to forget all his troubles. Yami always knew how to console Yugi. He wouldn't usually say anything at first, but just let Yugi sob it all out on his shoulder.
Yugi's memories [Excerpted from Episode 53]
Look, I don't care if I can't recover my lost memory. I want us to stay together forever.
/I feel the same way, stay with me you can have my memory…/
Tears welled up in Yugi's eyes, and he looked down at the Millennium Puzzle in his hands, not wanting to meet the eyes of his yami, afraid that he would mock him like so many people had. He could hear their taunts vividly. "Cry! That's all you know!" "Are you a guy or not?"
To his surprise, Yami reached out and covered Yugi's hands with his.
[The rest below was NOT excerpted from Ep. 53. ]
Yugi leaned against Yami, hugging him tight. Yami gasped softly, but he pulled his hikari closer, sinking down onto the floor, realizing that Yugi wanted to be comforted.
/Yami… Boku wa…/
Yugi did not have to continue for Yami to know what he wanted to say, and the two embraced each other tighter. Neither had ever felt that way before… For the first time in his life, Yugi had felt that someone cared about him.
Hey aibou.
/Yeah?
What're you doing these days?
/The usual… Oh yeah! I found a game to play, Duel Monsters RPG! I have a Kuriboh in there…
Cool! My spirit monster is also Kuriboh!
/Yami… I really miss you… I really really do… Why did you have to go back to Egypt?
Aibou… I'm sorry… But I don't belong in your world… I miss you a lot too.
/Yami, how about if I go to Egypt to see you?
…If you could, I'd be really happy. Even if it was just for a day.
The next day was a Saturday, so Yugi did not have to go to school, but he and Bakura were being tutored by Kaiba-kun. The three were sitting on Yugi's bed, discussing the intricacies of calculus. [A/N: Me love math!! Doesn't everyone? Ahem.]
"Okay, so if you want to integrate y, just remember that you add one to the power of all the terms, add an x behind all the numbers with no x. Oh yeah, divide the numbers in front of the x by the power of the number." Kaiba explained patiently to Yugi and Bakura who didn't get it at all, despite the highly simplified explanation.
"Okie… add one to everything and then divide the front number…" Yugi muttered, subconsciously nibbling on the end of his pencil. "Argh!!" he cried in frustration when he saw that his and Kaiba's answers varied so much.
"Um… so you two still don't understand?" Kaiba asked, demoralized, wondering if his explanations were that bad. Mokuba also had problems understanding his explanations… He had explained the whole concept like at least five times, but it had been seriously ineffective. "Ah! Yugi! Do you have last year's textbook?"
Nodding, Yugi opened a drawer. He had dumped a lot of junk in that drawer over the years, so he knew he'd find lots of strange stuff in there. But thankfully, the wanted textbook was right on top of the stack, and he handed it to Kaiba, who turned to the chapter on algebra.
"Oh yeah… Notice anything different about Kaiba-kun today?" Bakura grinned, poking Yugi in the ribs.
Yugi turned and scrutinized him from top to toe, and started giggling too. Kaiba had retained his entire outfit, but it was short of the trench coat. Kaiba looked extremely different without his long trench coat.
"What?" he asked, feeling slightly embarrassed at their reactions. "Mokie spilled orange juice on me this morning. And he's still mad at me."
"Ya know, Kaiba, you actually look better without that coat," Bakura commented, making him blush slightly.
Changing the topic before it got any more embarrassing, Kaiba explained, "Okay. Yugi, you see your problem is that you always divide it wrong. You divided by the power before you added one. Bakura, you keep forgetting to divide the number in front…"
Flipping to the next page, the three gave a collective gasp, as a photograph of Yugi and Yami fell out.
Flashback
So, this is a photo machine? The one that was mentioned in the magazine?Yami asked inquisitively. It was the first time he had gone out with Yugi, and it was a far more relaxing experience than being with talkative Tea. Obviously, having stayed in the Puzzle for three thousand years, he had lost touch with the world.
/You can print out the picture on a piece of paper to keep. Cool, huh? It's grandpa's, he'll kill us if we break it./
Okay… Let's take a picture together!
Yami put his arm around his hikari, who grinned happily at him. It was so unexpected, but… Without any second thoughts, the usually shy Yugi wrapped his arms around Yami's waist.
Cool, it can copy a scene just like th—?/ Yami gaped in awe, but was interrupted by his light burying his face in his chest. Aibou…
"Yami… I…" Unchecked tears trickled down Yugi's face, and for the first time in a long while, he cried hard. All his sadness and angst were channeled into these shiny beads of crystal. He sobbed about how nobody cared about him, and how he had been abandoned by his best friends. And he was still hurting, inside and out, from the anguish of Yami gone, and the physical and mental pain of his healing wounds from being beaten up by Joey, even when he was laughing with Bakura and Kaiba. He never forgot. Dashing across the room, tears streaking down his face, he saw Atemu's translucent form. Was he hallucinating? Or was his angst too great to bear?
Yugi fell right through Atemu, his heart free of all emotions but sorrow. He could taste the dust on the floor, smell its musty odor, but it did not bother him. The light that had shone so brightly and cheerfully had gone out, just like that.
/Yami… you're really just a dream… You never were real…
Aibou, don't cry. Stand up!His darkness reached out and touched his shoulder gently.
/I… I can't…/
Why? I'll help you.
At that very moment, Yugi could see the faint, translucent form of Yami standing beside him, and it wasn't Atemu. It was Yami, dressed in the blue school coat and black shirt, with a belt-like choker around his neck—the Yami that Yugi had longed for for what seemed like forever.
Come on, aibou…
Yugi choked back his sobs and took Yami's outstretched hand. Smiling his usual small smile, Yami pulled Yugi to his feet.
That's my aibou…
Flinging his arms around his darkness, Yugi realized his mistake—Yami had been by his side all the time, but had been kept in the darkest corner of his heart.
Mou hitori no boku… Thank you for helping me recover my memories… Yami hugged Yugi back.
/It… It was my destiny./ Hikari rest his head on Yami's shoulder.
Yugi straightened as he remembered that Bakura and Kaiba were watching, but all his doubts about Yami had vanished without a trace.
"Um, Yug?" Kaiba asked, concerned for his friend, and also bothered by the fact that Yugi was gazing into space. "Are… are you alright?"
Nodding tentatively, Yugi murmured, only audibly enough for himself to hear, "Bakura, you were right… All I had to do was believe."
The light that had gone out was ignited once more.
POLL: DO YOU WANT DUEL MONSTERS RPG TO STAY IN OR GET OUT?
Seriously, it's difficult to describe the whole game-playing aspect, even though I do play a lot of games. (especially on my PS2!) I'm beginning to think it's quite pointless, though I may bring it in once in a while.
Azzie: Thanks for reviewing!! I'm glad you like the characters even if they're sooo out of character! Great suggestion, I think I'll use it. Heh, Bakura's father would be so freaked by his son's obsession with spirits…
invisible-eyes: I don't think Seto and Moku will stay mad at each other for long, I couldn't stand making Mokuba mad at Seto in the first place… Thank you for reviewing!!
Okay, I'm getting reviews but not many. So I'm gonna bribe people to review… XD
FREE TRANSLATED MANGA SCAN OF THE LATEST YU-GI-OH! MANGA THAT I HAVE!! THAT'S A FEW PAGES FROM VOL. 36 IN ENGLISH FOR MY DEAR REVIEWERS!! POST YOUR EMAIL ADDRESS WITH YOUR REVIEW OR EMAIL ME tifachuhotmail.comA/N: Erm. A few clarifications. About "spirit monsters"… I don't really know what to call the monsters they summon in ancient Egypt, from manga vol. 32-36, I read the Chinese version (we don't get the English version in Singapore) and they call it "jīng líng shòu [精灵兽]" Also the name of the Bandit Village, it was called "kè lŭ aī ér nà cūn [克鲁・艾尔那村]" If anyone can tell me what the actual names are in Japanese or English, I'll appreciate it...