Published August 22, 2004 and modified November 06, 2017. This is an older work that is intended for personal consumption only, and should not be copied, altered, or redistributed. Content may be outdated or not represent canon, and does not reflect the views of the author.
Again and again, Bakura returned.
In a strange fashion, it intrigued Yami how difficult it was to be rid of him. He'd already defeated the other spirit on numerous occasions and yet, after each instance, Bakura managed to come back. Sometimes he was even stronger for it.
It was fascinating how Bakura escaped death. No one, save Yami himself, had ever accomplished such a feat. A part of him even respected Bakura's talents at avoiding his demise, despite the threat he posed.
Yami knew he shouldn't be so taken by the thief, but he marveled at his accomplishments nonetheless. How did he do it? Was it truly conceivable for a soul to escape oblivion so many times unscathed? He was no closer to an answer; to him, Bakura was an enigma of enigmas. More questions than solutions surrounded the other spirit, and this fact left Yami musing about him more often than he would have preferred.
More disturbing was how unbothered Yami was by the notion that he almost counted on Bakura to keep presenting a challenge. The thief's intent was to defeat him, often by any means necessary, and accomplish some unforeseen agenda. Or perhaps Bakura really had gone mad in an endless quest for power and survival.
Whatever the case, their battles had yet to become dull. Every new challenge thrilled him and each victory was hard earned, although Yami would never confess this to anyone. As the duels became heated and the stakes grew in importance there was no denying how truly alive Yami felt.
No one else brought out this primal urge to fight and win in him like Bakura did. It was one thing to compete with his friends in sport, and another to put egos like Seto Kaiba's in their place, but it was a completely different matter with him. So Yami simply didn't entertain such thoughts, instead meeting the other spirit head on with the belief that Bakura was too stubborn to roll over and die. In the end, Yami had all the confidence in the world that the thief wasn't going anywhere.