Bakura: -_-' And once again, she's writing when she should be studying... Do I sense a trend?

WSJ: ^^; I dunno. :p Well everyone, this is just sort of a filler chapter, hinting at things to come, boosting my word count, and giving me a way to cope with stress. :p Because I really, really want to get on to the next chapter, in which I get to write a whole smear of fluffy angst. *^_^*

On Kate and her Japanese: *chuckles* As I hinted, "Mr Puffy Pants" isn't the only alternate anime name my sister uses. :p Kagome is "Sailor Moon Girl", probably because of the uniform. Koenma (from Yu Yu Hakusho) is "The Toddler" (gee, he'd love that...), and Kuwabara (also from YYH) is "Idiot Man", a name I often use for him too. ^^ Kuwabara die!!!!! *koff* Also, for unknown reasons, Kate persists on calling Trowa "Trio", even though I know she can pronounce Trowa. *shruggie*

Bakura: *pokes her* What's the difference between a correletive and a subordinate conjunction?

WSJ: *immediately falls over and begins foaming at the mouth* AHHHHH!!!!!! GRAMMAR!!!!! (Don't ask, exam joke. ^^; )

Bakura: -_-; WSJ doesn't own YGO, or Sailor Moon. Syne and Alexi aren't hers, and neither are Amoura, Lisa, and various others. However, Gwen - *stops* Do I smell popcorn?

WSJ: *rolls eyes* It's my dad. *tries not to gag* I HATE the smell of popcorn!! *runs off to find a nose plug*

Bakura: *rolls eyes heavenward* Kami-sama help me... Roll fic!

()()()()()

Home Sweet Home!

Chapter 11 -- How It Used To Be...

Quote of the Fic:

"And now I run to you, crazy fool.
What made you think you could win this duel?"
~(Day Star; Whatever)

Dedication:
For Kat-chan
I miss you already!!

((This section inspired mainly by You Oughta Know, by SerenaArythusa. If you're a Yami Bakura fan, I highly recommend you go read it.))

Neither was really sure how long they sat there, but finally Bakura took a shuddering breath and pulled away from Yami, wiping his eyes on the back of his sleeve. "God, that was embarrassing..." he muttered.

Yami looked at him, a concerned expression on his face. "Bakura..."

Bakura cut him off. "It's all right Pharaoh, really. And if you mention that to anyone I swear I shall rip your head off."

Yami chuckled dryly. "Now that sounds like the Bakura I know," he trailed off. "Bakura, if you want to talk..."

Bakura took a deep breath, and then nodded. "Yeah, I do. But not here. Let's go back to the cabin."

Yami nodded, and the two of them went outside. The walk back to the cabin was silent, and they were so lost in their own thoughts that neither one even thought to complain about the snow. Yami collected several logs from the woodbox by the door on the way inside, and he started a fire in the fire place while Bakura stood by the window, just staring out at the snow with an unreadable expression on his face. Once the fire was hissing and popping on its own, Yami came to stand next to Bakura, silently watching the slightly older Egyptian. It had been something of a surprise, really, to discover Bakura was older than him by almost two years. But actually, once you thought about it, it made a certain amount of sense. At the time that they'd been sealed into the Items, Bakura had been twenty-one, and Yami barely nineteen.

And it was coming around again, Yami realized with a slight start. Bakura had taken to celebrating his mortal birthday the day after Ryou's, on September the third. This year, in little more than a month, in fact, Bakura's physical body would be turning twenty-one, forever a year older than his little brother Ryou's. Yami was started out of his reverie when Bakura spoke.

"Ah, and so here we are again Pharaoh, with people we love dying just out of our reach."

Yami looked up at him, a curious expression on his face. "What do you mean, just out of our reach?"

Bakura laughed mirthlessly, making Yami shiver slightly. This didn't go unnoticed by the other man. "So you fear me still Pharaoh, even if you don't know it? Tell me, what went into the making of that precious trinket around your neck?" Reaching down he carressed the gold of the Puzzle until Yami jerked it out of his hands, causing Bakura to laugh again. "Gold and magic? Is that what you think? Is that really all? Whoever told you that was a liar."

His demeanor suddenly changed, Bakura turned away. "Did you ever study much poetry, Pharaoh? Ever write much? No? It's a shame. Puting words on paper can be a wonderful sourse of release." Leaning against the windowsill, his breath clouding the snowfall outside, he spoke quietly in Egyptian, so quietly Yami had to strain to hear him. The former grave robber spoke whistfully of a time and place so long ago, and suddenly Yami understood.

"(So many precious things,
So many precious people.
Not all can stay within your grasp,
But once out of your arms it fades away...

Like they all did, so long ago.

Ninety-nine mortal sacrifices,
Just one small village of slaves.
Never missed, never remembered, not in the history books,
The priests justified it.

'For the good of the kingdom.'

A ring and a rod,
A pyramid and life eternal,
The scales on which to weigh your life against your gods.
An eye of gold and a simple necklace...

For this my family was gone...

Mother knew and sent us away,
So we'd escape and wouldn't see.
But we came back too early,
My brother and I,

We hid in the rubble,
We somehow escaped the priests' bloodied swords.
And I covered his eyes,
So he wouldn't have to see...

But I saw it all...)"

Yami, his eyes wide, found himself blinking back sudden tears. "Kuru Eruna... Simon told me about it, but he never went into any detail... He told me that it was an invasion of Assyrians that had wiped them out. Oh gods Bakura..."

Bakura went on, still speaking in Egyptian though not in poetry, as if he hadn't heard the Pharaoh. "(Mother was a slave at the palace. She over heard Akunadin talking. She knew she couldn't stop it, but she sent Jonathon and I away so we'd escape. We escaped the sword, but not the screams... Oh Osiris... Their screams still haunt me, five thousand years later... It was my family! And the priests thought no one would care, simply because they were slaves!!)" Bakura's fists clenched in anger, still glaring out the window at some indeterminable point in the distance.

"(And Jona... Even if he was older than me, he was always the smaller of us. He - he heard mother beg for mercy, and he tried to run out of our hiding place... I had to hold him down. I couldn't lose him too, not after... not while...)" Bakura's face took on a haunted look, his eyes blinking although there were no tears to shed. "(The priesthood... It was all the cursed priesthood's fault! They didn't care about one insignificant village if it helped the entire kingdom! But by Anubis, I cared! That was the day I swore I'd never let any of them reach the afterlife, not after they denied my family and friends that privilege! Is that what they taught you Pharaoh?)" Bakura snarled, rounding suddenly on the startled Yami, who backed away as quickly as he could. Bakura had a strange, hunted look in his eye, and Yami knew Bakura wasn't seeing him as he knew him now, but as he'd been all those years ago, little more than a spoiled palace brat.

"(Is that what they told you, that it was only the royal and the powerful that deserved the afterlife, that the slaves and commoners didn't matter? Did they teach you not to care, Pharaoh, when a slave died, because there was always another to replace it? Don't deny it! You were just a weak and foolish boy, manipulated at every turn by your precious priesthood.)" Bakura spat the word like a curse. "(And now those same "servants" of yours have done something to Ryou. Is nothing sacred?! Am I to be fighting them all my lifetimes for the sake of my brothers?! Am I to send Ryou to the Shadow Realm too, so at least he can have something of an afterlife, instead of being thrown unceremoniously into an unknown grave?)"

Yami's eyes widened in sudden understanding. "Jonathon! That's why you-"

Bakura cut him off, almost screaming at Yami by this time. And yet still, his face remained dry. All his tears had been shed long ago. "(Yes that's why! He was a slave! You wouldn't have cared, no one would have cared to embalm him when he died. No one would have made sure he was well favored in the eyes of Osiris. No one would have shown him the paths of the dead which led to Paradise. No one... no one but me, and I was already on my way to my own death. I knew I would never have my chance at the afterlife, but Jona... I had to give him something, at least...)" Bakura laughed mirthlessly again. "(And how was I to know that my punishment for my railings against the priesthood would be not imprisonment, not an afterlife-less death, which would have been welcome, but instead to be bound for eternity to one of the gold baubles which my people had been murdered to help create! And the priesthood...)" Bakura's face darkened, and his fists clenched tightly. "Yami, I swear..." he said in Japanese, his voice low. "If Mahaado has made me lose my brother again..."

He turned away suddenly, his shoulders hunched. Yami, still frozen in shock, simply stared at him for several long, aching minutes. "Bakura... I - I never knew..."

"Of course not, palace brat."

Usually the insult would have provoked Yami into a fit of rage, but after Bakura's tirade it only brought sorrow. The insult was fitting, he was just a palace brat, ignorent of what went on in his own kingdom... He shook his head sharply. No. He had been a palace brat, but now he was Yami, Yugi's aibou, and Bakura's friend. No longer was he Prince of Egypt.

Stepping forward, he hesitantly put a hand on Bakura's shoulder. "Bakura... I can't answer for the wrong-doings of my priests. I can't atone for the mistakes of my father's priests, or my father. But for what it's worth... what they did was not ma'at[2], and I'm sorry."

Bakura turned until he was facing the former pharaoh, his eyes hollow and a tired look on his face. "Then I thank you... my friend." [1]

~*~

Mai and Scott watched in wonder as most of the gang ran screaming from the two imposing figures that had suddenly appeared in their midst. Neither of them saw the blinding light, but they certainly saw the two Elementals who had seemingly stepped out of thin air to stand on either side of Joey.

Death stepped forward, a long, bony hand reaching for Hisoka. The gang leader gasped and dropped his switchblade, his mouth moving soundlessly as he backed away from the black-robed figure. Death stepped closer, and closer, until Hisoka was backed up against the wall of one of the buildings that lined the skate park. Death leaned over, his seven foot frame seeming to fold in on itself so he was face to face with Hisoka.

Boo.

Hisoka's eyes widened further, and then rolled back in his head as he slumped bonelessly to the ground, his mouth still open in a silent scream of terror. For a moment Death stood over him, and then the god turned toward where Joey was on his knees, Passion kneeling worridly next to him. Sensing the other Elemental's gaze, Passion looked up to meet Death's eyes and slowly shook her head. "I can't heal him, his wound's too deep."

Hearing her voice, Joey raised his head just as Mai and Scott came sprinting up to them. The blond had his hand clasped tightly over the wound in his side, every ragged breath causing blood to bubble up between his fingers. If he noticed teh replica Ankh around her neck, or the Tauk that dangled from Death's wrist like a bracelet, he gave no sign. "Who are you?" he asked, tearsof pain clouding the corners of his eyes.

"I am Passion," Passion said, ignoring the amazed and confused looks that Scott and Mai were giving her. "We were sent here by Fate, to make sure you lived through the day. Joey Wheeler, you're a very foolish man, taking on a man like Hisoka armed only with your fists." She cocked her head, as if listening to something, her uneven orange hair twitching in a wind none of the others felt. "I believe some of those that escaped have summoned the police, so Death and I shall take our leave."

"Wait," Scott said, glancing toward Hisoka's body. "Is he..."

He is not dead. Death said, causing the three mortals to shudder slightly at the sound of his voice. Just driven to insanity. He will not hurt anyone else.

"Thank you," Mai said quietly. She was kneeling on the ground, her face streaked with grime and tears, Joey half on her lap. The blond had passed out and his hand fallen away, and Mai was pressing a handkerchief against his wound to try and stop the blood loss. It was, indeed, a very deep wound, but probably not life threatening. "If I'd lost Joey too..." She shook her head and lowered her gaze, totally missing the soft smile that graced Passion's features.

"You're welcome, Mai Valentine." she said, bowing slightly. "We will take leave now. Be on guard, all of you. Friends of the Child of Fate have their fair share of enemies."

Giving them no chance to ponder her words, Passion sketched a circle in the air, which solidified into a shimmering portal. Death, wordless as ever, stepped through without a backward glance. Passion gave the trio an encouraging smile, and then followed the Tauk God, the portal closing silently behind her.

~*~

Syne breathed a quiet sigh of relief. She and Ishtar weren't out of the woods yet, but this was a start. "~I play the Swords of Revealing Light, trapping your monsters for three full turns. I also play another monster in defence mode. Turn end.~"

Malik drew a card next. "I play a monster in face down defensive, and end my turn as well."

Ishtar was grinning like a fool. This duel would be well over as soon as there were enough cards on the field to summon Ra. But until then... "I also place a monster in face down defence position. Turn end."

"Jeez, boring lot, aren't you?" Gwen asked in Japanese, drawing her next card. She contemplated it a moment, then shrugged and placed it on her Duel Disk. "I summon Witty Phantom to the field, and I equip him with Sword of the Deep Seated, which raises his attack and defence points to 1900/1800. Though of course, with Swords of Revealing Light in play I can't attack. Turn end."

Syne frowned slightly and drew her next card. Playing her Swords might not have been a good idea, it was giving Gwen too much time to power up her monsters. Gwen's major strategy was to put out high-attack four star monsters, and then beef them up even farther with magic cards, which resulted in near-invincibility. Syne glanced down at the card she just drew. It was Shield and Sword. That would come in really handy later, if Gwen happened to bring out one of her high-attack/low-defence monsters, but for now it wouldn't do much good. Glancing over the rest of her hand, Syne selected another of her magic cards to play.

"~I activate Final Flame!~"

Malik cursed and Gwen squealed in surprise as the holographic flames sprang up around them, burning through 600 of their LP. Brining his arms down from where he'd instinctively raised them to protect his face, Malik drew his next card and nearly laughed. "I play Raigeki!"

Ishtar cursed violently in Egyptian as the three monsters from their side of the field were destroyed, but Syne started laughing. "~I activate my deck master's special effect! Princess of Tsurugi allows me to subtract 500 LP from both your life points for every monster sent to the graveyard due to magic or trap card! Which means...~" She laughed again as Gwen's and Malik's LP both went down by 1500. "~I'll beat you yet, Gwen!~"

"~We'll see Syne, we'll see...~"

Gwen: 3700
Syne: 6000
Malik: 3900
Ishtar: 5150

~*~

When Amoura, Yugi, and Tea returned to the cabin a couple hours later, Yami was outside waiting for them. The pharaoh cast a glance back over his shoulder at the closed door of the cabin and quickly drew his three friends closely around him. "Listen, Bakura and I have had a rough afternoon."

"Did zomething 'appen to Bakura?" Amoura asked, alarmed.

Yami shook his head, putting a hand on the French girl's arm reassuringly. "No, no, nothing like that, but..." he dropped his voice lower. "We found out that something happened to Ryou in Egypt, and he's hurt pretty bad. Bakura's been depressed all afternoon, moping around the cabin. He won't listen to anything I say, and he's convinced that Ryou's dying while he's stuck here, a continent and a half away." He didn't mention what he'd learned about Bakura's past. That was Bakura's own business, and if he chose to tell the others then that was okay. It wasn't Yami's place to reveal it. "Do you think you could help cheer him up a little?" He cast a significant look at Amoura, who nodded.

Turning, the four of them headed inside. Tea and Yugi ran immediately to Bakura, who was sitting on the couch and staring into the fire with a meloncholy expression on his face. Yami drifted after them, and Amoura hung back by the door. "Oh Bakura," Tea said, dropping to her knees in front of him. "Yami just told us about Ryou. He'll be okay, he's pulled through before."

"I'm not exactly in the mood for a friendship speech, Tea." Bakura said, heaving a deep sigh. "Not tonight."

Tea looked slightly miffed, but she knew what Bakura ment. Yugi gave the white-haired man a sympathetic glance and a brief squeeze on the shoulder as he passed, which Bakura didn't bother to acknowledge. The Motos and Tea retreated to the opposite corner of the cabin, where a small kitchen was located. They began to make a light dinner, more hindered than helped by Yami, and after awhile their laughter drifted into the other parts of the cabin.

"Bakura?"

Bakura looked up to see Amoura standing next to him, still in her coat and mittens, her scarf partway unwound and falling across her shoulders. He blinked at her for a moment, as if not recognising her, and then scooted over so she could sit with him on the couch. She shook her head wordlessly and put a hand on his arm. "Bakura, come skiing vith me. I vant to talk to you."

Bakura took a deep breath and started to protest, but Amoura pulled him to his feet. "Please?" He stared at her, unable to resist those big, doe brown eyes of hers, which currently reflected the firelight in a way that left him short of breath.

"All right," he finally said. "Let me get my coat."

"Yay!" Amoura said, hugging him impulsively. She ran into the kitchen to tell the others they were going out for one final run before it got dark. From where he stood by the door tying on his scarf, Bakura could hear Yami warn her that the radio had said a snowstorm was on its way through. She waved off his cautions and came flitting back into the room, grabbing her skiis from where they rested against the wall of the cabin. Bakura's had already been returned to the rental shop, so they'd have to stop by on their way through to get another pair.

Bundled up, they headed outside and down the small hill toward the lodge and the rental shop next to it. Despite his worry over Ryou, Bakura felt his worries slipping away in the gentle snow fall and the setting sun with Amoura by his side. "So what did you want to talk to me about?"

"Hush," she said playfully. "I'm not telling you until ve get to vhere ve are going. Zen I vill tell you."

She spoke to the man behind the rental counter in French, and he nodded. A moment later he handed her a pair of skiis, and she thanked him while passing them to Bakura.

The tomb robber frowned. "Amoura, these are the kind with the boots already locked on to the skiis. I don't like this kind."

Amoura shrugged as they sat down together on a nearby bench to put on their skiis. "I'm zorry Bakura, but zat vas all 'ee 'ad."

Bakura sighed. "It's just one run, I'll survive."

But little did he know that this one night would almost make him eat his words.

~*~

Madame Amanda Letazaut bit her lip as she watched the continuing news coverage of the rather heated debates between France and Japan. The French kept accusing the Japanese of terrorism, and of course the Japanese denied any involvement, which the French didn't believe at all. On top of that, since the sketchy description that had been given was that of Yugi Moto, a well-known Japanese celebrity, the media was eating it up, already terming it 'The Scandal of the Year'.

"Would Monsieur Moto be avalable to make a statement?" the French Prime Minister asked through a translator.

After checking with his aides and whispering urgently with him, the Japanese shook his head. "No, it seems Moto-san has completely vanished, although contact established with friends of his confirm that he was in France at the time of the... act, although all said friends strongly deny that he would do anything of that nature. Apparently he was staying at the home of Amoura Letazaut, who has also vanished."

The Frenchman frowned and nodded, shuffling through his own notes. "By testimony of Mademoiselle Amoura's grandmama, Monsieur Moto and several of his friends were staying there over the summer, but left two days ago for Switzerland for a skiing trip. Further more, she denies Yugi Moto had any part in the incident, although the description of the man who attacked the ambassador's daughter fits him perfectly. Wouldn't you say that seals his guilt? Who could mistake that hair?"

Madame smiled thinly. That had been a very tricky statement to put together, but it was indeed true. Yugi had had nothing to do with it. No one asked about brothers. Strange though, that no one seemed to know about Yami. She'd have to ask the two of them about it later, when they got back from Switzerland. At least, provided they didn't get arrested as soon as they stepped across the border...

The Japanese man sneered. "If what you are saying is true, then Letazaut-san must have been lying when she said he wasn't involved. Are you so quick to condemn one of your richest widows?"

Madame snorted.

The Prime Minister looked uncomfortable. "Well now, that is an entirely different matter! Monsiuer Moto is a close friend of her granddaughter, and Madame would not want Mademoiselle Amoura in trouble with the law at such a tender age. I am sure she said that only to protect her granddaughter, who, as I said, disappeared into Switzerland with the rest of the guests and Monsiuer Moto."

"Is it possible Mademoiselle Amoura was kidnapped?" "In your opinions, how was it that such a short man as Mr. Moto was able to spray graffiti twenty feet up the side of the Arc?" (Hey, that's a good question...) "Is it true that Madame has been blackmailed into defending them?" "Have you identified the other guests?" reporters shouted from the background. The two politicians glanced at each other to see who would step up to answer the questions, if at all. Finally, the Japanese representative answered the last of the questions reluctantly.

"The other two guests have been confirmed as one Yami Destin Bakura [3], suspected to be romanticly involved with Amoura Letazaut, and the other is Tea Gardener, confirmed girlfriend of Moto-san. There also seemed to be a third guest, but he was unable to be identified conclusively."

Madame snickered. Bakura and Amoura certainly wouldn't like their blooming romance to be aired on national television. Good thing she was taping it so they could watch later on. But here was that same puzzle again. Why did no one think of Yami? The Moto brothers had a lot of explaining to do...

Standing up from the couch, Madame made her way to the west window, where she shook her fist in the direction of the Swiss Alps.

"You'd better all come back in one piece, you hear me?!"

~*~

[1] - Whoo! Lots of Egypt-ness! :p So we finally get a look at Bakura's past. ^^ And what a past it was, too. In all actuality, a good part of that was canon. According to Kazuki Takahashi, Atemu (that would be Yami for those who haven't read the latest manga scans) ruled sometime during the Eighteenth Dynasty, most likely near the end. Ramases II, considered by most to be the pharaoh of Moses's Exodus, was the second king of the Nineteenth Dynasty. According to the Bible, the Hebrews had been slaves in Egypt for over 400 years at the time of the Exodus, which puts the time of their enslavement sometime in the middle of Dynasty 16. Therefore, there would have been slaves around in Yami's Egypt, and since they'd been there for over 350 years already, it seems very likely they would have set up their own villages. There very well could have been a small, insignificant Hebrew village called Kuru Eruna. :p Or at least, it works for our purposes...

[2] - Maat was the Egyptian goddess of truth and justice. When used as a noun, ma'at, it means the concept of good vs. evil. So Yami was, in essence, saying that what his priests did was wrong, or very not right. :p Gotta love those ancient religion classes.

[3] - *snickers* And so we find out Bakura's middle name. It's French (surprise, surprise) for destiny or fate. *snickers again*

()()()()()

WSJ: *sighs deeply* Yeah yeah, I know, no Duke, no Tristan and Keith, and it was really lame and REALLY short, but I'm dying to get on to the next chapter! *wiggles in her seat* Fluff ahoy!!

Chapter 12: WSJ (V/O): Next time, on Home Sweet Home!

Yami: *yawns and snuggles down between Tea and Yugi*

WSJ: (V/O) A snow storm rages through the Alps, dumping nearly four feet of snow and leaving the Motos and Tea snowbound.

Yugi: *pokes at the fire in the fireplace* You know, it's reall ironic, being snowed in in the middle of July...

WSJ: (V/O) Unfortunately, Bakura and Amoura aren't nearly so warm and dry...

Bakura: *shivers and hugs Amoura closer to him so they can share warmth*

Amoura: *whispers* Bakura, are ve going to die?

Bakura: I don't know 'Moura, I really don't know...

WSJ: (V/O) It's a particularly snowy chapter when we travel to Switzerland for another extra-long, single-group special! Ja until then!

God bless minna-san!