Ah. Three short ficlets of a little different pairing, all revolving around the same idea (slightly AU). A friend on Gaia made me try this out/inspired me. /glomps Tenshi-chan/

After each ficlet, there's an explanation of when and where the ficlet played out, and they're not done in chronological order, just the order I wrote them down. There's a possibility, when more inspiration is unearthed, that more ficlets/maybe a whole fic, will be forthcoming. See you!

Pairing: Yami Bakura x Yuugi

Warnings; maybe for a mention of implied cousin-incest?

The Game We Play

"Pharaoh."

"Thief."

Despite the slightly less than affectionate "pet-names" their voices were warm, and smiles, however slight, were present on both their faces. The clothes on the shorter one, a school uniform in dark blue, shimmered and faded away to leave a low-hanging and carefully wrapped and creased loincloth on his hips, a gold plate decorating his upper chest and hiding his collar-bone, and a see-through, so thin as to seem almost non-existent, cloak fell from his shoulders, fastened beneath the breastplate. And the crown decorated with the eye glinted from between his golden bangs, marking him as the Pharaoh of Khemet.

The taller one, pale-skinned and white hair spiking out smirked wickedly before, to the heart-stopping surprise (if anyone else had been close) for all that knew about this one, dropping to one knee and taking one of the slender hands of his companion and kissing it. They remained like that for a few minutes, none of them speaking.

"I don't like this. Is it necessary to continue this charade?" Yuugi's voice was soft and quiet in the darkness of the desert night. Of course, that night, and indeed, the desert, was only as real as the Shadows had made them. The darkness of the Sennen Ring shrugged, looking bored.

"The Dark God believes he is the Pharaoh, and if we're both to gain what we want, it's imperative that none of them knows. Besides, it's not my fault your cousin is easily duped, now is it?"

Yuugi chuckled and shook his head amusedly.

"I think Atemu would have something to say about that. But maybe you're right. It would be so much harder if the Dark God knew I was the Pharaoh. My cousin standing in for me until the fight at Kuru Eruna did much..." an amused chuckle, "As I remember it, not even Akunadin, the traitor, knew it was my cousin and not me." Slight hiss and Bakura squeezed the hand he was still holding.

"Time to go back and play our roles, little Pharaoh. So much to do, so many to kill, so little time." Bakura smiled indulgently as Yuugi gave a horrified, but yet amused laugh.

"Bakura! That's no way to put it! And haven't I told you to use my name?" Yuugi scolded and the Theif King's face softened slightly, in a way few (actually, only his omote and the little Pharaoh in front of him had, when he was alive as well as only existing as a spirit) had seen.

"Many, many times, Ketra. And I believe you will have to tell me again, little Pharaoh." With that he stood up, jerking lightly on the hand he was holding, and embraced the only one who had made him believe in humanity.

Yuugi hugged back fiercly, then stretched up in his tip toes, and placed an ardent kiss on those usually cruelly twisted lips.

"Be safe, Bakura." The reincarnated Pharaoh of Khemet said as he was released, and Bakura started to fade away to take his place in this game once more, a maniacal laughter blooming up as he heard Yuugi's plea.

"Always, little Pharaoh, always." Was muttered to the empty air, as Yuugi also faded away, again in his school uniform, to continue this Game. Only the outcome would tell the future.

(During the Ultimate Yami no Game/Memoryworld, in the real events of what happened in ancient Egypt, Yuugi (Ketra) was the Pharaoh, and Atemu his cousin. Since they knew something was wrong/would happen, Atemu posed as the Pharaoh, and only during the fight with Zork at Kuru Eruna did Yuugi step forward as the Pharaoh again, but in the end, Atemu sacrificed himself for his cousin, sealing himself and part of Zork in the Puzzle. Yuugi dies at Kuru Eruna anyway, making Seth his successor.)

Memories of a Life Long Past

"Bakura-kun. What are you doing here?"

"I could ask you the same. It's raining. You're wet."

The short boy shrugged, glancing nervously up at the taller man, who had a bored looked fixed firmly on his face, not in the least concerned for the teen, so why he'd asked was a mystery to Yuugi. Rain pelted down around and on them, drenching everything outside that it could touch.

His spikes sagging under their own wet weight, Yuugi bounced on the balls on his feet, hands clasped behind his head as he looked up at the crying sky. There was a strange stillness in the air, a bubble of suspended animation. For now, a truce had been agreed upon.

Could of course have to do with the fact that Yuugi's other was sleeping. He always got uneasy on rainy days.

"I... remembered some things. But it doesn't make sense." Yuugi said in a subdued voice, purple eyes staring unfocused at the rain-hazy horizon.

The darkness of the Sennen Ring shifted slightly beside the teen, water running down bared and pale-skinned arms, the striped t-shirt not giving much protection. Then the thief was suddenly crouching in front of Yuugi, narrow blue eyes staring hard into wide purple, and a hand grasping the chin roughly. But the grip didn't hurt, just didn't let the short teen move his face or move away as the other hand lay with steel-heavy sureness on a thin shoulder.

"You remember."

Silence stretched after that statement, rain continuing to fall heavily around the two, shrouding them in a heavy curtain of water. Shaking his his head slowly, the hand on his chin allowing the movement, Yuugi grasped the Puzzle hanging from it's new chain eyes wide in amazed wonderment.

"It's all jumbled... and doesn't make sense. But the sand... the sun beating down... Duel Monsters as real as everything else... you... I was thinking of telling mou hitori no boku, but I couldn't decide." Whatever made Yuugi feel safe enough with Ryou's other to tell this, he couldn't say, but it was partly the weather, the stillness that still was present, and partly his dreams/memories. Because that was what they were. Memories of a past life.

"You remember. I never could stand your cousin. He always made my fingers ache for a knife to put in his pompous ass." Bakura's voice was only half joking, dark threat and anger lurking under the congenial tone.

Yuugi choked on the laughter he tried to subdue, a blush rising on pale cheeks.

"Bakura! That could be taken SO wrong. And yes... I remember. At least parts of it. Maybe I shouldn't tell mou hitori no boku. They all believe he was the Pharaoh... maybe that's for the best."

Cocking his head, white wet spikes sliding over a shoulder to rest heavily against wet clothes.

"And again you prove how utterly selfless you are. How ready to let others have your fame and glory. You should take more space, little Pharaoh." Bakura sneered and shook his head. But behind the condencending words hid confused respect and slight, but only slight, wonderment that Yuugi still was such a person to have so little need of taking his rightful place and not stay in other's shadows.

Yuugi smiled and placed a hand on top of the wild spikes that crowned Ryou's (right now Bakura's) body.

"When needed, I do what I have to. And besides, my cousin sacrificed himself for me. He would not be happy to know that I destroyed all his efforts in keeping me safe." Purple eyes darkened at the mention of "sacrifice" and Yuugi shighed.

"You're both idiots. Still are. But maybe we can both get what we want this way." Bakura grunted and rose from his postion on the ground, staring haughtily back at the apartment complex where Ryou lived.

Yuugi smiled sadly and nodded.

"Maybe so. Stay safe Bakura." The short teen turned around and walked away, a shudder of uneasiness flowing like an electric current down his spine since he had to leave his back towards Bakura.

He had never felt comfortable turning his back towards the Theif King. Not even when he had known him as well as he had done back in ancient Egypt.

"Always, little Pharaoh, always." The darkness of the Sennen Ring muttered and turned around himself, lazily walking back to the warm and dry apartment. Maybe they could both get what they wanted (not that he cared if the little Pharaoh got what he wanted or no), and give Zork Necrophadisu a kick in the rear end too. No one made a servant, or a fool, out of Touzokuoh Bakura. No one.

(After the events of DDD, but before Battle City, Yuugi starts dreaming of his life back in ancient Egypt. The memories aren't complete, but he remembers certain parts.)

A Nightly Visit

"Wakey, wakey, little Pharaoh."

"Uhnn."

Breath whisper soft against a bronzed cheek and ear as thick, charcoal dark lashes fluttered apart to reveal the purple jewels hidden behind.

A rare smile, just a tugging in the corners of the mouth, met Ketra as he woke up, blinking away sleep. Still night, the cool desert wind blew softly in from the balcony, moonlight spilling across the floor and creeping up the bed, backdropping the Pharaoh's nightly visitor in a halo of silvery light.

With a yawn Ketra sat up, rubbing the corners of his eyes with a fist before smiling brightly at the muscular man sitting on the edge of his bed like a forbidding sphinx, stone still and silent.

"Hello Ba-khu-ra. Aren't you supposed to be out robbing me of my family treasures?" Ketra asked with a chuckle, tugging on one of the golden bangs that fell around his face, framing it with what in the day looked like a few trapped rays of Ra. Ba-khu-ra thought, to himself of course, that they also felt like sunlight would, without the unforgiving, burning heat; incredibly soft and finer than any of the most expensive cloths that money could buy. Smirk spreading over his face insolently, the Theif King leaned forward, brushing his lips against the delicate shell of one of Ketra's ears.

"I thought I'd steal another treasure tonight. One much, much more valuable than any gold or jewels." He whispered and grinned triumphantly as a soft shudder went through the lithely muscled body, slender as a papyrus plant, but deceptively strong. Sending a stronger shudder through the short ruler of Khemet by licking the ear and then nibbling on the lobe, Bakura shuffled further up the bed, shrugging out of his robe and gathering the most precious treasure the Black Land had ever produced close to his own much larger and more powerful body.

Black and red-violet spikes lay against the bare chest Ketra was leaning against contentedly, a smile threatening to burst forward. Backing off he stretched up a little, wound his arms around Ba-khu-ra's neck and pressed their mouths together, revelling in the hot and sensual wetness as their tongues danced.

Ketra gave a sound much like a purr when one of the theif's hands started to rub his scalp and he pressed himself closer, trapping the heat radiating from their dark-skinned bodies between them. Both his own hands, much smaller than Ba-khu-ra's, wound themselves in the wild short spikes of the theif's hair, and just as his own was softer than it looked.

"I thought you were going to steal Khemet's most valuable treasure?" Ketra asked with an amused smile, eyes wide and guiless to affect uncomprehending innocense. Ba-khu-ra smirked and grabbed one of the long-fingered hands, raising it to his mouth and kissing the back of it.

Smiling behind the hand, Khemet's most feared theif raised his slivery eyes, a solid pale violet in the shadowed darkness of the chamber and met Ketra's purple ones.

"I am. Your cousin is going to have a fit if he ever finds out I got here before him." At the theif's words, Ketra's almost child-like (only saved by a burning determination, a charming and captivating personality and a, despite his short stature, almost glowing precence) face darkened and his large eyes narrowed in a rare display of displeasure.

"Are you only doing this because you want to anger Atemu? Because then you know where the exit is." Some would probably have sounded petulant, but Ketra only sounded coldly angry.

Despite what some may think, the Pharaoh of Khemet had a will best described as an "immovable object". And since Ba-khu-ra could probably be called "irresisteble force", the question was who would win. Shaking his head and putting a finger under Ketra's chin to make the angry young man look at him, Ba-khu-ra frowned slightly, mouth pressed into a thin line.

"Despite what your family have done to my village, despite my opinions towards the rest of humanity, you won me over. You are the only one I will ever willingly spare, if it's possible, among the royalty and your Priests. You gave me a will to believe again. Pissing off your cousin is merely a bonus." Leaning forward to kiss his little Pharaoh's cheek, he then continued up to the ear, whispering.

"He loves his little cousin so much, and would probably drop dead would he ever find out the King of Thieves, Ba-khu-ra, holds his prescious Ketra's heart. As little Pharaoh does with mine." The last of the mutter was almost indescernible, but Ketra grinned and embraced his thief enthusiastically.

"Your ego is larger than my two cousins together, you better watch it!" Ketra laughed and cocked his head, looking out towards the sky visible through the arches leading to the balcony. A rosy hue and streaks of pale lavender were spreading like fire over the lightening dark-blue sky and Ketra looked back at Ba-khu-ra, who was now donning his robe again.

"Be safe Ba-khu-ra. I want someone I can blame all my troubles on, so you better stay alive."

Ba-khu-ra smirked and bowed mockingly.

"Always, little Pharaoh, always. All for you after all, and I need someone to pester."

Ketra chuckled and waved as Ba-khu-ra walked out in the balcony then disappeared over the edge.

Another day beginning.

(Generic moment between Ketra(Yuugi) and Ba-khu-ra some time before the events partly described in the AE arc.)