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Normal Writing: Common Time

Italic Writing: Dream/memory.

(………) Yami thinking

/………/ Hikari thinking

'………' Normal thought

"………" Normal speech

(A/N:………) Author's Note

Chapter Seventeen

Bakura's eyes were flaming a fierce blood red, and the blustering kids of the gang were getting slightly unnerved. But they weren't going to show their fear to their friends, so they attacked.

Bakura hissed, the sound erupting into a snarl that was soon drowned out by the fierce roar of the Shadow Magic roiling together into visible form.

It looked like shadows come alive, shot through with angry purple and red.

What seemed to be miniature lightning bolts shot out, one on each side of Bakura, the electricity making his hair dance in even larger spikes than normally.

Completely in thrall to the Shadow Magic that was his gift and curse, he didn't notice as the boys stopped and run back into the building to try and get away to shelter.

All he knew was that they MUST be destroyed.

Features locked into that frozen snarl, he turned and followed them with his eyes.

Those eyes………no longer brown but were red.

Now the red was as black as the Shadow Realm itself.

Bakura clenched his fists, and another round of miniature lighting bolts blasted out the dusty windows of the building, allowing the Shadows entrance inside.

Screams rang out, but were drowned by the howl of the Shadows.

Bakura raised his arms out to his sides, and then up above his head, as if he was praising something above.

The Shadows whirled more franticly, eager for the souls it would devour.

Bakura shot his arms forwards, in a throwing motion.

The Shadows shot forwards in response, entering the house and exiting at the same time through the windows, until it had surrounded the old house entirely.

Bakura, too far absorbed in the Shadow's power, didn't even think of what was going on.

All he wanted was the feel of the power the Shadow's brought him.

The Shadows constricted, tightening around the house and then swirling faster and faster.

Bakura threw back his head and howled, and the Shadows stopped.

Swirling softly, it awaited his command.

Bakura slowly turned and regarded the building fully.

He grinned, then, the action turning into another feral snarl.

He let out an intelligible growl, but the Shadows responded.

Kill.

And it killed.

Swirling eagerly, it attacked all the terrified mortals in the building, stealing their souls and sending them swirling into the abyss of the Shadow Realm.

Bakura hissed in pleasure as he felt the souls travel through him and into the Shadow Realm that he was commanding.

Once the mortals were taken care of, the Shadows once again responded to Bakura and began swirling faster and faster and faster until they were a sheer tornado of black and purple and red, spiraling down towards the house's base.

Then they stopped, all gathered at the base of the house and in the house and around the house.

Bakura, still snarling in anger but with a hint of a smile showing, gave the final command.

Destroy.

The night was lit up when the building blew.

Brick and stone, window glass turned to slag, wood and metal, all caught fire at once and burned so fierce that the building became a pillar of flame.

Shingles on the roof, the brass doorknobs even, all burned.

Then it exploded, collapsing on itself and sending sparks and flames to touch the skies.

Bakura bowed his head as the intense heat washed over him, shielding his face from the sparks and flames and flying debris.

He saw a rather large chunk of molten substance, (it could have been bricks, but he couldn't be sure) was flying towards him.

And he couldn't avoid it.

But the Shadows didn't want to hurt its master, who fed it so many nice souls, so it coiled around Bakura, caressing him lightly but blocking all the flames and flying debris that could've hurt him.

Bakura, still senseless to his surroundings and only seeing the Shadows now, gave in and threw all of his energy into the magic, and the fire burned higher.

And exploded one final time, flinging everything within a certain distance flying.

Bakura included.

- - - - - - - - - - -

Ryou and Malik were looking for Bakura.

Malik understood it wasn't Bakura's fault, and Ryou did too.

So they had to find Bakura before he did something to hurt himself.

Or went totally crazy.

- - - - - - - - -

Yami and Yugi were at home, with Joey, Tristan, and Duke spending the night and basically hanging out. They had the TV turned on for some background sound, and played games through the night.

"We interrupt you current broadcast to bring you some headline news.

"A fire has started in the back part of Domino City, and the flames have been seen from miles around. It is unknown what has caused this blaze, but in seconds it has turned into an inferno."

Yami and the others glanced over, slightly curious.

The TV had a live picture of the building, and it was burning furiously.

Actually, its REMAINS were burning furiously. The main part of the building was blown away, and the rest was melted into an indescribable lump that burned still.

"As far as we can tell it was a gas leak, so the experts guess. There have been no reports of deaths, but the other folk of the area say that the place was home to a large number of youths who hung out there, so………"

Yami and the others lost interest. A piece of curiosity, but nothing more.

"Do you think it was really a gas leak that caused that?" Joey asked.

"I don't know." Duke said. "Do you have any threes?" He asked Yugi.

"Go fish."

"Ah, drat." Duke cursed, and sighed as he drew a card.

There was a knock on the front door, and Tristan, being the only one not playing Go Fish, went to go answer it.

"Hey, Ryou, Malik. What's the matter?" He asked, seeing the distraught faces of the two.

"Tristan, where's Yami?" Ryou asked.

"Inside, come on." Tristan led them aware.

There was a chorus of greetings from the people playing the game.

"Go Fish Joey."

"Ah, blast."

"Hey Ryou, what's the matter?" Yami asked, turning away from the game.

"Yami, can you help us find Bakura?" Ryou asked, breathing heavily and looking very worried.

"Is he missing?" Yami asked, not really paying attention since the mention of Bakura.

"Yes, he hit Malik, and ran off!" Ryou cried out, seeing that Yami had dismissed his question as unimportant.

"He hit Malik?" Joey asked, looking up from his rather large amount of cards.

"Yes, but I understand why." Malik answered, feeling the right to defend his friend.

They were still friends, weren't they?

Yami nodded absently.

"Joey, give me your fives." Yami said, and Joey cursed again as he passed over two fives. Yami laid them down with the rest of the half a deck he had laid out before him in threes.

Duke glanced about, waiting for his turn, and noticed the news playing another live recording of the fire.

"Could Bakura have caused that, if he was as angry as you thought he was?" Duke asked, pointing towards the screen.

Everyone stared wide-eyed.

"It could."

"Shadow Magic could do that." Yami admitted.

"So where is Bakura now?" Ryou asked, heart broken.

His yami had destroyed the building? Possible, very possible. It WAS the direction he had run after the yacht incident, so Malik had said.

So where was Bakura, and was he still in a destructive mood?

- - - - - - - - - -

End Chapter.

Thanks to you all who wished me a good time in El Paso, I really enjoyed it! I hope you all enjoyed Christmas as well!

Thanks to all who reviewed!

Dreamingsilver: Why, you're the first person to guess it! You're correct in part, but not whole. You'll have to wait and see, but great job on correctly guessing part of it!

Telly: You are right, the law is in force. ::Grins:: they just have to figure out who did it and also they will have to realize that it was a person who did it. Thanks for your review!