1"Ankh Of Despair"
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Hey! It's Christmas Eve now, and to pass the time, I figured I'd brew up yet another chapter just in time for the holiday! I'm so glad that you all love my story! I've come to the conclusion that there is no way I'll be able to finish this fic before the new year, but I'll be sure to try and finish it before February!
Psyche was the only reviewer to guess who the kidnapper was! A rather strange turn in events, eh? Congrats! -gives you a vicious Bakura plushie- Awww!
DISCLAIMER: I don't own Yu-Gi-Oh.
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"What?" Seto shook his head. Had he heard the boy correctly? This certainly wasn't something that the CEO had expected the normally-shy teen to say.
"You heard me," The rather shaky voice stated, "I'm going to kill you." There was a long pause, and then, "I've got a gun, and I'm going to shoot you and kill you."
Seto's mouth became a straight line as though he were trying to determine whether or not the other boy was bluffing or being serious, "Bakura. . . What has gotten into you?"
The sound of choked laughter came from nearby, "Oh please! How could you not know? My yami has been so caught up in you that he has practically ignored me!" His voice came as an angry shout. . . on the borderline of psychotic, Seto mused. Footsteps were heard, and Seto imagined that the albino was pacing, "You know," He continued, "I've always been the kind of guy that would stand there and be trampled all over. . . well, I'm sick of that! I'm in love with the thief and I'll be damned if I let you take him away from me!"
"Woah, wait a minute, what?" Seto's brows knitted in confusion, "You think that I have something for your spirit?"
Bakura's bottom lip quivered but Seto couldn't see due to the blindfold strapped across his eyes, "No, you don't love him. . . but I think that he loves you, and if I kill you, he'll pay more attention to me!" Seto tensed as he heard the white-haired teen prepare the gun.
"Wait!" Seto called, "Bakura, you don't want to do this! If he really does love me, wouldn't he hate you for killing me? Wouldn't that make him want to shun you even more?" He cringed at the pleading tone that drenched his voice, but he made a mental note that perhaps Bakura was too caught up in his own head to catch it, "Listen to me Bakura, if you let me go, I promise to make sure that you're yami hates me. The last thing you want is to have your hands bloodied by murder. . . and for the one you love to hate you for an eternity." He could only wait now, for he had said all that he could.
There was an awkward silence passed between them. Bakura had lost himself within his own mind, struggling between right and wrong. All his life he had been taught about murder and revenge and hatred. . . he had been told that they were wrong. Yes. . . they were wrong. He was the hikari, the light. . . he wasn't made to kill, to hate, to harm.
The clatter of metal upon the ground rang out and Seto now assumed that they were in a basement by the way the clangor reverberated off of the surrounding walls.
Bakura let out a loud wail, "You're right! I'm sorry! But I love him so much! I shouldn't kill! I really shouldn't!"
Seto's heartbeat slowed. When had it sped up? Had he been afraid? Since when was he afraid to die? Either way, it didn't matter now, "Um. . . Bakura? Can you untie me? It's a bit uncomfortable. . ."
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(A/N: This next scene actually occurred while Seto and Bakura were talking.)
Yami walked quickly, Yugi and Mokuba trailing a little ways behind. He was pissed! No one kidnapped his priest and got away with it! No one!
"Yami!" Yugi called, "Can you slow down a bit? Our legs are shorter than yours!"
"Yugi, I'm older than you, you should be able to walk quicker."
"Yami," Mokuba chimed in, "We don't even know where to begin looking!"
The group of three stopped and leaned against a nearby shop. Mokuba was right. If Seto wasn't taken by the thief, then who else would have the motive to capture him?
"You think it could be Marik?" Yugi raised an eyebrow as he voiced his question.
"He seemed relatively sane after he gave us the Millennium Rod." Yami answered, "I doubt it was him."
Mokuba scratched his invisibly beard, "Maybe it was a rival company. . . although the only real rival we have is Industrial Illusions," Yami and Yugi's eyes shot open, "And last I heard, Pegasus was in pretty poor shape. . . and had cleaned up his attitude a lot."
A little bell sounded as the door to the shop opened, "Perhaps because he doesn't have the Millennium Eye anymore." The three jumped at the all-too-familiar voice of Yami Bakura.
The thief stood, a couple bags in tow, with his hand on his hip, an eyebrow arched, and a feline smirk playing on his lips.
"Oh. . . hey Yami Bakura," Yugi tried to sound as friendly as he could, "We're trying to figure out who would want to kidnap Kaiba. . . what are you doing out so late?"
The tomb robber looked at the bags in his arms and gave Yugi a look that had 'duh' written all over it. When this received no reaction, he decided that an explanation was in order, "Well, Bakura's been really pissy lately. . . and I once heard a mortal asking a florist for flowers for his wife so that she wouldn't be angry with him anymore. . . I figured I'd give it a shot. I bought some chocolates, a shirt, some condoms, and a new apron."
Mokuba grinned, "What was that third thing?"
Yami stepped in front of Mokuba, "Why has Bakura been angry with you?"
"Pfeh, hell if I know! He's been really bitchy all day. Whining about how I don't pay attention to him and all that bullshit." He shrugged, "Well, I've wasted enough time talking to you dolt's, so I think I'll be heading home now." He brushed past them, humming some tune that was unknown to both Yugi and Mokuba, but a pleasant memory to Yami. (Remember the desert march tune in chapter two?)
"I say we follow him," Mokuba whispered.
"Why?" Yugi asked.
Yami Yugi started off after the thief, "He may have more of an idea than we do!"
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Yami Bakura fiddled with the lock, "Damn, they sure do make these things better than they did in Egypt." He pulled out a silver key and inserted it into the hole, but left it there as he sensed another presence behind him. He turned quickly to find the Pharaoh and his tag-alongs halted mid-step, a look on their faces that showed that they knew they had been caught. He rolled his eyes, opening the door and walking in, surprised when the others bolted in after him, "What in the hell do you think you're doing?!" He yelled, his face stricken with anger.
"We're going to need help finding Seto, and who better to track down a psychopath than another psychopath?" Yugi grinned as though it were the most ingenious plan ever invented.
The thief pursed his lips and set his bags on the kitchen table, "Gee, glad to know you think so highly of me."
A loud wail sounded from somewhere in the house, causing all four to fly from wherever they sat/stood.
"WHAT THE FUCK WAS THAT?!?!" Yami's eyes were wild with fury at having been startled.
Without words, the thief was gone from the kitchen and running down the hallway before the others had even begun to chase after him. He flung open a door in the hallway and scampered inside. Yugi realized that it must have been the door to their basement and followed him down the stairwell without hesitation. Yami Yugi and Mokuba followed his lead.
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Bakura pondered freeing the CEO. Okay, so he couldn't kill the other boy, but maybe he could just hide him away and his yami would think he had run off. That would work just as well, but where to hide him. . .
The door flew open, the handle slamming against the opposite wall. Bakura yelped, grabbing the gun back off the floor and pointing it at Seto, "Don't come in or I'll shoot!" He cried, but he was too late. The gang of four stormed in, forming a small cluster in the doorway.
There, in the middle of the room, lay Seto, ankles and wrists tied to four metal beams that reached from the floor to the ceiling. Gazing all about the room, Yugi gasped at how similar it was to dungeons back in medieval times. . . and perhaps ancient Egyptian times as well. The walls were adorned with shackles and various swords. A single whip hung on the wall opposite of the wall by which they stood. Ropes of numerous lengths lay in mountains in the corners, and a small trunk sat a mere three feet from where Bakura stood. Yugi didn't even allow for his imagination to come up with possibilities of the trunks contents. . . chances are, he didn't want to know.
"Hikari," The thief began, he voice was, unusually, smooth as silk, "What are you doing playing with a gun?"
"I'm not playing! I swear I'll kill him!" Bakura's brown orbs were alighted with a wild flame, a wicked smile dancing on his face, and Yami Bakura mused at how much they looked alike now.
"Okay then, kill him." His voice remained cool and calm. Yami's heart might as well have stopped beating. He was too shocked to do anything other than stare at the thief with disbelief. Something in his heart, however, told him that there was some sort of plot behind this.
There was a long moment of silence as Bakura looked from his yami to Seto and back to his yami again, his smile had been wiped from his face and was replaced by a flustered expression. Each passing second, the gun lowered itself a little more until it was safely down by his side, a defeated expression on his face.
The king of thieves saw this as the right opportunity to glide over to his lighter half and take him into his arms, pulling the gun away from him and tossing it clear across the room, "Now, you know that your heart is too pure for you to be doing anything like that. . . why don't you just leave all of the kidnapping and killing to me, okay?" Though the content of his statement was clearly something awful, his voice was that of a mother trying to soothe a frightened child, and it puzzled the onlookers greatly.
Seto cleared his throat impatiently, "Hello? I'm still tied up over here!"
It was Pharaoh to the rescue! In a flash, he was by Seto's side, tugging and pulling at the ropes. . . but to no avail. His eyes wandered about the room in search for a blade. A sword caught his eye and he went to retrieve it. It took a bit of effort, and he had knocked off a few other swords in his rushed work, but he quickly returned to the ropes, which he found had already been cut and Seto now stood, rubbing his wrists and thanking. . . Yami Bakura.
Never piss off a yami that wields a weapon.
Yami lifted the sword above his head and brought it down, nearly slicing the wide-eyed thief in half, had he not moved, "Woah! What the hell are you doing Pharaoh?!?!" He grinned as crimson eyes flicked to Seto and then back to him, "Oh, I see now! You're angry that you couldn't rescue my priest!" He cackled and Yami looked heartbroken.
Seto pursed his lips. He had promised to help Bakura with that. . . but Bakura went back on his word! He glanced at the albino from the corner of his eye. The same heartbroken look had washed over the boys features and Seto felt another rare feeling. . . pity, "Actually," He felt himself speak, but wondered if it were real or all in his head, "I don't belong to you. . ." He hesitantly stepped over to Yami Yugi, whose eyes were filled with a clouded confusion, "I belong to the Pharaoh."
Velvet lips met in a kiss that could make roses bloom in Winter. Seto held Yami's chin in his hand, and that same, warm, familiar feeling came back to him. . . and he wanted more of it. He deepened the kiss, allowing the Pharaoh's tongue to enter his own formerly-forbidden mouth.
Yugi smiled a smile that a father would on his daughters wedding day, hands clasped together over his chest in a dreamy manner. Mokuba couldn't decide what to do, so he just stared, an awe-stricken look coming over him. Yami Bakura was anything but angry. . . he was too busy with his neglected hikari to worry about what the former lovers were doing.
Seto pulled away from the crimson eyed teen.
"Seto. . ." Yami whispered, "Does this mean. . . that. . ."
"It doesn't mean anything." Seto snapped, and immediately Yami felt as though he would drop dead, "I was only holding up a promise to Bakura. Stop living in the past."
He turned to leave and Yami fell to his knees, not caring if anyone saw the warm tears spilling down his cheeks. Yugi and Mokuba looked from the fallen teen and then to Seto, confusion written in their eyes.
"Seto?" Mokuba bounded up the stairs after him.
"We're going home Mokuba, come on."
This time, Mokuba cried, but followed his brother, "But Seto! What about the kiss??"
"Pfeh, an act to get the albino love birds to get together."
"That was no act Seto! I could tell! The way that your body seemed to relax. . . the way that you let Yami grabbed your ass. . ."
"He did?" Seto seemed more flattered than angry. Mokuba hiccuped and nodded, "Mokuba. . . stop your crying and pick up the pace.
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Wow. . . wrote this whole chapter in one sitting. . . took nearly 2 hours. I can bet that I have just ruined Christmas for a lot of people. . . but I promise that things will get better!! -hides behind a giant flame-resistant barrier- Don't hate me. . . please? Rate and review! And don't be mean! -gives you all puppy eyes-
The next chapter will be up before New Years!
