The Purpose of a Heart
Chapter Eleven

"This getting weird." Joey stated as he and his friends left Bakura's apartment building. "Bakura is nowhere to be found. He hasn't been at the shooting range, he hasn't been to the post office, his name isn't on any airline or train computers, he hasn't been seen anyplace on the street, and no one's called about the posters. And now his manager keeps acting as though he never existed, like he doesn't want to acknowledge Bakura ever lived here. It's like he's vanished."

"Maybe he wanted to vanish." Tristan suggested.

"Why?" Joey wanted to know.

"What difference does it make?" Ryou asked. "So he's out on his own, big deal."

"He could be up to something."

"What would he be up to, Joey? He doesn't have his magic anymore. So unless you're going to say he's behind the murders…" Mai trailed off.

Joey shrugged. "You said it, not me."

"Come on, just because there's a serial killer running around someplace, we can't just assume it's Bakura." Yugi replied sensibly. "The people weren't robbed or anything. They were just shot and then the killer vanished. I know Bakura, he'd leave some sort of calling card. Or at the very least, rob them. He's an opportunist."

"Yeah, but he's also psychotic." Joey countered. "And missing. And those people were shot with a sub-machine gun. And Bakura's beloved Uzi is just that."

"Circumstantial evidence." Tea was on Yugi's side. "He's not a murderer."

"I don't think he'd kill someone unless he was really mad at them, or thought he had a reason to." Ryou put in. "That's always been one of his self-appointed rules."

"Yeah, but this is the guy that once blew up his neighbor's car because the car alarm went off during Quiz de Pon. And he got away with it because they never realized it was him that did it." Joey said dryly. "Bakura's idea of 'having a reason to' is different than most people's. For all we know, all these people might have done was bought the last boxes of his favorite cereal at the store, and Bakura would likely see that as worthy of death."

"He does tend to overreact." Mai agreed.

Yami, who had been silent the whole time, blinked, considering telling them about his meeting with the missing person in question, and his research that he'd done for him. The papers he'd been given were still in a drawer at home, and every time he passed it, he wondered about them. He doubted Bakura was the person who stole the plans from the American military since Bakura had never been to America, and anyway, they had been stolen years before. But how the spirit had gotten his hands on them, and what he was doing with them, were questions without answers. He didn't want to think that Bakura had planned something dangerous with them. He wanted to believe that Bakura was innocent-both of the murders, and of whatever else people might try to pin on him.

"But Bakura's changed." Yugi was saying. "He's not evil anymore, right, Yami?"

Yami jerked back to the present. "Anou-"

"So everyone says." Joey muttered darkly. "I don't know about you all but tell me, what proof do we have that he's not evil?"

"His goal was the collect the Millennium Items, and those are gone. What else could he be doing?" Tea asked.

Tristan shrugged. "I'm with Joey, I haven't forgotten all the stuff he put us through. I want to believe he's good just like the rest of you, but wanting something is different than it actually being true."

"I don't know…" Yami said suddenly, feeling like he had to step in and say something. For some reason he couldn't stand listening to them assume things. "He could have changed, and we don't have any proof of-"

"Yami, he's the guy that tried to kill you." Mai said, eyebrow raised. "I know you were doing him a nice thing when you resurrected him, but what proof is there that Bakura has any sort of loyalty to us despite that?"

Yami started to reply when Joey cut in, "Really, he's the one that claimed to be willing to help search for your memory and then he turned around and tried to murder you…again. I know you like to believe in the good in people, but Bakura might be one person you just can't help. The guy's bitter and angry, and he's never been willing to let morals stand in his way before. If those people were killed by him, who knows if he even had a motive? Maybe he was justhaving fun."

Tristan was nodding. "Yeah, he always was a sadist. Loved to hurt things…how can we trust-"

"Look, I know about all the messed-up things he's done!" Yami suddenly stopped in his tracks and whirled to face them, looking angry. "You don't need to give me a list. I should know better than anyone about his screwed-up mind since it was my uncle that made him who he is, it's my family he hates, and it's me that he's always wanted dead. Yeah, I know he's done terrible things, but even I can't stand here and listen to you make unfounded accusations about him, just because he used to be a certain way!" Turning, Yami took off at a run down the street.

"Yami, wait- I didn't mean-" Joey looked bewildered as he turned to face his friends and raised his arms helplessly. "What's up with him?"

Bakura was back in Yami's apartment again, running down the hallway, that never-ending hallway. He felt as though he had been running forever, when suddenly, without any warning, Yami appeared before him. Bakura skidded to a stop and managed to catch himself before falling.

"Yami!"

"What is it, Bakura?"

"Yami, I need to tell you something." Bakura stood up before Yami, hands in his pockets. Yami looked back at him evenly.

"What?"

"I killed those people." Bakura said.

"Did you kill Louis too?" Yami asked sternly.

"How do you know about Louis!"

"You've told me, it's in your eyes. You're a murderer, and you know it, you can't hide it."

"Yami, look, I just want to explain-"

"You don't need to explain anything, I know all of it already!" Yami's eyes flashed angrily at Bakura. "I gave you a second chance, and you betrayed me."

"But-"

"I really thought there was someone good inside of you." Yami said, pacing. "I gave you a second chance. But I should have known you'd break my trust. You haven't changed a bit, Touzokuou."

"That's not true! And don't call me that, I'm not a thief anymore. Yami, I killed those people to keep you safe, because I care about you-"

"If you really cared about me, you wouldn't have done this!" Yami snapped. "You wouldn't have become a worthless murderer. This is low Bakura, even for you. You used to have some morals, if only a few."

"I still have morals! I had a choice Yami, kill them or let you die. What was I supposed to do? It wasn't my fault Louis got killed."

"Yes it was, because you used him just like you used everyone else. Like he was nothing to you and you didn't care what might happen to him."

"That's not true!" Bakura protested.

"It is true, and you know it. You can't hide from what is inside you." Yami folded his arms. Bakura took a step back, shaking his head.

"You have it all wrong, I can't be that bad of a person, I can't be. I tried to change…"

"You didn't change." Yami cut him off. "You're the same person you always were."

"Please Yami, I did all of this for you, I was willing to give up anything to save you-"

"You gave up the life of a friend? I'm not worth that."

"Yes you are! And Louis wasn't my friend!"

"He was your friend, you just don't want to admit it. But deep down inside you're plagued by guilt for what happened. But still, you let it happen, you've betrayed me and him and everyone else. You don't deserve any pity."

"I never asked for any!"

"Yes you did. That was in your eyes too. I can see them, begging me to forgive you. But why should I? You don't deserve to be forgiven for what you've done."

"Yami, I didn't see any other way…" Bakura stared down at his hands.

"I don't want to hear any excuses! You've done what you've done, and nothing can change it."

"Yami, please understand…just give me-" Bakura stopped. Yami narrowed his eyes in hatred.

"Give you what? A second chance? No, I won't give you a second chance. I already gave you one and you tossed it aside." He turned.

"Yami, wait!"

Seemingly ignoring him, Yami began walking away. Bakura began to run after him. "Wait!" The ground rolled beneath him and he tripped. "Yami, c'mon, just give me a chance to explain!" Yami vanished into the distance, and at that moment, Bakura sat bolt upright in bed.

"A…a dream. It was just that dream again." Shivering, he felt sweat sliding down his face. "Just that stupid dream." With a sigh, he fell backwards onto his pillows and squeezed his eyes shut. "I've got to get out here soon…this place is messing with my head. I mean, I dream about that hall a lot now, but this is the first time Yami's been there…and what he said…would he really think that of me?"

Unable to fall asleep again, Bakura lay awake in his bed for the rest of the night, thinking. It had been a few days before that he'd received Yami's finds, and questions were plaguing him worse than ever. Had the plans for the laser really been stolen from an American military base? How had the boss gotten a hold of them? What was he going to do with the outline for the weapon? Had this been the information that Louis had died for? And most pressing, on Bakura's mind anyway, what did this have to do with the people he'd been told to kill? Other than the fact that they had all been American, and that the laser was American too, he couldn't find a single similarity. It was almost as if the boss was playing that game that little kids often played, where the rules and object of the game changed at whim and there was no real result except a lot of fun. And had the man been insane, Bakura would have figured that was what it was. Just a game of some sort.

But no, Bakura knew his superior wasn't some maniac, not by a long shot. He was calculated, smart, and thus, quite dangerous. And the plans for a high-power laser in his hands didn't seem very safe.

Bakura rolled onto his stomach and folded his hands under his chin. He wondered what else the tabloid had said about this laser. And where had Yami found the article? For a moment, his cynical self argued that Yami might have made the whole thing up. But it just didn't seem to be Yami's nature to lie.

I need more information. The story of my life: never with enough information for what I need to know. If I could just get to a computer…but where the heck will I find one of those around here that isn't under camera watch? I could sneak out to the library, but that would be too risky.

In irritation, he sat up and flopped back down on his side with a huff, glaring at the small red light that marked the camera in his room.

"I hate you." He said aloud to it. The light had no reply.

It wasn't till the next day that he got his idea, and surprisingly, it was his mortal enemy that gave it to him. He was stepping into the third-floor elevator when Blair, fresh from the gym on that floor, walked up behind him and stepped inside too, punching the first floor button. Bakura wrinkled his nose and got as far away from the sweaty body builder as he could. Blair glanced over at him.

"Hey."

Bakura raised an eyebrow. Blair was being civil? This could only mean one thing. He was about to start gloating.

"Guess what it is I got?" he asked smugly

"A book to improve your grammar?" Bakura asked innocently.

"No." Blair was feeling so high and mighty, he didn't even realize it was an insult, and barreled ahead, "I got a computer. It's all hooked up and everything. I've even got the Internet. Jealous?"

Bakura scowled. Great, of that the idiots in this building that needed a computer.

"Congratulations. I hope it came with spell check."

Blair shrugged as the elevator came to a stop. "Mouth off all you want, Uzi-boy. You're just jealous that I got the one thing that you need. If only your little friend Louis had been lucky as me, maybe he wouldn't have been so stupid to go using a computer he wasn't supposed to be on, in a room he wasn't supposed to know was there."

It was the first time since his death that anyone had brought up the college student, and the comment brought back the dream from the night before. The memory gave Bakura the great urge to blow something up. Maybe put some C-4 in the elevator. And lock Blair in the elevator with it.

"But of course, it was all an unfortunate accident. He just had some bad luck to find that room, even though the staircase is hidden well enough. But he was just too nosy for his own good."

"Shut up." Bakura said bluntly, pushing the button for the second floor repeatedly.

The last thing he saw before the doors closed was Blair's laughing face. Once the elevator stopped at the second floor, he didn't bother getting out, but instead returned to his own room and began feverishly going through each drawer in the dresser till he found what he was looking for: a small white bottle. He rolled it over till he found the directions on the back. Sleeping capsules. The boss had given them to him the second day there, said that most people were stressed out at first. Bakura had no intention of letting himself fall into a drugged sleep with a bunch of strangers in the building, so he'd dropped the bottle of capsules into the drawer and forgotten about them. Until now. Deciding that more was better than less, he retrieved a plastic bag and methodically opened and emptied every capsule of its powder into the bag, and then slunk down to the gym, where he found a thermos of what he suspected wasn't water. Not that it mattered. He poured a random amount of the sleeping powder into the thing and screwed the lid back on, giving it a few good shakes. Through all his drugs he took, Bakura doubted Blair could taste anything anyway. Then he settled back in his room to wait, remembering with satisfaction the crucial bit of information Blair had let slip several weeks back, the night they'd tricked him into thinking Yami was dead:

"There's a camera in every room, didn't you know that? I'm one of the only people without one, 'cause the boss trusts me."

To his amazement, his plan actually started out brilliantly. As usual every night, Blair returned to the gym for his final work-out of the day and Bakura peered out his door in time to watch Blair stomp by, guzzling from his thermos. About a half-hour later, he snuck up to the fourth floor and located Blair's room. Glancing to the side, he tried the knob and found it unlocked, and upon peeking in, saw Blair sprawled out across his bed. Tentatively, he poked the guy on the arm and, getting no response, congratulated himself. He cleared a path through the mess of magazines and trash on the floor over to the computer, and sat down at it. It turned on without a problem, and Bakura settled back for an in-depth search of the Internet. Here was where he hit his major snag.

He knew almost nothing about the Internet. Unlike Yami, who had thrown himself enthusiastically into the world of electronics and modern-day devices, Bakura still preferred the old-fashioned books and processes of doing things. The only computer contact he ever had was using it when playing one of his TRPG's. That, he was good at. But when it came to the Internet, he was lost.

"I should have thought this out more." He said to himself, and hopefully typed in the names of the three people he'd killed. The search engine found 365,494 results, the first fifteen pages all of which had to do with the newspaper articles about the murders. After a half-hour of trying random keywords, (laser, American military, etc.), he found the tabloid article about the laser theft. It was very brief, and stated only that the laser's plans were just experimental, no one knew if the weapon could actually be assembled or not.

"Well, if no one knows anything, why the hell did you write an article on it?" Bakura demanded of the machine. He glanced over at Blair, who was now starting to snore, and contemplated the satisfaction of smashing the computer down upon Blair's head.

Well, I guess this would make sense. If the plans were experimental, then all the engineer people and the length of time this has been taking is probably being used to build and test the thing. Which means I might have time to learn more.

By complete coincidence, he happened to look down toward the bottom of the article to see an Editor's note, stating that the weaponry was actually being developed in case of a war. Bakura frowned. He'd heard quite a lot about wars, especially World War II, living in Japan as it was, and mostly people just said a lot of nasty things in secret about how the Americans had bombed them. Always in the mood for a good argument, Bakura often countered that the Americans just wanted revenge. Who wouldn't want revenge after getting dragged into a war?

He knew it was an impossibly long shot, but maybe the boss's utilization of this laser had something to do with another war. Or, when narrowed down to something more reasonable, maybe he wanted to use it for revenge against someone. Of course, lasers…didn't people ever use standard guns anymore?

Bakura yawned. His all-nighter from the day before was once again catching up to him. And anyway, the evening hadn't been for nothing. He'd at least confirmed that Yami had told the truth about the tabloid issue. Whether or not those plans really were to an experimental laser remained to be seen; but against his better judgment, Bakura was considering pushing aside his doubts for once and trusting the former pharaoh. At least on this issue.

He was sorely tempted to switch the computer off without shutting it down, just for the satisfaction of making Blair sit through the corrective issues, but decided not to. The last thing he needed was to leave any evidence he'd been there.

Well, that was mostly a dead end. Bakura admitted to himself was he walked back to his room. But not a pointless one. I know the boss's computer really does have the plans for a weapon, and I have my suspicions. That's a start. It's more than I had. In his room he took out the photograph of Yami and stared silently at the image for a long time. He vaguely recalled the day he'd clipped it out of the magazine on famous duelists. He sure had gotten a lot of exercise that day, first going to throw the picture away, then running to retrieve it, then forcing himself to toss it again, then going back for it, and so on. The one person he thought was worth protecting…his attachment puzzled even himself sometimes. In his exhaustion, he fell asleep not long later, still clutching the picture.

To Be Continued…

Author's Notes:

Awright, you caught me, this chapter almost pointless. Almost, the main word there is "ALMOST". Because this chapter contains a major plot point. We're talking a mega-huge, world record sort of plot point. Can you find it? Better put, if you can find it, do you know what it means? So, rest assured, this boring bunch of jumble DOES have a point to it! For once. :blinks: To be honest, I'm not proud of this chapter. I know it's rushed, it's short, and it's fairly uninformative.Not a very good follow-up from the last chapter. I'm sorry.Next chappy will be an exciting one. I promise, if you'd like to see more of Bakura's moral and emotional issues over Yami, you'll like it! (I hope, anyway…it looks like it'll turn out very cute. We could all stand to use some cuteness. I have F-CATS this week. Writing some cuteness will be a welcome release.)

Well, there were a couple good scenes in here that I liked, I very much like Bakura's guilty conscience weighing on his mind and messing with his dreams. What if Yami really does say that if he ever gets the truth? Poor Bakura! That'd be awful…(but yaaay, angst)…and then Yami's odd outburst. Obviously he harbors some type of feelings for the thief. Ahh, love. It's a terrible, wonderful thing. Kinda like chocolate. :scuttles off to fetch some:

:is now back with chocolate: For those unfamiliar with the Memory arc, Akunadin was Yami's uncle, and it was he that ordered the sacrifices in Kuru Eruna, the sacrifices that young Touzokuou Bakura witnessed and that really messed up his mind. Touzokuou, (which translates to "Thief King"), went on to think that Yami's father ordered the killings, (when he in fact had no idea they'd taken place), and he wanted to kill Yami too since he was the new pharaoh. He pretty much hated the entire royal family. So, that's the story behind that. I just like to tell the story. Syahahaha…

Replies!

Hershey-Kiss: xD I can appreciate having no life…Well gosh, I'm sorry to have ruined your day, but I'm glad to know I managed to create an OC you rather liked. Even if he's dead…ah well. Worse things could happen. Maybe he'll show up in a different fic sometime.

You Know Us: Gomen, Michelle-chan, no lasers for you. I am glad you liked it! I'm always glad, of course. :niko: Yami's so smart! He's definitely the sort of guy you want on your side! Poor Louis-chan got killed…but Bakura's on it. If he doesn't go insane first. O.o Evil, EVIL F-CAT pretest! Sooooo glad it's over with. This means the writing can commence!

So, right, I don't think I have much else to clear up…last chapter put me over my 100 pages of reviews. I save the majority of my reviews in a file on my computer and I have over a 100 pages now. That's not really important though…Well, the good news is that there's a three-and-a-half-day weekend coming up at the end of this week, I CANNOT WAIT. :collapses: Thank kami-sama, I so need the break. Woot! And though I am severely upset over KidsWB not playing 173, (Why the hell do they always do this? WHY?), I have my resources. :snickers:It has been dubbed and shown in the UK already, (I believe it was the UK), and thanks to my good friend Nikki-chan, I was able to get hold of a download of it. :triumphant:It was awful quality, but at least I got to watch it. I don't like the dubber's choice of background music, but otherwise, it's a pretty cute ending scene. Joey's so...so...self-sacrificing for the people he loves. He'd such a charmer, I can'tfigure out how there could be anyone out there that doesn't like him!No wonder Mai fell for him.

Anyhoo, catch ya on the flip side-