The Purpose of a Heart
Chapter Fourteen

"What's this?" Blair stopped his forward advance and tilted his head to the side. "No 'hello', no 'how are you'? Not even a smile for your boyfriend? That's bad form, Bakura."

Earlier that day, after kidnapping Yami for the boss, he'd loaded himself up on some new steroids, a painkiller or five, and a few beers. In his mind, the steroids would keep him from getting hurt during a fight, (which he anticipated, given Bakura's temper), and the painkillers and beer would keep him from feeling any pain if the kid tried to use that nerve trick on him again. He was feeling like a million bucks at the moment, on top of the world in fact. No more secretary work for the boss, no, this was real work. This was what he was born to do, he thought. And despite a bit of blurry sight, he felt invincible and at the top of form. Bakura would be helpless.

The sound of Blair's voice broke Bakura's momentary trance and he darted to Yami's side, rolling him onto his back, expecting the worst. But it was strange, he saw no sign of injury. There was no blood, no bullet or knife wounds, no raspy breathing or bruises indicating that he'd been choked. His skin seemed paler than usual, but it wasn't unnatural. The only thing Bakura noticed were a few bruises on his face, as if he'd been slugged a few times. But they didn't look serious enough to have come from punches that would knock someone out for long. His eyes were closed and at first glance it looked as though he were merely asleep. "Yami?" He asked, slapping him lightly. "Yami, wake up." When that got no response, he tried slapping him harder and yelling, "Yami! This isn't funny, get up!"

He still got no reply from the former pharaoh, and so he picked him up by the front of his shirt and shook his limp body like a doll, shouting at his closed eyes.

Blair watched, amused.

Finally Bakura dropped Yami back to the ground and attempted to locate a pulse, but was too impatient to remember which part of the wrist it was; so he placed his ear over Yami's heart and waited.

And waited for what seemed like an oddly long time. Surely it was only seconds but it seemed like minutes, and he could feel a cold steely sensation starting to grip his body as he finally considered that…maybe whatever had happened had already taken Yami's life…maybe it was too late.

Suddenly, he heard a heartbeat, and then another. It was a steady sound, but unnatural. There was too much time in-between beats, it was irregular. It was as if he were in a coma or something.

Getting to his feet, he turned his darkening eyes toward Blair. His voice, too, had frozen over in anger and it resembled more the snarl of a feral animal rather than human as he shouted, "You bastard! What did you do to him?"

Blair smiled. "Poison, Bakura."

Bakura narrowed his eyes, one hand reaching behind him to feel the handle of one of the Tonfa Blasters. Blair continued, as if he'd memorized the information: "Fairly common really, as far as poisons go. It slows down a person's body, and they tend to have a few convulsions and then they fall into a coma. And after that, depending on how strong they are, they die after anywhere from fifteen minutes to an hour. Whenever their heart stops from the stress." He checked his watch. "Forty-five minutes is the average time period. He just finally went into the coma not long ago. I estimate a half-hour left before he's dead. But really Bakura, you ought to be glad you're here now, I doubt you would have enjoyed seeing him jerking the way he was. Though, I must say, the convulsions were really funny, his eyes rolled back and everything. Just like on TV!"

"You goddamn son of a bitch…!" Bakura heard his voice before he was even conscious of speaking. He pulled out the weapons from their holsters and held them out at arms length.

"Now Bakura, cussing at me isn't going to do you any good. If I were you, I'd suggest spending the time that you have left with Yami."

"Tell me you have an antidote." Bakura shouted.

"You think I'd hand it over to you? Geez, you ARE dense."

"Give me the antipoison!" Bakura demanded. "NOW!"

"What did I just say? I told you that if I did have an antidote for him, I wouldn't give it to you. It wasn't easy poisoning him, the guy was like a cat, all teeth and nails when I tried to knock him out." Blair shook his head in disgust. "I should have guessed you'd have a stubborn boyfriend."

"You mean…there isn't one?" Bakura suddenly felt lightheaded and the use of the word 'boyfriend', went by unnoticed.

"Now you're catching on."

"No, you're lying. There must be one. If the boss gave you that poison, he would have given you an antidote. That's how he works."

"Oh, would you just shut up?" A buzzing had started in Blair's ears and a headache would certainly follow. Bakura's voice was starting to sound grating. Maybe he shouldn't have taken the second handful ofpills."Give up the tough-guy routine Uzi-boy. I didn't kidnap and poison your friend just so that you could yell at me. I did it so that I could keep you busy. Now really, he's only got a half-hour left. He's dying Bakura, in case you haven't figured that out. Are you going to sit and argue with me, or are you going to enjoy the time you two have left?"

"Neither, I'm going to send you to hell!" Bakura fired, and in his anger, hadn't noticed that Blair had moved to the side.

"Not in that condition you won't. You're letting anger control you."

"I didn't ask your opinion!" Bakura shouted, firing twice more before he could stop himself and tried to realize that this was a situation that firing a gun wouldn't fix. Blair's words echoed in his brain and he felt hatred flood through him. Yami was dying, he had to do something. So he shifted one Blaster to his other hand and began running forward toward Blair, fist out. He hardly comprehended the foolishness of this, all he could concentrate on was inflicting damage to his opponent, it didn't matter how, it didn't matter where, all that he cared about was hurting the man as terribly as he could…

Blair met his punch head-on, not feeling a thing. Cheerfully, he grabbed Bakura's arm and used his momentum to throw the assassin across the field. Bakura landed on his back, his breath knocked out of him, as he struggled to his knees, gasping for oxygen.

"Nice try!" Blair offered, laughing. Bakura turned and tried firing again. The distance made it hard to aim. These weren't long-distance weapons. He wished he had his Uzi. Even painkillers wouldn't be able to stop it. Blair began his own forward run, and Bakura fired again. This time he sensed a degree of success, Blair's left elbow suddenly began dripping blood. Blair didn't even flinch at the hit, simply glanced down at his bleeding arm and smiled. Bakura was momentarily diverted by confusion, when Blair punched him hard in the chest, a blow that would usually knock people out. Bakura went back to his knees, dropping the Tonfa Blasters and desperately trying to get a breath.

"Geez Bakura, this is pathetic. At this rate, Yami'll be dead before I'm hardly nicked." Blair examined his bloody elbow. "This is nothing." He kicked one of the Tonfa Blasters out of Bakura's reach and lifted him by the back of his shirt. "Next time, Uzi-boy, bring a bigger gun!"

Bakura clutched at the one Blaster he had left, holding it closely. There were five rounds left in it, he was pretty sure, and with only one now in reach, those rounds would have to count for something. He wasn't sure how much time had passed either. Had it been a half-hour yet? How much time did Yami have left? He didn't know. Blair drop-kicked him as though he were a grade-schooler's lunch bag, and that didn't do much to help his thinking. It felt as though at least three of his ribs had been broken by that one kick, considering the body-builder's steel-toed boots. Finally he hit upon one final plan.

Blair kicked him again, a few more feet. Bakura didn't move. Blair eyed him suspiciously.

"You still alive there? I didn't puncture any vital organs, did I? I wanted your life to last long enough for Yami to die first. I was hoping to watch that whole 'anguished-lover' thing."

Bakura didn't reply, just remained curled on the ground, unmoving. Blair poked him with his boot. "Are you unconscious?"

Still no reply.

"I bet you're playing possum. How about if I kick Yami a few times, any objections?"

There was still nothing in the way of a response, so Blair decided he'd probably either knocked-out or killed the assassin. Too bad, he'd really been looking forward to watching Bakura cry over his dying Yami. Naturally, the assassin had to go out the boring way. He shrugged and leaned over Bakura.

"Hey, don't worry, pretty soon Yami will join you."

Wordlessly, Bakura rolled over, the single Tonfa Blaster he had left inches from Blair's face. He fired all remaining rounds, and instantly Blair's face vanished in an explosion of crimson and small fragments of bone. His body was lifted into the air by the force of the gunshots. Blood splashed down like a sticky crimson rain, coating everything around.

With a heaved gasp, Bakura collapsed onto his back, sprawled on the grass, which was pleasantly comfortable and cool against his skin. "Yes. I DO have an objection to you kicking Yami." He finally said aloud, pulling himself to his feet and slipping the Tonfa Blaster into its holster. Gripping his ribcage, he limped to Blair's body and began rummaging through his pockets. "Ah…" he pulled out a small plastic vial and shook it, hearing liquid slosh inside. It was unmarked, but he pocketed it anyway. It might be the antipoison. Resuming the search he found nothing else, and so instead made his way over to Yami's side, retrieving the other blaster on his way.

"Yami? You still with me?" he asked tiredly, dropping to his knees and scooping Yami's limp body up in his arms. "Hang on for just a little bit longer." He said, walking as quickly as his battered body would allow him toward the parking lot, his eyes trained on the person he was carrying, and he noticed that Yami didn't feel as heavy as one might have expected. And looking closer, he looked thinner than Bakura last remembered. He had no way of knowing that Yami's semi-emaciated appearance was because the pharaoh hadn't been taking the best care of himself ever since Bakura had vanished. He'd found it increasingly difficult to sleep and eat regularly, and had thus lost weight and health.

He also noticed that Yami looked very peaceful, the expression on his face was unclouded and Bakura wondered if he knew what was happening around him. Did he know he was dying, or was he dreaming in his poison-induced slumber, his mind fooled into thinking this was sleep? His closed eyes revealed long eyelashes that were thin and feathered, and his bangs bounced very gently with each labored step that Bakura took. Everything about his unconscious form screamed 'innocence', and Bakura found himself growing still more angry at Blair and the boss and at himself too. Yami had nothing to do with the operation, he'd just been a bystander, a completely clueless bystander. How could they have done this to him? And at the same time…Bakura knew Yami wouldn't be in this situation if he hadn't dragged him into the mess in the first place.

Once at the car, Bakura used the end of one of the Tonfa Blasters to break the window of the station wagon, and unlocked the doors. Carefully he set Yami in the back seat, and retrieved the screwdriver from the glove compartment. Ignoring his pain the best he could, he started the cumbersome manner of hot-wiring the car, thinking: I never thought I'd need this information. I guess Lou had a point to all that stuff…

Finally the car sputtered to life and he navigated it out of the Compound, down the dirt road toward Domino. He knew there was a poison-control center there, that was the only place he could think of that might help. Yami was incapable of swallowing the antidote, provided that the liquid in the plastic bottle was the antidote, he needed an IV. And Bakura didn't feel like taking him to the hospital. He hated hospitals, and he knew one of the doctors at the poison-control center as an acquaintance. He hoped that he would be there tonight, and wouldn't ask questions, about either the poisoning or the blood that coated Bakura's front. He glanced in the rearview mirror. I swear I'm going to get you help. Just hold on Yami, please.

Back at the Compound, the boss was waiting for the final announcement. He tapped his foot impatiently. Finally the young engineer stood up, bowed, and announced,

"It's ready."

There was an impromptu scattered clapping in the basement. The boss clapped along with them.

"You should be incredibly proud." He said to the group. "Not even the American military could finish the project, and you did. I can't express how much this means to me."

There was another scattered murmuring of "you're welcome's" and bowing.

"Now, how did you set this up?" He asking peering at the main computer.

"The program is a simple one. It's set up so that you punch in coordinates, and the laser will target those only. You can designate miles, or down to a square foot. It could have been improved and made smaller…but we were running short on time. It's very accurate."

"So I just type in coordinates and then…?"

"The spot will be incinerated." The young man said, shrugging. "That's basically what a laser does. Just like any other. The beam's size can be adjusted. Right now it's on a half-mile damage scale. Whichever coordinates you choose, everything within a half-mile will suffer effects, though obviously the further from the middle, the less devastating."

"Works for me. Well then, start typing in coordinates! Very soon, America will be in the process of obliteration."

To Be Continued…

Author's Notes:

Well. Well well well. :pauses: YAY! I got to kill Blair! A truly enjoyable scene to write.Now there was a highlight to be lived. I love to kill off the bad guys, it's so demn satisfying! It's my reward for making and putting up with the annoying character, I suppose. It's also wishful thinking toward the bad guys in this world. Better be a good person, or a crazy, pissed-off, reincarnated evil spirit might blow your face off with Tonfa Blasters. Hey, it could happen.

Well, celebrations aside, there's still a lot more to go with this. One bad guy down, one more to go, a laser presently aimed at America, and there's still Yami's fate to consider. Bakura of course would rather see the whole world get destroyed before he'd let Yami die, so naturally the laser is the last thing on his preoccupied mind. The poor guy. He's had to go through so much. He needs a hug! Okay, I'm acting all weird and hug-attack-y again. But seriously, he does need one. After he's not in pain anymore, that is, cause getting hugged with broken ribs…owch. And poor Yami is here, dying of poison, clueless about what it is he's been dragged into, and unconscious now for all of it! Neither of those guys can seem to catch a break. I'm somewhat surprised that Takahashi-sama doesn't come along and sue me for always putting his charrahs through hell. But then he'd have to sue ALL the Yugioh fanwriters, 'cause I know I'm not the only one! We could all be in court together…how fun!

Oh, and BTW, if any of you happened to see the fanart I did for this fic, (I know the link on my user page ended up being broken somehow…sorry 'bout that.), this chapter was the chapter that it was for. Just thought I'd clear that up.

Replies:

Hershey-Kiss: Ah, sleep. Sleep is good. :nod:

Mariko: Welcome to the reviewing crowd of TPoaH! xD Weird is my middle name when it comes to Yugioh romances. But it's a lot of fun just the same. :smile: Glad to hear you enjoying it!

You Know Us: Your reviews never fail to amuse me. It's very nice to see two people taking such an interest in the fic. Though, the idea of Michelle coming after me is rather…alarming…uh, Michelle-chan, I hope you realize that if you kill me, I'd never have a chance to finish the fic and you'll never find out what happens to Yami. Just keep that in mind before you come up with an assassination plan. O.o Ne, Blair's a jerk. He's a dead jerk now. Syahaha! We are all happy about this, for idiots like him that're so sadistic deserve death. AH HA! Awright, once someone starts claiming the person in question to be "their Yami", (oh, and BTW, he's MYYami-chan, but we can share. :smile:),you can't convince me it's not a crush. Teeheehee. How adorable…:niko:

Now. It's Spring Break! Weeeee:parties madly: I just LOVE Spring Break! It rules! I'm gonna make AMVs and go to the mall and do a small bit of work to make some money and write a lot and work on anentry for a short-story contest, and work on the fanart for theAnzu fanart contest the fansite I'm a member of is hosting and...ah, all kinds of fun stuffs.Hey, this means I might be able to get chapter 15 up a day or two early, ne?

Syahahaha…see all you guys around. :smile smile: