The Game of Life
By: Rogue Fox
Part Ten... Battle Plan
*+*+*Yami*+*+*
The most frustrating thing I had ever done in my entire life is probably sitting on my butt while a bloodthirsty - literally - maniac kidnapped us little by little. It was Saturday. And I felt sick inside. I felt like I had lost my balance, and it showed. I could barely stand up without help. I need Isis. She's my twin. She's as much my other half as Yugi. So, about noontime Saturday found me in the bathroom, kneeling in front of the toilet, vomiting violently. Being away from my twin actually has real physical symptoms, believe it or not. They're not unlike being away from one's light or dark side. Therefore, Yuki was in another bathroom facing similar difficulties. That's what happens when you have a bond that strong with someone.
" I guess that Mylanta didn't work, huh?" Yugi asked, looking tactfully away as he stood in the doorway. I wouldn't have had anyone else with me in my time of weakness. Out of the people Machiko hadn't taken yet, I trusted only Yugi and Yuki enough to be with me right then. And Yuki had her own problems, so that left Yugi.
" What do you think?" I growled. At that exact moment, my stomach lurched and I leaned over the bowl again. And guess who walked up?
" How's Pharaoh doing?" Bakura's voice asked. I hurled harder. I don't know if it was because of my missing Isis or his presence.
" Bakura, please don't agitate him." Yugi begged.
" I'm not trying to. I actually feel sorry for him, as hard as that is to believe." Bakura said.
" Bull shit." I managed, before it came up all over again. " By Ra..." I moaned.
" I'm telling the truth!" Bakura cried indignantly.
" I find that difficult to believe. I wonder why." I said, sitting back on my feet and trying to calm my rebelling bowels.
" Cut it out, you two. Today of all days, can you not argue?" Yugi pleaded.
" We're not arguing. We're having our idea of a civil conversation." Bakura said.
" You're a pain in the ass." I told him.
" You see? Just a nice conversation." Bakura said to Yugi, who gave me an exasperated look.
" Can you not see that I'm not exactly one hundred percent right now?" I asked.
" Absolutely. Why do you think I'm here?" Bakura asked, grinning. " Seriously, though. I wanted to see if you wanted anything to eat. Ryou's making lunch. I told him I didn't think you'd want anything, but he wanted me to ask."
" For once in your life, you were right. The last thing I need is more to throw up." I said, leaning back over the bowl. " Tell Ryou maybe later. I think it's letting up."
" What's he making?" Yugi asked.
" Just whisper it to him!" I begged. Bakura actually did as I asked.
" Yeah, tell him I want some. But, um, tell him I'll come get it when Yami is done." Yugi said finally. And the very thought of food brought it up once again.
*+*+*Yami Bakura*+*+*
I jogged into the kitchen. Actually, I had been running. The idea of being alone, even for a few minutes to move around the house, did not appeal to me at all.
" What? Did you run all the way around to ask them?" Ryou asked, turning to face me.
" Didn't want... to leave... you alone... for too long." I gasped.
" Uh-huh. Are you sure you didn't run just cause you didn't want to be alone?" Ryou asked. I hated it when he gave me that look. It made me want to confess to all my most recent crimes.
" No!" I protested. " Anzu and Yugi want some, but like I told you, Yuki and the Pharaoh aren't up to it yet. They both said maybe later."
" What about you?" Ryou asked.
" I'm starved. Give me a double helping." I requested. " By the way, Anzu and Yugi both said they'd come get theirs after the other two are feeling better." I said, sitting down at the table that was situated in the kitchen.
" Would I get sick like Yuki if they... um, you know..." Ryou started to ask, but then got tongue-tied.
" Took me. You can say it, you know. It's not like it curses me or anything." I said.
" Fine. If they took you, would I get sick?" Ryou asked. " And if they get you next, I don't know whether I'd say 'Told you so!' or feel really guilty." He added before I could answer.
" Aw. I feel loved." I said, flashing Ryou a lopsided grin. In reality, I wasn't sure how to respond to him. " I don't know if you would. Yuki has a really strong bond with Himeko and Kaiba both. It's like withdrawal from a drug. I also don't know if we have that kind of bond." I said honestly. Ryou looked at me with the oddest expression. Like I had deprived him of something great. I think I had. I had deprived him of one of the most important bonds in his life. The bond with his yami, the one who created him. " Um, your chicken's burning." I told him, unsure of what else to say. Ryou turned back to the grilling chicken.
" I hope we've got Italian dressing. That's my favorite." Ryou said distantly.
" I know." I told him. He looked at me like he was surprised. " I lived in your head for years. I know something about you." I said. " Look, Ryou. I'm just going to say this, okay? I'm sorry. I was an ass. Actually, I was worse than an ass. I was awful. And I... Well, I'm sorry. I screwed it up for both of us, and I don't blame you if you still hate me, and I won't blame you if you always do. There. I said it." I said, turning my gaze to the far wall. I could feel Ryou staring at me, but he didn't say anything. And I was thankful. It's bad enough if the girl you love broke your heart not once, but twice. The last thing I needed right then was any sort emotional thing from Ryou. And Ryou seemed to know that.
" There. Two helpings of chicken salad. Eat up. You're thin as a rail." Ryou told me, plopping a bowl before me while I was still deep in my thoughts.
" Runs in the blood." I said by way of excuse. " And because of that, you could stand to put on a few pounds yourself."
" I may not be as big as you, but being smaller has its good parts too." Ryou protested. I could not possibly imagine anything good about being the second smallest in the school, possibly the town.
" Like what?" I asked incredulously.
" Like, being harder to notice." Ryou said. " Less likely to hit your head, that kind of thing."
" Whatever." I said, shoveling the food into my mouth. I thought about complimenting him, but then I decided that I'd given him plenty today.
I sat there in silence, chewing absently. I couldn't figure anything out. I wanted to help, but that confused me. I wasn't used to the urge to help people. Even when Isis and I had been together, it was her and me, two separate people. I didn't expect her to butt in on my business, and I wasn't expected to do it to her. I was my own person. Not part of a group. All I had ever needed was me. Isis was certainly something like an addiction. Life was so much easier with her, but I could and would live without her. It was hardly like some people described, like I couldn't live without her. I could. It was hard, but I could do it. So I sat there, trying to figure out when I had changed. A year ago, I wouldn't have tried to have a conversation with Ryou that went past " Do this or that." And Isis? A memory. No more. And the Pharaoh calling me a bastard or something of the like would have been grounds to kill him. Now I only fired some petty insult back and left it there. Now I was actually civil to the kid I had formerly treated as my personal slave and punching bag. And now... I missed Isis. I missed her at night, when I knew she was only fast asleep at her house. I missed her during the torture time, also known as school, when she was in another class. I missed her whenever I couldn't see her. And now, it felt like someone was slowly tearing me limb from limb. And I've seen a man torn limb from limb. It definitely did not look fun.
I looked up when I heard someone walk in. Yuki sort of slid into the room, like she was trying to avoid drawing attention to herself. Anzu walked in just behind her.
" Hey, Yuki. Hungry?" Ryou asked. Yuki turned a little green.
" No, not really. Sorry. It looks, um, really good, though." Yuki said, swallowing hard and looking away from the bowl of chicken salad Ryou showed her.
" Sorry, Yuki, but I'm starving." Anzu said, snatching her own food.
" How are you feeling?" I asked Yuki, surprised once again by my concern for her. But then again, she was willing to give me a second chance when I was down and out and no one else would look at me.
" Well, I'm not having trouble keeping my kidneys inside of me, so I think that's an improvement." She said, giving me a weak smile. I was a little awed by her ability to put on a brave face for the people around her. I had been since I first met her. No matter how bad things got, she never seemed too daunted. I knew, as did everyone else, that inside she must be falling apart, but she never let it show. " Oh..." Yuki moaned suddenly. She made a dash out of the kitchen and ran for the bathroom. Anzu rose to follow her.
" No, I'll go." I volunteered, vaulting out of my chair. I ended up spending the next five minutes sitting nearby as Yuki repeatedly wretched into the toilet. I felt sorry for her, but in the back of my head I couldn't help but wonder how, if she had been hurling since three in the morning, she still had anything to bring up.
" Sorry." She managed to croak to me. I shrugged.
" I sat with Ryou when he was sick. It was my fault, but you get the idea." I said. My fault... I had fed the poor kid bleach. I think he never really did get better from that. I didn't let him go to the doctor, either. Well, aren't I just a saint?
" I think he forgives you." Yuki said, sitting back on her heals and looking at me. She looked pale and sickly, but I couldn't believe what she had said.
" Forgive me? I don't think the even you could forgive me for the things I did to him!" I cried.
" You're his yami. A bond like that is not something to be taken lightly." Yuki told me quietly. " Ryou knows that."
" You have to be the most innocent person I know. You are." I said, still not believing her. But Yuki has a talent for making people see what they need to.
" I'm serious, Bakura. I know what I see. Ryou doesn't hate you. I don't think he ever really did. He put up a front of anger and hate, because that's easier to deal with than anything else. It's easier to hate someone who makes your life miserable than to try to love them and be nice to them. But regardless of how much of a pain in the ass you were, even Yami is willing to see that you're making an honest effort to be better. Ryou is probably the most willing to give you a chance. You screwed up. But I have too. Heck, I've screwed up plenty, and royally too. You've just got to have faith that it'll all work out in the end." Yuki told me. A few months ago, I would have told her to keep her speeches to herself. But now I listened. And you know what? She made a lot of sense. Except for one thing.
" Even now, with your yami and your best friends kidnapped, you can talk to me about faith? About how everything will be okay?" I asked her.
" It's not easy." Yuki admitted. " But if I don't believe that it will, then who will?" she asked. I shrugged. And at that moment, it happened.
Yami! Help! Ryou called me. Soul connection, faster and more urgent than I ever remembered him contacting me. I was on my feet and moving. I think Yuki heard it as well, because she was behind me. I nearly crashed into the Pharaoh and almost tripped over Yugi, but in the end we made it to the kitchen. The door that led outside was ajar, and the bowl Ryou had been keeping the chicken salad in was shattered on the floor, its contents spilled all over.
" Will this never stop?" Yuki moaned.
" They've got Anzu now." Yugi said with a sad sigh. The Pharaoh just looked at me angrily.
" You left Anzu alone?" he asked me angrily. I wheeled on him. I forgot about what Yuki had said. I was too angry and upset to do anything else. I punched him. Just flat out decked him, right across the jaw. I was so sick of him blaming me for everything. Then I grabbed him by the collar of his leather top and brought his face close to mine, ignoring Yuki and Yugi who pleaded with us to stop.
" I. Did. Not. Leave. Anyone. Alone." I said slowly, sounding out each syllable carefully through gritted teeth. The Pharaoh grabbed my collar as well.
" Get your hands off me." He demanded. I let him go, a little surprised I had struck out at him so viciously. I was a worried about what Yuki thought of me now, and what Isis would think when she found out. So I didn't see until it was too late that my former target was not going to take it lying down. I reached up and cupped my mouth and nose in my hands, growing angrier at the feeling of warm blood from my nose where he had punched me. I glared at him.
" You asked for it." I told him, lunging forward. To this day, I thank whatever gods there might be that being a yami gives one lightning quick reflexes. Because at that moment, Yuki leapt in between us. I veered away to the left, barely missing Yuki herself. " Damn it, girl! Get out of my way!" I bellowed at her. I was so sick of that uppity Pharaoh. Always thinking he knew better than everyone else. Always deeming me worthless and not trustable. Well, I had news for him. I was human too.
" Bakura, sit down now." Yuki told me, her voice soothing and calm. I refused to listen.
" Yuki, you sit down. This will be settled now. Either that or the two of us will fight forever." The Pharaoh said softly. We both had always known that someday we would fight it out physically. We were both ready.
" It won't be settled now, because now is not the time it's meant to be settled." Yuki said. The way she was talking, it was hard to disagree with her. Both of us put our fists down. " There's only four of us left. Machiko cannot win. If we start fighting amongst ourselves, then we're just making her job easier. Fight it out later. Not now." I reached up indignantly and wiped the blood away from my face. And the Pharaoh rubbed his left eye tenderly.
" I hope you get a good black eye." I told him, but the anger was pretty much gone.
" And I hope I broke your nose." He told me.
" You didn't." I returned gleefully.
" Knock it off, you two." Yugi barked. I normally wouldn't have paid him any heed, but lights are better at making peace than yami's, I've noticed.
" So. What now?" I asked.
*+*+*Himeko*+*+*
Have you ever slept so deeply, it's like your body wants to protect your mind from reality? That night, my first night as one of Machiko's prisoners, I slept like that. The fact that Machiko had become quite addicted to my blood was probably a contributing fact. So, sometime during what I assumed to be the daytime, I woke up and raised my head. I was still blindfolded, and tied very firmly to the chair. My arm throbbed and I could feel warm blood on my arm. I moaned.
" Water..." I managed to croak. I had never been so thirsty in my life. I began to hallucinate. I thought I was back in Egypt. I started to cry. " I didn't mean to, Father! I'll be a good daughter, I promise! Please come back! Please!" I begged. In my mind, I was eleven rain seasons old again. I was afraid and alone. My father was dead. And I had a terrible suspicion that his death was not an accident. But I felt like I had somehow failed in my duties to my father, and he was punishing me and Ammon by leaving forever. " Please..." I begged. Bleeding... I was cold.
" Himeko!" someone pleaded with me. I couldn't see. So cold. Something cold and wet hit me in the face.
" Snap out of it, girl!" Machiko snapped. I sputtered. Then I realized what I had said. Thank the gods, I thought to myself, I didn't say anything about being an Egyptian Princess. I felt someone wiping the blood off my arm.
" Himeko, are you okay?" Jou's voice came to me.
" I guess. Sorry about that." I said.
" It's okay." Mai said. I wished I could see.
" Seto? Where are you?" I asked.
" Mmmmm... I'm okay. Little woozy." Seto said.
" Well, don't you guys worry. Kimi, Aiko, and Tori should be back soon with some new friends for you." Machiko told us. " It's their first solo mission. They'd better not bungle it." She added, more to herself than us. I ignored her.
" Honda? Are you okay?" I called. Somewhere near my feet, something made muffled noises and squirmed. " Okay, Honda, I hear you." I told him. He stopped moving around.
" Oh, yeah. I forgot. I'll put you up on the couch so you can sit up." Machiko muttered. There were a lot of shuffling sounds as Honda was moved, and his gag taken off.
" Please... Water..." Honda managed to moan.
" Hurry up and get him some water!" Jou bellowed.
" Shut up! You guys are tempting enough! Should I just hang you upside down and slit your throat?" Machiko asked angrily. She seemed to be walking as she talked. I heard a faucet going. Next to me, Seto started straining against his binds. But we were all silent. The sound of the water was almost too much to bear, but the unspoken agreement between us all was honored. Honda had been gagged all night. He needed it worse than all of us. " Okay, tilt your head up. Feel the glass? Good, here comes the water." Machiko mumbled to Honda. A few long minutes went by.
" Thank you." Honda whispered.
" Now that I'm on nurse duty, who wants water?" Machiko asked. Four voices other than Honda practically leapt at her offer. It must have been a good half hour before we were all watered to a reasonable extent. Plus, Machiko refused to give us anymore. And about five minutes later, Kimi, Tori, and Aiko came back.
" We got two more." Aiko announced. There were sounds of struggle.
" Good job, you got Ryou Bakura! Oh, and Anzu too. Well, two birds in the bag equal four in the bush." Machiko said with a laugh. I thought it wasn't odd that she said that and there were four of our group left free. " Set them up on the new chairs we got, and get Ryou ready. I'm still famished." More sounds of struggle now.
" Don't you ever get full?" I asked, partly to distract her, and partly to reassure Ryou. There was a loud gasp from him, and I assumed his gag was taken off.
" Not of this kind of blood. The blood of someone who cannot know death. Kaiba's blood has amazing potency for a mortal, but it pales compared to yours, Himeko. I'm hoping that, since whatever makes you abnormal makes Ryou and all the others abnormal as well, his blood will have the same restoring effects as yours."
" Ow!" Ryou cried out.
" Hand me a cup, will you?!" Tori asked angrily.
" And, of course, if yours works so well, then Yuki's blood will keep me alive for billions of years!" Machiko told us triumphantly.
" Okay, so why didn't you just explain the situation to us and ask for some of Yuki's blood?" Seto asked.
" First of all, supposing I had asked you, would you have actually given me some?" Machiko asked.
" That would have been Yuki's decision." Seto said evasively. I complimented him mentally for a good answer. Being mortal, he couldn't hear me, but I did all the same.
" In other words, no." Machiko said. " Secondly, just some of Yuki's blood won't do. No, I need all of it. Every ounce she has. First, I hang her upside down and hit her over the head. No pain, you see? Then I slit her throat-"
" For the love of God, shut up!" Honda pleaded hoarsely.
" My arm hurts." Ryou moaned.
" So does mine, Ryou. Just take it." I advised. I tried to form a soul connection with him, but my mental voice seemed to be blocked.
" That's a no-no, Himeko." Machiko told me.
" What?" I asked distantly. I was still concentrating on making a soul connection with Ryou.
" None of that telepathic thing here." Machiko told me.
" You're blocking me!" I cried.
" So that's you!" Ryou cried at the same time.
" Himeko, honestly. I've drunk from your blood. Your very life flows through my veins as it once did yours. I feel the power you have known for so long creeping into me. I can't get enough. Oh, but if you knew! Once, my power was so much greater than your own! So I came to this school, using what little power I had left to search for someone with enough potent blood to keep me alive. And I found her. Surrounded by others with yummy, potent blood. With lots of power. And don't worry, Himeko. I know what you are now, Princess Isis of Egypt. I can see some of your memories, you see. The story's sketchy, but I think I've got the basic idea. Daddy died and your twin brother got made Pharaoh before he'd even hit puberty. Later, bad guy kills your man, and all your friends. You and your bro get revenge, and now here you are." Machiko told me. I gulped.
" You... You've got it all wrong!" Mai protested feebly.
" I don't think I do. You see, your memories confirm it, Mai. So do Honda's and Kaiba's. I'm no mind reader, but this is pretty easy." Machiko said nonchalantly.
" Yuki can kick your ass any day." Seto announced confidently.
" I know." Machiko conceded. That surprised me. " That's why you're here. Yuki has this funny little thing called a conscience. She feels like she owes it to all of you to save you. Can't tell you why, but that's Yuki for you. She's always willing to give whatever it takes to save her loved ones. She'll pay any price to see you all safe. Any price at all, even her own life."
" She wouldn't! My life depends on hers!" I cried. I wasn't really scared of dying. I've done it before. I was just trying to make Machiko doubt her plan.
" But she got that funny quality from you, Himeko." Machiko answered knowingly.
" Go to hell." Honda muttered.
" Why would I do that? The real fun is about to begin." Machiko said. I could hear the sound of a phone being picked up. I swallowed hard. We only had four people left free. Ammon, Tepe, Yugi, and Yuki herself. Yugi would be busy trying to keep Tepe and Ammon from murdering each other, and they would both be busy trying to murder each other. I was counting on Yuki. She knew what she had to do. I was just counting on her figuring out how to do it. The answer, I had to be careful not to even think this, lay in a little golden key that Yuki alone can summon.
*+*+*Yuki*+*+*
Fear was no longer a problem. Guilt was the problem. I felt so terribly guilty. I felt like I had failed everyone. Like I had let them all down. And I felt like I was still failing them. Like there was a way to make this all go away. I just wasn't thinking of it.
" We don't even know where they are." Bakura protested. His words brought me crashing back to reality from my musings.
" So? We run around town and do a bunch of scans. Sooner or later we'll find them." Yami said.
" If that idea is right, then how come Himeko or Ryou hasn't tried to contact us?" Yugi asked. That shut both the older guys up.
" They're out of range?" Yami suggested.
" There was the time it took for them to get out of range." Yugi countered.
" She's blocking them." I said. They all stared at me.
" How do you know?" Bakura asked.
" Well, don't you think I would have called for help immediately when she grabbed me in school?" I asked. " She muffled me. I don't know why it didn't occur to me before. They could be right down the street and we wouldn't know."
" And for the same reason they can't contact us, we can't contact them or pick them up on scans." Yugi finished for me. I nodded.
" There's got be a way to work around that." Yami said decisively.
" There is." I told him. " I just can't think of it."
" If only someone was strong enough to turn the tables." Bakura said. " Like, I don't know, go back in time and stop all this from happening."
" Nobody should have that power, Bakura. If someone prevented all this from happening, it could have a devastating effect on the future, on things that haven't happened." Yugi said. Their exchange made me think of something someone once said to me.
*+*+*Yuki-Flashback*+*+*
" You could control the very flow of time if you wanted to, Yuki." Himeko said. I looked down at the key in my hands. So much power... No one should ever have to wield it, I decided.
*+*+*Yuki-Present*+*+*
At that exact moment, the phone rang. We all stared at it as an ominous silence fell over the room. The security room was not up and running yet, mostly because one of the bricks had hit a computer terminal and it hadn't been repaired yet.
" Well?" Bakura asked. I sighed and picked up the phone.
" Hello?" I asked dutifully.
" Hey, cutie. How's it going?" Machiko asked. Why had I been expecting it to be her?
" Peachy. We were just deciding what to have for dinner." I said dryly.
" Well, we were think about pizza. Maybe your big brothers would like to join us?" Machiko asked.
" They have previous engagements. Sorry." I returned.
" Well, that's just too bad. Because I really insist that they join us." Machiko said calmly.
" Just try to make them, Machiko. I think you'll find that they've got some bones to pick with you." I told her.
" That's too bad. By the way, did you know that your sister's blood is simply delectable?" Machiko asked. I almost threw up again. Bakura, Yami and I had been experiencing terrible stomach pains and withdrawal symptoms all day. Keeping my lunch down was hard enough without her saying something so revolting.
" Was it really necessary for you to tell me that?" I asked.
" Absolutely. Because, you know, I thought that by now you would have done something. They keep telling me that your powers are so incredible. Well, I'd like to see some of this power." Machiko said.
" You cannot begin to imagine the extent of my abilities, Machiko. You would be wise not to provoke me." I said. I was totally bluffing. I had no idea if I could beat Machiko or not. But I figured it was worth a shot.
" You talk big, but can you put your friends where your mouth is?" Machiko asked. She was right. Was I willing to bet their lives on something I could barely even control? I felt my hands beginning to burn. That's a telltale sign that my power was starting to overload. Sometimes, I build up too much emotional energy for my body to handle properly. It happens to everyone with those kinds of abilities, but it happens to me all the time. Sometimes my body heat will go so high, I'll actually get burned. And then the power just explodes, and I'll destroy everything nearby. I can't control it. The three guys seemed to sense that I was about to blow and started to move away, setting up energy defenses. These "surges," as we've taken to calling them, happen mostly when I become excited or upset. I'm liable to blow up my homework when I get frustrated with it. Then I get more frustrated. You'd be surprised to know how many desks I've gone through. I was so glad right then that Grandpa had taken Mokuba, Yoshi, and Yukio out of town for the week.
" I will make you disappear." I told her. And now... I knew how to do it.
By: Rogue Fox
Part Ten... Battle Plan
*+*+*Yami*+*+*
The most frustrating thing I had ever done in my entire life is probably sitting on my butt while a bloodthirsty - literally - maniac kidnapped us little by little. It was Saturday. And I felt sick inside. I felt like I had lost my balance, and it showed. I could barely stand up without help. I need Isis. She's my twin. She's as much my other half as Yugi. So, about noontime Saturday found me in the bathroom, kneeling in front of the toilet, vomiting violently. Being away from my twin actually has real physical symptoms, believe it or not. They're not unlike being away from one's light or dark side. Therefore, Yuki was in another bathroom facing similar difficulties. That's what happens when you have a bond that strong with someone.
" I guess that Mylanta didn't work, huh?" Yugi asked, looking tactfully away as he stood in the doorway. I wouldn't have had anyone else with me in my time of weakness. Out of the people Machiko hadn't taken yet, I trusted only Yugi and Yuki enough to be with me right then. And Yuki had her own problems, so that left Yugi.
" What do you think?" I growled. At that exact moment, my stomach lurched and I leaned over the bowl again. And guess who walked up?
" How's Pharaoh doing?" Bakura's voice asked. I hurled harder. I don't know if it was because of my missing Isis or his presence.
" Bakura, please don't agitate him." Yugi begged.
" I'm not trying to. I actually feel sorry for him, as hard as that is to believe." Bakura said.
" Bull shit." I managed, before it came up all over again. " By Ra..." I moaned.
" I'm telling the truth!" Bakura cried indignantly.
" I find that difficult to believe. I wonder why." I said, sitting back on my feet and trying to calm my rebelling bowels.
" Cut it out, you two. Today of all days, can you not argue?" Yugi pleaded.
" We're not arguing. We're having our idea of a civil conversation." Bakura said.
" You're a pain in the ass." I told him.
" You see? Just a nice conversation." Bakura said to Yugi, who gave me an exasperated look.
" Can you not see that I'm not exactly one hundred percent right now?" I asked.
" Absolutely. Why do you think I'm here?" Bakura asked, grinning. " Seriously, though. I wanted to see if you wanted anything to eat. Ryou's making lunch. I told him I didn't think you'd want anything, but he wanted me to ask."
" For once in your life, you were right. The last thing I need is more to throw up." I said, leaning back over the bowl. " Tell Ryou maybe later. I think it's letting up."
" What's he making?" Yugi asked.
" Just whisper it to him!" I begged. Bakura actually did as I asked.
" Yeah, tell him I want some. But, um, tell him I'll come get it when Yami is done." Yugi said finally. And the very thought of food brought it up once again.
*+*+*Yami Bakura*+*+*
I jogged into the kitchen. Actually, I had been running. The idea of being alone, even for a few minutes to move around the house, did not appeal to me at all.
" What? Did you run all the way around to ask them?" Ryou asked, turning to face me.
" Didn't want... to leave... you alone... for too long." I gasped.
" Uh-huh. Are you sure you didn't run just cause you didn't want to be alone?" Ryou asked. I hated it when he gave me that look. It made me want to confess to all my most recent crimes.
" No!" I protested. " Anzu and Yugi want some, but like I told you, Yuki and the Pharaoh aren't up to it yet. They both said maybe later."
" What about you?" Ryou asked.
" I'm starved. Give me a double helping." I requested. " By the way, Anzu and Yugi both said they'd come get theirs after the other two are feeling better." I said, sitting down at the table that was situated in the kitchen.
" Would I get sick like Yuki if they... um, you know..." Ryou started to ask, but then got tongue-tied.
" Took me. You can say it, you know. It's not like it curses me or anything." I said.
" Fine. If they took you, would I get sick?" Ryou asked. " And if they get you next, I don't know whether I'd say 'Told you so!' or feel really guilty." He added before I could answer.
" Aw. I feel loved." I said, flashing Ryou a lopsided grin. In reality, I wasn't sure how to respond to him. " I don't know if you would. Yuki has a really strong bond with Himeko and Kaiba both. It's like withdrawal from a drug. I also don't know if we have that kind of bond." I said honestly. Ryou looked at me with the oddest expression. Like I had deprived him of something great. I think I had. I had deprived him of one of the most important bonds in his life. The bond with his yami, the one who created him. " Um, your chicken's burning." I told him, unsure of what else to say. Ryou turned back to the grilling chicken.
" I hope we've got Italian dressing. That's my favorite." Ryou said distantly.
" I know." I told him. He looked at me like he was surprised. " I lived in your head for years. I know something about you." I said. " Look, Ryou. I'm just going to say this, okay? I'm sorry. I was an ass. Actually, I was worse than an ass. I was awful. And I... Well, I'm sorry. I screwed it up for both of us, and I don't blame you if you still hate me, and I won't blame you if you always do. There. I said it." I said, turning my gaze to the far wall. I could feel Ryou staring at me, but he didn't say anything. And I was thankful. It's bad enough if the girl you love broke your heart not once, but twice. The last thing I needed right then was any sort emotional thing from Ryou. And Ryou seemed to know that.
" There. Two helpings of chicken salad. Eat up. You're thin as a rail." Ryou told me, plopping a bowl before me while I was still deep in my thoughts.
" Runs in the blood." I said by way of excuse. " And because of that, you could stand to put on a few pounds yourself."
" I may not be as big as you, but being smaller has its good parts too." Ryou protested. I could not possibly imagine anything good about being the second smallest in the school, possibly the town.
" Like what?" I asked incredulously.
" Like, being harder to notice." Ryou said. " Less likely to hit your head, that kind of thing."
" Whatever." I said, shoveling the food into my mouth. I thought about complimenting him, but then I decided that I'd given him plenty today.
I sat there in silence, chewing absently. I couldn't figure anything out. I wanted to help, but that confused me. I wasn't used to the urge to help people. Even when Isis and I had been together, it was her and me, two separate people. I didn't expect her to butt in on my business, and I wasn't expected to do it to her. I was my own person. Not part of a group. All I had ever needed was me. Isis was certainly something like an addiction. Life was so much easier with her, but I could and would live without her. It was hardly like some people described, like I couldn't live without her. I could. It was hard, but I could do it. So I sat there, trying to figure out when I had changed. A year ago, I wouldn't have tried to have a conversation with Ryou that went past " Do this or that." And Isis? A memory. No more. And the Pharaoh calling me a bastard or something of the like would have been grounds to kill him. Now I only fired some petty insult back and left it there. Now I was actually civil to the kid I had formerly treated as my personal slave and punching bag. And now... I missed Isis. I missed her at night, when I knew she was only fast asleep at her house. I missed her during the torture time, also known as school, when she was in another class. I missed her whenever I couldn't see her. And now, it felt like someone was slowly tearing me limb from limb. And I've seen a man torn limb from limb. It definitely did not look fun.
I looked up when I heard someone walk in. Yuki sort of slid into the room, like she was trying to avoid drawing attention to herself. Anzu walked in just behind her.
" Hey, Yuki. Hungry?" Ryou asked. Yuki turned a little green.
" No, not really. Sorry. It looks, um, really good, though." Yuki said, swallowing hard and looking away from the bowl of chicken salad Ryou showed her.
" Sorry, Yuki, but I'm starving." Anzu said, snatching her own food.
" How are you feeling?" I asked Yuki, surprised once again by my concern for her. But then again, she was willing to give me a second chance when I was down and out and no one else would look at me.
" Well, I'm not having trouble keeping my kidneys inside of me, so I think that's an improvement." She said, giving me a weak smile. I was a little awed by her ability to put on a brave face for the people around her. I had been since I first met her. No matter how bad things got, she never seemed too daunted. I knew, as did everyone else, that inside she must be falling apart, but she never let it show. " Oh..." Yuki moaned suddenly. She made a dash out of the kitchen and ran for the bathroom. Anzu rose to follow her.
" No, I'll go." I volunteered, vaulting out of my chair. I ended up spending the next five minutes sitting nearby as Yuki repeatedly wretched into the toilet. I felt sorry for her, but in the back of my head I couldn't help but wonder how, if she had been hurling since three in the morning, she still had anything to bring up.
" Sorry." She managed to croak to me. I shrugged.
" I sat with Ryou when he was sick. It was my fault, but you get the idea." I said. My fault... I had fed the poor kid bleach. I think he never really did get better from that. I didn't let him go to the doctor, either. Well, aren't I just a saint?
" I think he forgives you." Yuki said, sitting back on her heals and looking at me. She looked pale and sickly, but I couldn't believe what she had said.
" Forgive me? I don't think the even you could forgive me for the things I did to him!" I cried.
" You're his yami. A bond like that is not something to be taken lightly." Yuki told me quietly. " Ryou knows that."
" You have to be the most innocent person I know. You are." I said, still not believing her. But Yuki has a talent for making people see what they need to.
" I'm serious, Bakura. I know what I see. Ryou doesn't hate you. I don't think he ever really did. He put up a front of anger and hate, because that's easier to deal with than anything else. It's easier to hate someone who makes your life miserable than to try to love them and be nice to them. But regardless of how much of a pain in the ass you were, even Yami is willing to see that you're making an honest effort to be better. Ryou is probably the most willing to give you a chance. You screwed up. But I have too. Heck, I've screwed up plenty, and royally too. You've just got to have faith that it'll all work out in the end." Yuki told me. A few months ago, I would have told her to keep her speeches to herself. But now I listened. And you know what? She made a lot of sense. Except for one thing.
" Even now, with your yami and your best friends kidnapped, you can talk to me about faith? About how everything will be okay?" I asked her.
" It's not easy." Yuki admitted. " But if I don't believe that it will, then who will?" she asked. I shrugged. And at that moment, it happened.
Yami! Help! Ryou called me. Soul connection, faster and more urgent than I ever remembered him contacting me. I was on my feet and moving. I think Yuki heard it as well, because she was behind me. I nearly crashed into the Pharaoh and almost tripped over Yugi, but in the end we made it to the kitchen. The door that led outside was ajar, and the bowl Ryou had been keeping the chicken salad in was shattered on the floor, its contents spilled all over.
" Will this never stop?" Yuki moaned.
" They've got Anzu now." Yugi said with a sad sigh. The Pharaoh just looked at me angrily.
" You left Anzu alone?" he asked me angrily. I wheeled on him. I forgot about what Yuki had said. I was too angry and upset to do anything else. I punched him. Just flat out decked him, right across the jaw. I was so sick of him blaming me for everything. Then I grabbed him by the collar of his leather top and brought his face close to mine, ignoring Yuki and Yugi who pleaded with us to stop.
" I. Did. Not. Leave. Anyone. Alone." I said slowly, sounding out each syllable carefully through gritted teeth. The Pharaoh grabbed my collar as well.
" Get your hands off me." He demanded. I let him go, a little surprised I had struck out at him so viciously. I was a worried about what Yuki thought of me now, and what Isis would think when she found out. So I didn't see until it was too late that my former target was not going to take it lying down. I reached up and cupped my mouth and nose in my hands, growing angrier at the feeling of warm blood from my nose where he had punched me. I glared at him.
" You asked for it." I told him, lunging forward. To this day, I thank whatever gods there might be that being a yami gives one lightning quick reflexes. Because at that moment, Yuki leapt in between us. I veered away to the left, barely missing Yuki herself. " Damn it, girl! Get out of my way!" I bellowed at her. I was so sick of that uppity Pharaoh. Always thinking he knew better than everyone else. Always deeming me worthless and not trustable. Well, I had news for him. I was human too.
" Bakura, sit down now." Yuki told me, her voice soothing and calm. I refused to listen.
" Yuki, you sit down. This will be settled now. Either that or the two of us will fight forever." The Pharaoh said softly. We both had always known that someday we would fight it out physically. We were both ready.
" It won't be settled now, because now is not the time it's meant to be settled." Yuki said. The way she was talking, it was hard to disagree with her. Both of us put our fists down. " There's only four of us left. Machiko cannot win. If we start fighting amongst ourselves, then we're just making her job easier. Fight it out later. Not now." I reached up indignantly and wiped the blood away from my face. And the Pharaoh rubbed his left eye tenderly.
" I hope you get a good black eye." I told him, but the anger was pretty much gone.
" And I hope I broke your nose." He told me.
" You didn't." I returned gleefully.
" Knock it off, you two." Yugi barked. I normally wouldn't have paid him any heed, but lights are better at making peace than yami's, I've noticed.
" So. What now?" I asked.
*+*+*Himeko*+*+*
Have you ever slept so deeply, it's like your body wants to protect your mind from reality? That night, my first night as one of Machiko's prisoners, I slept like that. The fact that Machiko had become quite addicted to my blood was probably a contributing fact. So, sometime during what I assumed to be the daytime, I woke up and raised my head. I was still blindfolded, and tied very firmly to the chair. My arm throbbed and I could feel warm blood on my arm. I moaned.
" Water..." I managed to croak. I had never been so thirsty in my life. I began to hallucinate. I thought I was back in Egypt. I started to cry. " I didn't mean to, Father! I'll be a good daughter, I promise! Please come back! Please!" I begged. In my mind, I was eleven rain seasons old again. I was afraid and alone. My father was dead. And I had a terrible suspicion that his death was not an accident. But I felt like I had somehow failed in my duties to my father, and he was punishing me and Ammon by leaving forever. " Please..." I begged. Bleeding... I was cold.
" Himeko!" someone pleaded with me. I couldn't see. So cold. Something cold and wet hit me in the face.
" Snap out of it, girl!" Machiko snapped. I sputtered. Then I realized what I had said. Thank the gods, I thought to myself, I didn't say anything about being an Egyptian Princess. I felt someone wiping the blood off my arm.
" Himeko, are you okay?" Jou's voice came to me.
" I guess. Sorry about that." I said.
" It's okay." Mai said. I wished I could see.
" Seto? Where are you?" I asked.
" Mmmmm... I'm okay. Little woozy." Seto said.
" Well, don't you guys worry. Kimi, Aiko, and Tori should be back soon with some new friends for you." Machiko told us. " It's their first solo mission. They'd better not bungle it." She added, more to herself than us. I ignored her.
" Honda? Are you okay?" I called. Somewhere near my feet, something made muffled noises and squirmed. " Okay, Honda, I hear you." I told him. He stopped moving around.
" Oh, yeah. I forgot. I'll put you up on the couch so you can sit up." Machiko muttered. There were a lot of shuffling sounds as Honda was moved, and his gag taken off.
" Please... Water..." Honda managed to moan.
" Hurry up and get him some water!" Jou bellowed.
" Shut up! You guys are tempting enough! Should I just hang you upside down and slit your throat?" Machiko asked angrily. She seemed to be walking as she talked. I heard a faucet going. Next to me, Seto started straining against his binds. But we were all silent. The sound of the water was almost too much to bear, but the unspoken agreement between us all was honored. Honda had been gagged all night. He needed it worse than all of us. " Okay, tilt your head up. Feel the glass? Good, here comes the water." Machiko mumbled to Honda. A few long minutes went by.
" Thank you." Honda whispered.
" Now that I'm on nurse duty, who wants water?" Machiko asked. Four voices other than Honda practically leapt at her offer. It must have been a good half hour before we were all watered to a reasonable extent. Plus, Machiko refused to give us anymore. And about five minutes later, Kimi, Tori, and Aiko came back.
" We got two more." Aiko announced. There were sounds of struggle.
" Good job, you got Ryou Bakura! Oh, and Anzu too. Well, two birds in the bag equal four in the bush." Machiko said with a laugh. I thought it wasn't odd that she said that and there were four of our group left free. " Set them up on the new chairs we got, and get Ryou ready. I'm still famished." More sounds of struggle now.
" Don't you ever get full?" I asked, partly to distract her, and partly to reassure Ryou. There was a loud gasp from him, and I assumed his gag was taken off.
" Not of this kind of blood. The blood of someone who cannot know death. Kaiba's blood has amazing potency for a mortal, but it pales compared to yours, Himeko. I'm hoping that, since whatever makes you abnormal makes Ryou and all the others abnormal as well, his blood will have the same restoring effects as yours."
" Ow!" Ryou cried out.
" Hand me a cup, will you?!" Tori asked angrily.
" And, of course, if yours works so well, then Yuki's blood will keep me alive for billions of years!" Machiko told us triumphantly.
" Okay, so why didn't you just explain the situation to us and ask for some of Yuki's blood?" Seto asked.
" First of all, supposing I had asked you, would you have actually given me some?" Machiko asked.
" That would have been Yuki's decision." Seto said evasively. I complimented him mentally for a good answer. Being mortal, he couldn't hear me, but I did all the same.
" In other words, no." Machiko said. " Secondly, just some of Yuki's blood won't do. No, I need all of it. Every ounce she has. First, I hang her upside down and hit her over the head. No pain, you see? Then I slit her throat-"
" For the love of God, shut up!" Honda pleaded hoarsely.
" My arm hurts." Ryou moaned.
" So does mine, Ryou. Just take it." I advised. I tried to form a soul connection with him, but my mental voice seemed to be blocked.
" That's a no-no, Himeko." Machiko told me.
" What?" I asked distantly. I was still concentrating on making a soul connection with Ryou.
" None of that telepathic thing here." Machiko told me.
" You're blocking me!" I cried.
" So that's you!" Ryou cried at the same time.
" Himeko, honestly. I've drunk from your blood. Your very life flows through my veins as it once did yours. I feel the power you have known for so long creeping into me. I can't get enough. Oh, but if you knew! Once, my power was so much greater than your own! So I came to this school, using what little power I had left to search for someone with enough potent blood to keep me alive. And I found her. Surrounded by others with yummy, potent blood. With lots of power. And don't worry, Himeko. I know what you are now, Princess Isis of Egypt. I can see some of your memories, you see. The story's sketchy, but I think I've got the basic idea. Daddy died and your twin brother got made Pharaoh before he'd even hit puberty. Later, bad guy kills your man, and all your friends. You and your bro get revenge, and now here you are." Machiko told me. I gulped.
" You... You've got it all wrong!" Mai protested feebly.
" I don't think I do. You see, your memories confirm it, Mai. So do Honda's and Kaiba's. I'm no mind reader, but this is pretty easy." Machiko said nonchalantly.
" Yuki can kick your ass any day." Seto announced confidently.
" I know." Machiko conceded. That surprised me. " That's why you're here. Yuki has this funny little thing called a conscience. She feels like she owes it to all of you to save you. Can't tell you why, but that's Yuki for you. She's always willing to give whatever it takes to save her loved ones. She'll pay any price to see you all safe. Any price at all, even her own life."
" She wouldn't! My life depends on hers!" I cried. I wasn't really scared of dying. I've done it before. I was just trying to make Machiko doubt her plan.
" But she got that funny quality from you, Himeko." Machiko answered knowingly.
" Go to hell." Honda muttered.
" Why would I do that? The real fun is about to begin." Machiko said. I could hear the sound of a phone being picked up. I swallowed hard. We only had four people left free. Ammon, Tepe, Yugi, and Yuki herself. Yugi would be busy trying to keep Tepe and Ammon from murdering each other, and they would both be busy trying to murder each other. I was counting on Yuki. She knew what she had to do. I was just counting on her figuring out how to do it. The answer, I had to be careful not to even think this, lay in a little golden key that Yuki alone can summon.
*+*+*Yuki*+*+*
Fear was no longer a problem. Guilt was the problem. I felt so terribly guilty. I felt like I had failed everyone. Like I had let them all down. And I felt like I was still failing them. Like there was a way to make this all go away. I just wasn't thinking of it.
" We don't even know where they are." Bakura protested. His words brought me crashing back to reality from my musings.
" So? We run around town and do a bunch of scans. Sooner or later we'll find them." Yami said.
" If that idea is right, then how come Himeko or Ryou hasn't tried to contact us?" Yugi asked. That shut both the older guys up.
" They're out of range?" Yami suggested.
" There was the time it took for them to get out of range." Yugi countered.
" She's blocking them." I said. They all stared at me.
" How do you know?" Bakura asked.
" Well, don't you think I would have called for help immediately when she grabbed me in school?" I asked. " She muffled me. I don't know why it didn't occur to me before. They could be right down the street and we wouldn't know."
" And for the same reason they can't contact us, we can't contact them or pick them up on scans." Yugi finished for me. I nodded.
" There's got be a way to work around that." Yami said decisively.
" There is." I told him. " I just can't think of it."
" If only someone was strong enough to turn the tables." Bakura said. " Like, I don't know, go back in time and stop all this from happening."
" Nobody should have that power, Bakura. If someone prevented all this from happening, it could have a devastating effect on the future, on things that haven't happened." Yugi said. Their exchange made me think of something someone once said to me.
*+*+*Yuki-Flashback*+*+*
" You could control the very flow of time if you wanted to, Yuki." Himeko said. I looked down at the key in my hands. So much power... No one should ever have to wield it, I decided.
*+*+*Yuki-Present*+*+*
At that exact moment, the phone rang. We all stared at it as an ominous silence fell over the room. The security room was not up and running yet, mostly because one of the bricks had hit a computer terminal and it hadn't been repaired yet.
" Well?" Bakura asked. I sighed and picked up the phone.
" Hello?" I asked dutifully.
" Hey, cutie. How's it going?" Machiko asked. Why had I been expecting it to be her?
" Peachy. We were just deciding what to have for dinner." I said dryly.
" Well, we were think about pizza. Maybe your big brothers would like to join us?" Machiko asked.
" They have previous engagements. Sorry." I returned.
" Well, that's just too bad. Because I really insist that they join us." Machiko said calmly.
" Just try to make them, Machiko. I think you'll find that they've got some bones to pick with you." I told her.
" That's too bad. By the way, did you know that your sister's blood is simply delectable?" Machiko asked. I almost threw up again. Bakura, Yami and I had been experiencing terrible stomach pains and withdrawal symptoms all day. Keeping my lunch down was hard enough without her saying something so revolting.
" Was it really necessary for you to tell me that?" I asked.
" Absolutely. Because, you know, I thought that by now you would have done something. They keep telling me that your powers are so incredible. Well, I'd like to see some of this power." Machiko said.
" You cannot begin to imagine the extent of my abilities, Machiko. You would be wise not to provoke me." I said. I was totally bluffing. I had no idea if I could beat Machiko or not. But I figured it was worth a shot.
" You talk big, but can you put your friends where your mouth is?" Machiko asked. She was right. Was I willing to bet their lives on something I could barely even control? I felt my hands beginning to burn. That's a telltale sign that my power was starting to overload. Sometimes, I build up too much emotional energy for my body to handle properly. It happens to everyone with those kinds of abilities, but it happens to me all the time. Sometimes my body heat will go so high, I'll actually get burned. And then the power just explodes, and I'll destroy everything nearby. I can't control it. The three guys seemed to sense that I was about to blow and started to move away, setting up energy defenses. These "surges," as we've taken to calling them, happen mostly when I become excited or upset. I'm liable to blow up my homework when I get frustrated with it. Then I get more frustrated. You'd be surprised to know how many desks I've gone through. I was so glad right then that Grandpa had taken Mokuba, Yoshi, and Yukio out of town for the week.
" I will make you disappear." I told her. And now... I knew how to do it.