The Game of Life
By: Rogue Fox
Part Eleven... Duty of Purity
*+*+*Yugi*+*+*
I've done a lot of things in my life. I've stood up to a lot of people no one else could, or would. I've never in my life felt the need to accept defeat. Until that day. I was ready to accept defeat. I was ready to walk up to Machiko and say " You win." Yami and Bakura, however, weren't going down without a fight. And Yuki seemed to know how to get Machiko. She just wasn't telling us.
" I cannot believe this!" Yami cried, throwing up his hands and storming to the other side of the Kaiba living room and back. He reminded me of a frustrated tiger in a cage.
" Yuki, if you just explained to us-" I started to say.
" I can't explain it to you!" Yuki cried, as frustrated as Yami. " It's just... You have to trust me, okay? You just have to trust me, no arguments. That's all I'm asking." She said, spreading her hands out before her palm up to emphasize her plea. Bakura gave me a doubtful look.
" You're asking an awful lot from us, Yuki." He said out loud. Yami showed his agreement by nodding enthusiastically.
" You're asking us to trust you blindly, with no clue what to expect? You're asking me to put no only my life, but your life and Yugi's life and Bakura's life, and the lives of everyone I care about into your hands, without telling me what you plan? I don't know if I can do that." Yami said, shaking his head. Yuki turned to Bakura.
" It just seems like too big a risk." Bakura said helplessly. I've seen Yuki get angry twice before. The first time, it was at Nepano. The second time, Yukio ran out into oncoming traffic. Both times were frightening to behold. But this time surpassed them both. She grabbed Bakura by the collar of his shirt and dragged his face close to hers. Her eyes flashed as she held him there, and the whole room went still.
" Do you want to see Ryou and Himeko alive again?" She asked.
" You know I do." Was Bakura's answer, barely a whisper. Yuki released him.
" Then trust me." Yuki said. Her voice was quiet, but I swear it was the most powerful thing I had ever heard her say, and years later, I would tell her that it still ranked at the top.
" I trust you." Bakura conceded. It looked to me like a ton of weight had been lifted off his shoulders as he said it. " But only because I know you would never do anything to hurt us." He added.
" I trust you too." I said. And as I said it, I truly did trust her. I knew it would be okay. All of us turned to Yami, expectant.
" I wish you could tell me what your plan is, but I guess if you really can't, then all I can do is trust you." He said slowly. " So tell us what to do."
" Okay." Yuki said, clapping her hands together. " You're not going to like it, but as my old basketball coach would say, tough cookies. Bakura, as much as I hate to do it, I'm going to have to ask you to be the bad guy." Yuki said, giving Bakura a helpless look. Bakura only smiled.
" As we all well know, I can do bad guy." He told us, giving us a malicious glare. He really looked evil, so much so that I even stepped back, closer to Yami and farther from him. Bakura laughed at my reaction.
" You are truly sick." Yami informed him.
" Good thing, too. We both know you couldn't pull it off, Pharaoh." Bakura said evenly.
" That's enough." I said sternly, before Yami could reply. They glared at each other for a second more.
" Pretend you're actors, okay?" Yuki said. " And I'm the director, about to give you the scene. We're going to have to do this sort of ad lib, but I figure you guys can handle it. Bakura, you decided you were downright sick of getting your butt kicked, so you trounced us three and since you caught us by surprise, you beat us. You tied Yami and Yugi up. Yami, your defiant and angry... Well, you're exactly as you would be if Bakura beat you senseless. Yugi, I know you wouldn't normally act like this, but do it anyway. Be pitiful. Pathetic. You want them to think you're totally beaten. Your job is to get Machiko to skip her theatrics and get straight to me. Yami, your job is to reinforce Bakura. Got it?"
" Um, yeah, except for one thing." I said. " What about you?" I asked. Yuki smiled.
" Bakura knew that when he attacked us, he would have to take me out first, to insure his safe passage and the fact that I wouldn't blow this whole place up. So when he gave us the jump, he knocked me out first." She explained.
" And how exactly do you plan to get knocked out? Just lay down and go to sleep?" Yami asked irritably.
" Well, the first time he did it, it didn't hurt, so..." Yuki said, giving Bakura an expectant look and trailing her voice off deliberately.
" Okay, I've had enough of this." Yami said.
" Yami, you said you'd trust me." Yuki said sternly. " Completely, regardless of whatever happens."
" Fine. But I swear on my father's name..." he added, leaving us to use our imaginations about the rest of his threat.
" Anyway, Machiko's little friends will be here soon, so are there any other questions?" Yuki asked.
" What happens when Machiko tries to, um, you know, drink your blood?" Bakura asked, looking uncharacteristically squeamish as he said it.
" If I don't wake up, stall for time. If that doesn't work, forget the act and fight back." Yuki told us. " But that isn't likely." She added, mostly for our reassurance.
" Anything else we should know?" Yami asked sulkily. He didn't like this plan, that was obvious.
" I don't think so. The less you know, the better." Yuki said. " Now, they'll be here soon. Bakura, if you would." Yuki said, turning her back toward Bakura and lifting her hair off the back of her neck. He sighed and pressed a palm to the base of her skull. I felt the jolt with my sixth sense as it coursed through her body. It was minor, only enough to leave her unconscious. She dropped down into Yami's waiting arms.
" Well, we'd better get ready." I said, running off to a nearby supply room where I knew some lengths of rope were kept. Bakura tied Yami and I up. The cords were tight to the point of pain for good image. Then there was a knock on the door.
" Kidnapping vampires that knock on the front door?" Yami asked in disbelief.
" Act defeated." I reminded him. Bakura glanced at us and then at Yuki. He seemed a little nervous.
" Show time." He said, more to himself than us. Then he went to answer the door. " Just the ladies I was hoping to see." He said. It turned out that Bakura was an incredible actor. He was so convincing that I found myself believing him, and I knew he was acting. He led the three girls, Aiko, Tori, and Kimi, into the room and told them in a tone that reminded me of a gleeful child who had just beaten the big boss on his favorite video game how he had taken us prisoner. Now, I'm a terrible liar, and an even worse actor. I was once in a play in elementary school. I crashed and burned. So I decided to keep my mouth shut until it was absolutely necessary for me to open it. In any case, Bakura had the girls practically eating from the palm of his hand. It helped a lot that he seemed to have Yami's charm that just seems to attract girls like flies to carrion. He was making it look really good by adding details that he seemed to be making up off the top of his head.
" How did you knock Yuki out? Machiko says she's the most powerful one." Aiko asked. Bakura stretched his muscles like a content cat and grinned at her winningly.
" She may be powerful, but the thing is, she's still human." He said by way of explanation. The girls seemed to accept it.
" It's a shame we have to treat them like this." Kimi noted, kneeling down before Yami and I. Yami glared at her steadily, and for once, I remembered my part. I squirmed away from her, acting very much like a puppy trying to avoid another beating from his cruel master. What scared me was that I had seen Ryou act like that before.
" They're beaten, and they know it. They've lost their only trump card." Bakura said, grinning and nodding to Yuki.
" Well, Machiko will want her now. I just want to get this over with. I want the immortality, but I don't exactly like how we have to get it." Tori said with a sigh.
" How far is it to wherever Machiko is keeping the others?" Bakura asked. He seemed to me genuinely curious as he picked up Yuki, the biggest of the three "captives." " And what do you mean by immortality?"
" Machiko is like a vampire, but she doesn't sleep at day and the sun won't kill her, and she won't die if you drive a stake through her heart. She says those are all silly wives' tales. Crosses don't worry her either. And she always heals herself if she gets hurt. We even tested it. Kimi stabbed her, in the chest, and she still lived. There wasn't even a mark. But it's getting harder for her to heal herself, and harder for her to stay alive. She says she needs to drink the blood of power and strength, so she used her powers to find someone like that. She found Yuki, and all the rest. She told us that if we helped her, she would share Yuki's blood and perform the right rituals and we would be like her. She said that a sip of Yuki's blood would keep us alive if we were on our deathbed and see us to the turn of the century. A whole cup would keep us alive to the next millennia. She doesn't even know what two cups would do!" Aiko cried, happy to think about. I swear, it took strength I didn't even know I had to keep from throwing up.
" And on top of that, you adopt whatever qualities the person the blood came from had. Like if Yuki really can blow this whole mansion to ashes, then we'll be able to do it to!" Tori added. " And since you helped, I'm sure that Machiko would be willing to share some." She added to Bakura. Bakura had been looking at us. I saw a look of pure disgust cross over his face.
I don't need to drink Yuki's blood to live past my natural life. Sickening creatures. he muttered mentally. Bakura rarely spoke mentally at all. If he had something he wanted to say, he said it out loud.
Even you wouldn't stoop that low. Yami conceded. I kicked him sharply.
" Well, let's go. The place where we're keeping him isn't far away at all. Although it is nice to have some help carrying them." Kimi noted, picking me up. I remembered my part and began squirming and whimpering pathetically.
" Untie my feet, daughters of dogs, and I will walk myself." Yami snarled at Tori and Aiko.
" Shut your mouth. You should know better than to speak to ladies like that." Bakura retorted.
" Turn-coat bastard. Untie my hands and we'll see who is truly strongest in a fair fight." Yami said to him. He was doing a good job. " On second thought, leave my hands tied. How hard could it be to fight a man who hides in shadows?" he asked out loud with a smile. Bakura was truly angered by his remark, and I could tell, but he kept his cool.
" You are hardly one to be talking." He noted, sounding amused with the prospect. Yami did end up being carried. They didn't blindfold us. They said it didn't matter any more. The hideout turned out to be Kaiba's pool house. Boy, did I feel like an idiot. Bakura even said that he did.
I was dumped unceremoniously on the floor next to Ryou, who was blindfolded and sleeping in a chair. On his left, Himeko was also tied down to a chair, her arm tied to her side like Ryou. She appeared to be alert, even though she was blindfolded. Kaiba was next to her, and then Jou, and finally Mai, all in similar conditions. Ryou was the only one asleep. Anzu and Honda were both still tied and blindfolded on the couch opposite to the others. Machiko stepped into the room, grinning as Yami was set down next to me. Yuki was dumped at her feet.
" Finally." Machiko said thankfully, casting her gaze skyward as if saying thanks.
" He helped us." Aiko said, pointing at Bakura. Machiko gave him a analytical look.
" Hmm. You'll be rewarded for your efforts." She told him. Bakura forced a smile.
" What? Who?" Himeko asked. Her voice was tainted with fear.
" Bakura, Himeko. Bakura betrayed us." Yami growled. It was one of the saddest things I had ever seen. I couldn't see her eyes, due to the blindfolded, but her shoulders drooped and she slumped in her chair. I could practically see Bakura's heart breaking as he looked at her.
" Damn you, Bakura! How could you betray the girl who gave you a second chance?" Jou bellowed. Ryou woke up and I swear I though Bakura was going to die in front of us. But he maintained his part, tactfully turned away from Machiko and her friends. I had a full view of him, though, as did Yami. I still had this picture of Yami Bakura, evil, trying to get my Puzzle. That day, I lost that image. That day, I saw the side of Bakura that even he thought was long dead. I saw a man, a man torn between doing his duty and breaking the hearts of those he loved. I don't think I could have condemned him if he had dropped the act that minute and tried to save us all himself. But I do think what he did do was far braver.
" Hold your tongue, mortal, and you might live." He growled. As I said, Yami and I could see his face perfectly. Neither of us was ever able to look at him the same way ever again. I learned to respect him then. But Bakura's job was far from over.
" Tepe, why?" Himeko asked softly. He didn't answer her. He looked at us, anger and despair written over his face. I tried to give him a sympathetic look, but Machiko's eyes were trained on us. Yami nudged me, and I took that as my cue.
" Please, don't kill us!" I wailed. I put every ounce of pleading and pathetic-ness I could muster up behind it. I'm well aware that Yami can't resist it when I put on a cute face. I was praying that Machiko would fall for that same charm.
" Shut up, Yugi!" Yami snarled at me. I ignored him, reminding myself it was just an act.
" No! I don't want to die!" I wailed. Everyone's head was turned toward me. If my friends could have seen me, they wouldn't have believed a word I said. I don't think they did despite the fact that they couldn't see me. That was nothing like anything I would normally say under the circumstances, but Yuki told me to be pathetic. And by God, I was going to be pathetic.
" Don't worry, Yugi. I'm not really after you." Machiko said. " String Yuki up." She ordered her "friends." The next few minutes were some of the most terrifying I ever had to endure. I watched, helpless, as Yuki was hung upside down over a pre-made metal rod. Directly under her head, a small altar with funny markings was set up. Yuki herself stirred slightly and her face scrunched up oddly, as though she were seeing something beyond us in her dreams. I prayed that whatever she saw was pleasant, because the reality awaiting her was hardly nice. Aiko tied Yuki's golden hair in a ponytail behind her head and pulled her crimson and black bangs behind her ears. Kimi handed Machiko a golden bowl. Machiko set the bowl, which was pretty big, under Yuki's head on the altar and pulled a twisted dagger with a golden handle out of it. Machiko ordered all the blindfolds to be undone, and everyone stared on in shocked silence as Machiko muttered in a strange language I didn't recognize, either from my own of Yami's memory. Then, Machiko went to press the blade to Yuki's next. I watched with rapt attention, noticing despairingly that Yuki didn't awaken.
" Wait!" Bakura called suddenly. Every head turned to him, many of them with accusing glares. He shrunk beneath them. " I don't understand what's going on." He said slowly. In my mind, I praised him excessively.
" It doesn't matter. I'll explain it to you after the rites are performed." Machiko said dismissively.
" No, please don't kill her!" I cried out as she went to do it again. She turned to me in annoyance, waving that terrible dagger.
" Would you rather I kill you?" she said angrily.
" Yes!" I cried. I didn't care about the act anymore. In truth, I had forgotten all about it. All I cared about was stalling for time. Anything to stall for time. Wake up, Yuki, I pleaded mentally. She stirred again. " Just don't kill her! She gave us all a second chance, not just Bakura! She fought for Himeko and Yami, she protected me, she stood up for Ryou, she helped Jou and Honda, she encouraged us, she believed in Bakura. And she did all of that when no one else would. She was Kaiba's friend in his darkest moments, and even when all her own problems were smothering her, she still did her best to help the people around her. She deserves to live!" I cried.
" And all that stuff that you just said? That's the reason that she'll keep me alive. It's a dog eat dog world out there, little Yugi, and don't forget it." Machiko said. Then she turned back to Yuki, and prepared to slit her throat.
" Don't!" Kaiba bellowed. She paid him no heed. And then, a miracle happened. Yuki's eyes snapped open. I almost cried with relief. I think I might have. For a split second, I saw the eyes I knew, my own eyes, Yami's eyes, Himeko's eyes. Then, she blinked, and those red-violet eyes flashed golden. I had seen that happen once before. Only once. And that was when she summoned the Key of Ra.
" The moment of judgement has come, Machiko." Yuki said, her voice detached and soft, smiling strangely. Even stranger, considering she was upside down. And all I could think about as a golden glow surrounded her was that it had been Kaiba's voice in the end that had woken her up.
*+*+*Yuki*+*+*
I felt Bakura's energy course through my brain, and vaguely, I felt Yami's arms as I collapsed. But even though I was physically asleep, spiritually, I was a buzzing ball of energy.
Have you ever had an out of body experience? I did that day. I could see Bakura talking to Yami and Yugi as he tied them up, but more frighteningly, I could see my own body propped up against a nearby wall. But strangely, I wasn't too scared at all. It seemed all my guilt and fear had disappeared with my physical consciousness.
I'm not exactly sure how I summoned the Key of Ra. For that matter, I never really have figured out exactly how I ever did it. It always just sort of happened. One second, there was just me. The next, I was gripping the cool gold of the Key in my hands. It felt like seeing an old friend after many years. It felt like when Seto came all the way from Japan, in spite of his busy schedule, to comfort me when Mom died. It felt good.
Himeko once told me that I had the power to bend the flow of time to my will. That was what I wanted to do. I had no clue how to do it, though.
" What does my mistress desire?" a strange, monotone, gender-less voice asked. I started and looked around myself. I was surrounded in a gray cloud.
" Who said that?" I asked. I heard my voice, but I doubt I was really physically talking.
" I did." The voice responded.
" Who are you?" I asked suspiciously. There I was, a girl who had recently shared her head with someone else, suspicious of a voice seemingly coming out of no where. Some things you never get used to.
" Your faithful and humble servant. You have summoned me, mistress. Now I desire the reason why." The voice said coolly. I stared down at the Key in my hands.
" You talk?!" I asked.
" I do." Came to cool, monotone answer.
" How come you never talked before?" I asked, suspicious again.
" I tried, but my mistress could not hear me due to the fact that she was smothering in her own emotions. You are also on a plane where my voice travels easier." The Key responded.
" Well, I'll be damned. Wait'll the others hear about this." I muttered.
" Might I ask why you have summoned me, mistress?" the Key asked tentatively. I started.
" Oh, um, yeah. Could you not call me mistress?" I asked.
" You are my mistress." The Key responded stoutly.
" Okay... Can you, um, bend time?" I asked.
" I can do many things, through you. How should I bend time? Would you like to change the past? Or perhaps only view it? The possible futures are also yours to view." The key suggested.
" Um, I'd like to see the past." I answered.
" Excuse me, mistress, but the answer you give is very broad. Perhaps you could clarify?" the Key prodded gently. I took a breath.
" Yes. I would like to see the past of a girl named Machiko." I said calmly, pushing all my doubts out of my head.
" Yes, mistress." The Key responded.
Things got hazy after that. I saw all of Machiko's past, or most of it. I saw what I needed to see.
" That's enough!" I cried. The images instantly ceased.
" You are disturbed, my mistress?" the Key asked.
" Very disturbed." I agreed.
" I hope it was not of my doing." The Key said.
" No. I feel like I need to wake up now." I said. I could have sworn I'd heard Seto yelling something.
" You would like to return to your natural plane?" the Key asked.
" Yeah, if that would wake me up." I responded. The Key didn't bother to respond. My eyes snapped open. At first, I thought the Key had screwed up and put me in the wrong place or something. As my eyes focused, though, I saw that the world was upside down. Machiko was there, and in the background, I could make out a few of my friends. I felt the power in my veins surge forward. I let loose a blast that made Machiko stumble back. It totally demolished the building we were in, and burned the nearby areas to ashes. My friends were all unharmed, still sitting exactly as they had been. Aiko, Kimi, and Tori were all unconscious. I noted Bakura was standing up, free as a bird.
" Bakura, please untie everyone." I said calmly. I was detached, loose. Like I was floating free. I wasn't quite used to feeling yet, but I was familiar with it. It was the feeling I got when I was in the process of rising to my full potential. Bakura nodded at me, and then went to untie Himeko. I saw their confusion, and I could only imagine what they had gone through. They would tell me later. I directed my attention to Machiko.
" Well, looks like you want to go down fighting, huh, Yuki?" she asked me, waving her twisted dagger in my face. I blinked slowly, trying to keep from spacing out.
" Machiko." I said, sounding out the name like I had never heard it before. " Machiko." I repeated. I set my jaw. " You are not all you say you are. You are a monster that should have never been created. Have you told those girls the truth? The truth about what you would have made them into? I have seen your past, Machiko, and I was not pleased."
" As though you are the one I need to please." She growled back. My eyes lolled lazily in my skull to see most of my friends freed. Bakura and Yami were untying Jou and Honda, and then they would all be free. I forced myself to concentrate on Machiko. I waved the Key of Ra in her face the way she had waved the dagger in mine.
" I am the one to please. Your time has come. No person can live beyond their allotted time. You told yourself that you had passed all of those mortal boundaries, but even gods have their times to be born, to live, to die. The gods of Egypt have gone, as have the gods of Greece, and more gods will come and go before the world meets her end. But the gods of Egypt left their mark on the world. I am a part of that mark. But you are of an earlier mark. A mark that should have never been made. You are of an ancient people, who performed rites they didn't understand and made themselves into monsters. To survive, they drank the blood of their fellow humans. Most of them died out before Alexander the Great. But a few survived. You are one of them. You were the worst of them all. Do you remember, Machiko, the little boy whose skull you bashed in with a rock? Do you remember the pregnant mother you terrified before taking the life of both her and her child? Do you remember the young men you seduced to your bed, then slit their throats as they slept? You have led a life of cruelty, and the time has come for you to pay for all your crimes." I said, still in that slow, detached voice. I could feel the heat beginning to burn at my hands. My pulse was pounding in my temples painfully.
" Shut up! You don't understand!" Machiko yelled.
" You once referred to me as purity. I too am of a breed all but lost to this plane. There are far too few of my kind. We are dying. But we were created for pure reasons, for true purposes. We still have a right to live. Some of us have survived by holing up in darkness. Others have moved from host to host, living however they needed to. Some of us have barely begun our existence on this plane. But we still have a right to live. I have seen you, Machiko. And I was not pleased. Now I judge you." I told her. I had no idea what I was saying. All I knew was instinct. I was doing what the Key of Ra had chosen me to do.
" You have no right!" Machiko screamed, backing away from me. She backed right into Yami and Bakura. They stood solid there, preventing her from bolting.
" You have run from fate long enough, Machiko. It is time for you to pay the price." I said, raising the Key of Ra above my head. Things got weird for me after that. They told me later that I was surrounded by a golden light. Then I lowered the Key so that it pointed to Machiko. The light engulfed her while I apparently called " Golden Judgement!" I have no memory of any of this. The next thing I remember is looking at Machiko, who was still standing. She let out a cry of rage and dove at me, trying to stab me with her dagger through the heart. I don't know how I did, but somehow I stopped time. Everything around me went totally still. I was the only moving thing. The air was stale and... lifeless as I breathed it. Jou had his arms around Mai, and Yami and Bakura were still standing there, blocking Machiko from running away. Honda and Anzu were standing closer to Yugi, Ryou and Himeko. Seto was standing just behind Bakura and Yami. All of their faces were frozen in terror. Machiko was suspended in the air, caught in mid leap. I approached her, knowing instinctively that the only way to be truly be rid of Machiko forever was for her to die by her own hand. I wrenched and twisted her arm until the dagger pointed inward, to her own heart. She wouldn't stab herself, but her momentum would carry her into me and force the dagger into her chest. She could heal herself when others hurt her, but technically, she was hurting herself this time. And this time she would die for sure. I positioned myself in front of her and started time again.
The others told me later that it was like a shimmer of light. For me, it was nearly a whole half hour, and moving a person that's been stopped by time is no easy thing to do. In any case, Machiko plowed right into me, as I had predicted. I hit the ground with the force, but Machiko stumbled back, wrenching the dagger from her chest.
" What have you done?" she asked me shrilly. I smiled at her, still detached from reality. But I had miscalculated, apparently. Because Machiko didn't die right away. Instead, she dove at me again. This time, her arm was positioned to slit my throat. I thank whatever God there may be to this day that Bakura was on the ball, because I know I would have died that day with her if he hadn't been. I saw a flash of white as he dove in and gave Machiko's arm a savage wrench. Instead of slitting my throat, she nicked my cheek from the outer corner of my right eye to my jaw line. I could feel the warm trickle of blood that began to flow down my cheek. With a wild, animal-like scream, Machiko leapt on me. I fought to push her off, but my extended use of the Key had left me weak as a kitten. Yami and Bakura and Seto were the ones that hauled her off, and not before she dragged her tongue up my cheek. But just before Yami pulled her away, she whispered in my ear.
" The blood of purity tastes beautiful." She whispered, licking her lips. She died a moment later, in Yami's arms. He laid her down gently, sighed, and then stood to his full height.
" It's over." He announced. And I fell asleep.
*+*+*Yuki-Two weeks later*+*+*
I smiled at Yukio, Yoshi, and Mokuba as they waited anxiously on the Kaiba Mansion front lawn, each one staring at the street.
" When are they gonna get here, Yuki?" Yukio wailed.
" Soon." I promised. Seto wrapped an arm around my waist and I smiled up at him.
" You really look the part." He told me.
" And what are you for Halloween?" I asked. He was dressed in a pair of jeans and a loose jacket with a regular black tee-shirt underneath.
" A normal guy. Out there, huh?" he said. I laughed.
" They're here!" Yoshi and Mokuba called joyfully. I looked up as Yami's red car pulled up to the mansion. Bakura and Himeko were the first to spill out of the car. They had been sitting practically on top of each other in the front seat. Ryou and Yugi tumbled out of the back seat, followed by Anzu.
" Hah! Yuki's an angel!" Ryou cried. Yugi laughed.
" And Himeko's a demon!" he added. Himeko dashed up to me and grabbed my arm.
" We're a pair!" she cried.
" So are we!" Ryou said, grabbing Bakura.
" Lemme guess! I bet you two are the Prince and the Pauper. Ryou's the Pauper and Bakura's the Prince." I said.
" That's a laugh." Yami said. " He's forgetting who's the real royalty around here."
" Of course, Batman." Bakura said with a snicker. Yugi and Yami were Batman and Robin. That was my idea. " Yuki's the royalty." He added.
" That's not what I meant." Yami growled.
" Bakura!" Yoshi, Yukio, and Mokuba all called excitedly, tackling Bakura at the waist.
" Ah! Attack of the munchkins!" he cried in mock fear.
" Tell us a story!" Yukio begged.
" After we get enough candy." Bakura said.
" Oh God. They're going to have so many nightmares." I muttered.
" Oh, it's Halloween. Let them get scared." Seto said, pulling me close to him.
" Yeah! Being scared is fun!" Mokuba cried.
" So long as it's not real danger." Yoshi added knowingly. I smiled sadly. It seemed that my boys knew too much of real danger.
" Where's Jou and the others?" Yugi asked. There was a loud bang as Jou's pile of bolts he called his car rumbled up behind Yami's.
" Right there." I said. Mai hopped out of the front seat, and Jou ran around the car to join her as Anzu and Honda climbed out of the backseat.
" The name's Bond. James Bond." Jou announced, trying to sound mysterious, dressed in a black suit with sunglasses.
" And I'm one of his girlfriends. The one from the Oriental movie." Mai said. She was wearing a bright blue Oriental dress with slits all the way up to the middle of her thigh.
" Anzu, you look cute!" I called. Anzu smiled and approached me.
" I'm a brunette Tinkerbell." She told us.
" Sweet as sugar." Yugi said with a grin.
" What are you, Honda?" Ryou asked curiously.
" Isn't it obvious? I'm Frankenstein's monster." He responded good- naturedly.
" Couldn't even tell you dressed up." Seto said. That resulted in a quick fight.
We went trick or treating after that, and everyone slept over at the mansion that night. There was even a young couple who thought that Seto and I were married and the boys were our sons. That got a lot of laughs. After we got home, Bakura told every scary story he could come up with (and it turned out that he really did his homework for this one) and I even told some from America. Only Seto and Himeko knew them, but I put a few twists in that no one had heard before. The boys did have nightmares, and all three ended up sleeping on the same air mattress as Seto and I. But other than that, everyone had fun. And no one was scared about Machiko.
There's a scar on my right cheek. It comes down from the lower outer corner of my right eye to my jaw line at a slight angle. Seto offered to pay for laser surgery to remove it, but I wouldn't let him. Mai is always after me to wear some make-up to cover it, but I won't. It's a reminder for me. When I see that scar, I remember that there will always be evil in the world. But it's also my way of promising everyone that sees it that I will do everything in my power to rid the world of as much evil as I can, before my allotted time is up. Machiko lived out her time terribly, being cruel and causing innocent people pain. I plan to spend mine doing the opposite. I want to right the wrongs as best I can. And now, I'm pretty sure I can do it.
*+*+*
A/N: Well, that's the end of the Machiko saga. Next saga will concentrate more on the Himeko/Bakura/Nen love triangle, and yes, Nen will be playing a part. It will also have a lot to do with Yuki's past. Please review! Also, I need suggestions. If you guys have got a villain who would just rock Yuki's world, send him/her in! Please! I'm desperate! Or, if you have a suggestion, send that in too! Please! You wanna see more? Send 'em in! Thanks again for reading and please review!
By: Rogue Fox
Part Eleven... Duty of Purity
*+*+*Yugi*+*+*
I've done a lot of things in my life. I've stood up to a lot of people no one else could, or would. I've never in my life felt the need to accept defeat. Until that day. I was ready to accept defeat. I was ready to walk up to Machiko and say " You win." Yami and Bakura, however, weren't going down without a fight. And Yuki seemed to know how to get Machiko. She just wasn't telling us.
" I cannot believe this!" Yami cried, throwing up his hands and storming to the other side of the Kaiba living room and back. He reminded me of a frustrated tiger in a cage.
" Yuki, if you just explained to us-" I started to say.
" I can't explain it to you!" Yuki cried, as frustrated as Yami. " It's just... You have to trust me, okay? You just have to trust me, no arguments. That's all I'm asking." She said, spreading her hands out before her palm up to emphasize her plea. Bakura gave me a doubtful look.
" You're asking an awful lot from us, Yuki." He said out loud. Yami showed his agreement by nodding enthusiastically.
" You're asking us to trust you blindly, with no clue what to expect? You're asking me to put no only my life, but your life and Yugi's life and Bakura's life, and the lives of everyone I care about into your hands, without telling me what you plan? I don't know if I can do that." Yami said, shaking his head. Yuki turned to Bakura.
" It just seems like too big a risk." Bakura said helplessly. I've seen Yuki get angry twice before. The first time, it was at Nepano. The second time, Yukio ran out into oncoming traffic. Both times were frightening to behold. But this time surpassed them both. She grabbed Bakura by the collar of his shirt and dragged his face close to hers. Her eyes flashed as she held him there, and the whole room went still.
" Do you want to see Ryou and Himeko alive again?" She asked.
" You know I do." Was Bakura's answer, barely a whisper. Yuki released him.
" Then trust me." Yuki said. Her voice was quiet, but I swear it was the most powerful thing I had ever heard her say, and years later, I would tell her that it still ranked at the top.
" I trust you." Bakura conceded. It looked to me like a ton of weight had been lifted off his shoulders as he said it. " But only because I know you would never do anything to hurt us." He added.
" I trust you too." I said. And as I said it, I truly did trust her. I knew it would be okay. All of us turned to Yami, expectant.
" I wish you could tell me what your plan is, but I guess if you really can't, then all I can do is trust you." He said slowly. " So tell us what to do."
" Okay." Yuki said, clapping her hands together. " You're not going to like it, but as my old basketball coach would say, tough cookies. Bakura, as much as I hate to do it, I'm going to have to ask you to be the bad guy." Yuki said, giving Bakura a helpless look. Bakura only smiled.
" As we all well know, I can do bad guy." He told us, giving us a malicious glare. He really looked evil, so much so that I even stepped back, closer to Yami and farther from him. Bakura laughed at my reaction.
" You are truly sick." Yami informed him.
" Good thing, too. We both know you couldn't pull it off, Pharaoh." Bakura said evenly.
" That's enough." I said sternly, before Yami could reply. They glared at each other for a second more.
" Pretend you're actors, okay?" Yuki said. " And I'm the director, about to give you the scene. We're going to have to do this sort of ad lib, but I figure you guys can handle it. Bakura, you decided you were downright sick of getting your butt kicked, so you trounced us three and since you caught us by surprise, you beat us. You tied Yami and Yugi up. Yami, your defiant and angry... Well, you're exactly as you would be if Bakura beat you senseless. Yugi, I know you wouldn't normally act like this, but do it anyway. Be pitiful. Pathetic. You want them to think you're totally beaten. Your job is to get Machiko to skip her theatrics and get straight to me. Yami, your job is to reinforce Bakura. Got it?"
" Um, yeah, except for one thing." I said. " What about you?" I asked. Yuki smiled.
" Bakura knew that when he attacked us, he would have to take me out first, to insure his safe passage and the fact that I wouldn't blow this whole place up. So when he gave us the jump, he knocked me out first." She explained.
" And how exactly do you plan to get knocked out? Just lay down and go to sleep?" Yami asked irritably.
" Well, the first time he did it, it didn't hurt, so..." Yuki said, giving Bakura an expectant look and trailing her voice off deliberately.
" Okay, I've had enough of this." Yami said.
" Yami, you said you'd trust me." Yuki said sternly. " Completely, regardless of whatever happens."
" Fine. But I swear on my father's name..." he added, leaving us to use our imaginations about the rest of his threat.
" Anyway, Machiko's little friends will be here soon, so are there any other questions?" Yuki asked.
" What happens when Machiko tries to, um, you know, drink your blood?" Bakura asked, looking uncharacteristically squeamish as he said it.
" If I don't wake up, stall for time. If that doesn't work, forget the act and fight back." Yuki told us. " But that isn't likely." She added, mostly for our reassurance.
" Anything else we should know?" Yami asked sulkily. He didn't like this plan, that was obvious.
" I don't think so. The less you know, the better." Yuki said. " Now, they'll be here soon. Bakura, if you would." Yuki said, turning her back toward Bakura and lifting her hair off the back of her neck. He sighed and pressed a palm to the base of her skull. I felt the jolt with my sixth sense as it coursed through her body. It was minor, only enough to leave her unconscious. She dropped down into Yami's waiting arms.
" Well, we'd better get ready." I said, running off to a nearby supply room where I knew some lengths of rope were kept. Bakura tied Yami and I up. The cords were tight to the point of pain for good image. Then there was a knock on the door.
" Kidnapping vampires that knock on the front door?" Yami asked in disbelief.
" Act defeated." I reminded him. Bakura glanced at us and then at Yuki. He seemed a little nervous.
" Show time." He said, more to himself than us. Then he went to answer the door. " Just the ladies I was hoping to see." He said. It turned out that Bakura was an incredible actor. He was so convincing that I found myself believing him, and I knew he was acting. He led the three girls, Aiko, Tori, and Kimi, into the room and told them in a tone that reminded me of a gleeful child who had just beaten the big boss on his favorite video game how he had taken us prisoner. Now, I'm a terrible liar, and an even worse actor. I was once in a play in elementary school. I crashed and burned. So I decided to keep my mouth shut until it was absolutely necessary for me to open it. In any case, Bakura had the girls practically eating from the palm of his hand. It helped a lot that he seemed to have Yami's charm that just seems to attract girls like flies to carrion. He was making it look really good by adding details that he seemed to be making up off the top of his head.
" How did you knock Yuki out? Machiko says she's the most powerful one." Aiko asked. Bakura stretched his muscles like a content cat and grinned at her winningly.
" She may be powerful, but the thing is, she's still human." He said by way of explanation. The girls seemed to accept it.
" It's a shame we have to treat them like this." Kimi noted, kneeling down before Yami and I. Yami glared at her steadily, and for once, I remembered my part. I squirmed away from her, acting very much like a puppy trying to avoid another beating from his cruel master. What scared me was that I had seen Ryou act like that before.
" They're beaten, and they know it. They've lost their only trump card." Bakura said, grinning and nodding to Yuki.
" Well, Machiko will want her now. I just want to get this over with. I want the immortality, but I don't exactly like how we have to get it." Tori said with a sigh.
" How far is it to wherever Machiko is keeping the others?" Bakura asked. He seemed to me genuinely curious as he picked up Yuki, the biggest of the three "captives." " And what do you mean by immortality?"
" Machiko is like a vampire, but she doesn't sleep at day and the sun won't kill her, and she won't die if you drive a stake through her heart. She says those are all silly wives' tales. Crosses don't worry her either. And she always heals herself if she gets hurt. We even tested it. Kimi stabbed her, in the chest, and she still lived. There wasn't even a mark. But it's getting harder for her to heal herself, and harder for her to stay alive. She says she needs to drink the blood of power and strength, so she used her powers to find someone like that. She found Yuki, and all the rest. She told us that if we helped her, she would share Yuki's blood and perform the right rituals and we would be like her. She said that a sip of Yuki's blood would keep us alive if we were on our deathbed and see us to the turn of the century. A whole cup would keep us alive to the next millennia. She doesn't even know what two cups would do!" Aiko cried, happy to think about. I swear, it took strength I didn't even know I had to keep from throwing up.
" And on top of that, you adopt whatever qualities the person the blood came from had. Like if Yuki really can blow this whole mansion to ashes, then we'll be able to do it to!" Tori added. " And since you helped, I'm sure that Machiko would be willing to share some." She added to Bakura. Bakura had been looking at us. I saw a look of pure disgust cross over his face.
I don't need to drink Yuki's blood to live past my natural life. Sickening creatures. he muttered mentally. Bakura rarely spoke mentally at all. If he had something he wanted to say, he said it out loud.
Even you wouldn't stoop that low. Yami conceded. I kicked him sharply.
" Well, let's go. The place where we're keeping him isn't far away at all. Although it is nice to have some help carrying them." Kimi noted, picking me up. I remembered my part and began squirming and whimpering pathetically.
" Untie my feet, daughters of dogs, and I will walk myself." Yami snarled at Tori and Aiko.
" Shut your mouth. You should know better than to speak to ladies like that." Bakura retorted.
" Turn-coat bastard. Untie my hands and we'll see who is truly strongest in a fair fight." Yami said to him. He was doing a good job. " On second thought, leave my hands tied. How hard could it be to fight a man who hides in shadows?" he asked out loud with a smile. Bakura was truly angered by his remark, and I could tell, but he kept his cool.
" You are hardly one to be talking." He noted, sounding amused with the prospect. Yami did end up being carried. They didn't blindfold us. They said it didn't matter any more. The hideout turned out to be Kaiba's pool house. Boy, did I feel like an idiot. Bakura even said that he did.
I was dumped unceremoniously on the floor next to Ryou, who was blindfolded and sleeping in a chair. On his left, Himeko was also tied down to a chair, her arm tied to her side like Ryou. She appeared to be alert, even though she was blindfolded. Kaiba was next to her, and then Jou, and finally Mai, all in similar conditions. Ryou was the only one asleep. Anzu and Honda were both still tied and blindfolded on the couch opposite to the others. Machiko stepped into the room, grinning as Yami was set down next to me. Yuki was dumped at her feet.
" Finally." Machiko said thankfully, casting her gaze skyward as if saying thanks.
" He helped us." Aiko said, pointing at Bakura. Machiko gave him a analytical look.
" Hmm. You'll be rewarded for your efforts." She told him. Bakura forced a smile.
" What? Who?" Himeko asked. Her voice was tainted with fear.
" Bakura, Himeko. Bakura betrayed us." Yami growled. It was one of the saddest things I had ever seen. I couldn't see her eyes, due to the blindfolded, but her shoulders drooped and she slumped in her chair. I could practically see Bakura's heart breaking as he looked at her.
" Damn you, Bakura! How could you betray the girl who gave you a second chance?" Jou bellowed. Ryou woke up and I swear I though Bakura was going to die in front of us. But he maintained his part, tactfully turned away from Machiko and her friends. I had a full view of him, though, as did Yami. I still had this picture of Yami Bakura, evil, trying to get my Puzzle. That day, I lost that image. That day, I saw the side of Bakura that even he thought was long dead. I saw a man, a man torn between doing his duty and breaking the hearts of those he loved. I don't think I could have condemned him if he had dropped the act that minute and tried to save us all himself. But I do think what he did do was far braver.
" Hold your tongue, mortal, and you might live." He growled. As I said, Yami and I could see his face perfectly. Neither of us was ever able to look at him the same way ever again. I learned to respect him then. But Bakura's job was far from over.
" Tepe, why?" Himeko asked softly. He didn't answer her. He looked at us, anger and despair written over his face. I tried to give him a sympathetic look, but Machiko's eyes were trained on us. Yami nudged me, and I took that as my cue.
" Please, don't kill us!" I wailed. I put every ounce of pleading and pathetic-ness I could muster up behind it. I'm well aware that Yami can't resist it when I put on a cute face. I was praying that Machiko would fall for that same charm.
" Shut up, Yugi!" Yami snarled at me. I ignored him, reminding myself it was just an act.
" No! I don't want to die!" I wailed. Everyone's head was turned toward me. If my friends could have seen me, they wouldn't have believed a word I said. I don't think they did despite the fact that they couldn't see me. That was nothing like anything I would normally say under the circumstances, but Yuki told me to be pathetic. And by God, I was going to be pathetic.
" Don't worry, Yugi. I'm not really after you." Machiko said. " String Yuki up." She ordered her "friends." The next few minutes were some of the most terrifying I ever had to endure. I watched, helpless, as Yuki was hung upside down over a pre-made metal rod. Directly under her head, a small altar with funny markings was set up. Yuki herself stirred slightly and her face scrunched up oddly, as though she were seeing something beyond us in her dreams. I prayed that whatever she saw was pleasant, because the reality awaiting her was hardly nice. Aiko tied Yuki's golden hair in a ponytail behind her head and pulled her crimson and black bangs behind her ears. Kimi handed Machiko a golden bowl. Machiko set the bowl, which was pretty big, under Yuki's head on the altar and pulled a twisted dagger with a golden handle out of it. Machiko ordered all the blindfolds to be undone, and everyone stared on in shocked silence as Machiko muttered in a strange language I didn't recognize, either from my own of Yami's memory. Then, Machiko went to press the blade to Yuki's next. I watched with rapt attention, noticing despairingly that Yuki didn't awaken.
" Wait!" Bakura called suddenly. Every head turned to him, many of them with accusing glares. He shrunk beneath them. " I don't understand what's going on." He said slowly. In my mind, I praised him excessively.
" It doesn't matter. I'll explain it to you after the rites are performed." Machiko said dismissively.
" No, please don't kill her!" I cried out as she went to do it again. She turned to me in annoyance, waving that terrible dagger.
" Would you rather I kill you?" she said angrily.
" Yes!" I cried. I didn't care about the act anymore. In truth, I had forgotten all about it. All I cared about was stalling for time. Anything to stall for time. Wake up, Yuki, I pleaded mentally. She stirred again. " Just don't kill her! She gave us all a second chance, not just Bakura! She fought for Himeko and Yami, she protected me, she stood up for Ryou, she helped Jou and Honda, she encouraged us, she believed in Bakura. And she did all of that when no one else would. She was Kaiba's friend in his darkest moments, and even when all her own problems were smothering her, she still did her best to help the people around her. She deserves to live!" I cried.
" And all that stuff that you just said? That's the reason that she'll keep me alive. It's a dog eat dog world out there, little Yugi, and don't forget it." Machiko said. Then she turned back to Yuki, and prepared to slit her throat.
" Don't!" Kaiba bellowed. She paid him no heed. And then, a miracle happened. Yuki's eyes snapped open. I almost cried with relief. I think I might have. For a split second, I saw the eyes I knew, my own eyes, Yami's eyes, Himeko's eyes. Then, she blinked, and those red-violet eyes flashed golden. I had seen that happen once before. Only once. And that was when she summoned the Key of Ra.
" The moment of judgement has come, Machiko." Yuki said, her voice detached and soft, smiling strangely. Even stranger, considering she was upside down. And all I could think about as a golden glow surrounded her was that it had been Kaiba's voice in the end that had woken her up.
*+*+*Yuki*+*+*
I felt Bakura's energy course through my brain, and vaguely, I felt Yami's arms as I collapsed. But even though I was physically asleep, spiritually, I was a buzzing ball of energy.
Have you ever had an out of body experience? I did that day. I could see Bakura talking to Yami and Yugi as he tied them up, but more frighteningly, I could see my own body propped up against a nearby wall. But strangely, I wasn't too scared at all. It seemed all my guilt and fear had disappeared with my physical consciousness.
I'm not exactly sure how I summoned the Key of Ra. For that matter, I never really have figured out exactly how I ever did it. It always just sort of happened. One second, there was just me. The next, I was gripping the cool gold of the Key in my hands. It felt like seeing an old friend after many years. It felt like when Seto came all the way from Japan, in spite of his busy schedule, to comfort me when Mom died. It felt good.
Himeko once told me that I had the power to bend the flow of time to my will. That was what I wanted to do. I had no clue how to do it, though.
" What does my mistress desire?" a strange, monotone, gender-less voice asked. I started and looked around myself. I was surrounded in a gray cloud.
" Who said that?" I asked. I heard my voice, but I doubt I was really physically talking.
" I did." The voice responded.
" Who are you?" I asked suspiciously. There I was, a girl who had recently shared her head with someone else, suspicious of a voice seemingly coming out of no where. Some things you never get used to.
" Your faithful and humble servant. You have summoned me, mistress. Now I desire the reason why." The voice said coolly. I stared down at the Key in my hands.
" You talk?!" I asked.
" I do." Came to cool, monotone answer.
" How come you never talked before?" I asked, suspicious again.
" I tried, but my mistress could not hear me due to the fact that she was smothering in her own emotions. You are also on a plane where my voice travels easier." The Key responded.
" Well, I'll be damned. Wait'll the others hear about this." I muttered.
" Might I ask why you have summoned me, mistress?" the Key asked tentatively. I started.
" Oh, um, yeah. Could you not call me mistress?" I asked.
" You are my mistress." The Key responded stoutly.
" Okay... Can you, um, bend time?" I asked.
" I can do many things, through you. How should I bend time? Would you like to change the past? Or perhaps only view it? The possible futures are also yours to view." The key suggested.
" Um, I'd like to see the past." I answered.
" Excuse me, mistress, but the answer you give is very broad. Perhaps you could clarify?" the Key prodded gently. I took a breath.
" Yes. I would like to see the past of a girl named Machiko." I said calmly, pushing all my doubts out of my head.
" Yes, mistress." The Key responded.
Things got hazy after that. I saw all of Machiko's past, or most of it. I saw what I needed to see.
" That's enough!" I cried. The images instantly ceased.
" You are disturbed, my mistress?" the Key asked.
" Very disturbed." I agreed.
" I hope it was not of my doing." The Key said.
" No. I feel like I need to wake up now." I said. I could have sworn I'd heard Seto yelling something.
" You would like to return to your natural plane?" the Key asked.
" Yeah, if that would wake me up." I responded. The Key didn't bother to respond. My eyes snapped open. At first, I thought the Key had screwed up and put me in the wrong place or something. As my eyes focused, though, I saw that the world was upside down. Machiko was there, and in the background, I could make out a few of my friends. I felt the power in my veins surge forward. I let loose a blast that made Machiko stumble back. It totally demolished the building we were in, and burned the nearby areas to ashes. My friends were all unharmed, still sitting exactly as they had been. Aiko, Kimi, and Tori were all unconscious. I noted Bakura was standing up, free as a bird.
" Bakura, please untie everyone." I said calmly. I was detached, loose. Like I was floating free. I wasn't quite used to feeling yet, but I was familiar with it. It was the feeling I got when I was in the process of rising to my full potential. Bakura nodded at me, and then went to untie Himeko. I saw their confusion, and I could only imagine what they had gone through. They would tell me later. I directed my attention to Machiko.
" Well, looks like you want to go down fighting, huh, Yuki?" she asked me, waving her twisted dagger in my face. I blinked slowly, trying to keep from spacing out.
" Machiko." I said, sounding out the name like I had never heard it before. " Machiko." I repeated. I set my jaw. " You are not all you say you are. You are a monster that should have never been created. Have you told those girls the truth? The truth about what you would have made them into? I have seen your past, Machiko, and I was not pleased."
" As though you are the one I need to please." She growled back. My eyes lolled lazily in my skull to see most of my friends freed. Bakura and Yami were untying Jou and Honda, and then they would all be free. I forced myself to concentrate on Machiko. I waved the Key of Ra in her face the way she had waved the dagger in mine.
" I am the one to please. Your time has come. No person can live beyond their allotted time. You told yourself that you had passed all of those mortal boundaries, but even gods have their times to be born, to live, to die. The gods of Egypt have gone, as have the gods of Greece, and more gods will come and go before the world meets her end. But the gods of Egypt left their mark on the world. I am a part of that mark. But you are of an earlier mark. A mark that should have never been made. You are of an ancient people, who performed rites they didn't understand and made themselves into monsters. To survive, they drank the blood of their fellow humans. Most of them died out before Alexander the Great. But a few survived. You are one of them. You were the worst of them all. Do you remember, Machiko, the little boy whose skull you bashed in with a rock? Do you remember the pregnant mother you terrified before taking the life of both her and her child? Do you remember the young men you seduced to your bed, then slit their throats as they slept? You have led a life of cruelty, and the time has come for you to pay for all your crimes." I said, still in that slow, detached voice. I could feel the heat beginning to burn at my hands. My pulse was pounding in my temples painfully.
" Shut up! You don't understand!" Machiko yelled.
" You once referred to me as purity. I too am of a breed all but lost to this plane. There are far too few of my kind. We are dying. But we were created for pure reasons, for true purposes. We still have a right to live. Some of us have survived by holing up in darkness. Others have moved from host to host, living however they needed to. Some of us have barely begun our existence on this plane. But we still have a right to live. I have seen you, Machiko. And I was not pleased. Now I judge you." I told her. I had no idea what I was saying. All I knew was instinct. I was doing what the Key of Ra had chosen me to do.
" You have no right!" Machiko screamed, backing away from me. She backed right into Yami and Bakura. They stood solid there, preventing her from bolting.
" You have run from fate long enough, Machiko. It is time for you to pay the price." I said, raising the Key of Ra above my head. Things got weird for me after that. They told me later that I was surrounded by a golden light. Then I lowered the Key so that it pointed to Machiko. The light engulfed her while I apparently called " Golden Judgement!" I have no memory of any of this. The next thing I remember is looking at Machiko, who was still standing. She let out a cry of rage and dove at me, trying to stab me with her dagger through the heart. I don't know how I did, but somehow I stopped time. Everything around me went totally still. I was the only moving thing. The air was stale and... lifeless as I breathed it. Jou had his arms around Mai, and Yami and Bakura were still standing there, blocking Machiko from running away. Honda and Anzu were standing closer to Yugi, Ryou and Himeko. Seto was standing just behind Bakura and Yami. All of their faces were frozen in terror. Machiko was suspended in the air, caught in mid leap. I approached her, knowing instinctively that the only way to be truly be rid of Machiko forever was for her to die by her own hand. I wrenched and twisted her arm until the dagger pointed inward, to her own heart. She wouldn't stab herself, but her momentum would carry her into me and force the dagger into her chest. She could heal herself when others hurt her, but technically, she was hurting herself this time. And this time she would die for sure. I positioned myself in front of her and started time again.
The others told me later that it was like a shimmer of light. For me, it was nearly a whole half hour, and moving a person that's been stopped by time is no easy thing to do. In any case, Machiko plowed right into me, as I had predicted. I hit the ground with the force, but Machiko stumbled back, wrenching the dagger from her chest.
" What have you done?" she asked me shrilly. I smiled at her, still detached from reality. But I had miscalculated, apparently. Because Machiko didn't die right away. Instead, she dove at me again. This time, her arm was positioned to slit my throat. I thank whatever God there may be to this day that Bakura was on the ball, because I know I would have died that day with her if he hadn't been. I saw a flash of white as he dove in and gave Machiko's arm a savage wrench. Instead of slitting my throat, she nicked my cheek from the outer corner of my right eye to my jaw line. I could feel the warm trickle of blood that began to flow down my cheek. With a wild, animal-like scream, Machiko leapt on me. I fought to push her off, but my extended use of the Key had left me weak as a kitten. Yami and Bakura and Seto were the ones that hauled her off, and not before she dragged her tongue up my cheek. But just before Yami pulled her away, she whispered in my ear.
" The blood of purity tastes beautiful." She whispered, licking her lips. She died a moment later, in Yami's arms. He laid her down gently, sighed, and then stood to his full height.
" It's over." He announced. And I fell asleep.
*+*+*Yuki-Two weeks later*+*+*
I smiled at Yukio, Yoshi, and Mokuba as they waited anxiously on the Kaiba Mansion front lawn, each one staring at the street.
" When are they gonna get here, Yuki?" Yukio wailed.
" Soon." I promised. Seto wrapped an arm around my waist and I smiled up at him.
" You really look the part." He told me.
" And what are you for Halloween?" I asked. He was dressed in a pair of jeans and a loose jacket with a regular black tee-shirt underneath.
" A normal guy. Out there, huh?" he said. I laughed.
" They're here!" Yoshi and Mokuba called joyfully. I looked up as Yami's red car pulled up to the mansion. Bakura and Himeko were the first to spill out of the car. They had been sitting practically on top of each other in the front seat. Ryou and Yugi tumbled out of the back seat, followed by Anzu.
" Hah! Yuki's an angel!" Ryou cried. Yugi laughed.
" And Himeko's a demon!" he added. Himeko dashed up to me and grabbed my arm.
" We're a pair!" she cried.
" So are we!" Ryou said, grabbing Bakura.
" Lemme guess! I bet you two are the Prince and the Pauper. Ryou's the Pauper and Bakura's the Prince." I said.
" That's a laugh." Yami said. " He's forgetting who's the real royalty around here."
" Of course, Batman." Bakura said with a snicker. Yugi and Yami were Batman and Robin. That was my idea. " Yuki's the royalty." He added.
" That's not what I meant." Yami growled.
" Bakura!" Yoshi, Yukio, and Mokuba all called excitedly, tackling Bakura at the waist.
" Ah! Attack of the munchkins!" he cried in mock fear.
" Tell us a story!" Yukio begged.
" After we get enough candy." Bakura said.
" Oh God. They're going to have so many nightmares." I muttered.
" Oh, it's Halloween. Let them get scared." Seto said, pulling me close to him.
" Yeah! Being scared is fun!" Mokuba cried.
" So long as it's not real danger." Yoshi added knowingly. I smiled sadly. It seemed that my boys knew too much of real danger.
" Where's Jou and the others?" Yugi asked. There was a loud bang as Jou's pile of bolts he called his car rumbled up behind Yami's.
" Right there." I said. Mai hopped out of the front seat, and Jou ran around the car to join her as Anzu and Honda climbed out of the backseat.
" The name's Bond. James Bond." Jou announced, trying to sound mysterious, dressed in a black suit with sunglasses.
" And I'm one of his girlfriends. The one from the Oriental movie." Mai said. She was wearing a bright blue Oriental dress with slits all the way up to the middle of her thigh.
" Anzu, you look cute!" I called. Anzu smiled and approached me.
" I'm a brunette Tinkerbell." She told us.
" Sweet as sugar." Yugi said with a grin.
" What are you, Honda?" Ryou asked curiously.
" Isn't it obvious? I'm Frankenstein's monster." He responded good- naturedly.
" Couldn't even tell you dressed up." Seto said. That resulted in a quick fight.
We went trick or treating after that, and everyone slept over at the mansion that night. There was even a young couple who thought that Seto and I were married and the boys were our sons. That got a lot of laughs. After we got home, Bakura told every scary story he could come up with (and it turned out that he really did his homework for this one) and I even told some from America. Only Seto and Himeko knew them, but I put a few twists in that no one had heard before. The boys did have nightmares, and all three ended up sleeping on the same air mattress as Seto and I. But other than that, everyone had fun. And no one was scared about Machiko.
There's a scar on my right cheek. It comes down from the lower outer corner of my right eye to my jaw line at a slight angle. Seto offered to pay for laser surgery to remove it, but I wouldn't let him. Mai is always after me to wear some make-up to cover it, but I won't. It's a reminder for me. When I see that scar, I remember that there will always be evil in the world. But it's also my way of promising everyone that sees it that I will do everything in my power to rid the world of as much evil as I can, before my allotted time is up. Machiko lived out her time terribly, being cruel and causing innocent people pain. I plan to spend mine doing the opposite. I want to right the wrongs as best I can. And now, I'm pretty sure I can do it.
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A/N: Well, that's the end of the Machiko saga. Next saga will concentrate more on the Himeko/Bakura/Nen love triangle, and yes, Nen will be playing a part. It will also have a lot to do with Yuki's past. Please review! Also, I need suggestions. If you guys have got a villain who would just rock Yuki's world, send him/her in! Please! I'm desperate! Or, if you have a suggestion, send that in too! Please! You wanna see more? Send 'em in! Thanks again for reading and please review!