The Lies we Tell Ourselves
Chapter 1
Bakura sat in the darkness that was his private quarters. He was thinking about what Yami had been saying in his sleep the night before. It wasn't like the boy hadn't cried out in his sleep before, but this time, the names he cried out invoked memories that Bakura had tried to bury. He was Thief King, damn it, and the memory of some long dead half-wit Pharaoh wasn't enough to scare him into hiding. Even if there was a chance that Atem may be alive.
Oh, the chances of that were slim. Bakura had seen with his own eyes the result of the shadow duel between Atem and Seth. Seth had won, but any idiot could see that Atem hadn't wanted to duel. So the King of Games had lost his title, and his life, to his former lover. The sap was enough to make his teeth rot. But that was beside the point. The point was: Atem's body had been swallowed by the shadows he had worked so had to tame. To this day, not one of the shadow players had been able to locate the former Pharaoh's body. Not that anyone ever spent much time or energy looking. Seth had taken the throne, and the name Atem was forbidden in the kingdom by pain of death.
If Bakura had been thinking, he would have seen the link earlier.
Flashback
He was wondering around in the desert, trying to find some idiot wondering around in the desert to rob (never mind that he might be considered an idiot for wondering around in the desert like this) when he happened across a body in the sand. Now, being a thief, Bakura's first idea was to rob the body, then ask questions later. However, when he turned the body over so as to get a better chance at the gold in the front, he had to stop himself from jerking away. The entire front half of the body was melted away, exposing bones and insides. Bakura, who had always been a firm believer that the insides were supposed to stay inside the body, decided that he wasn't bored enough to rob this –thing- yet.
"Is he dead?" Bakura had been so caught up in the body; he hadn't seen the boy behind him. Bakura had half a mind to turn around and tell the kid that of course this guy was dead, his teeth had fused together in his head. But when the 'evil' thief turned around to give the kid a piece of his mind, he was stopped. The boy was younger than he was, with black hair and red eyes. While Bakura's first thought was that this was Atem back from the dead, he realized that this was impossible. First of all, Atem wouldn't have been caught dead in what this boy was wearing, which was little more that a potato sack. Most of all, this boy was crying, something no one had ever know Atem to do. "He told me he was going to kill me for cheating him out of his dinner. But I didn't cheat; I won fair and square. And then he- he just fell over and started screaming. Then...his body-it was terrible!" The boy threw himself into Bakura's arms, and the momentum very nearly sent the two falling onto the corpse. Bakura regained his balance, and shoved the boy off of him.
"What the hell do you think you're doing?" He cried, pulling a knife from his belt. That kid not only had the audacity to hug him, but here he was babbling about this dying guy.
"Don't leave me alone!" The boy wailed. Form where he was sitting in the sand, he painted a rather pathetic picture, tears streaming down his dirty cheeks, and not a clean spot to be found on him. Not that Bakura was one to be preaching cleanliness, but even he was cleaner than this boy was. The wailing was starting to grate on his nerves, and he cuffed the boy across the ears to make him stop crying.
"Shut up!" He snapped, glaring at the boy. The boy sniffled a few more times, but fell silent. Now for the first time, Bakura gave the boy a through once over. He was tan, like everyone who lived here, with short red hair and eyes to match. He was short, almost as short as Atem had been, and seemed to have a strange scar running down the length of one arm. There was also a fresh cut across the bridge of his nose, most likely from Mr. Ugly, Dead and Liquid.
"Please don't send me back." The kid begged, wiping tears from his eyes. Oh, this put Bakura into a wonderful position. He could leave the kid here, and seem heartless (which he was) or he could take the kid with him. He was leaning towards the first one, but an idea came to him. The dead guy had clearly been harassing the kid, so it was only logical that the kid was the one who turned him to mush. Someone with shadow powers like that would have rivaled Atem, if he were still alive.
"Don't worry about it, kid. I think you may be worth more to me alive than baked in the sun." Bakura hauled him up by the collar of his rags, and gripped him by both shoulders. "What's you're name?"
"I don't know." The boy didn't look as pathetic now that he knew he had a chance to get out of the sun.
"What? You don't remember?"
"No, I don't." Oh, the kid looked mad now. Touchy subject, then. File that away for future use against the brat.
"Then what do you remember?" Now, the question could be answered in a number of ways. The most likely of which being 'nothing.' After all, if the kid couldn't remember his own name, it was unlikely he could remember much else.
"Darkness." This was new.
"Well, that's something to work with, I guess. But it's not like I can call you Darkness. That's a dead give away that you're a thief, and I don't want that."
"I'm a thief?"
"You are now. The first of my clan. We'll ravage the desert, and take all we can!"
"Why?"
"Because gold is shiny and will go well with your eyes. Now shut up and let me think of a name." Bakura started to walk away, and as he expected, the kid followed him.
"What's your name?" The kid asked, tugging on Bakura's sleeve in an annoyingly needy fashion.
"It's Thief King Bakura!" Bakura said, waving his arms in the air for the desired affect.
"You're not much of a king if you only have one subject." Bakura snarled, and smacked the kid across the face.
"You've got some lip for a kid who would roast to death in the sun without me."
"You're awfully cocky for a thief that's gotten caught." Bakura stopped his hand in mid swing. This kid knew more than he was letting on.
"What makes you think I've been caught?"
"That scar." Here, the kid reached up and traced the lines on Bakura's cheek. Bakura was going to jerk back from the contact, but the kid beat him too it. He withdrew his hand, looking slightly pale.
"Darkness..." The boy whispered, so quietly that Bakura had to strain to hear it.
"How can you know about my scar, but not know your own name?"
"The darkness took my name." The boy said simply.
"Ra, I get the point! You don't like the dark. I'll leave a candle burning for you tonight, Yami." Bakura said, thinking not to tell the boy about the irony of his new name.
"Yami." The boy tried the new word about, and must have liked it, because he didn't say anything else. And that was the end of it. The two walked to Bakura's little hovel, and Yami promptly feel asleep.
End Flashback
It was amazing how much Yami had changed in the past few years. He grown from the sniveling boy Bakura had found in the desert to a competent thief in the first few months. But competent hadn't been good enough for Yami, and so he had trained to become the best. It seemed to Bakura that Yami thought of his career as a thief as a game. As long as Bakura was better, he was winning. But Yami was getting better everyday. Bakura was loath to admit it, but Yami had saved his life once.
Stupid guard had come out of nowhere, and Bakura was too loaded down to run fast enough. He was about the use the Ring to help him out, when the guard fell over twitching. Bakura had looked over his shoulder, and had seen Yami standing there. Yami's hand was held out in front of him, and he was glaring at the twitching guard. When the guard began to melt, Yami smirked.
"Let's see if it takes you long to die after your teeth fuse together in your head." He said, and Bakura felt very proud watching Yami liquefy the guard. He had come so far since the last time he had done this.
And that was the grand tale of how Bakura, Thief King, had to be saved by his brat. Not that Bakura ever called Yami his brat, but who's brat was Yami, if not his? But he digressed. The point he had been trying to make to himself had been important, if he could only remember what it was. It had something to do with Yami...oh yes. It was something about his connection to Atem. When Bakura had first met Yami, he had thought that someone with shadow powers like that could rival Atem. But it appeared now that someone with those shadow powers had to be linked to Atem in some way. Oh, Bakura had been able to explain away when Yami's hair had grown out. Atem had been famous for his tri-colored hair, and Yami's had always been red. But then it had grown out, and the red had turned to black closer to the roots, and blond bangs had grown. When Bakura had asked, Yami had said he hated it, and had chopped it all off. After that, Yami never let his hair get long enough for the blond and black to start growing in, and Bakura had forgotten.
He had forgotten a lot, now that Bakura thought about it. Everything that may have linked Yami to Atem, Bakura had forgotten. He was having trouble remembering it now. But the names that Yami had called out last night, those he could remember perfectly. One was Seto, a name he had never heard before. The second was Mahaado, the name of Atem's priest, who Bakura had killed. The last name was Bakura, which wouldn't have been so strange if it hadn't been for the fact that it was said with such hatred, the sound of it made Bakura get goose bumps.
Yami continued to rattle around in his room and curse as he struggled to get his pants on. The nightmare he'd had last night had rattled him, much more than he would care to admit. Especially not to Bakura, who would take the chance to nag him for being a wimp. So, Yami decided that the best course of action was to not give Bakura the chance to find out that Yami had had nightmares. Even if the nightmares were about tall, dark, blue eyed priests.
A few minutes later, Yami stumbled out of him room into the main hall, half-dressed. While he had won the war against his pants, his shirt had remained unbeatable, and so he had left it on the floor. His goal now was to make breakfast with whatever food wasn't covered in dirt or mold before Bakura was up. However, much to Yami's surprise, Bakura was already sitting at their makeshift table, eating what looked like moldy bread.
"Morning, Yami. This bread tastes funny." Even as he was saying so, Bakura shoved another piece into his mouth. Yami sighed, and reached forwards to grab the rotten food out of his friend's mouth. Bakura glared at him, and Yami shrugged, throwing the food out the door.
"It was bad." He said, by way of explanation.
"But it tasted fine." The thief king was on his way out the door to fetch the moldy piece of bread.
"You just said it tasted funny." Yami blocked Bakura's way to the door, and shoved him back into his seat.
"Funny doesn't mean bad." Bakura made an attempt to get back up again, but Yami sat himself down on Bakura's lap. Bakura glared at him, but gave up trying to get up.
"Well, if you just sit here, I'll go get you some real food." Yami made sure Bakura wasn't going to get up to go for the bread, before he walked into the pantry. Sadly, it looked like that moldy bread was the only food in here. So for the morning at least, they would have to rely on their charisma to get them a meal. He walked back out to where he had left Bakura, and found him munching on the bread. Not that Yami was surprised, Bakura was always like this.
"So where's the real food?" Bakura smirked, as he took a large bit out of the moldy bread. Halfway through chewing, Bakura frowned, and spat something on the ground. A spider scuttled off, happy to have escaped death, and Yami stepped on it.
"Not here." Yami said, looking down at the spider disgustedly. "The pantry's empty, so we may have to go into town for breakfast."
"What are you talking about? We have food here!" Bakura yelled, storming off to the pantry to prove his point. A minute later, he returned, moldy loaf of bread in hand. "See?"
"While you may eat moldy, spider infested bread, I think that will make me ill. And I'm not good to you if I'm lying here moaning."
"So what do you propose we do, oh mighty eater of expensive foods?"
"Well, it won't be as expensive as you think it's going to be, because you've already eaten, and I refuse to pay for food for you if you've already had breakfast."
"You call moldy bread breakfast?"
"No, I don't. But you're the one who ate it, so it really doesn't matter what I think."
"You know it always matters what you think." Bakura said, reaching up to tug on a lock of Yami's short hair affectionately.
"I know it always matters what I think, but do you know?" Yami said, pulling the loaf of bread from Bakura's hands.
"I know you know that it always matters what you think but...I'm lost."
"Well, as many tombs as he can raid, Thief King Bakura will never win a battle of wits. That confuses me, as you have to be at least slightly intelligent to raid like you do without getting caught, yet I've never seen you show any sign of intelligence outside of tombs. Does something about dust, cobwebs and near death experiences make your brain cells work?"
"Or maybe it's the thought that if I screw up, you'll turn me into a pile of mush." Bakura wrapped his arms around Yami, and pulled him into his lap.
"I would never turn you into a pile of mush if you screw up."
"What would you turn me into?"
"I think I'll let you ponder that until I have to do something to you for screwing up. In the meantime, I need breakfast."
"Always thinking of food, aren't you?" Bakura smirked, but let Yami up.
"Like you aren't. The new tavern in town may give up some food." Yami called over his shoulder as he went to his room for his shirt.
"There's a new tavern in town and I don't know about it?" Bakura shouted, and he heard Yami laugh. The laugh, however, turned into a curse as Yami fought with his shirt once again. When he emerged, fully dressed Bakura couldn't help but laugh.
"What?" Yami said, looking at Bakura.
"That's my shirt." The shirt hung huge on Yami, and it looked more like a dress than a shirt.
"That would explain a lot." Yami made to turn back to his own room, but froze halfway and decided against that. "Screw it, I'm hungry, so I'm not fighting with this stupid shirt anymore."
"You could just go without."
"You'd like that, wouldn't you?"
"Very much so." Bakura reached forward tug the shirt off of Yami, but Yami dodged out of the way, and ran out the door, laughing.
"You're getting slow, Thief King!" He called over his shoulder as he ran.
"That's my shirt!" Bakura yelled as he chased after Yami, waving the moldy bread in the air. Before Yami could shout anything back, he ran straight into someone's back. The force of the impact knocked Yami onto his rear, and he stared dumbly up at the large palace guard he had run into. The guard glared at him, but must have decided that Yami wasn't worth his time, and the guard's sword stayed in his hilt. Yami decided not to push his luck, and got up, ready to walk to the tavern. However, that wasn't enough for the guard.
"Hey, runt!" He yelled, grabbing Yami by the arm. "Show some respect for your betters!"
"Don't you mean my biggers?" Yami sneered. That was not a smart move. Before the words were completely out of his mouth the guard had twisted his arm around behind his back.
"You've got some attitude, runt. Let's see how cocky you are after I rearrange your face!" The guard drew back his fist, but he stopped before he hit Yami. Whether this was from the dark energy waves that Yami was giving off or the knife Bakura had imbedded in his back, no one knew. However, Yami didn't really care who or what killed the guard. He wasted no time pulling his arm from the dead guard's grip and bolting. Or, he would have bolted if a thunderous roar hadn't filled the sky.
"Move it, Yami!" Bakura yelled, seeing something coming over Yami's shoulder. Yami, however, was frozen with fear.
'That sound. It can't be...it just can't be.' His mind was chanting over and over, but his body refused to believe it. That sound, the roar of the Blue Eyes White Dragon, invoked two very powerful feelings in him. The very first was fear, deep, bone shaking fear. The second was a feeling of both complete safety and love. He couldn't understand this, but the first feeling was much stronger than the second was, so Yami was rooted to the spot.
"Yami, move!" Bakura screamed, fear edging into his voice. Yami didn't respond. The dragon roared again, and Yami sank to the ground, covering his ears. Bakura, who was far ahead of Yami, ran back and tried to drag his partner to his feet. Suddenly, the sky went dark, and the roar of the dragon got louder, and closer.
"He's come back for me." Yami whispered, sitting stoic on the ground.
"Yami, he's going to get you unless you move!" Bakura yelled, still pulling on Yami's hand, trying to get him to stand. The thief had no idea who it was that Yami was babbling about, but the threat seemed to work. Yami finally stood up to run away, but it was too late. One dragon landed in front of them, and when Bakura turned around to run away, a second dragon blocked their path again. Guards appeared out of no where, each bearing a rather sharp looking sword. Bakura shoved Yami behind him and drew a sword of his own, ready to fight to the death. He was stopped from launching himself at the nearest guard by the landing of a third Blue Eyes White Dragon. The dragon looked at the thief king like he was a piece of trash, and Bakura glared right back.
"Thief King Bakura, you grace me with your presence." Drawled a voice from behind Bakura. Once again, the thief turned around, and this time he found himself faced with the Pharaoh himself, Seth. Bakura heard Yami gasp from behind him, and even though Bakura wasn't looking at Yami he could feel the fear radiating from his partner.
"What do you want?" Bakura snarled, reaching a hand back to squeeze Yami comfortingly on the arm. The smaller boy's breathing was irregular and very fast; he seemed closed to fainting.
"That's a funny story. Just a minute ago, I felt a huge surge of shadow power and decided to investigate. So imagine my surprise when I came across you and your lovely little –partner- instead of someone worth my time." The Pharaoh sneered.
"Ah, so you can leave, and it won't be a problem." Bakura said smoothly. Something about the Pharaoh was sending Yami into hysterics, and everyone in the area was likely to get turned into a pile of goo if Bakura couldn't calm Yami down.
"You see, I won't leave until I figure out who the power came from. I know it had to be from one of you. However, little thief, your shadow powers are no longer what they used to be, even with the ring. So I'm thinking it has to be your partner." Seth took a step towards the two. Bakura held his ground, but Yami walked backwards until his back connected with one of the guards. Seth smirked, and walked towards Yami. Yami was trying desperately to get away, but the guard had clamped down on his arms and he couldn't move. Seth cupped Yami's chin in his hand, and titled his head up, examining Yami's face.
"Let him go!" Bakura started towards the Pharaoh, dagger raised. He was stopped before he could even get two steps, his path blocked by one of the dragons.
"You have the most beautiful eyes." Seth told Yami, smirking. "It's such a pity that your beauty is marred by such a hideous scar." Not dropping Yami's chin, Seth traced the scar long the bridge of Yami's nose with his index finger. "I've only even known one other person that had eyes this color." The hand that had been tracing Yami's scar went the his right arm, and shoved the sleeve of Bakura's-too-big-shirt up to his shoulder, revealing the scar that ran the length of Yami's arm
"Don't touch me." Yami said, fighting the urge to break down and scream. He was terrified beyond belief, and he didn't know why.
"So, the little thief is scared of the Pharaoh?" Seth said, leaning in closer to Yami's face.
"I said-" Yami started, but Seth cut him off.
"I heard you the first time." Seth leaned in even closer and continued speaking. "But when did I ever listen to you, Pharaoh mine?" Seth whispered in Yami's ear. Yami felt his eyes go wide, and his vision began to swim. The last thing he saw before he blacked out was a pair of bright blue eyes. Lucky for him, the body that belonged to those eyes caught him before he hit the ground.
A/N: Well, that was unexpected, even for me. How does Seth know who Yami is, when even Yami doesn't? All will be explained in later chapters. Review, please.
Chapter 1
Bakura sat in the darkness that was his private quarters. He was thinking about what Yami had been saying in his sleep the night before. It wasn't like the boy hadn't cried out in his sleep before, but this time, the names he cried out invoked memories that Bakura had tried to bury. He was Thief King, damn it, and the memory of some long dead half-wit Pharaoh wasn't enough to scare him into hiding. Even if there was a chance that Atem may be alive.
Oh, the chances of that were slim. Bakura had seen with his own eyes the result of the shadow duel between Atem and Seth. Seth had won, but any idiot could see that Atem hadn't wanted to duel. So the King of Games had lost his title, and his life, to his former lover. The sap was enough to make his teeth rot. But that was beside the point. The point was: Atem's body had been swallowed by the shadows he had worked so had to tame. To this day, not one of the shadow players had been able to locate the former Pharaoh's body. Not that anyone ever spent much time or energy looking. Seth had taken the throne, and the name Atem was forbidden in the kingdom by pain of death.
If Bakura had been thinking, he would have seen the link earlier.
Flashback
He was wondering around in the desert, trying to find some idiot wondering around in the desert to rob (never mind that he might be considered an idiot for wondering around in the desert like this) when he happened across a body in the sand. Now, being a thief, Bakura's first idea was to rob the body, then ask questions later. However, when he turned the body over so as to get a better chance at the gold in the front, he had to stop himself from jerking away. The entire front half of the body was melted away, exposing bones and insides. Bakura, who had always been a firm believer that the insides were supposed to stay inside the body, decided that he wasn't bored enough to rob this –thing- yet.
"Is he dead?" Bakura had been so caught up in the body; he hadn't seen the boy behind him. Bakura had half a mind to turn around and tell the kid that of course this guy was dead, his teeth had fused together in his head. But when the 'evil' thief turned around to give the kid a piece of his mind, he was stopped. The boy was younger than he was, with black hair and red eyes. While Bakura's first thought was that this was Atem back from the dead, he realized that this was impossible. First of all, Atem wouldn't have been caught dead in what this boy was wearing, which was little more that a potato sack. Most of all, this boy was crying, something no one had ever know Atem to do. "He told me he was going to kill me for cheating him out of his dinner. But I didn't cheat; I won fair and square. And then he- he just fell over and started screaming. Then...his body-it was terrible!" The boy threw himself into Bakura's arms, and the momentum very nearly sent the two falling onto the corpse. Bakura regained his balance, and shoved the boy off of him.
"What the hell do you think you're doing?" He cried, pulling a knife from his belt. That kid not only had the audacity to hug him, but here he was babbling about this dying guy.
"Don't leave me alone!" The boy wailed. Form where he was sitting in the sand, he painted a rather pathetic picture, tears streaming down his dirty cheeks, and not a clean spot to be found on him. Not that Bakura was one to be preaching cleanliness, but even he was cleaner than this boy was. The wailing was starting to grate on his nerves, and he cuffed the boy across the ears to make him stop crying.
"Shut up!" He snapped, glaring at the boy. The boy sniffled a few more times, but fell silent. Now for the first time, Bakura gave the boy a through once over. He was tan, like everyone who lived here, with short red hair and eyes to match. He was short, almost as short as Atem had been, and seemed to have a strange scar running down the length of one arm. There was also a fresh cut across the bridge of his nose, most likely from Mr. Ugly, Dead and Liquid.
"Please don't send me back." The kid begged, wiping tears from his eyes. Oh, this put Bakura into a wonderful position. He could leave the kid here, and seem heartless (which he was) or he could take the kid with him. He was leaning towards the first one, but an idea came to him. The dead guy had clearly been harassing the kid, so it was only logical that the kid was the one who turned him to mush. Someone with shadow powers like that would have rivaled Atem, if he were still alive.
"Don't worry about it, kid. I think you may be worth more to me alive than baked in the sun." Bakura hauled him up by the collar of his rags, and gripped him by both shoulders. "What's you're name?"
"I don't know." The boy didn't look as pathetic now that he knew he had a chance to get out of the sun.
"What? You don't remember?"
"No, I don't." Oh, the kid looked mad now. Touchy subject, then. File that away for future use against the brat.
"Then what do you remember?" Now, the question could be answered in a number of ways. The most likely of which being 'nothing.' After all, if the kid couldn't remember his own name, it was unlikely he could remember much else.
"Darkness." This was new.
"Well, that's something to work with, I guess. But it's not like I can call you Darkness. That's a dead give away that you're a thief, and I don't want that."
"I'm a thief?"
"You are now. The first of my clan. We'll ravage the desert, and take all we can!"
"Why?"
"Because gold is shiny and will go well with your eyes. Now shut up and let me think of a name." Bakura started to walk away, and as he expected, the kid followed him.
"What's your name?" The kid asked, tugging on Bakura's sleeve in an annoyingly needy fashion.
"It's Thief King Bakura!" Bakura said, waving his arms in the air for the desired affect.
"You're not much of a king if you only have one subject." Bakura snarled, and smacked the kid across the face.
"You've got some lip for a kid who would roast to death in the sun without me."
"You're awfully cocky for a thief that's gotten caught." Bakura stopped his hand in mid swing. This kid knew more than he was letting on.
"What makes you think I've been caught?"
"That scar." Here, the kid reached up and traced the lines on Bakura's cheek. Bakura was going to jerk back from the contact, but the kid beat him too it. He withdrew his hand, looking slightly pale.
"Darkness..." The boy whispered, so quietly that Bakura had to strain to hear it.
"How can you know about my scar, but not know your own name?"
"The darkness took my name." The boy said simply.
"Ra, I get the point! You don't like the dark. I'll leave a candle burning for you tonight, Yami." Bakura said, thinking not to tell the boy about the irony of his new name.
"Yami." The boy tried the new word about, and must have liked it, because he didn't say anything else. And that was the end of it. The two walked to Bakura's little hovel, and Yami promptly feel asleep.
End Flashback
It was amazing how much Yami had changed in the past few years. He grown from the sniveling boy Bakura had found in the desert to a competent thief in the first few months. But competent hadn't been good enough for Yami, and so he had trained to become the best. It seemed to Bakura that Yami thought of his career as a thief as a game. As long as Bakura was better, he was winning. But Yami was getting better everyday. Bakura was loath to admit it, but Yami had saved his life once.
Stupid guard had come out of nowhere, and Bakura was too loaded down to run fast enough. He was about the use the Ring to help him out, when the guard fell over twitching. Bakura had looked over his shoulder, and had seen Yami standing there. Yami's hand was held out in front of him, and he was glaring at the twitching guard. When the guard began to melt, Yami smirked.
"Let's see if it takes you long to die after your teeth fuse together in your head." He said, and Bakura felt very proud watching Yami liquefy the guard. He had come so far since the last time he had done this.
And that was the grand tale of how Bakura, Thief King, had to be saved by his brat. Not that Bakura ever called Yami his brat, but who's brat was Yami, if not his? But he digressed. The point he had been trying to make to himself had been important, if he could only remember what it was. It had something to do with Yami...oh yes. It was something about his connection to Atem. When Bakura had first met Yami, he had thought that someone with shadow powers like that could rival Atem. But it appeared now that someone with those shadow powers had to be linked to Atem in some way. Oh, Bakura had been able to explain away when Yami's hair had grown out. Atem had been famous for his tri-colored hair, and Yami's had always been red. But then it had grown out, and the red had turned to black closer to the roots, and blond bangs had grown. When Bakura had asked, Yami had said he hated it, and had chopped it all off. After that, Yami never let his hair get long enough for the blond and black to start growing in, and Bakura had forgotten.
He had forgotten a lot, now that Bakura thought about it. Everything that may have linked Yami to Atem, Bakura had forgotten. He was having trouble remembering it now. But the names that Yami had called out last night, those he could remember perfectly. One was Seto, a name he had never heard before. The second was Mahaado, the name of Atem's priest, who Bakura had killed. The last name was Bakura, which wouldn't have been so strange if it hadn't been for the fact that it was said with such hatred, the sound of it made Bakura get goose bumps.
Yami continued to rattle around in his room and curse as he struggled to get his pants on. The nightmare he'd had last night had rattled him, much more than he would care to admit. Especially not to Bakura, who would take the chance to nag him for being a wimp. So, Yami decided that the best course of action was to not give Bakura the chance to find out that Yami had had nightmares. Even if the nightmares were about tall, dark, blue eyed priests.
A few minutes later, Yami stumbled out of him room into the main hall, half-dressed. While he had won the war against his pants, his shirt had remained unbeatable, and so he had left it on the floor. His goal now was to make breakfast with whatever food wasn't covered in dirt or mold before Bakura was up. However, much to Yami's surprise, Bakura was already sitting at their makeshift table, eating what looked like moldy bread.
"Morning, Yami. This bread tastes funny." Even as he was saying so, Bakura shoved another piece into his mouth. Yami sighed, and reached forwards to grab the rotten food out of his friend's mouth. Bakura glared at him, and Yami shrugged, throwing the food out the door.
"It was bad." He said, by way of explanation.
"But it tasted fine." The thief king was on his way out the door to fetch the moldy piece of bread.
"You just said it tasted funny." Yami blocked Bakura's way to the door, and shoved him back into his seat.
"Funny doesn't mean bad." Bakura made an attempt to get back up again, but Yami sat himself down on Bakura's lap. Bakura glared at him, but gave up trying to get up.
"Well, if you just sit here, I'll go get you some real food." Yami made sure Bakura wasn't going to get up to go for the bread, before he walked into the pantry. Sadly, it looked like that moldy bread was the only food in here. So for the morning at least, they would have to rely on their charisma to get them a meal. He walked back out to where he had left Bakura, and found him munching on the bread. Not that Yami was surprised, Bakura was always like this.
"So where's the real food?" Bakura smirked, as he took a large bit out of the moldy bread. Halfway through chewing, Bakura frowned, and spat something on the ground. A spider scuttled off, happy to have escaped death, and Yami stepped on it.
"Not here." Yami said, looking down at the spider disgustedly. "The pantry's empty, so we may have to go into town for breakfast."
"What are you talking about? We have food here!" Bakura yelled, storming off to the pantry to prove his point. A minute later, he returned, moldy loaf of bread in hand. "See?"
"While you may eat moldy, spider infested bread, I think that will make me ill. And I'm not good to you if I'm lying here moaning."
"So what do you propose we do, oh mighty eater of expensive foods?"
"Well, it won't be as expensive as you think it's going to be, because you've already eaten, and I refuse to pay for food for you if you've already had breakfast."
"You call moldy bread breakfast?"
"No, I don't. But you're the one who ate it, so it really doesn't matter what I think."
"You know it always matters what you think." Bakura said, reaching up to tug on a lock of Yami's short hair affectionately.
"I know it always matters what I think, but do you know?" Yami said, pulling the loaf of bread from Bakura's hands.
"I know you know that it always matters what you think but...I'm lost."
"Well, as many tombs as he can raid, Thief King Bakura will never win a battle of wits. That confuses me, as you have to be at least slightly intelligent to raid like you do without getting caught, yet I've never seen you show any sign of intelligence outside of tombs. Does something about dust, cobwebs and near death experiences make your brain cells work?"
"Or maybe it's the thought that if I screw up, you'll turn me into a pile of mush." Bakura wrapped his arms around Yami, and pulled him into his lap.
"I would never turn you into a pile of mush if you screw up."
"What would you turn me into?"
"I think I'll let you ponder that until I have to do something to you for screwing up. In the meantime, I need breakfast."
"Always thinking of food, aren't you?" Bakura smirked, but let Yami up.
"Like you aren't. The new tavern in town may give up some food." Yami called over his shoulder as he went to his room for his shirt.
"There's a new tavern in town and I don't know about it?" Bakura shouted, and he heard Yami laugh. The laugh, however, turned into a curse as Yami fought with his shirt once again. When he emerged, fully dressed Bakura couldn't help but laugh.
"What?" Yami said, looking at Bakura.
"That's my shirt." The shirt hung huge on Yami, and it looked more like a dress than a shirt.
"That would explain a lot." Yami made to turn back to his own room, but froze halfway and decided against that. "Screw it, I'm hungry, so I'm not fighting with this stupid shirt anymore."
"You could just go without."
"You'd like that, wouldn't you?"
"Very much so." Bakura reached forward tug the shirt off of Yami, but Yami dodged out of the way, and ran out the door, laughing.
"You're getting slow, Thief King!" He called over his shoulder as he ran.
"That's my shirt!" Bakura yelled as he chased after Yami, waving the moldy bread in the air. Before Yami could shout anything back, he ran straight into someone's back. The force of the impact knocked Yami onto his rear, and he stared dumbly up at the large palace guard he had run into. The guard glared at him, but must have decided that Yami wasn't worth his time, and the guard's sword stayed in his hilt. Yami decided not to push his luck, and got up, ready to walk to the tavern. However, that wasn't enough for the guard.
"Hey, runt!" He yelled, grabbing Yami by the arm. "Show some respect for your betters!"
"Don't you mean my biggers?" Yami sneered. That was not a smart move. Before the words were completely out of his mouth the guard had twisted his arm around behind his back.
"You've got some attitude, runt. Let's see how cocky you are after I rearrange your face!" The guard drew back his fist, but he stopped before he hit Yami. Whether this was from the dark energy waves that Yami was giving off or the knife Bakura had imbedded in his back, no one knew. However, Yami didn't really care who or what killed the guard. He wasted no time pulling his arm from the dead guard's grip and bolting. Or, he would have bolted if a thunderous roar hadn't filled the sky.
"Move it, Yami!" Bakura yelled, seeing something coming over Yami's shoulder. Yami, however, was frozen with fear.
'That sound. It can't be...it just can't be.' His mind was chanting over and over, but his body refused to believe it. That sound, the roar of the Blue Eyes White Dragon, invoked two very powerful feelings in him. The very first was fear, deep, bone shaking fear. The second was a feeling of both complete safety and love. He couldn't understand this, but the first feeling was much stronger than the second was, so Yami was rooted to the spot.
"Yami, move!" Bakura screamed, fear edging into his voice. Yami didn't respond. The dragon roared again, and Yami sank to the ground, covering his ears. Bakura, who was far ahead of Yami, ran back and tried to drag his partner to his feet. Suddenly, the sky went dark, and the roar of the dragon got louder, and closer.
"He's come back for me." Yami whispered, sitting stoic on the ground.
"Yami, he's going to get you unless you move!" Bakura yelled, still pulling on Yami's hand, trying to get him to stand. The thief had no idea who it was that Yami was babbling about, but the threat seemed to work. Yami finally stood up to run away, but it was too late. One dragon landed in front of them, and when Bakura turned around to run away, a second dragon blocked their path again. Guards appeared out of no where, each bearing a rather sharp looking sword. Bakura shoved Yami behind him and drew a sword of his own, ready to fight to the death. He was stopped from launching himself at the nearest guard by the landing of a third Blue Eyes White Dragon. The dragon looked at the thief king like he was a piece of trash, and Bakura glared right back.
"Thief King Bakura, you grace me with your presence." Drawled a voice from behind Bakura. Once again, the thief turned around, and this time he found himself faced with the Pharaoh himself, Seth. Bakura heard Yami gasp from behind him, and even though Bakura wasn't looking at Yami he could feel the fear radiating from his partner.
"What do you want?" Bakura snarled, reaching a hand back to squeeze Yami comfortingly on the arm. The smaller boy's breathing was irregular and very fast; he seemed closed to fainting.
"That's a funny story. Just a minute ago, I felt a huge surge of shadow power and decided to investigate. So imagine my surprise when I came across you and your lovely little –partner- instead of someone worth my time." The Pharaoh sneered.
"Ah, so you can leave, and it won't be a problem." Bakura said smoothly. Something about the Pharaoh was sending Yami into hysterics, and everyone in the area was likely to get turned into a pile of goo if Bakura couldn't calm Yami down.
"You see, I won't leave until I figure out who the power came from. I know it had to be from one of you. However, little thief, your shadow powers are no longer what they used to be, even with the ring. So I'm thinking it has to be your partner." Seth took a step towards the two. Bakura held his ground, but Yami walked backwards until his back connected with one of the guards. Seth smirked, and walked towards Yami. Yami was trying desperately to get away, but the guard had clamped down on his arms and he couldn't move. Seth cupped Yami's chin in his hand, and titled his head up, examining Yami's face.
"Let him go!" Bakura started towards the Pharaoh, dagger raised. He was stopped before he could even get two steps, his path blocked by one of the dragons.
"You have the most beautiful eyes." Seth told Yami, smirking. "It's such a pity that your beauty is marred by such a hideous scar." Not dropping Yami's chin, Seth traced the scar long the bridge of Yami's nose with his index finger. "I've only even known one other person that had eyes this color." The hand that had been tracing Yami's scar went the his right arm, and shoved the sleeve of Bakura's-too-big-shirt up to his shoulder, revealing the scar that ran the length of Yami's arm
"Don't touch me." Yami said, fighting the urge to break down and scream. He was terrified beyond belief, and he didn't know why.
"So, the little thief is scared of the Pharaoh?" Seth said, leaning in closer to Yami's face.
"I said-" Yami started, but Seth cut him off.
"I heard you the first time." Seth leaned in even closer and continued speaking. "But when did I ever listen to you, Pharaoh mine?" Seth whispered in Yami's ear. Yami felt his eyes go wide, and his vision began to swim. The last thing he saw before he blacked out was a pair of bright blue eyes. Lucky for him, the body that belonged to those eyes caught him before he hit the ground.
A/N: Well, that was unexpected, even for me. How does Seth know who Yami is, when even Yami doesn't? All will be explained in later chapters. Review, please.