A/N: I'm not even four pages into this, and I think it needs a warning. Copious amounts of the word 'Fuck' because I think Bakura would talk like that, and Yami would have picked it up from him. So lots of swearing. Not all of it's tasteful, either.

The first thing Seth did when he got back to the palace was to set Ate- No, Yami, he reminded himself. This tan boy with horrendous hair was the thief prince Yami, not the beautiful Pharaoh that he had both loved and hated- on his bed, and then he called for dinner from his slaves. As he sat at the edge of his bed, eating, he shed one piece of exotic jewelry after another until all that he was left with was the puzzle and the rod, which was safely tucked in his belt.

Yami was lying on the bed, spread out like some offering before a god. Seth licked his lips, both to rid them of excess fruit juice and in anticipation of the things he could do to the prone thief. An offering to a god, indeed. An offering to the only living god.

Seth reached one hand out, and ran it down Yami's chest, nearly hissing in excitement. This was a prize to be savored, there was no doubt about that. But just when his hand had reached the top of Yami's loin cloth, the Millennium Puzzle lit up with a brilliant light, and Seth felt his hand began to burn with intense pain. He jerked it back, and the second his hand was no longer touching Yami, the Puzzle stopped glowing and his skin stopped burning.

"So, little thief, it looks like there is more to you than meets the eyes. Though I already knew that." Seth reached for another fruit, and took a bite, savoring the way the juices ran down his throat. One way or another, Yami would give him what he wanted. He was a patient man, he had waited years before he had threatened Atem. Shame he hadn't thought to finish the job. Absentmindedly, he ran a hand over the Rod. He would do it correctly this time. He would make sure of that.

Bakura had always hated the Pharaoh, be it Atem or Seth. But now, he was having to think very hard about his hatred of at least one of the Pharaohs. And Bakura usually never thought about anything. He was a stab first, think later kind of man. Yami had always been the one to think things through. Which would probably explain why he had never been caught in all the years he was with Yami.

He stopped his musings short. Here he was trying to think something out rationally (granted, he was only trying the rational route after he had destroyed nearly everything in his house, including that half-eaten loaf of bread that still had spiders in it. He had nearly eaten it to spite Yami, before he had remembered that Yami wasn't there right at that moment, courtesy of one Pharaoh jack-ass.) and he was just avoiding the real subject by thinking about the subject of the real subject.

"Shut up and think, you idiot." He hissed at himself, wanting nothing more than to bang his head against the table. Damn, this was frustrating. "You found Yami in the desert not a year after Atem was dead. He looked about the same age, but who the fuck knows how old Atem was? It's not like he paraded his age around. Hell, that kid could have been near fifty, and he would have acted like a brat. 'My father forged the Millennium Items for justice and truth!' Ra, what a idiot. And then there was his whole thing about my scars. What did he have against my scars? Yami always….right, back to the point. Yami had Shadow powers equal to Atem's, that much was obvious. But Atem never fused anyone's teeth together to kill them. But Yami obviously didn't have his memory. Seth said that. Fucking Pharaoh. He wanted Yami because his memories were surfacing. And he obviously had some residual fear of Seth's Blue Eyes left over from the duel with Seth. So he had some memories, but not all of them. Which means I can be justified in my hatred of Atem, and still want to rip Seth's heart out through his ass for touching MY Yami." Bakura rounded on the spiders that were lurking around their former loaf of bread home. "What the fuck are you looking at?" he yelled, sending them scattering to all corners of the house. "Ra," he whispered, putting his head in his hands once all the spiders were gone. "I'm going crazy. Absolutely crazy." He barked out a bitter laugh. With Yami was here to see this happening. He would have loved to laugh at me."

Yami had decided that he thoroughly hated this stupid place, wherever he was. There was no floor, for one thing, and no one seemed to want to give him any information, for another. The first person he had seen when he had arrived, right after the Pharaoh had cornered him, was the tall, purple and silent type. No matter how many questions Yami asked, the only answer he ever received was a shake of the man's head. Yami was really mad, and he was getting bored. This was not a good combination.

He had tried, not long after he had arrived, to use his powers to blast his way out of there. The results had not been what he expected, and he was not anxious to try that again. The second he had tried to call on the Shadows that usually were the source of his powers, he had felt a burning pain on his forehead.

He had opened his eyes to find he was no longer in the place with no floor. Bakura was standing there, a good distance away from Yami, who was in Seth's arms. Dangling not two inches from his nose was the Millennium Puzzle. He had grabbed for it, fully intending to use the rope it was attached to as a tool to strangle Seth with. But when he grabbed the Puzzle, the voice that came out of his mouth was not his own.

"This is mine." He had said. And his voice was so deep and imposing that Yami had been frightened, just for a second, and his grip of the Shadows (that he didn't know he'd still been holding on to) had been loosened. He had been sent back here, and nothing interesting had happened since then. Unless one counted the fluff ball that had attached itself to Yami's left leg as interesting, but Yami was more disturbed than interested. And the stupid thing wouldn't leave him alone, no matter how hard he shook his leg. It just looked at him like it was a kicked puppy (and he would know that look, Bakura loved kicking small, helpless creatures. He also enjoyed the noise they made when his foot made contact, but Yami had never indulged in that particular bad habit) and clung tighter to his leg. Yami had finally given up, had settled down on what was the closest thing he could get to the floor, and was now stroking the fuzz ball like it was perfectly natural.

"I used to be evil, you know," he said. The fuzz ball nodded and cooed sagely, like it had any idea what Yami was talking about. "Yesterday morning, fuck, even this morning, I wouldn't sit here petting you! I would be out, trying to beat Seth to death with his own legs for ever trying to intimidate me like that!" Yami sighed, and rested his head in his free hand. "I miss Bakura. He would be swearing and cutting things and getting us out of here. Not like me, I'm just sitting here and whining. But how the fuck am I supposed to get out of a place that has no floor?" he shouted the last part, and the man in purple answered.

"It really isn't that hard to leave. You simply have to express that desire to the Shadows." Yami blinked once, before standing, and staring.

"Well, that's brilliant. I'll just express my desire to leave to the Shadows!" he tilted his head back and stared screaming. "Hey you, I want to leave! Do you hear me, you fuckers? I want to-"

Seth had just been sitting on his bed, admiring his prize and eating fruit when Yami had shot straight up and screamed.

"- leave!" He paused, and blinked, before his eyes settled on Seth. "Oh fuck."

"Hello, pretty little thief. I'm glad you finally decided to join me. Peach?" Seth held the fruit out to Yami, smirking and licking peach juice from his lips. Yami glared at him until Seth retracted the peach.

"Why am I here?" Yami asked, trying to sound incredibly threatening and not near as terrified as he really was. It would help if Seth wasn't looking at him. Those blue eyes were sending shivers up his spine that made him want to run from the room.

"You are here because I brought you here." Yami felt his lip twitch at Seth condescending tone, and he bit back a snarl.

"Why did you bring me here?"

"Because I wanted you to understand something about who you are. I had such high hopes for you, but I can see now that you're really not something I should be impressed about. You're just a petty thief, serving under a deluded peasant who thinks he's a king." Had Seth not been expecting the attack, he would have died right then. As it was, he was saved by three things. One was his knowledge of the way Atem's mind worked. The second was that Yami didn't know where to find a dagger, which wasted him several precious seconds. The third was the fact he still had not removed his hand from the Rod.

Yami's assassination attempt ended with his purloined fruit knife nicking Seth's neck. He would have driven it all the way up to the hilt, had Seth not had the Rod's point resting right above his heart.

"I would not advise you try that again."

"Yeah, next time I'll be sure to kill you instead of leaving you alive to keep talking." Yami bit out, attempting to get up and head for the window.

"Where do you think you are going?"

"Out. Away. Home. Some place you are not. Any of those satisfy you, your royalness?" Before Yami could get halfway to the window, Seth had an iron grip around his upper arm.

"You will never talk to me like that again," Seth snarled. Yami glared at him, not in the least bit scared by the man he had been terrified of not two hours ago.

"Get your hand off of me." Yami, in an attempt to rid himself of Seth's presence, pulled on his Shadow power. It was pure instinct, until he felt more power than he had imagine rushing through his body. Seth, in an act of self-preservation, was pulling on the same power. The air was fairly crackling with it, and Yami could fell something inside of him respond to the power in a way he hadn't thought possible.

"This is my palace, my world, my rules," Seth said, looking livid. "You will learn to live by them if you want to live through the next ten minutes." He didn't let go of Yami's arm. If nothing else, his grip got tighter. "If you ever forget that, the consequences will completely destroy you. Remember that, thief. I hold your life in my hands." His Shadow Powers flared brighter, or darker, in this case, and Yami winced.

"You're not the only one who can play this game, Pharaoh. I've survived a life you would die just hearing about. Your petty threats are nothing." His own powers swirled around him, actually visible in the air around the both of them. However, every word out of Yami's mouth in the past sentence had been a complete lie. He was terrified, on some level that he couldn't even begin to understand, let alone explain. It wasn't the paralyzing fear that had gripped him when he had first heard the Blue Eye's call. This was different. It was every instinct in his body screaming for him to run.

Yami had hoped his threat and the additional magic would have Seth backing down just a little bit. Instead, the Pharaoh threw back his head and laughed.

"You think you can scare me? You have no idea what you're even doing with your powers." He wrenched Yami's arm behind him, and tossed the smaller boy on the bed. Before Yami had a chance to recover, let alone fight back, Seth was straddling his hips. The Pharaoh leaned in close, and Yami could feel his breath in his ear. It was a terrible sense of deja-vu and Yami could feel his instincts screaming louder.

"You belong to me now. If you remember that, your life will be longer than it might have been." Seth smiled, which was probably the scariest thing Yami had seen in his life, and trailed one hand up and down Yami's side. Each brush of a finger against his ribs sent tingles down his spine. Yami was simultaneously absolutely terrified and completely at ease. The feeling was doing nothing to convince him that he was safe. And he missed Bakura.

A/N: Yes, I know, shoddily done. However, I'm about to get on a flight to my Grandma's house (I love wireless internet in airports) and I wanted to get this up before I leave with no internet connection for about a week. Here, enjoy. At least it's longer than the last chapter by more than I'd care to admit.