hey-lo.... once again, i'm back.
at least it didn't take as long as last time.... tho i'm sorry it took as long as it did.

this chapter is mostly what i consider "explaination" - about on the same level as "transition" and really not that much different - about the same low level of drama/angst/adventure, just more interesting because it actually answers a few things instead of simple dragging stuff out... (tho don't expect any major issues to be resolved - just a few character ones)

and on a happier note, shout-outs to all my wonderful readers!

Phantom Phoenix - okay, i really want to know... DID YOU READ MY MIND OR SOMETHING?!?! i swear, i had this chapter in mind for a little while now.... and what about joey?
Kalathetrumpeter - yay! but you need never fear, as long as i am here..... okay, that was corney and wierd. i blame it on my mood.
darksilverdragon - i think you got your point across.... -- lol, on a lighter note, thanx once again for all the encouragement and enthusiasm. it really does help.

Isis47 - school itself is fine, kinda crazy tho. especially today - i had bio and chem exams both.... yucky! yes yes yes, evil guys showing feelings.... fun fun fun....
Sakura30 - heee well, thank you for the kind words, and the repelent will definately come in handy. (you think it'll work on my professor when the next paper is due?) but yeah, the writing for the play is finally finished. only problem - opening night is next thurs, and we only started rehearsals like last weekend... sheezies. and now i have to go to rehearsal 4 hours a nite every nite next week, and all for my 5 minute role (i get to be a little girl bully, how fun!) okay,b ut i'm rantinga again. thanx for all the positive fun stuff!

Cettie-girl - well, at least someone out there enjoys cheesyness. and yeah, there's a lot of explaining, but that won't exactly come into the story.

and finally, my daily (well, chapterly anyway,) explaination to Fyredra - again, i love your questions. keep me thinking...
yay for bakura getting a soul. i think it's really turning out well - at least overall - even if the details are sometimes iffy.
okay, so yeah, about bakura's thoughts toward his hikari... i reread it, and yes, it was rather, um, emotionally soft/weak for him, maybe a little too much. but to some extent he needs to be that way. to some extent, he does need to be "lost". after all, he used to simply be a big bad shadow spirit whose one real purpose for existence was world domination. it's something he's sorta been working towards for, well, for a really long time anyway... now he's suddenly got a soul. and you have to remember, it's not actually his soul - it's ryou's. and because of bakura, ryou never really had a full childhood. even if bakura is mature in his own way, ryou really is something of a child yet - even more so than yuugi. he's very naive and innocent and...awww... (huggles)
ANYWAY.... bakura now has that young soul inside him that's in conflict with his more evil shadow mind. it's making him think about things he never really considered before, and giving him emotions he doesn't want, and since they're human emotions, he's not sure how to react to and deal with them. so basically, he's starting to get emotionally out of control. does that make sense? i hope so. actually, i just came up with all of that on the spot, it's not really what i was thinking when i wrote it, but i suppose it's something more detailed along the lines of what i was thinking.

also, yes, the little girl will be making another appearance in another couple chapters or so. i haven't given up on her yet....lol. and with her will finally come some explaination and a whole heck of a lot more drama, etc. (and saishu....haven't forgotten about him either....i swear, i really will tie as much as is humanly possible together by the end....)

Part 2 (Chapter 16) – Looking For Answers

"Kira?"

"Hey, Yugi" the other girl didn't bother to look up, but continued to stare at her feet.

Yugi sighed and glanced around the schoolyard. The rest of his friends were gathered near the gate. Joey lifted a hand to wave him over, and Yugi held up a finger, signaling that he would be just a minute. Joey shrugged and turned back to his inaudible conversation with Tristan.

Half-grinning, Yugi turned back to the building wall Kira had propped herself up against. "Look," he started. "The rest of us are getting together over at Seto's place to study. We might watch something later and get some dinner. You should come."

"I don't know," Kira frowned.

"Well, I can't make you come," Yugi said. "But everybody would like it if you did." He lowered his voice just a little. "Besides, it'll be good to let out a little stress before we have to go back."

"So you're still determined to go through with this?" Kira asked.

"Yeah, I am." Yugi face showed his surprise. "Aren't you?"

"I'm not so sure anymore..." Kira took a deep breath. "Kali was listening in on the lunch conversation. It makes me wonder if maybe Mai was right after all..." Her voice soft, Kira raised her head to look Yugi directly in the eye. "Maybe we should come back to the real world again."

"Kira!" Yugi was in shock. "After all that? You're just giving up? Already?!" Yami took over just for a moment, "I thought you were more committed than that."

Kira's dull eyes suddenly flashed as Kali decided to speak up. "I don't know about you, Pharaoh, but I'm committed to my hikari. Not Ryou, not the defeat of Bakura, not even you." Yami frowned, but didn't say anything, so Kali continued. "This is practically destroying the both of them. Their friends are even worried now. Why aren't you?"

"Yugi is willing to give anything for his friend. I would do the same if I ever lost him. I can't ask him to back out. Whatever the cost, I will be there to pay it with him."

"So if Yugi decides that killing himself is the best way to save Ryou, you'll be egging him on?" Kali raised an eyebrow

Yami crossed his arms. "It won't come to that."

Kali gave a humorless laugh. "For once Pharaoh, you may be facing something that's truly beyond your control. You may not have an alternative." Before he could reply, Kali disappeared back into Kira's mind, the tired countenance returning to Kira's face. Yami sighed and relinquished control to his hikari as well.

"I don't think so, Yugi," Kira was saying. "But thanks anyway. I just want to get home and get some sleep." She picked up her book bag and offered up a half-hearted smile. "Maybe things'll look better tomorrow."

"Are you really going to abandon everything we've worked for?" Yugi asked.

Kira gave him a sad smile. "Don't ask me that now. I'm tired enough that I might say yes." She started off on her own way home, then paused without turning around. "And think about what I said. What if Ryou really is too far gone? Is it worth sacrificing yourself for no gain? Is it worth what it'll do to everyone here who loves you?" Leaving that thought hanging, Kira lifted a foot and started off once again.

"Anything..." Yugi whispered, heard only by Yami, as he watched her disappear around the corner. "I'd do anything."

"So, you've finally come begging."

Bakura scowled at the shadows. "I said no such thing."

The voice spoke laughingly, "Really? Yet you are here." There was a pause, "What's the matter, Bakura? The world getting to be too much for you to conquer?"

Bakura's frown grew ever deeper. He should have expected no less. After all, that a dark spirit such as himself even had to admit to any weakness - it was pathetic really. "You needn't sound so smug about it. I doubt you could do any better."

"And yet, you come to me anyway, pleading for help."

"I'm not pleading!!!" Bakura fumed, turning his back on the dark presence. He lowered his voice. "I don't even know why I came here in the first place."

"Because you have no one else to turn to."

Bakura glanced back over his shoulder to see the bleach-blond man step forward, a self-assured smile gracing his lips. "You've always been ambitious, Bakura."

"As ambitious as you are confident, Malik," Bakura responded in kind, turning his head away once again.

"Come off it," Malik joked, placed a hand on Bakura's shoulder, he moved in front of the rather stubborn, white-haired spirit. Bakura didn't respond. Grinning, Malik planted himself directly in Bakura's line of vision, "You came to see me for a reason."

"I'm beginning to think it was a mistake," Bakura growled, and tried to push past Malik.

Malik watched, fully humored. "Suit yourself." He let the other shadow spirit past before speaking again. "But you won't rid yourself of his soul by ignoring the problem."

Bakura froze. "You...know?"

"But of course," Malik replied, now nonchalant, waving a hand through the air. "I just had to glance in your eyes, and it became obvious what your problem was."

"My eyes?" Bakura murmured, clearly confused. He held a hand loosely in front of his face, studying it for a moment before turning back to Malik. "Since you apparently know so much...tell me what to do about it!" Bakura spat. "I never asked for this..."

Malik spun around, a wide grin turned evil by his deepening brows met Bakura in response. "But you have it now. And you won't get rid of it. Poor little Bakura, he's slowly turning hu--"

"Shut up!" Bakura raged. "I'm stronger than you realize."

"Maybe," Malik replied. "But I still wouldn't suggest challenging me."

Bakura ignored the bait. "But why this? Why now?!"

Malik shrugged, turned again, briefly, to take a seat in the shadows, and from the darkness, looked back at Bakura like a judge from his chair, slightly thoughtful and more serious now. "I wonder, Bakura...have you forgotten your goal?"

"My...goal?" Bakura was confused by the sudden change in the other spirit.

Malik nodded. "You still speak of your dominion, but I wonder if it isn't just empty words by now. Your addiction to your light's soul and your obsession with defeating the pharaoh seem to be filling your thoughts. Have you lost your focus?"

"No!" Bakura objected, though his voice betrayed uncertainty.

Malik laughed softly. "You still want ultimate power, don't you?"

Bakura met his eyes evenly. "Have I ever wanted anything else?"

Malik spoke, "If you completely take your hikari's soul into yourself, if you're able to draw it completely out of him, your power will be vaster than you could imagine."

Bakura's eyes flamed up briefly with his old greed. "And how exactly do I go about that without destroying myself? Even you know the rules of the millennium items."

"Ah," Malik pointed out. "Even if your host abandons the item, you will keep your form, though forfeit all contact with the physical world. As long as your item is kept by someone, you will be able to enter your host and their world. However, if the host is to die, you will be sentenced once again inside the item itself until a new owner can be claimed." He looked down into Bakura's fierce expression. "And here lies the problem..." Bakura nodded. "...or so you think."

Bakura's eyes widened, but he made no reply.

Malik continued. "It is your light's soul that gives you the ability to manifest yourself and reach into the human world. If he dies from that world, you will be sentence to your item, and his soul lost forever to eternity. However, if you take his soul into you as such," here Malik gestured to Bakura, "you will still have a claim on his world as well as the full power of his spirit itself."

"All I have to do is take the last piece?" Bakura was in disbelief. "It's that simple?!"

"Almost." Malik was giving him a slight caution. "What still remains is Ryou's heart - the source of his soul. In it are raw memories, raw emotion. So far, you have only echoes inside of you. It is in the heart that the true power of mortals lies. It will not be so easy to draw out, but it can be done." Malik paused, then added, "And if you do get such power, it will be enough to defeat the Pharaoh."

Bakura's hesitance faded away with those last words. "Then the Pharaoh is as good as dead. No matter what the cost, I will defeat them all. What they lose will far outweigh any weakness I gain." He grinned at Malik. "And who knows, the power I get might just be enough to make you regret telling me what you did."

But Malik just smiled as Bakura turned and let himself dissolve into the misty shadows. Once the later was finally gone, Malik allowed himself a soft chuckle. "My dear Bakura. If, indeed, you do obtain the power of Ryou's soul, you will be too far changed to destroy anyone. You're already more human than the Pharaoh or that dark little friend of his. Simple, greedy fool - you neglect that the human heart may be just as dangerous to your darkness as it will be to your enemies' light."

Malik drew back, farther into the shadows. Someday, it would be his turn; but for now, he would consent himself to watch Bakura's fall. "Then...I will have nothing more to fear from you."

Hikari?

Hmm?

What are you thinking?

Kira sighed, About Yugi.

And?

I don't know, Kira fiddled with a strand of her hair, twisting it between her fingers. He's too good.

Huh? That wasn't what Kali was expecting.

Kali, Kira mind-spoke. You know as well as I do that Yugi's willing to do anything for his friends. Bakura's going to use this to destroy him. If Bakura tries to completely destroy Ryou, Yugi will try to stop him. He'll throw his life away for his friend.

Kali didn't respond, so Kira continued. It's pathetic, really. And yet, I envy him. A faint, mirror image of herself shimmered in the air, and Kira turned to look at her yami, We have to go with them. It won't end like that. We can't let it.

Kali placed a shadowy hand on Kira's shoulder. We won't. She hesitated. But, hikari...

Kira held up a hand to stop her. I'll tell you what I'm thinking...