A/N: Gah! Sorry for taking so long! I was going to update it a week after the last, but our phone went dead for ages and I couldn't get onto the net at all. Forgive me my friends! -Bows.-
Response to reviews:
Sorceress Vanessa: Having Bakura as an uncle is a scary thought, heehee. Oh, and he's only Yugi's uncle by blood relation, so it's the only one that I'm really using ; Yami's only his nephew by name, which he can easily ignore. I hope you like this one too Thanks!
Niki Pound: Yay! New reader! I hope that the rest of this story is fun for you to read. Oh yeah, I love doing that too. It's great having an imagination and putting words into the characters mouths, heehee. The stories aren't half as fun if you can't imagine them. Glad you like! Thanks!
Towairaito Zoon: Heehee. Well, the fact that Yugi wrote 'girl' when he was writing about it pretty much says that this isn't a yaoi Sorry if you're a fan of it, but the lads are straight here, heehee. Thanks for the review!
redconvoy: -Blinks and stares at Bakura.- Bunny-kins? Bakura! You're an evil bloodthirsty villain! No bunnies! Oh, and thanks for the review! -Gives Ryou a hug.- Cutie!
cwthewolf: Here's the part Heehee. Thanks for the review!
wow: Thanks for the review! So nice of ya!
TombRaider15: I've no idea where that twist came from, but it made the whole story a lot more fun! And I also got a reason for Bakura to not kill Yugi straight away either, which is good Glad ya liked and thankies for the review!
inuyasha0001: Thanks for the review Hope ya like!
Pharaoh Star Yami: Dia is muire duit is Phadraig! Hmm, I think I spelt that wrong. Oh well Heehee. Disturbing? Heehee, oh yeah. Imagine at a family reunion, and Bakura comes in the door. Ah! You'd wanna run and lock away the sharp objects! And I'm getting this from the vast empty place that is called my mind, heehee.
Oh, but fada stuff can be fun! I know what you mean about not being able to stop once ya start. I get like that sometimes too. I've only one other friend, in school anyway, that watches Yu-Gi-Oh, but we have such fun talks 'bout it!
Ewie! History! I used to do the subject, but I stopped after 3rd year, coz I got the choice, lol. I don't mind it, but I do find it pretty boring at times. I'm finding it a bit easier to get Irish because I'm getting grinds out side of school, and the one I go to is great! I just hope that after the whole thing I'll still be able for honours. Thanks so much for the review agus slán go foill!
Chicary: Heehee, I think that twist is giving everyone that kind of reaction. -Goes around pushing a few jaws shut.- But it works for the story, heehee. Simpsons rules! Heehee, and SideShow Bob is funny Makes a good baddy he does! Though he shouldn't use his own blood next time, heehee. Thanks for the review!
Roae: I hope ya liked the twist Family fights! Heehee. The grape thing was a late entry into the story, but this needed a little humour. Thanks for the review!
Midnight Star: Glad ya liked and thanks for the review!
Game Lover: Hmm, I'm not sure. Maybe they used to fight all the time so his sister moved out? Heehee. -Pokes Yami- You could do better than a grape girl ya know. Thanks for the review!
And here comes Yugi's response!
Golden Sands
Part Six
-------------------------------------------------------------------
Yugi stared at Bakura, his mouth gaping open like a fish's.
"Rude to stare you know," Bakura said and chuckled while waggling his finger in the air at Yugi.
Yugi shut his eyes and shook his head furiously, yelling, "No! There's no way... You're lying!" He covered his ears, pressed his head against his knees and slid his hands into his hair. "You can't be my uncle. You can't!"
Bakura shrugged carelessly and stared down at the boy. "You can believe what you want, but it comes down to the fact that your mother and I were siblings. Mind you, we were never what you'd call 'close'." He grunted and leaned against a wall, arms folding across his chest. He watched and listened to Yugi muttering on and on to himself, babbling utter nonsense. "I don't know why you're so offended by this revelation. You're related to one of the most well known men in the land." He gaze left the boy and went to the sands beyond the cave entrance. "Even if it's for all the wrong reasons." An air of evil seemed to come from him as his cold eyes narrowed a little as he smirked and spoke those words. He took great pride in who, and what, he was.
Yugi opened his eyes and looked up at Bakura, a thought flowing into his mind, something he'd noticed when Bakura spoke of Marla. "You keep talking of her in the past. What happened to her?"
Bakura turned back to Yugi and grinned. "Are you sure you want to know?" Yugi made no reaction for a moment but then nodded so Bakura continued. "I killed her," he said simply, the words rolling off of his tongue like there was nothing wrong with what he did.
"You killed your own sister?!" Yugi's face scrunched up a little at the thought. "What kind of monster-"
"That was my mission," Bakura interrupted, "Her mission was to kill the pharaoh, which she did, and mine was to assassinate her, because she knew too much and was after leaking information to outside sources, and because of her betrayal, our own mother was slain one night. Turns out she actually did love that runt of a man." Bakura growled and spat to the side. "Piece of scum."
"Did you want to kill her?" Yugi's voice was little above a whisper now.
"You don't know how strict the laws of my trade are. You can be punished from just a simple scar, to death. Besides, betrayal is not tolerated, so death was her calling the moment she let the words about us slip past her lips."
'How could anybody be so heartless? He doesn't even care,' Yugi thought and slunk back against the cave's wall again, holding his bleeding arm tightly, hoping the pressure would soon stop the trickle of blood from flowing out.
Bakura pushed away from the wall and stretched out, his bones cracking in his back as he bent backwards. "All right, that's enough reminiscing. Get back into that cage and not a word out of you or I'll cut out your tongue and feed it to a lizard." Bakura chuckled as Yugi rushed to his feet and back into the small monkey cage in seconds. Yugi's long chain hung out through the bars as Yugi pulled the cage door shut. When Bakura heard the click of the lock he nodded and turned around. He paused at the entrance and looked over his shoulder to Yugi and said, "Remember, not a sound. I meant what I said," before leaving. Yugi heard Bakura yelling at his horse and then the noise of the hoof beats leaving.
Yugi let out a shuddering sigh that shook his whole body. 'I thought he would never leave.' He finally let the tears of pain and sadness that he had been holding back flow. They rolled down his cheeks freely and he sobbed, burying his face into his hands. "Mum," he muttered. One of his salty tears dripped onto his wound and made it sting slightly. Yugi pulled his head back and looked down at the blood. Wiping his eyes a little, he took the end of his tunic in both hands and tore a piece of the material off the end. He wrapped it around his arm as best as he could and then lay down to rest. The lack of food and the loss of blood were taking their toil on Yugi, his energy now not as boundless as it used to be. He shivered from the cold and curled up into a tight ball in an attempt to keep warm. 'How ironic. I live in a desert, and I'm cold.' He let his eyes wander around his prison and they fell on the lock.
"I wonder if..." He sat up and fingered the lock gently. The metal was cold, like everything in the cave. Yugi could feel it move slightly at his touch. Tilting his head, he tried giving it a harder push and, to his great delight, it opened. Yugi's grin widened and he pushed it open fully and stepped out. He looked down as the chain clunked onto the ground behind his feet. Yugi tried to open them but they were locked a lot better than the cage had been.
'No harm in looking around, as long as Bakura doesn't find out,' he pondered and started exploring the cave. His first stop was the chamber pot at the back. He hadn't realised how badly he needed to go until then. He cringed at the smell rising from it, his face twisting into a grimace. 'That's disgusting! Doesn't he ever empty this thing?' He scrunched up his nose and ignored the smell.
He sighed afterward at the relief and knelt beside a water bucket that was set beside one of the walls. There was a bowl beside it, which Yugi used to take a drink and then he filled it and sat down with a rag he found. He dampened it and attempted to clean any wound he'd gotten over the last couple of days. With what remained in the bowl he used it to wash some of his body. He felt better afterward, but still wished he didn't have to stay in the dirt and blood stained tunic.
'Don't get greedy now, Yugi. Be happy you were able to wash yourself.' He set the bowl and cloth back where they had been and rose to his feet once again. He explored the cave some more, but turned out nothing new that he didn't already know. He turned around slowly towards the entrance. 'A peek wouldn't hurt,' he thought and started walking towards the cloth-covered entrance, chain's scraping on the ground behind him, following him like a grey snake. His curiosity of where he was being held was pricked, so much so that he forgot to listen out for Bakura's return. The gap between him and the entrance closed and he reached out, almost touching the cloth, but he felt a tug on his ankles before he reached it. He looked down in frustration at his shackles and the chain going back to the bolt on the wall. No matter how far he reached or how long he tried, the cloth was always just out of reach. Just being so close but not being able to get there and fell the warm sun on his skin was torture enough.
'I bet he planned this,' he thought bitterly as he walked back towards the cage. He looked over his shoulder and felt a warm breeze blow in. His eyes closed and he stood taking in the warmth gratefully and he felt his determination being renewed, as was his thirst for freedom. 'I'm going to get out of here, somehow, even if it kills me!'
-------------------------------------------------------------------
"Pharaoh, I sense dark magic approaching," Seth said as he walked up to Yami, who was now back on his throne.
"Yes. I feel it too." The Millennium Items in the throne room, the Puzzle and the Rod, began to glow and Yami rose from his seat. "It's not very strong though." Yami turned to the right as a black shadow flew in through one of the doors. It circled above their heads, silent.
"It's holding something," Seth muttered. The Rod glowed and he held it above his head. "Shadows be gone!" As soon as the words left Seth's mouth the shadowed raven vanished and blew away like smoke and the rolled piece of parchment it held fell to the floor. Seth went over and picked it up and, turning to the pharaoh, he said, "I believe this is for you."
Yami nodded and took the parchment from Seth. He untied the grubby pieces of twine tying it and carefully unrolled it. He gasped and nearly dropped it when he caught sight of the first sign of words. The red colour startled him and he knew straight away what it was. "It's written in blood." He felt the blood slowly drain from his face as an image of Yugi, bleeding to death somewhere, entered his mind. He swallowed a hard lump in his throat and read it aloud.
"Pharaoh,
Guess who? I bet you didn't expect to hear from me so soon, after you drove me out of my house and took all I owned. You think that you're the most powerful man in Egypt, but I'm here to show you that you're wrong. I am the most powerful man, even if I don't own a palace like you do. Power isn't what you have, but who you are, and I'm going to crush you like I almost did two years ago; like the miserable insect you really are.
As a side note, I have a little friend of yours here with me and he's not doing too well. I'm sure you know who, you're reading a part of him right now."
Yami had to pause for a moment to settle his nerves, and stomach, which was happily doing flips and twists, just to make him feel worse. He took a steadying breath and continued to read the end.
"I'm not looking for anything. No, actually I am. I'm looking forward to seeing you suffer. This boy will never see you again, that I guarantee, nor will you see him, alive."
Yami collapsed onto the throne once he'd finished. He didn't need to read the name scribbled at the end, he knew full well who the writer was. He stared at the parchment and noticed for the first time that his hands were shaking. "Seth, check the blood," he said quickly. He was almost positive it was Yugi's, but there was a very faint hope that it wasn't. 'He could be bluffing.'
Seth nodded and took the parchment. He touched the blood with a finger and the Rod glowed. He lowered the page and frowned. "It's the same as the blood back in the hallway."
"Thought so." Yami's nerves were shattered. The fact that the kidnapper was Bakura had never even entered Yami's mind until he got the message just then. His mind had been closed to the thought. He had refused to believe that Yugi was in the hands of that murderer, that villain, that maniac, the same man who he'd fought two years ago.
-x-x-x-
The seventeen-year-old pharaoh stood in the light of the setting sun and looked down over his city with love in his eyes. 'My people.' A warm breeze blew his cloak to one side and blew strands of hair into his face. He was wearing a black tunic, tied at the waist with a gold sash. He wore a pair of loose fitting white pants, tied around the ankles with cloth to keep sand out, and cloth shoes with leather soles covered his feet. A deep violet cloak rested on his shoulders and a look of glee on his face. His Millennium Puzzle glowed faintly from its resting place on the silk covers of his bed as if feeling his emotions.
Yami took a deep breath and sighed. Life couldn't be better. But the pharaoh wasn't as happy on the inside as he looked.
He looked around to make sure nobody was looking and he took out a scroll. Upon it was a challenge made by the thief Bakura and Yami was never one to back down from a challenge. He knew that he should have told somebody about it, but he didn't want anyone to get involved. "This is between me and you, Bakura. This ends tonight," he said in a determined tone and touched the hilt of the sword on his side.
"Yami?"
The voice startled Yami and he spun around at the soft calling of his name and his eyes met Yugi's. The ten year old was standing by the curtains on the balcony, clutching them in one hand and looking out to Yami with curious eyes.
"Why are you talking about Bakura? What did he do now?"
Yami bit his lip and walked over to the boy. "Yugi, you should be in bed now and you know that." He crouched down to Yugi's height and gave the boy a pat on the head.
"And why do you have your sword?" Yugi asked, ignoring Yami's comment about being in bed. His big eyes stared hard at the blade before going to the pharaoh. "Are you going somewhere?"
Yami knew he couldn't hide it. Yugi had this strange way of getting things out of him that nobody else could. "All right, you got me. I am going somewhere, but I won't be long, and it's a secret, okay?" He lifted an index finger and held it against his lips with a smile. "So, keep it between us?"
"Where are you going?"
"You're stubborn," Yami sighed and shook his head, "And you ask too many questions. Just out, don't worry about me. Your brother knows how to mind himself. So, promise you won't tell?"
Yugi looked at him for a moment before grinning and nodding. "Promise, as long as you let me stay with you tomorrow night!" Yugi loved spending the night with his brother, who would normally tell him a tale of great heroes before they went to sleep.
Yami laughed and nodded, getting to his feet. "That's fair. Now go to bed, and remember, no telling. I'll see you in the morning."
"Okay!" Yugi leapt forward and hugged Yami around the waist before letting go and darting out of the pharaoh's room. Yugi was staying with a few of the stable hands at that time and they were known to sometimes get grumpy when Yugi was late. He did it so often, stopping up every night to say good night to Yami, so the older should have known he would be having a visitor before he left. Yami had forgotten about that until Yugi showed up, his mind elsewhere.
Yami smiled after his little brother, but it soon dropped to a frown. He went out onto the balcony and looked towards the sun. "It's down. Time to leave." He checked his sword and surroundings once more and then stepped onto the balcony's edge. The winds were picking up as he made his way down the palace's walls with ease and silence, without so much as a mouse noticing him.
He landed with a light thud and immediately pressed his body against the cooling stone wall. A lightly whinny met his ears from the stables, one he knew well. He snuck into the stables and patted his stallion, Signet Grey, on the nose. "Shush, be quiet you silly horse." He smiled and exited out the back door.
His eyes darted around and he slipped off to one side. His form moved like a shadow through the city streets. Shutters closed on the buildings and lanterns were being put out for the night. Unbeknownst to the people of the city, their pharaoh was passing just outside their homes as silently as a master thief.
Yami finally got out of the city and he walked through the sands. As he reached the top of one sand dune a figure emerged from the shadows and stood before him.
"Pharaoh, I'm glad you could make it to your demise." The voice was smug, taunting.
"I doubt that I will be the man to fall tonight. You may well regret challenging me to a duel." Yami narrowed his eyes and stood tall. The man facing him was a good head taller than Yami was, maybe more, and had a larger build, but Yami had been trained all his life to use speed to inflict injuries, and it was this speed he was counting on to win.
Bakura's laugh filled the air and he pointed at Yami with an accusing finger. "YOU think that you will beat ME?! What a joke! You're only a mere boy, while I am a man. What can you do?"
"You might well be surprised. Now, are we going to begin this, or stand here chatting?" Yami drew his sword, the blade making a hissing sound as it left its scabbard.
"As you wish, but you'll be regretting those words soon." Bakura also drew his sword and swung it around, cutting through the air swiftly. "I'll make sure of it."
To be continued....
-------------------------------------------------------------------
Slán slán!
Ashla
E-mail: