Note: Flamethrower queen says my characterization didn't suck too badly with Yami and Bakura in the last chapter, so I feel warm and fuzzy enough to post this. I've been getting some seriously whacked-out flames off some crazy lately, together with mile-long emails about how she has a crappy dad and her life sucks. I guess that's as good an excuse as any to flame me...

This is the chapter where the shit hits the fan, the next one is the ending. I hope you enjoy, and it's dedicated to my flamer, because lord knows she needs the attention. O.o

Brave New World 8

Yami Bakura POV

I have nothing to take with me, and it is easy to escape the mansion without running into Kaiba. I do not want to see him again, see him hate me because I am no longer of any use to him. I could have left any time, but I needed to know that Kaiba would still have his child. I owe him that, in his arms – no matter how false it was – I felt as though I had a place to hide. I have become so weak as a mortal, but now I will return to the Ring and sleep. Perhaps one day I will be strong again.

I leave Kaiba's land down the long, darkening driveway in the rain and find myself on a road I do not know. I pick a direction and begin walking, freezing and not knowing where I am going, but caring little anyway. I had planned to find my light because he has the Ring, but wherever I die I will return there. It does not matter where I go now.

I walk along the road edged by dark trees for hours, watching the rain stop and the moon rise high between the clouds before beginning to fall again. It is icy cold and the puddles are freezing over, I am exhausted and each step is an effort, but I continue on. What else is there to do? A few cars have passed by in the darkness, careening along the road with their blinding lights and roaring engines. Each time I hear one I stumble back among the trees, waiting for it to pass and leave me alone. It is colder than the desert at night and my lips must be blue, I think that if I closed my eyes now it would not take me long to freeze to death.

Hearing the noise of the latest car to pass by cut off I do not venture back out onto the road. Instead I lean against a tree and slide down to the ground, letting my eyes drift closed and my body fall limp. I cannot move anymore.

It is almost dawn and I forget everything else, losing myself in a memory of watching the sun rise over the desert. I am shaking with cold and I am going numb, but I can almost believe that in a few hours the morning sun will rise to bake the desert sand and everything will be fine again.

Almost…

…

I feel a warm touch and struggle to open my eyes, too weak and tired even to do that. All I can do is feel as soft, heavy fabric is draped over me and a voice says something. I cannot understand, I am too exhausted and the words are in Japanese. My head falls back as I am lifted, unable to move to resist being carried. After a few moments I am set down, held against someone, and a car door closes. That jars me from my daze and I manage to open my eyes, but cannot summon the strength to raise my head. Instead I turn to the side a little, burying my head against a strong chest and feeling warm arms tighten around me. I know it is Kaiba, and the thick fabric draped around me is his coat. I have spent long enough in his bed to know the scent of my false lover.

The car starts and I have no energy to do more than tense in his arms. His fingers gently make soothing patterns on my back and I relax again helplessly, wishing he was not so talented at making me give in. I wonder why he has come to drag me back to his house, I know he will be angry that I left him with pharaoh without saying anything – I did not want to see that in his eyes.

I lay still against him for a few minutes, gathering what strength I have left to speak. I need him to understand everything, even if it does not matter to him.

Coughing painfully because I have probably given myself hypothermia, I cling to his shirt like the pathetic creature I have become and he holds me. Once the coughing fit is over I relax my hold on him and wonder what I must look like, pale and half dead and held on his lap in the back of his car with his coat and arms wrapped around me.

"I c-cannot give you a child…" I breathe against his chest, my voice catching because the cold is in my bones and the shaking will not stop.

"It doesn't matter now." He says, wanting me to stop trying to speak because I don't have the strength. I know that I will knock myself out doing this, but he has to understand. He must know.

"I-I need you… to hear me," I plead in a whisper, my voice breaking. I still cannot raise my head to look at him, I am almost glad I cannot see his eyes.

"Alright." He agrees gently, knowing that I will not stop until I explain myself to him. It should not matter to me. I should not care what he thinks of me.

"Pharaoh will give you your child." I gasp out, pain lancing through me. "He… he promised to do this…" I shudder in agony because my body is starting to thaw and it hurts. It hurts even more to say all this to Kaiba.

He tenses a little, angry, and his next words are a growl.

"What makes you think I want him?" He demands. Dark patches dance in front of my eyes and I let them slide closed again.

"Does it… does it really matter?" I moan out in pain, wishing he had let me die in my dreams of the desert. "One body is as good as another…" I whisper.

"Do you think that's all I care about?" He sounds somewhere between shocked and furious, his fingers in my hair tilting my head back so that I will be looking up at him if I open my eyes again. I arch up a little in his hold, pain shooting down my spine, and I know he must have a good view of the agony on my face.

"A-ahh…" I gasp, my breath coming in sharp bursts and my mind so clouded that it is hard to remember what I needed to say. "I c-can't… I can't bear a child for you, n-not like this…"

He tilts my head back further, wanting me to look at him, and I force my eyes to flutter open.

"I am no use to you now," I choke, "let me go…"

"I don't care." He says firmly, and I look into his eyes. They are not angry, or disappointed, or filled with hate. They are just deep blue and concerned.

I am tired, confused and in pain that is getting worse. My own eyes are filled with tears at being so helpless and weak, not understanding this and hurting everywhere.

"A child can wait. That was all I wanted, but now all I want is you. Not just your body. I don't want you for what you can give me, Bakura." He tells me honestly, his eyes on mine the whole time. I give a broken sob because this is too much for me. I had everything planned out – he would have the pharaoh and I would die, but he will not let me have things this way.

"I-I hate this world…" I manage to breathe, knowing that I am going to pass out soon.

"Let me keep you safe. You can have quiet at the mansion, no cars, no Yami, I'll get rid of anything you don't like. I don't need a child now that I have someone to protect, just be with me." He runs his long fingers through my hair and my eyes slide closed, my head aching and my thoughts slipping slowly into darkness. His lips brush mine and I open to the kiss, giving a soft, breathy moan because it feels so good next to all this pain. This is the first time I have been kissed by him and known that he was doing it because he felt something for me.

As I slowly drift into unconsciousness against him all I can think is that I want to wake up in his arms.

Wanting to wake up at all is what surprises me.

TBC

There, only one more chapter to go. It's 5.30am, so I'm off to work. Fun. Before I quit babbling, a reviewer pointed out that in Dread and the Fugitive Mind Bakura would have died way before a month of torture was up. I thought about that and figured she's probably right, what with disease and infection and whatnot. So yes, I am inaccurate and I apologize to anyone who noticed that particular time. Forgive me!