Disclaimer: I don't own Yu-Gi-Oh!, Kazuki Takahashi does.

Key

#Blah# Someone thinking, or talking to someone else through a mind link i.e. Yugi to Yami.

"Blah"Someone talking on the other side of a phone conversation, etc.

Warning: Swearing, sex (male/male relationships) and badness in general. I will put a warning before a chapter if it involves sex. You have been warned.

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Episode 7 – This is The Place

Yugi stepped in through the front doors of the museum, glad that he was finally out of the heat. He stood for a moment enjoying the gentle coolness glide over him before looking around for Ryou.

"Hey Yugi!" He spun around to find Ryou walking towards him smiling widely, and trailing several metres behind was his Yami, looking very grumpy. Yugi laughed before running over to meet the two white haired boys, dragging Yami with him.

"Ryou!" Yami watched jealously as Yugi and Ryou hugged, and started discussing what they were going to look at. He looked up to see that Bakura was glaring at him, so Yami decided he would give him the best death-glare he could. However, he had only been doing this for a few seconds before he realised that Yugi and Ryou had already walked off to buy their tickets, so they stalked over to where their hikari's were now standing by the ticket desk. It appeared, though, that hadn't even noticed they had not followed them over.

Seeing as Yugi and Ryou had been there so many times, they didn't really need a map, so straight away they set off towards their first destination.

"OK! First up, the Prussian's!" Yami and Bakura stopped dead in their tracks, unbelieving looks on their faces.

"You have GOT to be joking." Yami said stiffly.

"Why?" Ryou ginned suddenly. "Oh yes, I remember now. They invaded your precious Egypt, didn't they?" He giggled, before walking off into the Prussian section with Yugi.

"Great idea, Ryou! They won't follow us in here. We're free of them at last!" And for a few seconds more this was true; but they soon found that their freedom had once again been taken from them.

"Oh no you're not." They stopped and groaned as Bakura's voice appeared from behind them. "Yami, get over here!"

"Hmph." Yami walked begrudgingly over to where they were all standing, being careful to not look at the displays of Prussian artefacts that had managed to attract crowds of people. He started muttering darkly to himself, causing several of them to stare at him as he walked past.

"Five thousand year old spirits…you can't take them out anywhere." Ryou said disappointedly, before carrying on through the exhibition.

"Hmph." Yami scowled at the various weapons and statues of gods that were behind the large sheets of glass, clearly unhappy about the fact that they were even there.

"What's wrong with you now?" Yugi asked, getting increasingly annoyed with Yami's continuous sighing and growling.

"They stole that from us." He muttered, nodding his head towards a display of Prussian recipes.

"Err…" Yugi looked at the book, totally nonplussed.

"They stole my mother's recipe for hot salty nuts!" Bakura shouted, outraged. The area around them became completely silent, people looking at them in amazement.

"Bakura, what the fuck do you think you're doing?" Yami said quietly.

"I have a plan. Well, not for any particular reason…just because I feel like it." He cleared his throat before saying, "There, look! See? Camels nuts, hot and salty!"

"Be…quiet!" Ryou managed to gasp between violent fits of giggles, Yugi already using the display as support to stop him from falling over.

"Well I don't see what's so funny." Yami said seriously, taking the hint from Bakura. "They were quite a delicacy in our day."

"Shut up, you're killing me!" Yugi had now allowed himself to fall onto the floor, unable to keep down the uncontrollable laughter.

"I should have known you would try and put something about 'our' day in there somewhere…" Bakura said, smiling slyly at Yami.

"Watch it!" Yami said threateningly. He turned to look at Yugi who had finally picked himself up off the floor, with help from Ryou. "Well, come on! I don't want to stay here."

"Well, you're going to have to. However, if you don't want to stay here then why don't you and Bakura go off together somewhere else?" Yugi sniggered. Yami growled before stalking off ahead, with Bakura going in vaguely the same direction. "At last…" Yugi turned to Ryou to find him staring at his face, his eyes unfocused slightly; he appeared to be lost in his own thoughts. Yugi's stomach churned slightly as Ryou continued to stare at him, apparently completely unaware that he was doing so. "Ryou?" Yugi asked nervously. Ryou seemed for the first time to realise what he was doing, and gasped slightly as Yugi's innocent face swam into his vision. "Are you OK?"

#Yes…now that they're gone…# Ryou shook his head, before looking back to Yugi. "I'm-I'm fine. Sorry."

"That's alright, Ryou. Come on…let's get moving."

(AN: Dun dun dun! What's going to happen next? I don't have a clue!)

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"Where are you going, Pharaoh?" Yami turned to find Bakura leaning against the wall, watching him study a map of the building.

"Well, if you really must know, I'm trying to find out where that new exhibition is." Yami said, before turning back to the map.

"Oh." Bakura walked over to where he was standing, and looked at what he thought was just a bunch of lines and colours. "Do you even know how to use this thing?" He asked casually, waving his hand vaguely towards it.

"Err…" Yami didn't want to admit it, but he didn't have clue how the map worked. All he knew was that it was a map, and somehow it was supposed to tell him where everything was.

"You don't, do you?" Yami growled slightly, but other than that he remained silent. "Well, I wouldn't bother trying to use it if you don't know how it works. I'm sure if you just wander around you'll find it somewhere."

"Do not mock me." Yami said, scowling.

"I am not mocking you. And trust me, if I knew how to use this thing then I probably would, but seeing as I don't I'm not really in any position to do so." Yami looked slightly bewildered at him, Bakura grinning slightly. "Maybe I could help you…" He tailed off and waited for Yami's reaction, expecting him to start ranting and raging at him. Instead, he just sighed.

"Fine then. But don't even bother trying to annoy me." He slowly walked away through the hall, pushing his way through the hordes of people around him. Bakura, as much as he didn't like Yami, did not want to get lost, so he quickly caught up with him before he could completely disappear from his sight.

"So…where're we- I mean, where are you going to look?" Yami gave Bakura a backward glance, before quickly looking forward again so as to avoid crashing into someone.

"WE,-" Yami said harshly, "are going over there." He nodded his head towards a set of stairs in the middle of the hall, which were currently swarming with brightly coloured blobs. Bakura could only assume that the brightly coloured blobs were people.

"Are you sure? I mean, I'm not one to criticise the Pharaoh's judgement-" Yami snorted. Bakura hesitated before continuing, "but I'm not sure it's such a good idea. I mean, we could get crushed!" Yami laughed.

"Well, you could stay here if you want. You may be all by yourself-" Bakura shuddered as he said this, "But at least you won't get squashed. Well…you're not as likely to get squashed down here, anyway…" Yami stopped and turned to look at Bakura, who hadn't noticed and walked right into him. He smirked a little before taking a step backwards, to save Bakura the bother of having to do it himself. He looked shocked, to say the least, and disgusted at the fact he had actually gone anywhere as close to Yami as that. He soon recovered from this though, and gave Yami a horrified look.

"I'm not staying down here by myself!" Yami raised an eyebrow at him.

"Oh…?" Bakura mentally punished himself. Why did he even say something that sounded like he wanted to stay with the Pharaoh?

Yami grinned. He could see that Bakura sincerely regretted saying that he didn't want to stay there by himself, especially being a Tomb robber. Tomb robber's were supposedly frightened of nothing…well, it looked like Bakura had proven that wrong all by himself. #How ironic…# Yami thought.

"OK, completely forget I just said that. I'll…I'll come." Bakura looked completely humiliated…he had managed to make a complete prat out of himself by just being in a very crowded place with a person he now hated.

"Good; let's keep moving. I'm not sure about you, but I don't want to become somebody else's personal carpet…" Bakura, whether it was because he wasn't thinking properly or just because he couldn't be bothered to stop, found himself laughing at Yami's comment. Yami looked at him suspiciously. "Now, is it my imagination, or does the Tomb robber think that I'm funny?" Yami was surprised that he was able to embarrass Bakura so easily…was he really that weak? Yami shook his head, before pushing Bakura in front of him. "Now, we are going that-a-way." He said, pointing his finger to the top left hand side of the staircase. "Are you sure you can manage that?"

"Yes, I'm sure." Bakura said firmly. He made his way slowly over to the staircase, Yami following close behind to make sure he did actually go in the right direction. #I swear, if it's the last thing I'll do, I'll make him pay for humiliating me… Urgh, how did I get myself into this mess? I'll never be able to look at Yami straight again…ARGH! I CAN'T BELIEVE I JUST SAID THAT! OK, I did not just say that. I meant I will never be able to look at Yami with a straight face again…I'm just making things worse for myself, aren't I?# Bakura was so lost in his own thoughts that he didn't notice he was walking in completely the wrong direction. Yami, now seriously worried at Bakura's strange behaviour, grabbed him by the shoulders and dragged him off into a less crowded area to find out what was going on inside his head.

"Bakura, are you alright?" Yami's voice pierced Bakura's thoughts like a spear, although his reaction couldn't have been more confused.

"Wha…?" Bakura looked at Yami's concerned face for a moment, not quite realising what had happened. "What's wrong?" The puzzled look on Bakura's face suggested that he didn't have a clue what was going on, or what Yami was talking about. "I was going in the right direction, wasn't I?"

"No, you were not going in the right direction." Yami looked sternly at him. "Something's wrong. What is it?" Bakura was surprised by the Pharaoh's concern, but he wasn't going to let himself be fooled by it.

"Nothing's wrong." Bakura tried to push Yami out of the way, but he was forced back against the wall; it was clear that Yami wasn't going to let him go if he didn't say anything.

"Yes, something is wrong; and I intend to find out what it is." Yami gazed steadily at him, determined to find out what the problem was. He didn't even know why he was so concerned; but if it had anything to do with his Hikari and Bakura's, then he wanted to know.

"I…" Yami continued to look into his eyes…it was almost hypnotic. Bakura felt a strong urge to tell Yami everything he was thinking about, but he knew he couldn't…he shouldn't. Especially not what he had accidentally said to himself just moments before. Bakura closed his eyes in an attempt to shut out those eyes…those eyes that were so calming, but could also be his undoing. He felt strange…he had felt it before…but no-it couldn't be…that feeling belonged somewhere else…yet he didn't quite know where. He tried to forget it, but he couldn't…that same feeling just kept coming back, over and over again…was it fear? Fear of the things that had happened to him in the past…and things that belonged in the past. He could feel them rising up from the deepest recesses of his memory, the things that he wanted to forget, the things he hated…the people that he had loved…and pain. Endless pain that seemed to last for an eternity, the screams and pleading reverberating around his head. #No…it cannot go this far…I won't let it…I won't…I won't…# "I- I can't do this!" He cried out (Whoa, way too dramatic!). He slid down the wall, covering his face with his hands. "I won't…I won't…" He could remember it all now… His mother, his father…being taken away from him…being beaten up by guards of the king…and then he remembered that king, and how he had done that to so many other families…and yet that king was not Yami. He knew that Yami would never have done that…unless he didn't have a choice in the matter, which so frequently he didn't. All those people he had sent to their death…Bakura now knew he didn't want any of it; he would not have had them killed…if he had a choice. #Why do I know this? How? I didn't know any of this before…Why has this come up now, of all times? I don't want to remember it…I was happier when I didn't know…# He opened his eyes to find Yami kneeling in front of him. He took his hands away from his face so he could see better, and quickly wiped the tears away that he only just realised were streaming from his eyes.

"Bakura, I'm sorry…" He sat down next to him and leant against the wall, arm resting on his leg. "If you would rather forget it…"

"Forget what? What do you know?" He said loudly. He buried his face in his hands again, resting his head against his legs. "Why should you care?" He could feel the tears on his face again, but this time he did not attempt to wipe them away; he had given up on everything, on himself, even on his Hikari… "Why did you do this to me? Why did you have to make me remember? Why…?"

"Bakura, keeping your fears and emotions bottled up is not going to help you." Bakura lifted his head up and looked into Yami's eyes…he could see the concern in them, the real concern that a friend would have for another friend…and he felt glad. He was glad that he finally knew that he could trust Yami, and that Yami would hopefully trust him back. Bakura felt Yami's warm hand on his arm, and felt all his fears wash away, drowned out by the tears that were still flowing freely down his face. "Please…let me help you fight your fears. I thought I could help you by making you remember some very important things that you appear to have forgotten…your family, your loved ones, and…fear. If you have no fear then you cannot love…at least, not properly. Don't you want to love Ryou? Despite how much you try, there is always that certain something missing, and without this certain something you know that your love for him will never be true, will never be complete. Isn't this true?" Bakura had no idea how Yami knew about all of this, but he felt that there was no longer any point in trying to keep anything secret…he probably already knew anyway. He nodded his head, casting his gaze towards the ground. It was true…he had never really loved Ryou properly, despite wanting to. But now…now he felt something that he was sure he had never felt before, something so strong that it scared him a little. Yami smiled. "You see? Fear can be a good thing sometimes…like fear for your friends, the fear that you felt when your family was taken away from you-"

"Please-" Yami stopped. He could see the pain, the bitterness on Bakura's face. "Please, don't…don't…" Bakura paused, unable to continue talking. He didn't want to remember it…he could still hear his mother screaming for help, crying out to the guards to let him live, to spare his life…in place of hers. Bakura felt a sudden anger with himself, the same anger he had felt all those years ago…that was when his fear left him. He was too angry with himself to leave any room for fear, and then…he forgot how to love. He turned to Tomb robbing and stealing, killing without mercy…all for the sake of what his mother had done for him. And then he remembered all the people he had killed; how they had cried at him to spare their lives, screaming in pain and falling at his feet…it was so easy, so simple. It was the only way he could shut out the agony of losing his parents, just because of one person…how he had become just like that Pharaoh, cold hearted and cruel. All this, because of the sacrifice his mother had made…for HIM. But he had forgotten that his mother wanted him spared because she loved him…she would not have wanted him to waste his life away in the way that he did. He had disgraced her; he did not even feel worthy to have memories of her. (AN: When I wrote this, I didn't realise how close this is actually to what happens in the anime! Except the reason why he starts killing people is because he's possessed; his family, and his whole village was destroyed by order of the pharaoh, and he was the only survivor. But I won't tell you why it happens because I don't want to spoil it for you.)

"Bakura, it wasn't your fault…" Yami said soothingly. "You have to stop punishing yourself for something you didn't do…do not disgrace yourself because of something that happened such a long time ago now…you have to let it go. There is nothing you can do now; you cannot change the past. If you really do want to redeem yourself, then you should cherish your parents' memory…then they'll know that you are really grateful for what they did for you that day, and not that it causes you so much pain that you can't bear to even think about them. They loved you Bakura, and still do; you must do the same." Bakura knew that he was right, but that didn't stop the guilt from coursing through his body.

"Yami…" Bakura looked up once again to Yami's face to find that he was still using that same hypnotic stare that he had used before, blanking out everything around him; the noise, the people, everything…everything apart from him and Yami. "I…I don't think I can…it's been too long…I don't know if I can remember what real love feels like…there's no point."

"Bakura, there is a point." Yami said sharply, catching Bakura off guard. "Ryou needs you to love him; his family are all but gone now, and you are the closest thing to family that he can get." It was only then that Bakura realised how similar he and Ryou were…both had lost their families to the forces of evil, and they were the nearest they were going to get to being loved. "Do you understand now?" Bakura nodded his head; despite all his past feelings for Yami, he couldn't help but be grateful to him for all that he had just done.

"Thank you." He said quietly. Yami nodded his head and stood up, holding out his hand. Bakura took his hand and stood up as well, only to find the world around them dissolve into blackness…he was falling, falling…

"Now, we are going that-a-way. Are you sure you can manage it?" Bakura found himself back at the base of the staircase, looking to where Yami was pointing his finger. He stood for a moment, confused. How could he have gone back in time to ten minutes before he remembered being last? It didn't seem possible…and yet, there he was. He began to wonder if it had actually happened at all, when Yami had taken him aside and given him a severe talking to…well, serious talking to at any rate. He felt a slight pressure on his shoulder, and turned to find Yami smiling kindly at him…and he felt strangely reassured by it. #I suppose it did happen, then…# Bakura wasn't sure, but he could have sworn that just after he thought that Yami nodded his head- only very slightly- but it was enough to convince Bakura that he was right.

"Yes, I'm sure." And once again Bakura set off up the staircase, but this time he couldn't have felt happier or closer to anyone in the world…

(Whoa, that was completely and utterly random, by the way. No idea why I wrote it!)

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"Oh, lookey who we found." Ryou said as Yami and Bakura walked over to where they were standing.

"We got lost." Bakura muttered bitterly. Yami glared at him, not wanting to admit that he, the Pharaoh, had actually gotten lost in a place that was probably no bigger than his old home. He knew that Yugi would just laugh at him because of it.

"Senile old fools…" Yugi said under his breath, Ryou giggling behind his back.

"What was that?" Bakura said sharply.

"How dare you call us SENILE!" Yami shouted. Yugi snorted at him, making Yami madder, who at this point was turning the colour of a tomato. This transformation did not help his cause, however, as it just made Ryou laugh even harder than he already was.

"Didn't you think to use a map?!" Yugi said hysterically.

"Don't know how to." Bakura mumbled, turning a strange shade of vermilion.

"You must come from the Stone Ages if you don't know how to use one of those!" Yugi grinned at Ryou, who burst into a fresh set of giggles.

"We can't even say you came from the Stone Ages, because that would be complementing you!" Ryou managed to say before he had to stop to catch his breath.

"Actually, that was before our time." Yami said knowingly, glad that he was able to get back at the hikaris and make them look stupid.

"OK, the Iron Ages then." Yugi said, still smiling widely.

"That was the same time as us." Bakura grinned at Yugi and Ryou's annoyed looks.

"Fine then, the Bronze Ages!" Ryou gasped.

"Now that's better!" Yami said, exasperated.

"Doesn't have quite the same ring to it, though…" Bakura said thoughtfully. Yugi and Ryou scowled before stalking off towards the next section.

"Err, where are we going now?" Yami asked, jogging to keep up with them.

"Well, if you really must know…" Ryou pointed up to a sign hanging above the entrance of the exhibit. "The Romans."

"NOOOOO!" Yami and Bakura shouted in unison, gaining them several disapproving glares from various passers by.

"Will you control yourself!" Yugi cried out.

"Please, don't make us go in there!" Yami begged, grabbing Yugi's hand and restraining him from walking over the threshold to the dreaded Roman section.

"Yami, will you PLEASE let go of my hand!" Yugi said through gritted teeth. Yami let him go, looking, and feeling, hurt. "I am not making you go in there. It's your own choice: you can come in there with us, and therefore not get lost; or you can go off again with Bakura all by yourselves, and get lost again. Now, which would you prefer?" Yugi glared meaningfully at him. Yami looked at Bakura, who in turn shrugged his shoulders.

"Well, I don't know about you, Pharaoh, but I don't particularly want to get lost again; however, if you really do want to keep your dignity…" Bakura grinned as Yami glared at him, "then I suggest you go and get yourself lost. Not meaning to be rude or anything…"

"Fine then." Yami said as he stood up. He walked past Bakura and grabbed his arm as he went. "You're coming with me." Bakura looked bewildered as Yami dragged him along by his wrist, not having quite realised that he was the one that was losing his dignity rather than the other way round.

"Oh God, they can be SO embarrassing sometimes…" Ryou groaned, covering his face with his hands. "It looks like five thousand years of extra living time didn't do them much good in the maturity department…" Yugi laughed. He took Ryou's arm, and walked with him into the Roman section.

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"Why did I have to come with you?" Bakura whined for the billionth time as he and Yami walked down the infinite number of hallways with endless amounts of toilets and cafeterias in them. They had been wandering around for about half and hour now, and they were both getting rather fed up of seeing the same people looking at the same exhibits as they were five minutes before. "I mean, if I had stayed with them I might not actually have gotten lost, but of course you had to drag me along with you…"

"Will you shut the fuck up?! If I had known we-"

"Don't you mean YOU?" Bakura interrupted.

"Shut up, I'm talking!" Yami glared menacingly at Bakura, causing him to wince slightly.

"Fine, have it your way…" He muttered, before falling silent. Yami felt guilty for having shouted at him, but he was still determined for Bakura to hear what he had to say.

"As I was saying, if I had known WE'D get lost this badly then I probably wouldn't have gone." He drew a deep breath, trying to keep his temper under control.

"Why do you always have to include me?" Bakura snapped back, clearly infuriated by the fact that Yami always managed to place part of the blame on him. "In no way, shape or form am I going to take any of the blame for this. It was your fault we got lost and your fault alone!"

"Yeah well, if you hadn't kept on MOANING about me dragging you along-"

"Which you did." Bakura interrupted again. By now Yami's fuse was getting very short; he had a strong urge to wrap his hands around Bakura's neck and strangle him, but once again he managed to restrain himself. Instead he continued as though Bakura hadn't actually said anything.

"-then I would have been able to concentrate on where we were going. However, because you could not keep your fucking mouth shut for just one second, we went round in circles instead." Yami glared angrily at him, trying to make the point that he was right and Bakura was wrong. "Now, let's keep on moving, and maybe if you can be a little more quiet I can find us a way out of here."

"Huh." Bakura sighed grumpily. "I don't suppose there's any point in arguing with you, is there?" He may have been angry with Yami, but he was also feeling a little depressed. He thought that he and Yami had finally come to some sort of understanding, but Yami was acting like it had never happened. He could feel his eyes stinging as cold tears started to well up in his eyes. He sniffed quietly, lowering his face so Yami couldn't see him…he wanted to be spared from the pain of being humiliated in front of him, BY him. Bakura would never have normally cried over something like this, but no one had ever shown him as much understanding as Yami had…not even Ryou. #Yami…why are you so angry with me? You're acting like you can't even trust me…but I trust you. Then again, what's the point? What's the point in trusting you? You could have just been nice to me that one time so you would have an advantage over me, so you could push me away like I don't matter, like I don't exist…#

"Bakura…" He looked up angrily at Yami, annoyed that he had the cheek to try and be civil to him. He surprised to see, however, that Yami couldn't have looked guiltier in his whole life. "I'm sorry, Bakura. I didn't mean to ignore you, I just-" He stopped when he saw Bakura's puzzled expression.

"How…how are you able to hear my thoughts?" He asked nervously. He couldn't be sure that that was what Yami was doing, but how else could he have reacted in that way?

"Although you may not know it Bakura, we are connected. It may not be strong yet, but it is enough to allow us to hear each other's thoughts…you just haven't learnt how to yet." Yami looked sympathetically at him.

"Well, that can't be fair. How come I can't hear your thoughts? And what do you mean, 'not that strong yet'? How are we connected? Since when?" Yami smiled and shook his head.

"Just concentrate, Bakura. It will come in time. We are connected because we had the same fate as each other; one that we alone share." Yami looked sincerely at him, before turning and walking away. After a few metres he stopped again and came back to Bakura, a thoughtful look on his face.

"Uh…" Bakura looked quizzically at him.

"Try it now." Yami said suddenly.

"Try what now?" Bakura knew what Yami was talking about, but he just wanted to make sure that that was what it really was.

"Try listening to my mind." He grinned. "But of course you already knew that." Bakura looked doubtful.

"But I don't how to." He knew that he probably sounded really pathetic when he said that, but at that moment he couldn't care less. All he was concerned about was getting back at Yami for listening to his thoughts by doing the same to him.

"Just…" Yami gazed into his eyes, using the same hypnotic stare that he had used earlier on that day. "…concentrate…focus your mind on me…don't stop…" Bakura did as he was told, not caring about the fact that probably everyone was looking at them really weirdly- #Bakura…you need not be concerned about them. Just concentrate on…us…# He started as Yami's voice swam into his head, a little incomprehensible at first; but it quickly became loud and clear, reverberating through his mind. #Focus on me… Do not stop…# Yami kept on repeating this in his head, over and over again, until he was sure that Bakura had heard it. "What did I say?"

"You said…" Bakura gazed listlessly at Yami's face, not yet understanding what he had just done. "You said…that I should just concentrate on us…that I should I focus on you, and…not to stop." He took in a shuddering breath; was what Yami said just something to help him? Or did it have a deeper meaning, something as yet unbeknownst to him?

"Correct; I did say that. And to answer your last question…maybe." #Maybe…# He smiled secretively at him, before once again walking on ahead, only turning around to tell Bakura to hurry up. He fell to a steady pace behind Yami, burying himself deep within his thoughts.

#Why did he say that? This is so weird…what I thought would be a relatively normal day out at the museum has turned out to be one of the strangest days of my life… First Yami manages to read my mind supposedly because of our fates being connected, and THEN he makes me read HIS mind…and-# His thoughts were quickly interrupted by Yami, who was obviously uncomfortable with the fact that he was quickly grappling onto the hidden meaning behind what he had said.

#Bakura, you don't have to worry about what I said.#

#Yami! Will you stop listening in on my thoughts?! How can someone think private thoughts if they have somebody else listening to them?!#

#I'm sorry, I can't help it.#

#Why?# Yami fellback so he was walking alongside Bakura, and rested his arm on his shoulder. Bakura felt a little uncomfortable with this, but Yami just smiled reassuringly at him.

#Why? Because.# Yami paused for a moment, thinking of what he should say. #Because…we have to keep this connection strong. In the sense that if we don't communicate like this, our link will…fade.# He sighed. #You never know when we will need it…# He looked at Bakura, who was looking slightly confused.

#What do you mean, fade? I thought it was a bit more permanent than that…# He grimaced. He realised that he and Yami were now probably closer to each other than Yugi and Ryou were.

#Closer in the sense that we can communicate like this?#

#Yami! I thought I told you not to do that!# Bakura thought furiously, shaking Yami's arm off of his shoulder.

#Sorry.# Yami quickened his pace so he was once again walking ahead of Bakura, the fact dawning on him that he was probably being a bit too persistent. He didn't want to break a friendship that he had only just made; it may be one that he would end up relying heavily upon in the future…and anyway, Ryou and Yugi were getting increasingly annoyed with their constant bickering. Yami didn't want Yugi to get mad with him again…after all, they had only been together for a couple of days. Yami loved him more than anything else in the world, and he wanted to do all he could to prove it to him. And besides, wouldn't Bakura want the same for his Hikari? He may not have loved him properly before, but now wouldn't he surely want to make it up to him? Yami hoped so; he cared about his friends, and that included Ryou. He knew that Bakura would want to.

#You're right, Yami; I do want to make it up to him. And if it weren't for you…well, I probably wouldn't do that, would I?# Yami gasped a little and looked round to find that Bakura was now walking next to him, a warm smile on his face. #Maybe there are some other people I should make it up to, too…#

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Luff: Wahoo! I have finally finished the chapter! Ok, there is about half a dozen things that I haven't actually put in here, but that's because it would make this chapter too long. It's ten pages long! The longest chapter I have written so far. However, those half a dozen things will be in the next chapter. Hopefully.

Seto: #YAWN# HINT HINT.

Luff: Sorry.

Joey: What about us? Are we going to be in the next chapter?

Luff: Umm…probably not! :)

Téa: That's not fair! #Sniff# Me and Tristan haven't been mentioned for ages!

Tristan: Yeah! What about us?

Luff: Oh, ming ming ming. Anyways, groovy Sonic X is starting on Wednesday (Yay!), so it might inspire me to write some more! If you're lucky.

Yugi: Yeah, IF.

Luff: Shut up. Anyways, as always, please R&R, and I mean the second R this time. REVIEW PLEASE, BEFORE I GO CRAZY. Thank you.