Yugi stared at the thief, cursing himself silently. He should have known that the thief would react this way. "I'm sorry," he whispered finally. "I thought you knew." The dark glare pinned on him didn't relent. If anything, the thief looked even angrier.

"This has nothing to do with you," the thief hissed, but Yugi noticed that he looked slightly less angry.

"If you say so," he agreed, perking up slightly. "Can we start all over again?" The thief's lack of expression prompted him to continue. "I'm Mouto Yugi, and you are?"

He hadn't really expected it to work, but the thief shrugged his hand away and responded. "Bakura of Kuru Eruna." He sounded rather proud of that title, Yugi noted.

"Nice to meet you, Bakura," He frowned uncertainly. "But isn't that the other Bakura's name?"

Bakura's eyes softened slightly and he nodded. "It was my name before he was born, but he also has a claim to it, yes." Now that he was no longer concentrating on killing Yugi's yami, Bakura was actually being quite nice.

Yugi smiled in relief and pride at being able to draw Bakura out, even on such a simple subject as a name. He'd never felt this nervous talking to someone before. "Okay, that makes sense, I guess." He smiled tentatively, not sure how Bakura would react.

The thief snarled. "Don't you have anything better to do?" he demanded arrogantly. "You've already assured that your Pharaoh will win, what else do you want from me?"

Yugi's vision clouded slightly with the fury that rose in him. He'd been ignored for far too long to take any more now. "What makes you think that this has anything to do with him? I wanted to talk to you, and this was a good way to do that! Why does everything have to be about him?"

Almost immediately he regretted it. Bakura would never trust him now. He was such a fool! If he'd just kept his big mouth shut everything would be all right.

The thief looked taken aback for a moment before laughing strangely. "So you do have some spunk in you after all," he said, and Yugi flushed painfully red. "I thought you liked the Pharaoh. You certainly act like you do."

"He's a good friend," Yugi agreed uncertainly. "But no one pays attention to me anymore. They all like Yami better. I don't blame them, of course," he hastened to add, watching the bemused expression spreading over Bakura's face. "He's stronger, smarter, better looking, and more confidant than I am. They should like him better."

A dark chuckle broke into Yugi's increasingly self-pitying thoughts. "If people don't pay attention to you it's your own fault. Make them." Bakura snickered, one hand caressing the Ring absently. "You didn't seem to have any problem with that before." Yugi looked up, blushing confusedly, and his breath caught at the look in Bakura's eyes.