A/N : Hello! So yeah, updating sooner than intended as my brain just couldn't help but work overtime on this story. Trying to write Evil characters with emotions other than the need to cause pain is difficult stuff so I hope I've done it justice, if not, just send me to the shadow realm for a bit as punishment... (please don't)... Anyway, enough from me, please enjoy! Xx

Disclaimer : I do not own Yu-Gi-Oh! :-(

Chapter 7

That first torturous trip into the darkness set of a chain reaction. It seemed the king couldn't get enough of tormenting Hina. She wished every single time that it would just stop, that she might even die, just to escape the hideous man, but every time she came out alive covered in cuts and bruises. She found herself asking what she'd done to deserve this. He would tell her that he would break her, crush her and all sorts of other stupid stuff along those lines, but Hina hadn't a clue what he meant. Break her? He'd already crushed her life, destroyed everything she held dear to her, she was depressed and angry, upset and full of rage with nothing to do about it other than endure the hours of torment the man planned out for her. Hina curled up on the hard floor of her confinement cell. That was another thing; he'd moved her in to this hell hole to cut her off from the rest of the slaves. After all why would he want her to find any comfort, she thought bitterly. But he didn't know about the hole in the wall. The person sat on the other side kept her company in the darkness. She was sat next to the hole now, awaiting her next terror session.

"I don't know what he wants from me?" She spoke softly. Her eyes sore from crying so much.

"He don't want anything other than to cause others pain!" The man spoke back. The person's voice has strengthened since Hina had been moved here. Hina suspected it was from lack of speaking she hadn't been able to tell the persons gender before, but now she could tell he was male.

"But why pick on me so much?" Hina asked sadly, resting her head on her knees as she sat against the cold stone wall separating her from the man.

"You're strong. Strongest person I've met since… since…" The man's voice broke off. Hina lifted her head and chanced a peek through the small hole. She couldn't see the man in the dark, but she knew he was there.

"Since what?" Hina asked, pressing for information. She wondered if the man was going to give her some wonderful insight into what the world was like before the King took over.

"I knew someone strong, before we… we failed…" The man's voice choked up and he took a few deep breaths. Hina pushed her hand through the wall searching. She found the man's shoulder and gave it a comforting squeeze. This poor man must have been through a lot. She felt fingers gently touch hers. They were cold, but it comforted her, knowing in this darkness she wasn't truly alone. She withdrew her hand carefully and sat back down.

"Can you remember the world before this?" She asked softly, trying to imagine a world without suffering. She heard the man chuckle, but there was no humour in his tone.

"Not really. It feels like such a long time ago, but I know it was better. It was always going to be better," He whispered. Suddenly there was a noise as the key scraped in the lock of a door. Hina's small cell was lit up in light as her door was wrenched open. She sighed against the jolt of fear rising in her chest. Not again…

Bakura scowled at the door as he waited for the wretched girl to be brought to him. He really would have thought her will would have shattered into a thousand pieces by now. It was frustrating to say the least. He kicked back in the chair he was sat in, resting his feet on the table. How he enjoyed being in control. It was how it should have always been, before that fool and his idiot friends had beaten him, but he had beaten the pharaoh and his new band of fools. He had won and had taken his glorious prize. Even so, this girl still remained defiant against him. It angered him, but he also found himself hoping that she wouldn't break. At their sessions in the shadows he realized that while he hurt her and tried to destroy her resolve he was on her side, willing her not to give in. He tried to convince himself it was because he enjoyed causing the girl so much pain, that he found it entertaining. This was indeed true, but he knew it to not be the main reason he wanted her to keep on going. It was… inconvenient to say the least. He'd notice these moods and it would make him all that more determined to rip her defiance to shreds. He'd have to hold himself back for fear of killing her, but he knew if he did see the strength alive in her eyes burn away to nothing but hopelessness, he knew those feelings would dissipate. He growled realising he had no real reason for feeling this way about the defiant little runt. He stood up from his seat, kicking his chair backwards causing it to topple over. He wanted her here now. He wanted to know why she made him feel like this. What gave her the right to defy him! He was the King, He was power. He was the darkness. He had no business with her light other than to destroy it completely.

Hina was brought before the dreaded door again. She had come to hate this door so easily, knowing the horror it held behind it. Why her? Why was he doing this to her? Hina already felt the tears coming to her eyes as the guard leaned forwards and knocked on the metal. Hina gulped down the lump in her throat. She wouldn't allow him to see how much he got to her.

"Enter." A familiar voice ordered. Hina's shackles rattled as she was shoved forwards through the open door. The guard didn't even bother entering the room any more. She couldn't blame him; it couldn't be nice delivering someone to pure horrendous pain. She shuffled into the dreaded room. Bakura was sat by the table in the centre, the lamp upon it lit like always, but he was sat with his feet upon the table, rocking back on the back legs of his chair. Hina was surprised to see him; he was usually already hidden away, waiting in the dark like the monster of children's nightmares. She stood in the centre of the room feeling awkward. He surveyed her with an unreadable mood. What was he planning? Hina dreaded finding out.

The girl looked awful. Her long black hair was scruffy and matted with blood. She had a scar running across her cheek, one he himself had caused. Her skin was pale and unhealthy looking and those powerful strong eyes had dark circles under them. She looked frail, skinny and weak. Bakura knew she wouldn't be looking great, but he hadn't really expected to see her looking this bad. He felt something stir deep in the pit of his stomach and twist uncomfortably. He growled against the feeling. Argh, he couldn't do anything with this girl looking so god damn pathetic and disgusting. She needed to sort herself out before he'd go near her. He glared at her angrily. He couldn't believe he had to do this. Pathetic girl, worthless insignificant creature! He swung his legs off the table and examined her again. She was trembling but still that strength remained in her eyes. He felt his temper rising. Why couldn't she just give in already!

"You look revolting. Go clean yourself up." He ordered with a snarl. He saw the girls eyes widen at his command. He forced his expression into a menacing glower. He pointed with his hand to a door which led to an adjoining bathroom, the only bathroom under his reign with hot water. She'd need hot water to un-matt her hair.

"W...what?" She stuttered, not sure she understood. Was this some sort of trick?

"Are you disobeying an order?" He growled in a low murderous voice. Hina gulped and shook her head. She wasn't sure what she could do other than to do as she was told.

"N…n…no," She replied preying it was enough to not get hurt. She hesitated before moving though, not sure what she was supposed to do.

"Girl, you are trying my patience!" He growled taking a menacing step towards her. She squeaked and hurried past him towards the door he'd indicated. She pushed the door open and stepped inside glancing back. He had watched her progress across the room and his eyes met hers as she closed the door, a strange expression across his face.

Hina gulped and turned to survey the room. She tried not to gasp in awe, although that proved difficult. The room was massive, a large white bath tub to the left and unbelievably clean surfaces all around. The sink was big enough to be the bathtub in Hina's opinion. She couldn't remember seeing anything so luxurious in her life, and she had been ordered to use it! Hina wasn't sure where to start. What did she have permission to use? She couldn't very well go and ask. He'd hurt her, but if she used something she shouldn't he'd hurt her worse. She sat on the edge of the tub and thought. Why was he been nice to her? This didn't make sense at all. Was this some sort of trap? Was it a test to see if she'd use it? None of this made a jot of sense. She scowled at the large tub as if it personally offended her. What was she meant to do? A knock at the door suddenly brought her back to reality with a nasty shock.

"I don't hear that bath running!" A voice snapped making Hina realise her situation. She jolted up right and her heart hammered away frantically. She gazed at the door realising only now that there was no lock on the door. Of course there wasn't, she reminded herself, who'd be stupid enough to walk in on the King?

"S…sorry!" She cried out in response. She quickly leaned over the tub, trying to work it out. She dropped a gold plug into the hole at the end of the bath. There were two taps. She gazed at them confused. Two? Why? She heard the door creak open and jumped back terrified. Bakura was stood there his mood radiating negativity. He walked forwards and Hina couldn't help but edge back, but he didn't come to her. He stopped by the bath. He gazed into the empty tub. At least she'd managed to put the plug in.

"Idiot." He mumbled, leaning over and turning both of the taps, sending clean steaming water into the bath. He then added something to the water which for a terrifying moment Hina thought was poison or some sort of pain causing toxin, but moments later bubbles erupted, sitting on top of the rising water level. Bakura turned to Hina, folding his arms.

"Get in," He ordered, not understanding himself why he shouldn't just beat the hell out of the girl now for been so bloody simple. Hina walked forwards tentatively and made to clamber in, but Bakura grabbed her forearm before she could even step in. She winced, preparing for the beating. He rolled his eyes at her and scowled. Simple idiot.

"Clothes off," He ordered in a tone which clearly suggested she should have known this. Hina felt the colour rise in her cheeks at his order. She wasn't going to undress in front of this man… the man who hurt her more than she'd ever thought was possible. She frowned.

"You'll see," She responded. His arm gripping her tightened. Like he'd really want to or take any pleasure in seeing her body.

"Girl…" He began getting angry.

"No, turn away." She replied stubbornly, clearly not budging on this subject. He glowered at her and turned abruptly away from the girl, smirking slightly.

Satisfied, Hina quickly undressed and stepped into the hot water. The warmth was both shocking and relaxing against her skin. She quickly sat down and pulled her knees up to her chin, hiding most of her from view, despite the water level and bubbles already doing as much.

"In?" Bakura's voice asked, amused. Hina felt her cheeks turn pink.

"Yes," She replied awkwardly, turning her head away from him.

Bakura turned back around and examined the girl in the bath. She was huddled up into the corner of the bath, despite the massive amount of space there was in there. He scowled. She hadn't even dampened her hair. She'd need to if she was to get it clean. It was then that he realised he hadn't a clue what he was doing. She'd come here to his room, for him to have fun in the shadows with. He was becoming very creative and had a few ideas he wanted to try out, but instead he'd ran her a bath. What the hell was he thinking? Despite knowing how stupid this was, he didn't demand she get out, instead he sat down on the edge of the bath tub and gazed down at the girl. She eventually turned her head and gazed back at him, her face pink, whether from the heat of the water or embarrassment he wasn't sure. He leant over and switched the taps off. The ends of her black hair that had got wet were floating around her already looking cleaner. He growled to himself. He needed to snap out of this. It was stupid. He pointed towards a small selection of bottles on the side of the bath.

"Wash your hair." He demanded before storming out of the room, slamming the door shut.