Sorry about not updating for a while. Anyway, if you readers are curious, Higure's Ka is based on a real Yu-Gi-Oh card--my favorite one. Try to guess which one and write it in your reviews. Well, on with the story.
Images of his memory of Kul Elna, and the present in the dungeon halls blurred through Bakura's thoughts, and in need of stability he focused on the one constant in both images—Akhenaden. That Priest bridged the gap between past and present, and Bakura felt his insides clench in anger—the man before him had overseen the slaughter of his people, of his family.
He lunged at Akhenaden, the knife gripped tightly in his hand, and rammed the blade into the Priest's flesh, soaking the blade and his hand with blood. A deep growl escaped from his lips, but a strange childlike tone adulterated it—as though Bakura's confusion over time affected not just his thoughts, but also his voice.
"A…." Akhenaden choked on the blood rising to his mouth, but managed to push Bakura away from him so that the knife no longer remained in his wound. Weak, the Priest fell back onto the floor, gasping for air as the blood filled his mouth, blocking his throat and choking him.
"Uh…." Higure sat up and clutched her head—she'd fallen unconscious when Akhenaden pushed her—unaware of what had happened. When her eyes focused on Akhenaden lying on the floor wounded, she paled and opened her mouth to scream but no sound came out. A movement to her left distracted her, and she flicked her eyes toward it, her body seized up when she saw Bakura holding the bloody knife in his hand.
Oh, Ra, is he going to kill me now? She asked silently, looking from the knife to Bakura's eyes, then to Akhenaden, and backto the knife. Her throat tightening she focused her jumbled thoughts—she had to summon her Ka, that was the only way. And she was going to too, until her eyes strayed to Bakura's; there was an odd gleam in them, as though struggling to focus and his face wore a look of confusion.
Higure felt her terror leave, replaced by anxiety and curiosity, flooding up only when Bakura's knife hand moved.
Bakura brought the hand to Higure's cheek, and stroked it with the back of his hand, and then made a motion as though wiping up a tear from her cheek. But Higure wasn't crying. She looked again at the confused expression on Bakura's face, at the blank look in his eyes, and slowly realized what it was.
"Are…are you all right?" She asked, keeping her voice gentle, for she hoped not to shock him out of his trancelike, confused state.
"Mo…ther?"
"AH!" She gasped, and was about to respond in hope to keep him there, but the moment after her gasp Bakura snapped out of his confusion and glared at her.
When his eyes fell on Akhenaden, Bakura furrowed his eyebrows in thought, then noticed the knife in his hand. He struggled to think, and gasped in realization—then the next moment he fled after seeing someone running down the hall toward them.
"What!" The Pharaoh glared at the person in front of him, indignation in his eyes.
"There's been an attack, Priest Akhenaden was wounded." A man with blue eyes and brown hair said, kneeling in front of the Pharaoh. "He's presently receiving treatment from the palace healers, but it doesn't look too hopeful."
"Do you have any idea who attacked him?"
"I have suspicions only, but nothing concrete. Shada and Isis are currently searching the dungeons for the attacker, and the guards are doing a headcount of the prisoners just in case."
"Let's hope none of them escaped." The Pharaoh said, which the man, Seto, interrupted as meaning 'Let's hope Bakura didn't escape.'
Back in the dungeons, away from any of the searching guards, Bakura snuck around the holding rooms in the lower dungeons when he made it to a holding room with only one prisoner in it, he used the knife to open the door.
"Huh? What?" The prisoner mumbled shuddering at the sound of the door opening. "Not again…."
"I see you're not up for another round of torture."
"Bakura!" The man gasped, gaping at the sight of the man he'd spent the last week in the same cell with.
"I see you haven't forgotten me."
"What are you doing here? The guards took you…."
"I need a favor from you."
"What kind?"
"The kind where you'll die if you complete it." Bakura said truthfully, not from sincerity or goodness, but because he knew it would interest the man the most—after spending a week with a person in one room you learn things about them and the one thing Bakura learned was that the man was suicidal.
"Really?"
"Yes…it's a necessity. You'll enjoy it though, being free from this hell—though of course you could just escape it you wish—as long as you tell no one about this moment, I have no problem."
"Will I be able to do it myself?" The man asked, his eyes on the knife.
"Yes, that's what this knife's fore…but you can't do anything until I'm in the right spot."
"Fine, just tell me what to do."
Five to Ten minutes later:
Bakura stepped through the door of the cell, and then turned around facing the prisoner he freed from the lower dungeons.
"Here." Bakura held out the knife and a key to the man. "Take these, lock me inside and then put the key back with the others; after that go act up where the guards can see you. After they see you, you can use that knife on yourself."
"Could I take one of them down with me?"
"Sure, but stick with the guards—if you get caught by the Priests, then you may not have the chance to kill yourself." Bakura said then turned toward the cell wall before flitting his attention back to the man. "I almost forgot—those leg shackles, give them to me!"
"Oh." The man hurried to grab what Bakura pointed to, and rushed back to the cell, handing them to the thief.
"If I didn't remember these, my plan would be ruined." Bakura chuckled and placed the shackles back on his legs, and sat against the cell wall.
"Um…I…why are you putting yourself back in prison? You're going to be executed, aren't you?"
"Simple, I don't have a clear path of escape yet, I need more time and opportunity—and the only way I'll get that it if they think I haven't escaped."
"I…couldn't you join me?"
"…I don't want to die yet but if I did I'd join you."
"Really?"
"Yes." Bakura half smiled. Of course not, idiot, that's the coward's way out, suicide.
After that the man locked Bakura in the cell and left, leaving the room in silence as Bakura noticed the blanket on the floor beside him.
Shit, how will I…. He cursed in his thoughts, trying to figure out what to do to get rid of the blanket.
"Put it on you." One of the other prisoners spoke, and Bakura jolted up at the sound.
"What?"
"Miss Higure's known for being kind to prisoners in this ward, and she already put that blanket on you before, so put it back on and act like you never moved."
"Why are you helping me?"
"I'm not; it's just Miss Higure will get in trouble if they found out a prisoner of hers escaped, if it wasn't for her sake, I'd tell the guards exactly what happened."
"You'd rat on a fellow prisoner?" Bakura narrowed his eyes and draped the blanket over his shoulders.
"Not usually, but if that prisoner happened to hurt Miss Higure…I'd lie to see him hanged."
"…."Bakura chuckled nervously in response, not knowing how else to respond, seeing as he needed the other prisoner's cooperation for his plan to work.
It was then that he realized his hand was still covered with Akhenaden's blood, and the only thing he could wipe it off on was the blanket—but how would the blood be explained?
"Urr…." I'm screwed, they'll know, they'll…. "AH! Or course." He brought his hand up to his mouth and bit down until the skin broke and blood seeped out. Chuckling, he moved his mouth to his wrist and bit there, making sure to miss the vital artery, but making sure that there'd be enough blood.
"Heh." He was about to break out in insane laughter, but the sound of the ward's door opening stopped him, and he fell into acting weak and unconscious, still biting his hand.
"This is the last ward in this hall, do a head count, there should be five." A raspy-voiced guard said to another guard who walked to the end of the room, counting each prisoner.
"There's five here."
"Really?" The raspy-voiced guard stepped in and peered in the cells himself, staring incredulously at the cell that housed Bakura. "Curious…very curious."
"Huh? What?"
"Priest Seto felt certain that the culprit would be an escaped prisoner from this ward, but…."
"They're all here and accounted for."
Just then the door opened again and Priest Seto strode up the raspy—voiced man, his mouth opening to speak when his eyes flitted to the cell to his left.
"What the…?" He gaped at the sight of the thief sitting in the cell listless as though unaware of anyone else's presense.
"It seems the culprit's not from this ward."
"Preposterous!" Seto growled, his eyes narrowing. "He had to have been the one." He stepped up to the cell and pulled on the door, frowning when he realized it was locked.
"Locked from the outside, with the keys on the opposite side of the room."
"Urr…" Seto stalked to the shelf with the keys, and picked up the one corresponding to Bakura's cell. "It had to have been him, and I'll prove it." He growled and unlocked the cell door, stepped right up to Bakura, and kicked him.
"Seto! What are you doing?"
"Shut up." He dismissed the new voice and pulled Bakura's arm, trying to force him to his feet.
However the next moment he felt a firm hand push him to the side, and saw a glowing figure between him and Bakura.
"What…ah, Higure!" He stepped back and turned his eyes to the doorway where the redhead stood with her face expressionless, and an odd look in her eyes. "Call off your Ka."
"What gives you the right to manhandle the prisoners I'm in charge of?"
"This is the prisoner who attacked Akhenaden, I know it!"
"Ah, you're blaming that on a prisoner who can't even stand?" Higure scoffed, her eyes avoiding looking at Bakura. "Where's the logic of it? Would someone who escaped really return to his cell? Especially if he's to be executed?"
"Ah…I…hn." Seto pursed his lips and glared at Bakura who lay on the floor listlessly. "…ah, how do you explain the blood on his hand, and that blanket?"
"I give each prisoner of this ward a blanket, and this one was no exception."
"You opened his cell! You…."
"You act like I'm the one standing there with his cell door wide opened, without paying attention on him."
"Ah." Seto turned red and walked out of the cell, relocking it. "Okay, but what about the blood?"
"Hm." Higure walked up to the cell and peered at Bakura's hand, noticing the teeth marks only because she could still see blood seeping out. "He bit himself. You can see the punctures if you look closely."
"What!" Seto stared at Bakura's hand, snarling when he noticed the wound. "What person would do such a crazy thing?"
"…I've seen other transfers from the lower dungeons do crazier things. One of them tried to peel his own skin off with his nails, when he was fully awake. And that's just the tip of what transfers do, of how the lower dungeons affect prisoners. I'd gladly tell you if you want to stay and chat."
"Hh…no, I need to report back to the Pharaoh." Seto turned toward the door, but had to walk past Higure who said:
"Though the majority of them scream for their mothers' and death, all night long, whether asleep or awake; and…."
Seto left the room quickly, blocking out all else of what Higure said about the lower dungeons and what it did to people.
