Mischiefshipping (Thief King Bakura x Mana)


The first time he saw her, he wasn't paying attention to her. Perched as he was in a tree overlooking the palace walls, Bakura's eyes were fixed on the young boy with the tri-colored hair and the golden crown on his forehead. At the moment, his target was sitting on the edge of the garden pond, his stylus skritching across a small tablet. Every now and then, his crimson eyes would wander to one of the papyrus scrolls he had spread out beside him, and then return to his work. Bakura's fingers twitched, imagining sliding a blade between the boy's ribs and watching the life drain from his eyes. But no. There was no way that the boy as truly alone – surely, there was some guardian hiding in the background. And besides. His real target was the boy's father. The pharaoh. The boy could wait until the other had been dealt with.

So he was thinking when a blurred bolt of cream shot through the garden and tackled his quarry, sending him into the pond with a yelp.

"MANA!" the prince shouted, but part of his words were drowned out in bubbles as he dunked under the water.

His assailant leapt backwards with a squeal of glee.

"Got you! You said I'd never catch you off guard, but I got you!" she said, laughter bubbling in her voice, her emerald eyes sparkling widely from under thick brown bangs.

The prince pushed himself out of the water. His spiky hair was now heavy with water, and the spikes were drooping down towards his forehead like a strange leaf hanging over a fruit.

"Mana!" he said again, looking annoyed. "Oh – darn it, look...you sent the scrolls into the water – Akhenaden is going to kill me!"

"Oh, no he won't, silly," the girl called Mana said. "You're the prince and stuff."

She clapped a hand to her mouth to hide her giggles. The prince looked up.

"What?"

"Your hair – it's totally funny!" Mana squealed. She literally fell over laughing.

The prince's annoyance faded to be replaced by a huge grin.

"Fine, then," he said. "Let's see how your hair looks soaking wet!"

He leapt up, grabbed her by the hands and pulled her back. Both of them fell into the water with a huge splash. Mana spluttered.

"Prince!" she protested.

The prince only laughed and splashed water at her.

At the time, Bakura did not pay attention to Mana. At the time, he was feeling the rage crawl up his spine, hatred seeping into his brain, and murderous thoughts twitching through his fingers as he saw that young boy laugh and grin. What gave him the right to be so happy? He was the reason that Bakura could not be happy.

I'll kill you, Bakura thought, with a certain amount of relish. I'll kill you, and I'll see that smile die on your face as I put my knife between your ribs.

But somehow, it didn't seem like enough. Bakura had suffered for years, without family or friends, on the run from those who might want to make sure the secret of Kul Elna stayed a secret. It was the pharaoh and his family, it was their fault that he had to suffer like this. He wanted them to pay – with more than their lives.

And that was when his eyes wandered to the girl, the one that had brought the smile to the prince's face in the first place. Dark thoughts started to stir in the back of his mind, and a grin formed across his face.

Oh, you will feel my pain, prince, he thought. You'll feel so much more than that.

She was not difficult to track down. Despite living in the palace, she seemed to have no qualms about skipping out into the town and wandering through the market stands. Sometimes, the prince would be with her, concealed in a cloak, and again Bakura longed to come up behind him and slit his throat.

But he had a better plan. A much, much better plan.

He was patient. A good thief was always patient – because a reckless one was dead. He waited several days before approaching her.

She was alone today. She roamed aimlessly amongst the stalls, looking at jewelry and exotic fruits. She appeared to be most fascinated by the snake charmer, as she spent a good five minutes crouched in front of him and watching him pull the snake up and down as though it were attached to an invisible string of music

"It must be some kind of magic," she was saying as Bakura wandered nearer. "What kind of spell is it?"

"It's no spell, girlie," the charmer said with a husky laugh. "Just good old animal know how."

"Whoa," Mana said, watching the snake with wide eyes. Then she looked a little nervous. "It's not a poisonous one, is it?"

Bakura was near enough now.

"No," he said, before the man could answer her. "Just a harmless rat-eating snake."

The snake charmer looked impressed. So did Mana, glancing up with her big emerald eyes.

"You know about snakes, lad?" the charmer asked.

Bakura shrugged, giving a small half smile.

"You see one or two around. Pays to know which is which."

"Wow," Mana said, her eyes wide. "I never remember which ones are poisonous. I just usually stay away from all of them!"

Bakura grinned at her. She grinned back. After glancing at the snake for a few more seconds, she stood up and brushed the dirt from her knees. Then she gave Bakura a bright smile.

"Hello, I'm Mana," she said, bobbing her head in a half bow.

"I'm Bakura," Bakura said.

"Pleased to meet you, Bakura!" Mana said cheerfully. "I've never seen you before. I mean, not that I know everyone in town, but I do see a lot of people, and I usually notice the kids my age, and I've never noticed you before, so are you new around here? Or did I just not notice you? And – oh, I'm rambling again, aren't I?"

She giggled. Bakura smirked inwardly, but smiled politely on the outside.

"Oh, no, you're fine," he said.

"My best friend says that my brain must forget my mouth is still going sometimes," she said with a laugh.

She must be talking about the prince. Bakura molded his face into a slight frown.

"That doesn't seem like a very nice thing to say."

"Oh, he's just teasing me," Mana said, waving a hand with a laugh. "I do it back to him all the time."

"Ah," Bakura said, changing back to a smile. "Then you must be very close."

"Uh-huh!" she said.

"Is he around?" Bakura asked.

"Oh, no, he's busy," Mana said. "Stuck in an economics lecture. I said I could get him out with my new smoke spell, but he said he'd rather chance the lecture than get turned into a fish by accident!"

Bakura changed his outward expression into one of faint concern.

"I don't think friends should talk about each other like that."

"Really?" Mana said, looking genuinely confused. "Don't all friends tease each other?"

"Do your other friends?"

"Uh, well, Prince and Mahad are really my only best friends," Mana said, blushing slightly. "Mahad doesn't really tease me, but that's just because he's too professional and stuff."

"Hm...it doesn't seem right to me."

"What, the teasing?"

A group of boys ran past, kicking a pig's bladder around and shouting at each other. The bladder flew into a stall and knocked some apples down, and the stall owner stopped in the middle of a sale to yell at the boys to clean up after themselves. The brief distraction gave Bakura a moment to collect his thoughts and move on the offensive.

"No...more the fact that such a kind and cheerful person like you doesn't have more friends," he said. "Especially female friends."

"Oh, well..." Mana said, looking into the sky, confused. "I'd never really thought about it."

"Seems strange to me," Bakura said with a shrug.

Mana started to chew on her lip. In the back of Bakura's mind, he was smiling so widely that he thought he might burst. The seeds of doubt had been planted. He wondered how the girl would react next.

"Really...do other friends really not tease each other?" she said. "Are you saying I don't know enough about friends and stuff?"

"Not really," Bakura said. "I just thought it seemed a little weird to me. Like...I don't know."

"What? What?" Mana asked.

Bakura shrugged, and pretended to look uncomfortable.

"It's just...your friend doesn't seem very friendly, that's all. Almost like he doesn't want you to make other friends, or something."

For a moment, Mana just stared at him. And then she started laughing. In the back of Bakura's mind, he tensed up. What was wrong with her? She should be starting to doubt more than ever by this point!

"Oh – that's – I'm sorry," Mana said, wiping away a tear. "But no, that's not it at all. I just don't really get out much, you see? And I've known Prince since we were kids! He's the best friend ever!"

Bakura ground his teeth, but forced out a smile.

"Well, if you say so. I guess I just worry about such a nice girl getting taken advantage of."

"Aw, that's sweet of you," Mana said. "Thanks, Bakura."

Then she paused, and brightened.

"Hey! You know what? You're my friend now, too, right?"

Bakura let his smile show this time, although he tried to keep the predatory hint out of it. Well, now this was a turn of events he had not calculated. He hadn't managed to turn her against the pharaoh, and she seemed...perhaps immune to doubt about her friend.

But her smile was genuine. And he knew first hand how easily a smile like that could be manipulated into love...

He could only relish the idea of the look on the prince's face when Bakura managed to make Mana fall for him. The greatest act of thievery, after all, was not necessarily gold and jewels. No, the best thievery was to take the ones that mattered most...

"Yes," he said smoothly. "I guess we are."

"Yay!"

Mana grabbed his hands in her eyes and jumped up and down a few times.

"Oh, this is great! I can't wait for you to meet Prince, and Mahad! And now I'll have someone to hang out with when Prince is stuck in lessons! I'm so glad I met you, Bakura!"

"Me too, Mana," Bakura said. I will take this girl away from you, prince, and you'll watch her fall so desperately in love with me that it will kill her to be taken away from me, even if it means fighting against me. "Me too."


A/N: This could be so much longer, but maybe I'll recycle the idea for a longer fanfic or something. I just wanted to end it, at this point. Next is Misanthroshipping (Thief King Bakura x Yami no Marik x Yami no Bakura)