Okay, here is another chapter of A Vampire Story. Hope you enjoy it ^^

(I don't own Yu-Gi-Oh! BTW)

Chapter 10: Resolution

Bakura was back at the house, waiting for Yami to show up. The timer was almost out, and Bakura briefly wondered what would happen to him if he was late, but as soon as he thought this Yami showed up.

He was slightly out of breath because he had taken too long hiding Marik and he had to run here instead of walk here like he wanted. He looked at Bakura and said, "On your marks, get set, GO!" Bakura ran out of there as if the place was about to blow, Yami started walking, but mostly thinking. Hmm…Bakura's a thief, so he would put his treasure where he thinks no one would look. Where wouldn't I look… After thinking about it for a while, he decided to check out the beach, since it seemed an odd place to hide something.

Meanwhile Bakura was just running aimlessly. Stopping occasionally to search the area. He knew the pharaoh, and he probably hid Marik somewhere dark and small. Because, if Bakura remembered correctly, the pharaoh was all about building pyramids back in the day. He absolutely loved pyramids. Bakura smiled, That's why it had been so easy to steal most of his treasures. He chuckled to himself, and then thought, Are there any caves nearby?

Anzu was back in the attic. Her body had begun to ache, so she opened up the trunk and decided that she would close it on herself again when she heard Yami coming. The house creaked something terrible. Besides there was no reason she had to get cramps from this stupid game. She sighed, Please hurry. Yugi.

Marik was inside the bridge's secret hiding space being bored. Yami had been right, there were some smal

l holes that let in the pale moon light just a little bit (1). But the thing was, they weren't big, but there was a lot of them. Marik sighed. It was too quiet in there, it was slowly driving him mad. And it was extremely cold in there. He found himself shivering a lot. I hope I don't catch a cold… he thought vaguely before he sneezed. Too late, he thought, and then hoped that Bakura hadn't heard the sneeze, because he did not want to suffer a death-like-experience.

Yami had just gotten done searching the beach. He couldn't find anything and it was beginning to get so dark that he doubted he'd ever find her. He shrugged off his doubt and started walking again. The beach was out, that leaves… the woods maybe? No, a vampire/thief wouldn't hide his treasure in the woods, it's too cliché. Which is exactly why Bakura would do it… he started walking towards the woods.

When he finally got to the dark forest, he wondered if there were any bears in there. He knew there were snakes, so why not bears? He sucked in a deep breath and walked inside. He kept his eyes peeled, for Anzu and also for wild animals.

He had walked along for a while, and then he saw an old house that appeared to be made out of oak wood. Yami thought it looked suspicious, so he went inside.

When he stepped on the doorstep the floor creaked, and although Yami didn't know this, that was Anzu's cue to go back inside the trunk. Yami walked along, trying to be as quiet as possible, but that proved to be a very difficult task and he ended up squeaking anyway.

He searched the first floor, and then went upstairs to the second floor. But when he saw nothing there, Yami didn't leave. Anzu's somewhere in this house, I can feel it. He searched through the house again, trying to see if there was anything he missed. When he got to the second floor again after searching for a third time, Yami sat down and looked at the ceiling.

The pale yellow paint was peeling, and it looked as if the ceiling was going to collapse any minute. Then something caught his eye.

At first, he had thought it was an especially stringy piece of peeling wallpaper, but he now saw that it was a small piece of string. That's weird, he thought, Why would string be hanging down from the ceiling? He thought about it for a little bit, and then went downstairs to get one of the chairs from the kitchen.

He brought it back up, stood up on the chair and pulled on the string. Luckily, he was standing at the back of the stairs, so when they came down they had no chance of hurting him. But they still made a lot of noise when they came down, in fact he thought the house was going to fall down. If Anzu's not in here I'm going to be so mad… he thought before he climbed the stairs to the ancient attic.

He looked up in the attic and at first only saw a bunch of boxes with labels like, "Christmas decorations" and "Old clothes." But then he saw an old trunk, and it looked just big enough for one person.

He walked up to it and opened it. As soon as he did so, Anzu leapt out and hugged him. "Yay! You found me!" she said.

Yami smiled and hugged her back, "Of course, now lets hurry and get back to Bakura's house."

Bakura had just gotten done searching through a cave with a sleeping bear in it.

Obviously some blood had been shed.

Bakura was licking the blood of his fingers while thinking of where else to search. He hadn't been in any of the caves he had searched. Bakura stared at his blood-stained fingers. It doesn't taste as good as Marik's blood does… he thought before he realized what he just thought and then screamed in frustration. He walked to the nearest tree, sat down, and leaned against it.

He cleared his mind of everything, and started waiting. Eventually he started to see wavy blue lines, and, and arch? Then he started hearing running water against a babbling brook. Wait, hearing? he opened his eyes, and saw that he was in front of a bridge. He blinked a couple times, then brought his hand to his head. Hm…That' never happened before, I don't even remember getting up from the tree. He shrugged it off and walked onto the bridge.

He looked out at the river for a minute, and, after making sure no one was around, smiled. He had good memories of this bridge. He stared happily out at the river for another minute, and then shook his head, That was the past, it's over, he thought. Then he looked out at the sky and noticed that the moon was close to setting. Shit! He got off the bridge angrily and went to its side. He was so angry right now, he had to punch something, so he punched the stone bridge wall.

But something was wrong.

When he punched the bridge, it sounded as if it was hollow. Curious now, he knocked on the bridge, it made the sound you get when you knock on something hollow. He smirked, then started pressing on random stone blocks. Searching for the one that's loose… Got it!

He pushed on the block and then the wall started to come out. He looked inside and saw Marik there sleeping.

He was about to wake him up, but something made him stop. His face just looked so peaceful… Bakura's eye twitched, and then he picked him up gently bridal style and started running towards his house.

When Bakura got to his house he hadn't seen anyone there, so he thought that he had won. But then he walked into his living room and saw Yugi and Anzu sitting there. Damn it, Bakura thought. He dropped Marik, causing him to wake up and be confused for a while. When he figured out what happened, he got angry and said, "What the hell Bakura? Why would you do that?"

Bakura scowled at Marik, "Well, if you had been awake, you would see that we just lost the game, so I dropped you."

"What?" He noticed Anzu, Yugi and where he was clearly for the first time. "Hey!" he said, "I'm not in the bridge anymore!"

Bakura rolled his eyes, "Duh! You're not in the bridge anymore, you didn't notice that?"

"Well, I didn't really think about it."

"Marik focus! We just lost."

"What do you mean we? It was you who was searching."

Bakura groaned, and then he noticed Yami and Anzu laughing. "Stop laughing!" he told them.

"S-sorry!" Yami said in between laughs, "It's just, you two are so funny!"

Bakura scowled, "No we're not."

"Yes you are!" Anzu argued.

Bakura and Marik sighed in unison, then Marik said, "Great, now we'll never acquire freedom for all vampires."

Yami got serious and looked at Marik. "What do you mean?" he asked.

"We were going to collect all of the Millennium Items so that we could use the wish to wish that vampires were an accepted part of community," Marik said.

All was silent for a while, then Yami said, "I think we have many things to discuss."

They were sitting at the kitchen table drinking tea for the second time that night (or first time that morning since it was now around 6:45 AM, whichever you prefer). Marik and Bakura explained their real story, that they were business partners, but just for collecting the Millennium Items. After their story, Yami only had one thing to say. He looked at Bakura, smiled, and said, "You are actually doing something good for once?"

Bakura shrugged, "Beats sitting at home bored as can be."

Yami smiled, "Touché, I guess I'm just really surprised you're working with a partner."

"Between you and me," Bakura whispered this next part, but he whispered it loud enough so that Marik could hear, "I would work by myself, but this kid hates to be alone, so we work together."

Marik got angry at that statement (mostly because it was true and he wondered how Bakura knew that) and said, "I can hear you Bakura!"

"I know. You were meant to."

Marik glared angrily at Bakura and Bakura laughed, then he said, "You know Marik, you're kind of cute when you're angry like that."

At this Marik's face went red and he turned his head away. He briefly thought that this wouldn't help Anzu's impression of him, but he didn't care, he just wished he knew why he was blushing, because he wasn't gay.

Bakura realized what he had said, (he momentarily wondered why he was blushing so much and why his blushing made him feel happy) but he decided to make Marik look like the fool and said, "Geez, that was a joke, I didn't know you went that way Marik."

Marik snapped his head back to Bakura and his face got redder with anger (or so he told himself) and said lividly, "That's not it you idiot vampire!"

"Based on your blushing face I'd say otherwise."

Marik ground his teeth, stood up and then started strangling Bakura, "I'll kill you!"

"Like hell you will!" Bakura stood up as well and they were getting ready for a fight when they heard Yami laugh loudly. They stopped fighting and sat back down with their arms crossed and giving each other death glares.

Yami controlled his laughter and even succeeded in hiding his smile, Anzu was not so good at concealing her amusement. Anyway, when Yami was certain that he wouldn't start laughing when he opened his mouth he said, "Gentlemen, it occurs to me that we have common goals. You see, me, Yugi, and Anzu are trying to find a cure for vampire-ism."

Marik and Bakura's eyes went wide. "You're trying to find a cure?" Bakura asked, "Good luck with that."

Yami smiled, "I almost have a breakthrough. The way I see it, if I can figure out what makes a vampires skin burn up when sunlight touches it, then I'll be one step closer to curing it. And I've recently working on a special sunscreen for vampires."

"Sunscreen?" Marik asked.

"Yes, I've almost got the formula down."

Marik smirked and looked at Bakura, "See? I told you sun screen would work."(2)

Bakura rolled his eyes.

Yami smiled, and said, "Well, I wish you would have just told me this from the beginning. Then we wouldn't have had to go through that game, and you wouldn't have to suffer a death-like experience."

Bakura raised his brow, "We still have to endure a punishment?"

Yami sighed, "Sorry, but rules made during a shadow game must be kept, or else bad things will happen."

"What kind of bad things?" Marik asked.

"I'm not sure, no one has ever dared disobey the rules of a shadow game. I'm very sorry, but you will have to receive punishment." All was silent and foreboding, until Yami smiled mischievously and said, "However…"

Bakura raised his brow, "However what Pharaoh?"

"However…" Yami said again, "I never said how long the punishment had to be."

Bakura and Marik slowly matched Yami's mischievous grin and then Marik said, "That's right!"

"You never did say how long it had to be," Bakura finished for him.

They all laughed for a little bit, then Yami said, "Get ready," and held out his hand, palm facing Marik and Bakura. "MIND CRUSH!" Yami said, and are two favorite characters fell on the ground writhing with pain.

Bakura was re-living the time the sunlight had burned him, only this time, Marik was just out of reach… And he could smell the delicious blood, it was tormenting him, begging him to be drunk…

For Marik, he was reliving all the times his father had beaten him until he had been bleeding all over, but what was worse about this one was that his sister and brother were suffering along with him, and that's what made it truly horrible.

Even though they were both feeling immense pain, it only lasted for about five seconds, but five seconds was more than enough. When the pain went away, they both sat up and looked around. Everything was back to normal. They stood up slowly, expecting there to be pain when they did so, but everything was fine. They both stood up and sat down slowly in their chairs.

"Sorry about that, it had to be done."

"…Right…" they said.

"Oi!" Marik said once he remembered something, "As I said before, you're fine with vampires now? You don't want to kill them?" Yami looked down and Anzu stared at him with confusion on her face. "Yami, what is he talking about?"

It took a long time for Yami to answer, but finally he said, "… I used to not like vampires. I thought they were evil creatures that should be destroyed." Anzu gasped, and Yami hung his head down even lower. "I didn't understand them. I thought they just liked killing and lived on the blood. I didn't know…"

Everything was silent for a little bit, then Bakura said, "Didn't know what?"

Yami looked up, "I didn't know that they had feelings. I didn't know they had humanity. But I realize my mistake now, and I've changed. Do you believe me Marik?"

Marik looked at Yami. He could tell that he wasn't lying, he really had changed. Marik sighed, "I believe you, but that doesn't mean I forgive you."

Yami nodded, "Understood, I get it."

"Do you think that you could tell my family to stop hunting vampires then?" Marik asked hopefully.

Yami sighed, "Even if I did…I doubt they'd believe I was the Pharaoh."

They sat there in awkward silence for a little while, then Bakura asked, "So…May we have the Millennium Puzzle?"

Yami looked sad at that comment, "I'm sorry, I would give this to you if I could, but…"

"But…" Bakura pressed.

"But… If I give you the puzzle, then I won't be able to switch souls with Yugi anymore. I really wish I could give it to you and I would if I could but I just - Why are you smiling like that?" Yami said because Bakura had started grinning.

"Hold on just-just one second," Bakura said before he got up to go get something. He came back with the flat Pyramid necklace he had found earlier. Yami stared at it curiously and Bakura held up his Ring, getting ready to explain. "The problem is that if you give me the Puzzle, then you can't switch souls with Yugi, right?" Yami nodded slowly, not knowing where this was going. "Well," Bakura continued, "With the power of my Millennium Ring, I can switch your soul from that Puzzle into this here necklace. What do you say?" Yami looked at Bakura, then back at the necklace. He smiled, and then he started glowing, and Yugi came back.

"I think that's a great idea!" Yugi said in that childish voice of his, "That way everybody wins!" Bakura chuckled and took the Puzzle off of Yugi's neck. He exhaled and focused on moving the Pharaoh's soul. It took him a long time, but finally the Puzzle started glowing, and then the glow slowly moved to the necklace. The necklace glowed for a minute, and then stopped. Bakura opened his eyes, and slipped the necklace on Yugi's head.

"Did it work?" Bakura asked.

Yugi stared at the necklace, and then it glowed again and Yami was back. "It worked," he said.

Bakura nodded, then he smirked, "No hard feelings about stealing your things, right Pharaoh?"

Yami laughed, "Of course not, it was s long ago, I hope you succeed in your quest," he extended his hand for Bakura to shake.

Bakura shook his hand and said, "If you want, I could help you test the prototypes."

Yami smiled, "That would help us considerably! Before, I just had Anzu test all of the formula's, but it would be interesting to see if they effect each vampire differently… Hm, that's something I hadn't thought of…" he stopped shaking Bakura's hand and put it to his chin.

"Well, I'll see you around Bakura, Marik," Yugi said as he and Anzu began to walk home. Anzu had to borrow a coat so she wouldn't burn, but they said they'd return it tomorrow.

"Goodbye!" Marik said, just a little too happily.

Bakura closed the door and raised his eyebrow at Marik, "You don't like them much, do you?"

Marik shook his head, "Nope. The only one I like is Yugi, cause he's nice and not annoying."

"Too late Prince Charming, he already has a girlfriend."

"I didn't mean it like that!"

"Your blushing face says otherwise."

Marik growled at Bakura, and then he felt his face and found that Bakura was right. "Weird, I didn't feel my face flush…" he muttered under his breath and then sneezed loudly, "Ah-CHOO!" He sniffed, "I'm going to bed, night 'Kura."

"It's Bakura-san, remember?"

"Right. Sorry. Night 'Kura-san."

"Don't call me "'Kura,' got it?" Bakura said angrily.

"Why not?"

"It brings back a …disturbing memory." He had been about to say 'happy memory' but stopped himself (and mentally slapped himself) before he did so.

Marik was a little curious, "What kind of memory?" he asked.

"One that you'll never remember."

"Huh?" Marik questioned, "Did it happen when I was drunk?"

"…Yeah…"

"What happened? I still don't remember everything that happened."

"Weren't you going to bed?"

"Yeah, I really should go to - Oh no you don't, stop avoiding the subject!"

"What are you talking about?"

"Hm, you really don't want to answer my question, do you?"

"I still don't know what question you're talking about, perhaps the night has finally caught up with you?"

Marik narrowed his eyes at the white-haired boy, "Okay… Don't tell me, I'll figure it out somehow. Night, Bakura-san," Marik said before he went into the bedroom and closed the door.

(1): Remember, this is at nighttime, otherwise Bakura would be dead right now.

(2): For those that don't remember, Marik is referring to chapter 7 when he says, "You can't go out in sunlight, at least not without a ton of sun-block, and I mean the good stuff, not that crappy stuff that doesn't work."

Annzy: …You know what I realize? I suck at ending the chapters… I really do… Well hope you enjoyed that! Also, did you know there was an Animal Crossing movie? O.o I had no idea…