AN:

To Ivory: Very tricky. Anywho, thanks very very much for the review- it made my day! Honestly I didn't think that far ahead, I only had the first two chapters in my head and figured I'd get a few opinions as to where it should go from there. But alas, I have to at least steer this one by myself. Glad you liked it so far! OH and if you find out what hooked you please let me know lol

To LdySubaru: Thanks for the kind words! I REALLY appreciate it. You flatter me too much lol

In general, I hope you all like this chapter, I'm not sure if I entirely like it. One thing I may have to explain, Im not sure if it makes sense. I think it looks better in my head than in writing lol if only I could do flash animation… Anywho, please give suggestions, I sense a road block ahead… Most of you probably skipped this lol

Chapter Three

"P-please let me go," Akeno implored, knowing that her plea was in vain.

He laughed softly. "Oh but the fun was just about to begin," he said darkly, "For me at least."

She sobbed loudly. Why was this happening? HOW was this happening?

The white haired boy snorted. "Your tears mean nothing to me, girl."

Akeno shut her eyes, still crying rivers. She didn't bother trying to stop, after all she was about to meet a fate similar to those three boys. How she pitied and envied them. They had gone out together, quickly and assumedly with little pain. She on the other hand felt that he'd take his time with her doing whatever fun things crossed his mind.

A metallic click caused her to open her eyes just in time to see a pocket knife snap open in the boy's hand. He made to move closer to her and instinctively she raised her leg to kick him. With his free hand, he caught it before it made contact.

"Try anything like that again and I'll be forced to punish you," he said in a cold tone.

He let go of her leg and she gulped back tears. Her mind thought up horrible things that knife could be used for. Am I going to be killed tonight? On the anniversary of my parents death? Irony bit and ridiculed her. Akeno cried harder until her it hurt to keep her eyes shut. Her body eventually stopped producing tears and was reduced to whimpering. She knew she must sound and look pathetic but throw another person into this situation and they'd be crying as well. The boy watched her with a look of fascination and something else in his eyes. Was it disgust?

"Finished?"

She sniffed and shakily asked, "W-who are y-you?"

He considered her a moment, somewhat glad she decided to interact; excessive crying could only be amusing for only so long. "I've been known by many names in my lifetime, most call me Bakura though you will address me as master."

"Master?" she echoed, her voice slightly hoarse.

"Very good. You learn fast; training you should be effortless."

"What-" she started but was cut off as he slapped her across the face.

"You will address me as master," he reprimanded harshly.

She sucked in a shaky breath as the sting registered on her cheek. Not wanting to invoke his anger anymore, she decided to appease him. "Master… what do you want with me?"

He smirked. "Even simpler than I expected."

She glanced up at his cold eyes then quickly looked away. Bakura suppressed a chuckle at this and chose to humor her.

"You happen to possess a remarkably powerful soul, I've encountered stronger ones, myself being one of them but your Ka seems to have a quality that was rare even in my time. A quality normally found only in young children."

She looked back at him, a question in her eyes.

He smirked again, "Innocence."

Akeno blinked. How was she innocent? She wasn't perfect; she had made mistakes and even did a few mean things for no reason. She wasn't innocent. She was normal. And she certainly wasn't a child.

"That didn't explain what you want with me…master," she added quickly.

He narrowed his eyes slightly. "A soul such as yours would be foolish to let slip by. Although it isn't stable enough to take form, I could still use it to my advantage," he grinned. "But first it must recognize my own."

She furrowed her brows. What is he saying? What does he mean?

Bakura grabbed her bound wrists and brought his knife into her sight, raising her concern. "Don't move," he ordered.

Her eyes widened. "No! Please don't!" she cried, already feeling an imaginary stab of pain in her side.

She shut her eyes tight but nothing happened. She felt a tug on the ropes binding her wrist and looked up. The blade sliced through the bonds supporting her yet Bakura's grip on her wrists prevented her from touching the ground. She stared at him in surprise as he smirked and put away his knife. He released her suddenly, letting her crash to the ground. She tenderly removed the rope remnants; it left her wrists raw and bloody. She winced at the sight of them.

Akeno drew back as came closer to her. He growled, "Have I given you reason to fear me?"

She said nothing which aggravated him more, "Perhaps I will give you a reason and show you truly what fear is…"

This did it for her. Akeno jumped up and ran, trying to escape him but suddenly white glowing chains sprang onto her legs. She fell hard. Akeno gritted her teeth and tried sitting up but stopped when she saw the human-like forms moving towards her.

"Ahh!" she screamed and seeing them encircling her, curled up in a meager attempt to save herself.

"No!" she heard Bakura yell. "Don't touch her! She is mine."

The chains dissolved as he approached her, pocketing a Duel Monsters' card.

"Is this how you repay me from sparing you from those animals?" he asked angrily. "I could have easily turned a blind eye and let them have their way with you."

She was whimpering now.

He sneered. "You're just as weak as my light…maybe you're not worth my effort. Perhaps the shadows better suit you; you'd make a fair addition to my soul collection…"

Akeno shook her head vigorously, "Please don't!" She tried to shuffle backwards but he pounced on her, pinning her to the ground. Those two words seemed to be the only thing she could say that night and never did they have any effect. Her mind swirled and dizziness washed over her at the surreality of the situation. It was his hands on her dress that alerted her to the outside world and snapped her out of her momentary stupefaction.

"What are you doing? Stop it!" she cried as he started pulling her dress down.

He continued impassively, either ignoring or not hearing her pleas. Bakura stopped once she was exposed from the waist up aside from her bra. He placed one of his cold hands on her chest. She screwed up her eyes having realized her struggling was ineffective. Let him kill me and take my soul just not this!

Moment passed but nothing happened, much to her confusion. His hand remained still in between her breasts and he made no move to further expose her. She opened her eyes hesitantly and saw that his were closed like he was in deep concentration. What is he doing? Is he taking my soul? Suddenly it clicked, he was feeling her heartbeat! But why? Cool metal rested on her stomach. It was his necklace, she saw glancing down. The spikes on it shifted with the rise and fall of her breathing. She noticed her heart was slowing down, she was almost calm.

Suddenly his necklace began to grow. The spikes stiffened then dug into her stomach, imbedding themselves under her skin. She screamed as blood trickled off her. She had little time to dwell on it because just then a piercing pain exploded deep within her chest. She thrashed about but Bakura held her still.

She caught a look on his face. He was in pain as well though he seemed more able to handle it.

"Stop moving," he barked. "You're making it harder for both of us."

Akeno lay motionless despite not wanting to obey him. She bit her lip to the point were it bleed. After an excruciating moment, the pain lessened then turned to a dull throb though that may have been her heartbeat. She shook as he removed his necklace none too gently; it had stopped glowing.

He stood and caught his breath, leaving her to recover. Her hands went to her stomach. There were five slits arranged in a semicircle, none of them were deep, thankfully. Realizing she was half naked, Akeno quickly pulled up her dress. She watched him cautiously. Bakura paid her no mind as he licked her blood from the spikes of his necklace.

She looked away feeling queasy and repulsed. Slowly she edged away, inching farther from him. After she had gotten a good few feet, she turned and tried to run. Akeno found she could only hobble but it was better than nothing. Fearfully, knowing she must have grabbed his attention, looked back to find him gazing at her calmly. Why isn't he- Pain engulfed her and she fell to her knees. It was the same pain as before, tortuous and in her very core.

"You shouldn't try and run from me," he said coming towards her at a slow pace.

The pain gradually decreased until he was standing next to her. She breathed heavily.

"You see, I transferred a portion of our souls into each other making them a single whole. Each portion is kept alive by the presence of the rest of it in the other's body, when it strays too far…" He began walking backwards away from her. "It begins to fade."

Pain fluttered inside her and she gripped her chest as if trying to rip her soul out to stop the pain. Akeno gritted her teeth and slowly crawled to him. She had to stop the pain no matter what! Dignity and self respect cast aside, she crawled to him only stopping when her shaking hand touched his sneaker. She didn't move, trying to steady her breathing. Bakura laughed at her.

He crouched down, smirking, and pet her head like one would a dog.

"Good girl... Like I said, training you would be simple."