Author's Note: By the time this chapter comes out, I will have gotten wifi. Thank Yahweh. Also, my flatmate agreed to be a beta reader for this story. Which is awesome because I think faster than I type. So my grammar, sentence structure, verb tenses all suffer, i.e. my writing suffers as a victim of my writing. Long story short, with her eyes, hopefully the flow and narrative of this story will improve.
As always, thank you so much for reading and for the feedback. If you like it, please leave a review/fav/follow!
Disclaimer: Still not owning Yu-Gi-Oh! I'm just saying. Rated T.
Bon Appetite!
"Come on Ryou! We don't have all day!" Bakura yelled to Ryou as he threw on his jacket. Autumn was definitely in full swing and Bakura found he was always wearing a coat now. He walked out of his bedroom to the living room, where Ryou was finishing up his work. "Relax. I'm almost done. We've got all afternoon, 'Kura." Ryou just rolled his eyes at his aggravated brother before returning his focus to the figurine in front of him.
It was Sunday, which meant Ryou didn't work. However, Ryou took on commissions. Bakura's twin had a passion for the game Monster World, a dungeon world game. Every few weeks, he would get a work order from a game shop in Domino requesting certain game pieces, figurines, tools and boards. Today was no exception. Ryou was putting the finishing touches on a character figurine, what appeared to be an elf sorcerer, before carefully packaging it up.
"Why couldn't this wait until tomorrow?" Bakura complained, feeling antsy. He was joining his brother out not because he was involved in this trip. He was going because afterwards, the two brothers were going to run to the store. Bakura needed to pick up some equipment for his heist on Thursday. Ryou didn't look at his brother but instead closed up his tool kit before wrapping up the last figurine. "Because I told Yuugi I'd have the pieces ready today. It's not going to kill you to stop on the way there." As Ryou stood up, he threw on his jacket before picking up the box holding the game pieces.
"Okay. I'm ready. We can go." Ryou watched as Bakura practically sprinted towards the door, swinging it open for his twin. He shook his head, his white locks falling in front of his face. "You're such an impatient ass." Ryou sighed, ignoring the glare Bakura was now giving him. Bakura didn't care if he was impatient at the moment. The sooner he got his equipment, the sooner he could get to work and prep for Thursday night. The sooner that got done, the quicker Bakura would have the Millennium Rod. And the sooner Marik would be out of his hair for good.
Thursday cannot come soon enough.
Bakura and Ryou walked in relative quiet towards Kame Game shop, a rival game store in town. Bakura recalled his brother telling him how there had been bad blood between Kame Game shop and Ryou's place of work, the Black Clown game shop. However, things had improved since then and the two often did business. Even though Ryou was employed at the other game store, Monster World was such an odd and specific game that had many specific pieces. Ryou was rather good at constructing any pieces – if someone could think it up a design, Ryou could create a model. As such, Ryou had become good friends with the store owners across town.
As they approached Kame Game shop, they spotted a short boy struggling to carry in boxes. He wore navy blue pants, a white button down shirt, and a navy jacket to match. His appearance wouldn't have been all that memorable if it were for his hair. The boy had spikey, tri-color hair. His black hair was violet at the tips and his bangs were an odd blond color. His amethyst eyes seemed to accentuate this odd combination. Ryou smiled and hurried over to the young man. "Yuugi! Do you need help?"
The tri-colored youth turned his head sharply before smiling broadly at Ryou. "Hey Ryou! I think I got it, thanks. You finished the set?" Bakura hung back as Ryou nodded excitedly, showing Yuugi the game pieces he had just finished. Ryou was babbling on about the different pieces and an explanation of the props requested. Frankly, it went right over Bakura's head. Monster World had been one of those games that he and Ryou had played a lot when they were younger, but Bakura had since lost interest. Ever since their mother…
"These pieces look great, Ryou. Grandpa is going to love them. We can pay you in the shop right now if that's easiest." Yuugi's voice broke Bakura out of his thoughts as he glanced back towards his brother and his friend. Ryou nodded before turning briefly back to Bakura. "Bakura? Do you want to come inside while we finish business or are you waiting out here?" Bakura just smirked. "I think I'll stay out here, thanks." Ryou didn't seem shocked by that response but just nodded, turning back towards Yuugi.
The two young men entered the shop, Bakura noticing that Yuugi had left a few boxes outside while he went in to take care of business. Bakura leaned back, searching his pocket for a cigarette to find none. He glanced over his right shoulder and saw the Black Clown game shop, Ryou's work place. The street was quiet and Bakura found himself enjoying the silence. In his mind, he found himself mentally going through his list of items he was going to need. It was mostly different hardware pieces – Bakura preferred to build some of his hacking tools from scratch. This made it far more difficult to track. That's why I'm best at my craft…
Ryou and Yuugi departed from the store only a few moments later. "I don't understand, Yuugi. You've been working on it for eight years. Don't you think it's time to call it quits?" Ryou chuckled, almost bemused by his friend. Yuugi just laughed. "I know, I know. I should probably give it a rest. But I feel like I'm so close. Once I finish it, you'll have to come by and take a look. It'll be worth all the time spent working on it." Ryou shook his head. "If you say so."
Bakura just stared at his brother as if to will him to hurry up. Ryou shot Bakura a look back. "Well, I suppose we need to get going. Antsy-pants is going to throw another hissy fit if we don't get our shopping done today." Bakura felt his face burn at his brother's teasing, readying a retort on his face. Yuugi beat him to the punch, stifling his laughter. "Of course! I don't want to keep you guys up! I'll see you around Ryou! It was good to see you, Bakura! Take care!" Yuugi returned to his tasks of taking in boxes to the store and Ryou and Bakura took their leave of the little man.
After walking a few moments in silence, Bakura noticed a grin on Ryou's face. He suspected he knew the cause, but wasn't going to buy in. Ryou ended breaking the silence. "Feeling better, 'Kura?" Ryou asked rather patronizingly. Bakura just snorted and walked faster, passing his brother. "Piss off." He muttered under his breath. Ryou caught what he said and Bakura's face twisted with displeasure as he heard Ryou laughing behind him.
Ryou finished picking up groceries for the week and tailed Bakura as he gathered the equipment he needed. Bakura was amazed by the patience his twin had as he ran to all sorts of different stores, collecting random bits and pieces he needed. Almost three hours later, Ryou was waiting, good-naturedly and completely relaxed, as Bakura haggled with the store owner over a broken two-way radio.
"I'm not going to pay three-thousand yen for this. It would be cheaper to buy a new radio altogether. Nobody would be stupid enough to buy this. I'll pay five-hundred." Bakura argued, hoping to pressure the storeowner into the deal. The man wasn't swayed though. "It must be worth something if you're willing to pay for it. Two-thousand yen." Bakura just laughed. This man was selling hard. "I could probably find the pieces I need from this walkie-talkie for cheaper than what you're selling this piece junk. Twelve-hundred."
The storeowner stared at Bakura for a moment, almost analyzing him. "Fifteen-hundred. Final offer." Bakura stared back, locking his eyes with the shop owner. After a few moments, Bakura agreed to the sale. He was probably getting ripped off, but perhaps he'd be able to salvage other pieces from the walkie-talkie. I can make this work. He paid the shop owner before signaling to Ryou, walking towards the door. Ryou stopped perusing through the old CD collection and caught up with his brother. Once they were out the door, Ryou started talking.
"That everything you need?" Bakura grunted, not really giving an answer. "More or less. I got the necessary stuff. For everything else, I can mix and match." The twins stood at the stop light, waiting to cross. "So we can head home then? It's getting pretty late and I'm gonna guess that you're hungry for dinner." Ryou dryly stated as he looked over at his brother. Bakura just flicked his eyes towards his brother, maroon meeting dark brown. Damn, his brother was good.
The pedestrian light turned green and Bakura crossed the street with his twin, praying that his stomach wouldn't start growling and betray him. Bakura listened as his brother listed off dinner suggestions, occasionally mentioning what he wanted or didn't want. He enjoyed these quiet, relaxed moments with his twin. As they talked about dinner and evening plans, Bakura could almost put his plotting out of his mind. Almost.
It was while they were walking that Bakura heard a cell phone ring. He looked confused, as he knew the noise was coming from him. But it wasn't his work cell. He searched his pockets briefly, ignoring the raised eyebrow Ryou was now giving him. Bakura finally found it – the disposable cell phone. Bakura just stared at it, puzzled. He hadn't put any numbers into that phone. Nobody knew this number. Except…
Marik.
Bakura snapped the phone open, trying to control his temper. "Marik?" he asked, hoping his caller wouldn't hear the annoyance his voice. "Fluffy? Is that you? Great! It does work!" Bakura found himself gritting his teeth with annoyance. "Of course it fucking works. Why wouldn't it? Why the hell are you calling me?" Bakura turned away and started pacing down the street, Ryou suddenly preoccupying himself with the garden nearby.
Bakura heard noise in the background, as Marik seemed to think to himself. If this damn brat forgot why he called me, I swear to God… "Oh, right! I had a question about hiding the Rod! I got a safe like you said, but I'm not sure where to hide the safe. Odion said that if it's in the safe, we shouldn't need tons of people to protect, so he wants to know why I have to do this mission solo. So I figured I'd just call you and see what you had to say, Fluf-"
Bakura finally snapped. "Stop calling me Fluffy! God damn it, you're so annoying. I don't care where the hell you hide the safe. Just keep it secret. Get that bald brother to guard it. Or does he think of himself incapable? This is your mission, Marik. Not his. I gave you all the information you need to do this mission – fill in the blanks yourself!" Bakura struggled to keep from yelling. This idiotic brat was really pissing him off. How hard was it to do the job that was given? He literally had everything needed to figure it out.
By some miracle, Marik didn't seem to notice the Bakura's angry tone. "Alright! I think I got it then. I have an idea of where to hide it. Odion will help me. Don't worry!" Bakura forced himself to breathe slowly. "Oh, I was hardly worried to begin with." It was a half-truth. Bakura was surprised to hear Marik laugh on the other end. The pixilation from the phone did nothing to diminish the irritating quality in his voice.
"You're hilarious F- Bakura. Thanks for the help! If I have any questions, I'll give you a ring!" Bakura felt himself turn back to anger. "You'll do no such thing! This is supposed to be a one-time phone arrangement. You aren't supposed to call me until you finish your job on Thursday night. You got that? No more calls!" Bakura was fairly certain his blood pressure couldn't handle much more of this conversation.
"But what if I have to ask you something?" Marik asked in a whiny voice. "Think like me. You'll figure out something eventually." Bakura growled out, his voice dripping with venom. At least on the phone, Marik couldn't see Bakura's twisted and angry face. "But what if I want to talk to you?" If he wants to… what? "Hang up the fucking phone, Marik. This isn't a toy!" Bakura found himself less angry and more embarrassed by the clingy brat. He heard an indignant huff on the other side of the line. "Geez you're such a buzz kill, Bakura. Fine. I'll talk to you later!" Bakura sighed, relieved this painful conversation was ending. "Right. Talk to you later."
Bakura snapped the phone with a bit more force than necessary before shoving it back into his pocket. Well that was a nightmare and a half. He exhaled, trying to calm himself before turning back to Ryou who was waiting patiently as always. "All right. Let's go." He mumbled, continuing down the path with his twin in tow. He ran his fingers through his hair, pulling at the snags along the way. The slight pain was rather minute compared to the headache he was now developing. How could Marik be so idiotic? Did he want to be caught? Bakura started to worry that perhaps he had given the kid too much.
But isn't that the point? Wasn't the point of all this is for Marik to fail? Bakura sighed. Marik was supposed to fail and get caught. But if Marik was as stupid as he feared, he might accidentally reveal information about Bakura. What had he been thinking? This was turning far more dangerous than he anticipated. And all for the sake of his stupid revenge. At this rate, it'll be a miracle if I can survive Marik's antics.
Bakura was distracted from his thoughts as he heard Ryou softly humming, looking rather happy. Bakura gave him a sidelong look, feeling rather suspicious. What was his brother so giddy about? He didn't ask, but he grunted as if to catch Ryou's attention. Ryou glanced over at his brother, an arrogant smile on his face. "So… Bakura." Bakura already didn't like where this was going. His brother was a snarky son of a bitch. It was better to just ignore…
"Yes, Ryou?" Why did I take the bait? Ryou waited a moment before replying. "Who's this new boyfriend of yours? Marik, is it? He sounds like a barrel of fun right there." Bakura swore and started cursing his brother as Ryou ran ahead, laughing at his brother expense. Fucking hell, Ryou. If Ryou weren't cooking dinner tonight, Bakura would have killed him right then and there. Bakura ignored Ryou's cheeky comments and teasing on the way home, just desperate to get back to work.
Bakura pulled out the chip and inserted the new chip into USB drive. After dinner, Bakura had been working non-stop on the hardware. Almost in a role reversal from this morning, Bakura sat in the living room with all of collected tools from the day's adventure. Ryou had retired early to read and to avoid whatever mess Bakura was getting himself into.
Bakura closed up the USB drive before plugging it into his work computer. He then grabbed a cable to connect his work cell to the laptop. He opened up the USB drive on his computer, running the software that he installed. He watched momentarily as the script started running, waiting to see if his program would work. After a few seconds, two separate windows opened on his computer, one asking for an input, the other the log.
Bakura grinned. Looks like this program will work just perfectly. He accessed his phone, plugging in a transmitter, one that served a more basic two-way radio previously. As his phone recognized the software, he then accessed his contacts, scrolling down to an Odion Ishtar. He selected the number and dialed it. With the interacting software, Odion would never actually receive a call, however his phone would respond to the signal.
Bakura placed his phone down and turned back to his computer, selecting enter as his phone provided the input. Bakura leaned back before grabbing the cup of coffee Ryou left his after dinner. He took a sip, waiting patiently for the program to run its course. After two minutes, Bakura reaped the benefits of his work. The output finally opened, providing a GPS generated image radiating out 10 kilometers from where Bakura was. Nearly all of Domino city was shown, thin black lines against a white backdrop providing detail of the entire city.
Bakura looked on the screen at the blue dot indicated the source of the signal coming from Odion's cell phone. Bakura smiled. Perfect. Now he had visual on where Odion was. He would test it a few more times this evening to make sure the software worked, but Bakura was feeling confident. He told Marik to have Odion guard the Rod while he went on his mission on Thursday night. Which meant that wherever Odion was that night, the Rod would be close by. From there, it would be your typical burglary. Right up his alley. Bakura leaned back and observed the screen. Just a few more tests and he'll be ready for Thursday night…
Bakura was situated in an unfinished apartment building looking out over the harbor. It was Thursday night, the night of Marik's heist. It was also the night where Bakura would steal back the Millennium Rod. He had left shortly after dinner, despite his irate twin who tried to convince him otherwise. Bakura didn't want to leave anything up to chance. He wanted to be early and ready. He set up his computer and phone, studying the map.
Over the last few days, he had been tracking Odion's cell phone, watching where he would frequent. Aside from an apartment not far from the university, Odion visited the harbor more times than any other place. In fact, Odion was currently at the harbor, seemingly pacing. Bakura was one block away from the Egyptian, studying the map carefully. It looks like Marik took his advice and had his older brother guard the Millennium Rod. That or Odion enjoyed night strolls along the empty harbor.
Bakura watched the map, refreshing and resizing the map to give him a closer look at the vicinity. Odion seemed to settle himself in front of an old shop. He reprogrammed the map to give him a satellite image. After closer inspection, Bakura recognized it a closed down shop. It used to host a school for mimes. From the outside, there was only one entrance, and that's the entrance that Odion was loitering outside of. However, Bakura worried. There was always more than one entrance into a location.
Once Bakura was comfortable and memorized the map layout, he decided to make his move. He closed his up computer and cell phone, storing them in his backpack before taking out a smaller pack. He buckled it across his waist and zipped up his black coat. He exited the apartment and climbed the stairs taking him to the unfinished roof. Bakura embraced the cool autumn air, glancing up into the night sky. It was clear with not a cloud to be seen. Blackness seemed to envelope everything around Bakura. He almost disappeared into this darkness, if not for his pale, white mane of hair.
Bakura turned to face the harbor before turning to the building to his left. He walked to the edge of the roof and glanced over the edge. It was about an eight-foot distance between the two roofs, with the adjacent building coming a floor short of the apartment. Luckily for Bakura, the building next to him was flat like the apartment and appeared to be concrete. Bakura nodded to himself, taking a several paces back to give him some running space. He bounced lightly on his feet, visualizing where he was going to land.
Bakura then sprinted forward, gaining speed before launching himself off the roof. After a moment suspended in the air, Bakura saw the roof approaching fast. He landed and rolled across the roof of the adjacent building, careful to keep tucked in as to not accidentally injure himself. As he felt himself losing momentum, Bakura braked and crouched, kneeling over as he caught his breath. He took a quick inventory before standing up and dusting himself off. So far, so good.
Bakura crept silently across the roof to the building next, a brick building and his destination. Bakura looked up, as he would have to scale the wall up about 9 feet. He found his holding as he climbing the wall. Bakura remembered growing up with Ryou and going to the rock wall. He had been like a monkey climbing, getting a natural feel of how to find holds and adjust his weight to not strain his muscles. Ryou, who had always been more delicate and clumsy, would often laugh and cheer for him to go higher. That felt like so long ago as Bakura easily climbed up the wall and onto the roof.
Bakura sneaked along the roof over to the edge where he glanced down. There he saw Odion, pacing down below. Bakura was nearly four stories above him but he had no trouble recognizing the tall, ball Egyptian. Bakura backtracked towards the back of the building. There weren't any doors to enter, but he did notice a window around the third level. That would be his entrance in. He began to climb his way down, careful to take his time as the drop this time was far more perilous.
Bakura carefully descended until he reached the window, allowing himself to find his balance on the ledge. He noticed the window was locked, but that was of little consequence. He turned to his sack as he pulled out a wrenching rod, carefully placing it at the base of the window before forcing the window open. Moments later, Bakura was in. He ran a hand through his hair and shook his head, allowing himself to stretch before making his way towards the stairs. He went down to the first floor, now in the building directly adjacent to where the Rod would be hidden.
Bakura felt himself getting anxious, but forced himself to relax. He was a professional, not Marik. He wasn't going to fuck this up. He knew that the mime school had replaced an office building. This office building was a renovation added to the building he was currently in. And although the two building were separate, they were once connected at one point. He traced the wall, carefully tapping to see where the door had been sealed off previously. After a few minutes searching, Bakura found it, the light tracings of a doorframe, removed and painted over.
Bakura tapped the wall to get a sense of how thick the wall was. He knew he was a distance away from Odion, but it wouldn't do any good to alert him any earlier than needed. Bakura found the corner of the old door was rotting and decaying. This would work. Bakura grabbed his carving knife, a thick 8-inch blade and start to cut away at that corner. Slowly but surely, he made progress, creating an opening just large enough for an adult to crawl through. He cleared out the debris before burrowing into the cavity.
Once Bakura was through, he looked around in the dark room, eyes adjusting. It looked like a storeroom, but Bakura realized this still wasn't the old mime school. He was standing in a room that was roughly 6 feet wide and 10 feet long. Bakura felt puzzled, unsure of where he had just landed himself. The room had wood debris everywhere, as if something had been torn out. Then it hit Bakura. It's an old staircase. He could still see the wood planks gathered in one corner as the stairwell was gutted out. He walked towards the piles of wood, pushing it aside and searching the floor until he found a handle.
Bingo. He yanked the knob, forcing the trap door to open the cellar. Dust flew everywhere as the debris scattered. Bakura stifled the urge to cough from the sawdust, and instead focusing at the darkness below. A joint basement between the two buildings. He slipped down and took a flashlight from his bag. The darkness was overwhelming at this point and Bakura needed some source of light if he was going to find the other exit leading to the old mime school. He walked silently, using his flashlight to carefully navigate the basement.
Once Bakura was fairly certain he would be under the abandoned mime school, he flicked his flashlight upwards, searching for the door leading out of the cellar. It didn't take long for Bakura to find a ladder leading up to a trap door. He climbed up, turning off his light before positioning himself to carefully crack the door open. The door creaked up one inch, Bakura freezing as he quickly surveyed the area. It looked like he was located at the end of the hallway. There was nobody in the nearby vicinity. Bakura decided to take his chances and quickly lifted himself out of the basement before silently closing the door behind him.
He was in. Now to find where the safe was, crack open that case and get the hell out of there. Bakura snuck along the side of the hallway, glancing into each room. Most of the doors were open, but a few, Bakura had to crack open himself. He was careful and hesitant of others, but it appeared Odion and the few men standing guard figured if someone were to try stealing the Rod, they would try the front entrance. They hadn't anticipated someone coming in from below. Juvenile mistake. Marik had a lot to learn in this profession.
It was in the final room on the left that Bakura found the safe. It appeared to be an old lounge area. For what purposes, he had no clue. It didn't matter though. He quickly looked around, careful of any traps or sensors that may have been set. But Marik apparently wasn't that suspicious. And apparently, Marik was lazy when it came buying a safe. Bakura could hardly believe his luck that there were no traps near the safe and to top it all off, Marik had bought a safe from a general store.
You've got to be kidding me. Bakura had thought Marik knew better than to buy a brand name safe. One that any thief could break their way into. But then again, Bakura was far more leery and distrusting of products designed for his field. He didn't trust any appliances or tools that he didn't know the inner workings of. He preferred to use tools that he and only he knew the details and central mechanics. That made it difficult for others to try using his own equipment against him. Perhaps he was paranoid, but then again, he had gotten along well enough so far. Why tamper with a working system?
Bakura knelt before the safe, taking a moment to push his hair back behind his shoulder. He reached into his bag to grab a small screwdriver, a wire and a soldering gun. In a matter of a few minutes, Bakura had deactivated the electric lock and alarm system, leaving the safe as nothing more than a useless heavy case. With that taken care of, Bakura needed only a moment to unhinge the safe door.
There it was. The Millennium Rod. Bakura carefully reached in, pulling out the Rod that was wrapped thickly. He unwrapped it just enough so that Bakura could see the golden head of the Rod, glistening in the dim light. Bakura felt a twisted glean of satisfaction. About fucking time. This ancient Egyptian artifact had been more of a headache than Bakura anticipated. This problem had been a three-week long process. No matter.
Bakura rewrapped the Rod and placed it in his bag, carefully securing it. He left the case precariously open. There was a careful line in his work. Like he told Marik – the mark of a good thief was to go unnoticed until it was too late. And for Odion and his team, it would be too late. What better way to let them know they had failed than to see the broken, empty case? Bakura smirked as he turned and quietly ran down the hallway. He lifted the cellar door and slipped in unnoticed.
Bakura's grinned wildly as he escaped from the building, finding his exit out to be a much faster and easier trip. When he attempted to steal the Rod the first time, this was how the mission should have gone – smoothly and without a hitch. Sure, he had to wait a bit longer, but Bakura was already relishing in his success, imagining Marik's horror and disappointment as he took on his hopeless mission tonight as well as lose the Millennium Rod. Only then would Marik realize that he was played for a fool.
Bakura returned to his original look out point in the apartment building, gathering up his equipment before making his final escape. It took all his self-control to not maniacally laugh out loud. He had the Rod. All he had to do now was wait for Marik's phone call letting him know of his failure. And then he would finally be free of that brat for good…