Disclaimer: I don't own Yugioh. But I can't say I wouldn't like to.

A/N: This takes place some time before the Egypt Arch saga. I imagine around half a year before. Again, I hope any anti-Semitism is seen as proving a point that is not anti-Semitic.

Jono has royal moodswings.

I'm a little worried that TK's personality is completely off in this chapter.

Mock Forms
Chapter VIII: Mind Games

Jono sighed. "Alright. How are we going to find him? That thief isn't exactly easy to find when he doesn't want to be. The palace has been looking for him for months."

Safiya hadn't thought of that. The Thief King had always come to her. She'd never actually found him on her own before. She began to think. She certainly didn't know enough about the man to know where he would be but maybe someone else did. "We need to find Diabound. If we can find Diabound, King will be nearby."

Habib smiled weakly. Jono didn't seem so encouraged. "How do we do that? He could be hiding in some cave out in the desert and that's if Diabound is even out."

Habib frowned and nudged Jono with his elbow. "It was a good idea, Safiya."

She groaned and began to think to herself. How do you find a ka? Who would be able to find Diabound? If his ka were out, it would be hard to miss unless it were invisible, of course. There was always that problem. The Thief King could make his ka invisible. She mentally scolded herself. She wasn't thinking. To find a ka, you have to... It hit her almost at once. Why hadn't it come to her earlier? She and the King were friends. Very close friends. That meant there was inevitably an emotional link between them and if they had a link. So did their ka's. "I know how to find him." She said with a pleasant smile.

Jono crossed his arms and sighed. Habib shot him a look almost to scold him for his impatience with his younger sister.

Safiya ignored her brother. "My ka can find him."

Habib just stood for a moment quite still. Jono on the other hand walked forward. If not angry, he seemed disagreement at the very least. "Absolutely not!"

"But she can. I know she can!"

"I don't care if she can or not. We're not using those things again." Jono grabbed her by the arm as he spoke to her almost to drag her back to the house. "Ka's aren't supposed to be out flying around. They're supposed to stay..."

Safiya pulled her arm away. "I can't do nothing. I'm not a child anymore! I'll go alone if I have to!" She said and without warning her ka emerged. The creature or creatures more accurately, as there were three, hovered above their mistress. Each was small and feminine winged and childlike.

Jono snarled at his sister and grabbed her by the wrist. "You are not going!" The two siblings were silent for a moment and stared at one another. Jono wasn't willing to give up his little sister that was for certain; even if, inevitably she was going to grow and leave him to start an unsheltered life. They were both silent for a few long minutes.

"I need to help him." Safiya said pulling away from her brother and began to chase after her now venturing ka.

Jono watched as she ran off. "She..."

Habib walked from behind and shoved his shoulder a little. "Let's go." He said and began to walk after her.

"Habib!"

The paler of the two stopped and turned looking over his shoulder. "What?"

"She's falling for a thief."

"Yeah... not my first choice but..."

Jono charged at the other man and stopped only inches from his face. "I am not letting my little sister..."

Habib sighed. "I know. She's your only sister. If you came from a family like mine, you'd..."

"I'd what?"

"You'd know that little sisters grow up. Safiya is turning into a young woman, Jono. I admit the thief isn't the greatest option but... he saved her Jono and us. He cares about her."

Jono snarled under his breath. "I won't like it."

"I wouldn't have it any other way."

"And you aren't allowed either."

Habib's expression grew indignant. "And why do you have any say in that?"

"Because you don't agree with me, you'll have to deal with it every day and night at home."

"I see your point." Habib said with a sheepish grin. "We have to go though. We can't let her go alone."

Jono groaned and sprinted after his sister.

The eye on Serq's forehead was a solid black and was a perfect circle with two arches on below and on above which curved out into a straight lines parallel to one another. The eye, now that it was being examined, was only glowing faintly. It radiated a dark light, a purplish hue. Bakura recognized the eye almost instantly as the eye of the book of sennen magic. He'd know it anywhere. Bakura snarled and Diabound loomed over his master. Bakura didn't want to take any chances when it came to the jackal. He wanted to defeat him and to, if at all possible, discover how he'd gotten his hands on one of the cursed items.

Serq's jackal ka reared as well behind him. The creature was grotesque to say the least. It was a solid black with wide maniac eyes and a grin across its face. Memorial tags hung from his tail and he, like his master, was overly adorn with jewelry. Both seemed to exude a level of vanity that exceeded that of most. The boy grinned but it was hardly a welcome look. "I hope you know that your ka won't save you this time." The boy said. This staff glowed dimly and his jackal was transformed.

The thief gawked wide eyed. It certainly was not impossible for a ka change. It often did during the course of a human life. His Diabound had actually spent a week as a sort of magpie during a particularly gluttonous stage. But they did not change so rapidly and not into gods. The lowly jackal that had stood before him was now one of the king's gods. He was long, crimson and serpentine with two massive jaws and spines lining his back. The creature roared. "That's... imposs..."

"Impossible? Yes, I know. It would seem impossible to a thief, wouldn't it? But with the right hand, any ka can become such a beast. You wouldn't understand that though. Especially with your... short sighted intuition."

Bakura tried to ignore the jackal for a moment and thought to himself. He was by no means an expert in the field of ka's. Well, he was as thieves went but that really wasn't anything to boast about. He did know one thing though about the nature of ka's. They didn't change instantly. It was a progression. It was impossible for his ka to go from a stupid drooling vulture to a god in seconds flat. Unless. It must be the staff. The staff was changing the ka into whatever it's wielder wished. Bakura felt his stomach twist in knots just thinking about it. His best chance was to retrieve it from the boy. Then he would be left with nothing but that jackal to defend him, an easy query for old Diabound. But to retrieve it, he needed his wits. "You'd be nothing without that cursed staff, jackal." Attacking the boy's pride was the only move he could think of. If he had Diabound try to snatch it, the boy could a launch a large scale assault.

"I wouldn't consider it cursed. She's bought me nothing but luck in these past weeks. The tome was certainly as valuable with older bones."

Bakura snarled. "Pay your respects to the dead, jackal! Those are my family!!"

Serq made a face of fake sympathy. "Oh, it seems as though the story is coming together. Poor little thief is the last of a proud race of desert dwellers. Forced into the world at a young age, lonely and destitute. How sad." Serq smiled. "If you weren't going to lose in the end, it would almost be a fairy tale of adversity."

Bakura snarled again. "You vile, disgusting...!!!"

"You're going to hurt my feelings at this rate." Serq looked at his nails for a moment as Osiris hovered overhead. "I know, how about a little game? I adore them and I'm sure being a thief with all of your stealing and gambling, you would enjoy it."

Bakura didn't like the sound of a game but he had no choice. He couldn't attack and risk any ba with the god looming over its master. He could only hope that the game wasn't as sick as its creator.

"Oh, don't worry. It's simply a game of wits. All you have to do is defeat my little puppy in a setting of my choosing. Any idiot could do that, even you." Serq said and grinned. His staff began to glow dimly again and the setting of the old ruins faded away.

Bakura looked around. He was still Kur Elna but it was new. The buildings were standing and lights flickered in the windows. Animals were in their stables quietly munching on their fodder or sleeping peacefully. It was twilight and the whole town was settled into a docile state. Bakura felt a twinge of ecstacy. It was as though the village was never destroyed. It was perfectly fine and orderly or as orderly as an arid village could be.

He stood stunned for a moment. He didn't rightfully know how to react to such a sight. He hadn't seen his village, his home, fully constructed in fourteen years. Emotional conflict was something he should have expected. If he could ever expect anything like this. The pit of his stomach was in a knot as he were punched hard; however, it was overshadowed by giddiness. He was more or less overjoyed.

Bakura approached one of the adobes and looked inside. Inside the adobe, a woman was at her loom threading wool yarn to continue her weaving. Kur Elna had a very recognizable style of woven clothing. It was brightly colored with vivid patterns and made of wool from the sheep of the village. The bright colors often made outsider believe it had been stolen. Outsiders were like that. Always assuming about things that they knew nothing about. On the other side of the room, a man was tempering metal for what appeared to be a coffin of some type. Funerary goods were the only well known export of the village and Bakura remembered the black humor most of the village members took in it. "Death is our way of life" was the mock motto of Kur Elna. Perhaps they shouldn't have said it so readily. It was easy to take the wrong way now that he thought about it.

The thief sighed and removed his gaze from the window. He was in a duel afterall. Though it didn't seem much like a duel to him. His jackal was nowhere to be found and if the trick was for him to protect the villagers during the battle. It wasn't going to be that difficult at all. No one was out in the street. As long as he finished off the jackal quickly. No one would even notice. Bakura frowned. There had to be something else to it. There had to be another trick to his game.

Bakura continued walking down the streets looking for the jackal. It had to be around here somewhere. After all that was the point of the game: to defeat the jackal. He turned right along another street. The town was not large by any stretch of the imagination but there were plenty of places to hide. He remembered as much from his youth.

Bakura felt a pain in his stomach and a lump growing in his throat. Something about this street was bothering him. He wasn't sure what it was. The street was just like the others. It was a pounded dirt road which passed along parallel to the adobes. Some debris was leaning up against the houses. It wasn't the debris he was used to seeing in his home but some unused papyrus rods for construction and broken objects that hadn't yet been disposed of. He must be in the back of some housing. It wouldn't be like the villagers to leave trash in front of their homes. Overall, he couldn't put his finger on what was upsetting him.

"Come on!"

Bakura turned quickly at the sound of the voice. It was familiar. The voice came from a small boy. The boy was no older than seven. His white hair made it easy enough to see that he was a Kur Elnan. The small boy was struggling with a papyrus board trying to carry it away somewhere. The board was too long and awkward for the boy who was obviously too young to understand how to carry it properly.

Bakura approached the boy. The child didn't seem to notice him. Bakura cocked his head to the side as he examined the child. On closer examination, the child was indeed Kuru Elnan. His hair was a solid white and came down a little lower than his chin. He wore a darker linen tunic which came down too far on the tiny boy. His skin was a rich tan with a reddish hue from being in the sun more than most. Bakura grinned with delight. The tiny boy was a Kuru just like him and so much like he was at that age. The boy continued to struggle awkwardly with the board and quickly turned from weight of the limber in comparison to his tiny body.

Bakura took a few steps back. The boy's eyes couldn't see the Thief King and he gazed right through him as he continued his juvenile quest. But Bakura couldn't stop staring. The boy had pale violet eyes identical to his. Not identical, they were his. The small boy was him. The small boy was him fourteen years ago. It all made sense why he was so nervous in this alley. This was the alley! This was the alley was in! He had been trying to build a small fort in the back of his family home that day and a neighbor had offer to let him dig through some left over lumber to finish the project. He remembered now hauling the board. He remember almost falling! This was it!

Almost on cue, there was a scream from the center square and the sound of horses. They had started the raid. The jackal had taken him to the past. To his past. He saw as the tiny version of himself walked over to see what was going on. He ran past the boy and into something he wished he could forget.

The street at this point were littered with people trying to flee for their lives. Women clung desperately their children only to be butchered or gathered for the altar. The children were more often trampled than outrightly killed. Bakura turned to see a young woman no older than Safiya try to run away as a guard chased her. Bakura snarled and lunged at the guard. He passed through him and landed hard on the ground. He couldn't do anything. He was helpless to stop it and helpless to escape. Just like the last time.

Safiya's ka flew into the desert. They quickly soared over the dunes and away from the city. Safiya did not linger far behind. Her friend was depending on her to help him and, if nothing else, perhaps her presence could at least comfort him in knowing that he wasn't alone. Habib and Jono straggled behind trying to keep up to the young woman.

"Safiya, don't go so far ahead!" Safiya didn't sway from her track. Jono snarled to himself. "How did she get so stubborn?"

"She comes by it honestly."

Jono turned back and narrowed his eyes. "I don't know what you're talking about." He said and slid down a rocky slope.

Habib rolled his eyes. "Right, let's all pretend she isn't exactly like you."

Jono growled and shoved Habib down the next bank.

"That was uncalled for." The paler man said and dusted off his tunic. "She's just like you though. Actually this situation seems all too familiar to me."

Jono tried to stop from turning a scarlet color. "My sister is right there."

"And?"

Habib certainly was getting cheeky in his old age. He was right though. They were speaking in more Hebrew than Egyptian and, even if Safiya weren't completely wrapped up in the chase, she wouldn't be able to pick up more than two or three words.

As for the situation, it could have been two incidents between them. The most recent was when he had quietly slipped Habib out of slavery when he was scheduled for transfer. It had been brash and of course, dangerous. He was technically stealing 'property' from the Pharaoh himself. Jono felt the pit of his stomach ache at the thought of it now. To him, Habib was as much property as Safiya.

There was another incident as well though it was much further back. Habib had worked in the courtyard of the palace most of his childhood. He hadn't been born there but had been transferred at around the age of seven. The two boys had met by chance one day. Jono had scaled the wall to look into the palace and had accidently fallen in. After that, it was simply a matter of going under rather than over whenever he wanted to see his newfound friend.

Habib looked over to his musing friend. "You attacked a guard for me, Jonas."

"I- that- you're different."

"So you would do it all over again. Even though it was irresponsible, brash and a little stupid actually." Habib said with a grin.

Jono didn't have anything to say. He would have and if anyone ever touched Habib, he would today but the thief was different. They were two completely separate matters.

"I found him! The Noddian is dueling him!"

The two turned. Safiya was waving to them from a nearby canyon. Habib and Jono surveyed the area. "Do you know where we are Habib?"

Habib shook his head. "Slave caravans don't travel this way. I've never been here before."

They hurried over to Safiya and looked down. The thief was indeed below. The canyon bottomed out and encircled a village of adobes. "Something's wrong." Safiya said quickly and began to slide down into the village. She hurried through the village. "King! King!"

Serq turned and smiled at Safiya. "Glad to see that we have some new players. Your boyfriend is losing his luster."

She stared at Diabound with her hands over her mouth. The great ka was limply hovering over his master. The jackal snapped at him and Diabound did nothing. She lowered her gaze. Bakura seemed to be in some kind of trance. His eyes were open and he stood but he didn't move. He just stood unmoving.

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