"Yugi," Yami said quietly as Yugi skipped towards his home. "What happened with those two male humans back there?"

Yugi grinned. He felt like an enormous weight had been lifted from his shoulders. "Do you remember when you tried to sit up but your stomach hurt? Well, those two have been hurting me for a long time, and that's what caused the pain. But I finally had the courage to stand up to them today. I don't have to worry about them anymore."

Yami was perplexed. The humans hurt each other? Didn't that defeat the point of driving out the Karish in the first place? If a human could have that much control over another human, then they were back at square one. Maybe they'll drive out some of their own kind as well, Yami mused, choosing to keep his thoughts to himself for the moment. The only thing that really mattered was that Yugi was happy.

"Yami!" someone yelled from across the street. Yugi turned around. It was a boy with white hair and pale skin.

"Ryou…?" Yugi said quietly. "How can he know about—"

"Yugi, switch places with me, quickly! There is only one other person who would seek me out this way. I need to convince him that I'm the one in control," Yami explained quickly.

Yugi did as he was told and switched places with Yami. Bakura, still trying to get a hold of his human body, stumbled a bit as he walked up to Yami. "Amazing, isn't it? It took me a while to understand how to speak, but I have a good hold on it now," Bakura said.

"How did you know it was me, Bakura?" Yami asked. Thanks to Yugi's advice he was much more comfortable in his form than his former friend. "I wouldn't have recognized you."

Bakura leaned against a wall, tired of trying to constantly keep his balance. "I saw you during your first bonding. I found another human about a day later, and it's taken me a while to get control of it."

It's a he, you imbecile, Yami thought bitterly.

"I've found learning to walk particularly difficult, haven't you? You seem to be doing pretty well, though. How have you fared with the voices?" Bakura asked. He must have been referred to his host, whoever the boy was.

"They bothered me at first, but I've learned to… block them out," Yami lied. Truth was, he didn't know if he could block voices out or not, but if he couldn't it would certainly make Bakura feel inferior.

Instead, Bakura scoffed. "I should have known they would have bothered you. The sounds of their despair… it's thrilling to me. They've gotten what they've deserved." Bakura held his stomach. "But perhaps this body is rejecting me. I feel a pain in the human's stomach that grows with time."

"That's hunger," Yugi explained. "Unless he wants Ryou and him to die, he should eat something." Yugi's voice sounded bitter and angry. He had known this human… and now he was watching one of Yami's own kind wave him about like a marionette.

"You should eat, Bakura," Yami said. "Humans need to. You have to find food, chew, and swallow. It's their way of getting nutrients."

Bakura seemed dismayed. "They don't live off of water? Odd… it's the only thing I've been drinking—through this mouth, no less. I don't know exactly what fluids contain alcohol, so I'll wait to experiment until I've learned more."

"Where are you staying, Bakura?" Yami asked suddenly. He was staying with Yugi and his grandfather, but Bakura wouldn't have been able to pass as Ryou under any circumstances.

Bakura casually regarded his hand. "I killed the boy's family with something sharp. All you have to do is slip it into their heads and this red essence comes out… I think it's what keeps them alive."

"Ryou's family… his mother, his father, and his sister! They're all dead!?" Yugi choked. Yami wanted to get out of that conversation as quickly as he could. Yugi was seeing the worst side of the Karish… what would he think of Yami after he knew what he came from?

"I must go, Bakura, but I will see you around," Yami said, waving goodbye quickly and walking back to Yugi's house. Yugi was quiet for the rest of the journey, secluded in his mind. Yami's worries began to increase. They had just become friends, and now Bakura had to come and ruin everything! What if Yugi stopped trusting him? What if he drank one of those alcoholic beverages that Yami knew nothing about?

The Karish guided Yugi's body into his bedroom and sat down. "Yugi, I'm so sorry about what happened to your friend. I didn't mean for any of this to happen."

"He killed them… every single one," Yugi whispered. "Even if Ryou happened to get his body back, he wouldn't want to! Everyone he loved is gone!"

"I could never do that to you, Yugi…" Yami replied quietly. "I know that Ryou didn't do anything do deserve this."

"He knew you…" Yugi remembered. "You were friends with him?" Yugi was accusing him. The truth was that Yami didn't have very good taste in company. He and Bakura had met when they were just yearlings, and they had remained together ever since. When their views on humanity grew farther and farther apart, Yami had separated himself from Bakura, but he had never declared it to his face. That was his fault.

"We were friends, some time ago. I've spent years trying to convince him that the elders are wrong and that we can't judge a race based on a single event, but Bakura… he's been raised as a true Karish for too long. He couldn't understand," Yami explained.

"Why do you hate us so much?" Yugi asked.

The question hurt Yami's heart. Yugi had lost faith in him. "I don't hate you, Yugi. I told you that my people were irrational and that I've always disagreed with them. My only hope is that we can still be friends."

"So that you can use my body to hide?" Yugi asked angrily. "You don't want to face the true consequences of what you believe, so you pretend to be the best of both worlds! To me you say that you respect humans, but to the rest of your people you're just another Karish who's taken a human form! If you really believe what you say you do, then why didn't you just die to prove your point?"

Yami was silent. His father had made that sacrifice. But what good had it really accomplished? He had come and gone and no one cared. Nothing had changed except for Yami himself. Yugi went on, "How am I supposed to trust you? At any moment you could take over my body and do whatever you want with me, and I wouldn't be able to do anything! You could be pretending to be nice to me so that you'll learn enough to fit in in this world, and then you'll take back what you took in the first place!"

"Yugi…" Yami said quietly. Maybe the elders were right after all. Yugi was thinking the exact same thing as the humans of old. Yugi could never trust him when he had so much power. "I know that I don't deserve your confidence in me. I know the things my people have done to yours. So I'll change our deal. Go back to the Shore, and I will return to my home. You can go back to your normal life, and I will face up to what I believe in. We won't have to stay together anymore."

Yugi bit his lip. He'd be sentencing this creature to death… but Yami could just as easily use him to kill scores of humans! It would be a fare trade, wouldn't it? Yugi took his body back and walked down to the beach. A number of thoughts flashed through his mind, but he didn't share any of them with Yami. He felt so guilty all of a sudden.

Bakura was the one who was killing humans right and left, not Yami. And why was he judging Yami just because of his old companion? There were plenty of humans who killed other humans, but that didn't mean that they were all evil.

Yugi found himself at the beach, staring out at the waves. Yami tugged lightly on Yugi's consciousness. "I'll have to take over to release myself, Yugi."

Yugi couldn't let go just yet. If Yami left, then he would never see him again. He would be alone and friendless again. He couldn't go back to the life he lived before… he just couldn't! He finally had someone to connect to. Even after finding out everything that Yami was capable of, he still needed someone to put his faith into.

"Yami, I don't want you to leave," Yugi admitted. "I'm sorry I said the things that I did, but I was just scared. I've never met anything like you before… and after meeting Bakura, I thought you were the same way. But I realized that I'm just doing the same thing that your people are doing. Prejudice tears people apart and it ruins innocent lives, and I don't want to do something like that."

"You were right, Yugi. I shouldn't stay in your body because I'm afraid. I deserve to face the penalty for my actions."

"But your actions aren't wrong!" Yugi declared. "You're trying not to hate anyone or hurt anyone, and there shouldn't be a law against that! So I'm going to grant you what we humans call 'asylum'. That means I'll keep you safe."

"… You would do that for me, even after everything?" Yami asked softly.

Yugi nodded resolutely. "Yes, I would."

"Thank you, Yugi," Yami said, relieved that he wouldn't have to go to a long painful death. "I owe you a lot of recompense."

"I do too, Yami. I do too."