A/N: well, dear readers, I have returned. I would like to again thank my sole reviewer ChildlikeEmpress. Everybody who reads this story should fly over and give her a review as well. She deserves it! But don't flame her, or else….

I realize I haven't done a disclaimer yet. Well, don't sue me cuz it's not worth it. I own nothing of value. :P so there!

This site doesn't like some of the symbols I tried to use so I've made up a new set of symbols to represent different things.

((Yami-hikari and hikari-yami, if there is difference between the two))

thoughts

"Speaking, well duh."

Kanthra walked into her first period class at Domino High. Despite the fact that on all other occasions she would have despised this day, she was actually glad to be back from the hospital; back where things would be ever so slightly normal….

((Hello, hikari,)) a familiar voice sounded in the back of Kanthra's head. ((So good to see you back on your feet.)) There was a cold, grating sound of Bakura's laughter.

((Hello, Bakura,)) Kanthra replied tiredly. ((Are you gonna be in my head today?))

((No.))

((Good.)) Kanthra closed the link rather easily.

Well, she catches on quick. I'll have to find a way to keep that link open until I want it closed, the spirit mused.

The school day moved in its monotonous way until history class. "Turn to page 67, class," Mr. Edo intoned in his annoying nasal voice.

"Oh let's all be good little automaton droids," Sai exclaimed randomly. Mr. Edo shot her an angry glare. "Oops." Sai sank down into her chair. Kanthra snickered to herself. She glanced across the room to see Ryou laughing silently to himself at Sai's antics.

Is that really Ryou or is Bakura the one laughing? Kanthra wondered.

((That would be Ryou,)) Bakura answered. ((He's more twisted than you might have thought.))

Kanthra sighed mentally and tried to focus on her history work. It was dull and boring. She knew more about Ancient Egypt than they would ever teach. As a child she had been infatuated with ancient cultures. Her favorites were Egypt and the natives of South America such as the Incas and Mayan.

Finally, school let out. "Hey, Ryou," Kanthra greeted the albino as she ran to catch up with him.

"Oh. Hello, Kanthra." Ryou smiled.

"Sai, Anay, and I were going to head over to the ice cream parlor and I was wondering if you wanted to come," Kanthra offered.

Ryou's face fell. "Umm… No thank you, Kanthra. I don't really feel up to it."

"Why not? Are you allergic to ice cream or something?" Kanthra inquired.

"No. It's just," Ryou prepared himself to tell Kanthra exactly what he had told Yugi and his friends when they had wanted to play Monster World at his house. "Kanthra, I had to transfer to Domino High because, at my old school, my friends kept getting hurt. We would all just be playing a game and then, they would all wind up in commas. I now know it was because of the Spirit of the Millennium Ring. He already hurt you once. I don't want that to happen again. Just stay away from me, for your own good." Ryou started running away.

Kanthra watched him go, almost glaring. For some reason it just annoyed her that he wouldn't come with her. Why doesn't he just confide in somebody? I know how he feels. It's not like he's the only one who lost something and had to move on without ever truly finding a replacement for it. The replacements I have for my family aren't the same as my family, but I still press on. Ryou needs to learn to do the same! Kanthra stormed off toward the ice cream parlor. Above her dark clouds gathered. ((Bakura!)) Kanthra screamed through her link.

((Don't yell! I can hear you! What do you want?)) came Bakura's perturbed reply.

((I have a favor to ask,)) Kanthra stated.

((How amusing. A slave asking her master for a favor.)) Bakura smirked. Then he felt the flood of Kanthra's rage. ((What the hell is the matter, vassal? Just because Ryou declined your offer because of me doesn't mean you should expect me to do something about it.))

((Well, I do expect you to do something about it, yami!))

((Ryou Bakura doesn't trust anyone, not even himself. Just because you have a certain infatuation for him, hikari….)) He was cut off as the link was slammed shut. Damn. She'll pay for that, Bakura thought, slightly worried that he was losing his grip on his hikari. After all, if she had the audacity to talk back, what could Ryou do? Extremely grudgingly, Bakura ordered Ryou to go to the ice cream parlor to meet Kanthra. If she could close the link as ably as she did, the only way to get any message across would be to talk to her in person. She's more powerful than I thought, Bakura admitted to himself. But she'll pay. Oh, how she'll pay. A sadistic grin spread across his face.

Ryou's POV. It's not in 1st person, but its content comes from what Ryou knows and believes to be true. You'll figure it out. I trust that you are all intelligent.

Ryou trudged wearily toward the ice cream parlor. Why did his yami have to be so cruel? He held back the tears that were forming in his eyes, for his were the footsteps of doom for the three girls.

Out of the corner of his eye, Ryou spotted Malik leaning up against an alley wall. The dark Egyptian boy glared at him. Bakura took over control of Ryou's body and glared back. Things had not been well between the two of them since Battle City. Bakura still wanted the Millennium Rod and was very angry with Malik for banishing him to the Shadow Realm. Ryou could just picture the look on his yami's face. It was a look that stated the solemn promise that Bakura would kill Malik by any means in the end.

The Spirit of the Ring let Ryou back in control rather unexpectedly and Ryou nearly tripped over his own feet. He had expected his yami to go over and tear Malik to pieces. What had stopped him? Then, Ryou looked up to seen Kanthra sitting with her friends outside of the ice cream parlor. Clearly he's more interested in her soul than he is in Malik's.

((Of course,)) came Bakura's smug reply. ((I have all the time in the world to kill Malik, but who knows when Kanthra's parents will leave town?))

Normal POV (Basically including Bakura's and Kanthra's thoughts on situations)

My parents won't be leaving town, baka, Kanthra thought, somehow listening in on Bakura's words to Ryou. How could they? After all, they're dead.

Bakura felt Kanthra's bitterness wash over him. He was rapidly becoming worried that she was posing a threat and he should get rid of her as soon as possible. This feeling was augmented when the bitterness and anger completely vanished behind a mask as Kanthra greeted his other hikari. How could she hide her rage even from him? He, as her yami, should have known her every thought and have been able to predict her every mood, but he couldn't.

"What kind of ice cream are you gonna have, Ryou?" Kanthra asked. "It's a good thing you got here when you did. We were just about to order." She smiled. In his soul room, Bakura shuddered. Then he heard a subtle, mocking laugh. He spun around. There, in his own mind, stood Kanthra. Miraculously, she had managed to trespass on his very mind. ((How the hell did you get in here?)) Bakura snarled.

((You keep your defenses down because you think no one can get in here. You practically invited me here,)) Kanthra answered.

Bakura glanced through Ryou's eyes to see that he was still having a conversation with Kanthra in the real world. ((Tell me what is going on, vassal,)) Bakura ordered, turning back around. Kanthra held up her right hand to show her "master" a strange silver ring she was wearing.

((I am not Kanthra,)) the figure stated blatantly. ((I am the Spirit of the Centennial Ring. We will meet again soon, Touzokuo Bakura.)) With that, the woman was gone. Bakura shook his head rigorously, trying to perhaps wake up from a nightmare, and that is just what happened.

Bakura woke up in his soul room to find that it was all a dream. Weird. He looked out of Ryou's eyes to see Malik, leaning up against an alley wall and immediately took over Ryou's body to glare at him. Then, he sawthe icecream parlorand gave control back to Ryou, laughing as his hikari almost tripped over his own feet.

Clearly he's more interested in her soul than he is in Malik's, Bakura heard his hikari think.

((Of course,)) Bakura smugly replied. ((I have all the time in the world to kill Malik, but who knows when Kanthra's parents will leave town?))

Ryou walked into the ice cream parlor. Sai looked up from the table, her orange eyes rested on Ryou. "Hey!" she exclaimed. "Over here, Ryou!"

Anay and Kanthra looked as well. "Come and sit with us," Anay said. Kanthra just watched him. Ryou shuffled over with his head down, clearly embarrassed. He slid into the booth next to Kanthra, as it was the only seat left.

"Don't feel bad about your yami," Kanthra whispered into Ryou's ear. "I'm alive, right? That's what matters."

Bakura took over and gave her a look of contempt. Sai and Anay were too busy looking at the choices of ice cream to notice. ((You will greatly regret every time that you have ever talked back to me,)) Bakura threatened.

((Blah, blah, blah,)) Kanthra mocked. ((You don't scare me.)) She smirked.

That's a new face for her, Bakura thought.

((Get used to it. I'll be mocking you a lot,)) Kanthra remarked. Bakura cursed, realizing he would have to remember to block her out if he ever wanted to keep his thoughts to himself. He tried to see what she was thinking.

Chocolate or vanilla? was all that came to him.

Bakura growled. Damn her for knowing how to block me out of her mind. It was terribly tempting to just banish her to the Shadow Realm, but what would that accomplish? It was exactly what she wanted. From the moment he had Ryou walk into the ice cream parlor, Kanthra had been calling the shots. She was in control of the situation and that Bakura did not like.

"What will you be having today?" a kind waitress asked.

"Mocha almond fudge, please," Sai answered.

"I'd like strawberry, please," Anay replied.

((Pistachio!)) Ryou declaimed in the back of Bakura's mind.

"Double fudge," the Ring spirit answered, contrary to his host's wishes.

"Just plain vanilla for me," Kanthra said.

"Why do you always get vanilla?" Sai asked after the waitress had gone. "Why don't you try something new for a change?"

"I like vanilla," Kanthra said plainly.

Mask, mask. It's all a mask, Bakura thought, trying to decipher his extra hikari's emotions. She was doing a superb job of blocking him out.

The ice creams arrived. Everyone began devouring them when a shrill voice, seemingly emanating from Bakura's ice cream spoke up, "I AM THE TERROR THAT HIDES IN ALL FLAVORS OF ICE CREAM EXCEPT FOR THE DREADED VANILLA!!!!!!!"

Bakura's eyes went wide. "What in all the levels of hell?" By now, Kanthra was laughing uncontrollably and her laughter only increased in volume as a strange being leapt from Bakura's bowl of ice cream. The tomb robber was sufficiently splattered in the sticky, cold frozen dessert.

Kanthra's thoughts suddenly came to her "master" in a rush. That was hilarious!!! That phooka is the best thing in the universe!!! Oh, Kami, he looks so funny with that ice cream all over him!!!!!! She doubled over laughing. Bakura promptly shoved her face into the vanilla ice cream in front of her. Kanthra pulled her face out of the bowl and laughed even harder at the situation at hand. Sai and Anay were laughing as well. In fact, Bakura found himself to be the only one not laughing at the prank as he heard Ryou's subtle chuckle in the back of his mind and the twisted, high-pitched maniacal laughter of the phooka as it floated around and ghosted through his head.

"Nothing in here," the phooka stated, floating through Bakura's head again.

"Be gone, pest!" Bakura commanded, attempting to banish the phooka to the Shadow Realm. The beam from his Millennium Ring missed its mark.

"Oh look," the phooka remarked. "You banished the fly on the wall instead." Bakura lashed out at the peculiar pestilence, only to miss again. The thief felt something pulling on the tuffs of his hair that caused some people to call him Bunny Bakura. "Hello, Rabid Rabbit," the phooka greeted as Bakura glared ferociously at him.

"I banish you to Anubis!"

This time, the beam from the Millennium Ring hit the miniscule manifestation of maliciousness. Still, the phooka got the last word. "I have not been defeated," it declaimed. "I will return to haunt you! Mweeheeheeheeheehee!"

After some time, Kanthra regained control of herself. Sai and Anay's laughter went on for a while longer. "I'd like to speak with you alone, Kanthra," Bakura stated in a foreboding tone. Kanthra nodded and somberly followed Bakura outside.

The two walked for quite a while in silence. The day, which seemed to be changing with Kanthra's mood, went from sunny to dark and gloomy in a matter of minutes. Bakura led Kanthra to the graveyard. Bakura sat on a headstone and indicated that Kanthra should do the same. She did. Bakura just glared at her for a moment. He had long since wiped the ice cream from his face.

Finally, the tomb robber spoke. ((Do you think you can play me like a card and get me to do whatever you want?)) Bakura's voice was dangerously quiet.

((Aside from the fact that it seems to be working so far, no. I suppose I don't think I can manipulate you,)) Kanthra replied defiantly.

((You are in need of a lesson in manners!- my little hikari.)) Behind Bakura's eyes, Kanthra could see the dancing, purple flames of the Shadow Realm. Bakura was seething with rage. Kanthra could feel the suffocating weight of his anger as it pounded against her like waves upon a bluff.

((I'm waiting for my lesson,)) Kanthra remarked to break the silence.

((You will regret your words.)) The Shadow Realm engulfed the graveyard and its two living occupants. "Rise from the grave, my servants," Bakura whispered. The ground began to shake as corpses turned in the earth and rose to the surface to obey their master. They clung to Kanthra and began to pull her down into the earth, but the girl did not scream. She thought of the fire at her uncle's office building and thought how much more horrible that was than this. She just closed her eyes. She heard the people's screams. This was nothing compared to that. Kanthra opened her eyes to stare at Bakura, knowing he had heard her thoughts.

((So you've been conditioned, I see,)) he observed. Kanthra was tempted to make a sarcastic comment, but held it back. ((I'll just have to try a little harder.))

He's not trying at all, Kanthra thought.

"I heard that."

"I knooooow," Kanthra replied, rather disrespectfully. Bakura's eyes changed from brown to red.

"Crush her," he ordered the zombies. Kanthra winced as some great snake coiled around her and began to squeeze the life out of her. Immediately, she forced herself to think of swimming away from the wreckage of the cruise ship that she and her aunt and cousins had been on. She thought of the ice-cold water and of having to focus on each stroke of her arms to paddle through that potion of death. She thought of how her chest had ached with cold and how she had nearly passed out, and the snake was nothing.

Bakura stared at Kanthra and began to understand just why she was like she was. She had led a tough life. She had lost many family members that were close to her in just one accident. But that was nothing compared to what had happened to Kuruelna, his village in Ancient Egypt. There, his entire family had been brutally slaughtered and he was the lone survivor. The tomb robber searched for some other way to make Kanthra suffer.

Kanthra looked up to see stalactites falling towards her. They landed around her at first and she guessed the rock ceiling above her would slowly cave in until she was crushed. She felt an unbidden tear roll down her cheek. Then, she took a deep breath, determined not to be broken by Bakura's torture. This next memory would be the hardest to bear. The snake squeezed a bit harder and the zombies attempted to be more frightening. Kanthra closed her eyes.

Flashback

Kanthra struggled with here seatbelt and her parents and sister struggled with theirs. Kanthra, managed to free herself and tried desperately to help her family. "Get out of here, Kanthra," her father and mother said in unison. "Just forget about us."

Kanthra quickly moved to help her sister. "No, Kanthra. We're not gonna be able to get out," her sister Jitru stated. Sadness and love shown in her dark eyes as it did in her parents'. "Imooto, get out of here. You should save yourself!"

The limo continued to spin out of control. The driver struggled desperately to stop the vehicle. "I'm not going to leave you!" Kanthra protested.

"Yes, you are," Jitru answered back. She pushed her door open and threw Kanthra out of the car. Kanthra bumped along the pavement. Though she was gravely battered and bruised, she still watched the limo as it spun. The last thing she saw was Jitru's caring expression just before the limo careened over the edge of the bridge.

"ANE!!!!!!!" Kanthra screamed in anguish. "Otoosan! Okaasan…" Her vision blurred. Tears streamed down her cheeks as she slowly faded from consciousness. All she could think about was how horribly and suddenly she had lost her entire family. "Uchi no kazoku…." The next thing Kanthra remembered was waking up in a hospital room; all alone in the wide world.

From then on she had taken care of herself. Kanthra still had her family fortune and she was the sole, living beneficiary of each of her family members' wills. It seemed that these events and deaths had been planned as a way for Kanthra to become insanely rich. These events were nothing of the sort.

Kanthra began living in different parts of the world for many years. At last, she began traveling with her friends. Since she was still a minor, someone else handled her money for her. Still, she had designated that much of it be given to charity. She had a terrible guilt complex that somehow she had been the cause of her family's demise. Kanthra didn't want money. She just wanted to make up for what she thought she had done. Most of her money was now being put to use helping orphans like herself.

End Flashback

The rocks began to fall closer and closer to Kanthra. Finally, the last boulder began its decent as the memories of Kanthra's past faded. The doomed girl watched the rock fall and then bowed her head, resigned to her fate. Then the rock shattered. Her head shot up and she saw Bakura standing above her with the Millennium Ring still glowing from his previous action of shattering the boulder. The zombies retreated and the snake released its prey. Bakura held out his hand to help Kanthra out of the pit. Kanthra took hold of his hand and felt herself being pulled back to the realm of the living.

The high school girl opened her eyes to find herself back in the cemetery in Domino. She stared into Bakura's chocolate eyes; the flames had long since vanished. Instead, there was a certain hint of pity and…were those…tears? "Thank you," Kanthra murmured, barely audible. Bakura just nodded and allowed Ryou back in control. The albino blushed, realizing he was holding Kanthra's hand.

Ryou let go of her hand and stared into her dark eyes. "Did he hurt you?" Concern flowed in his words.

"Only a little," Kanthra replied. Ryou's face fell.

"I warned you," was all he could say.

"I know," Kanthra answered, looking into her friend's eyes with great, unspoken determination.

Lacking words to accurately express his relief, Ryou just pulled Kanthra into a tight hug. "I'm so glad you're safe," he whispered.

"I'm glad too," Kanthra whispered back. She felt guilty about not telling Ryou about the fact that she was also Bakura's hikari. She pulled away from Ryou. Ryou looked immensely shamefaced.

"I should have kept him back. I shouldn't have come to meet you like he said. I should have… I should have kept you safe!" Ryou kicked the ground in rage. "He got to all my other friends because I was too weak to protect them. And now I was too weak to protect you." He was shaking.

"Ryou…."

"But I won't be weak again. I won't let him get to anyone else. I'll keep Sai and Anay safe. I'll keep Yugi and his friends safe." The only person I won't be able to keep safe is myself…

((Bakura, let me tell him that you own me as well!)) Kanthra begged.

((Very well. If it really makes you happy,)) Bakura replied, a bit more subdued than usual.

"Ryou," Kanthra said. Ryou looked up at her. "I need to tell you something." Ryou nodded for her to continue. "You said you would keep Sai and Anay and Yugi and his friends safe."

"And I mean it."

"Yes. I know." A look of great concern washed over Kanthra's features. "And I know what you thought after that as well." Ryou gave her a questioning, almost fearful look. "You said the only person you couldn't keep safe was yourself." Ryou gasped softly in fear and apprehension, realizing that Kanthra had heard his thoughts.

"What's going on?" Ryou nearly shouted.

"No matter how hard you try to keep him from taking you over, there's always a chance that he will take me over," Kanthra said. Ryou fixed her with a cold stare. She looked back at him with emotionless eyes. "I'm his hikari too, Ryou. That was our agreement. I would have died in the Shadow Realm just now if he hadn't…"

"Enough!" Ryou shouted. He pushed Kanthra away. "I don't want to ever be near you again! If you have allied yourself with him then you too are my enemy…" Tears streamed down his cheeks. His eyes betrayed his feelings of fear and betrayal but his voice only told of anger. He dashed away.

"Ryou!!!!!" Kanthra made a move to chase after him then stopped. She wanted to sink to her knees and cry her eyes out, but she decided to stand strong. Kanthra replaced her revealing expression with her normal emotionless façade. She slowly walked home, with her guilt complex growing larger every second.

> > > > > > > > > > > > > > > >

A/N: Well, that was chapter four. Was it too angsty? Overly dramatic? Please tell, me. I think I got kind of carried away. What did you think of the phooka? Please share your opinions with me, whether they are good, bad, or just plain passive opinions. I'd like to know. Thanks a bunch to ChildlikeEmpress. She's my only reviewer for this story. Thanks a ton!!!!!! You're the best! bye for now!

Key: Imooto - little sister, Ane- older sister, otoosan- father, okaasan- mother, uchi no kazoku- my family