Chapter 2

~Akefia (A couple weeks later)

I sprinted as quickly as I could into the night after breaking into a grocery store withdifferentfood items in my arms. I was careful not to drop any as I darted around from alleyway to alleyway, to rooftop to rooftop on my way home. I didn't havetoomany items in my arms, just small pickings here and thereso as nottocause suspicion and there was always the fact that I was only ten at the momentand therefore couldn't carry much.

Even before my mother'sdeath I was interested in the world of mystery andcriminals which proved to be useful in the long-run.Afterour mother died and we began to run out of food I began to experiment with my brothers who had become apprehensive of our father's growing distance, especially when he had stopped coming home after some nights. I had my brother's load their pocketswithsome fake money we had lying around,andI'd attempt to steal things from their room when they were unaware. When it was night and they were fast asleep I would practice picking locks on my mother's jewelry boxes or the old locks my father had stored in the garage. I soon figured out I had a natural giftafter only a few times being caughtby my brothers. I wasn't into thieving diamonds or breaking into a bank, no, I was more interested in learning how to steal food without being caught.It didn't have to be something complex, just something to get us fed. It wasn't like there wasn't food in the house, but there wasn't enough for the three of us and I planned to change that since my father chose not to, even after bringing it up.

When I got back home, I crept in stealthily before hiding my stash in my room, and closing my door almost all the way.My body was tingling with the adrenaline rush I always received after a night of thieving. Once I spread out the stuff on my bed I began to sort through it. This stash was special since my brother's birthdays were coming up in just a few days and along with the food I had stolen a few small toys for each. It wasn't a lot, but with the distance between our father we didn't have much anymore and I was too young to get a job. After crouching over my loot I got up and began to look for paper, any kind of paper to wrap their presents up with. I managed to find some crumpled up newspapers, luckily ones that didn't involve our loss, and set to work to gently cover the items. Once they were covered I began to hide the stolen items around my room before grabbing an onion for myself, after all I needed to stay fed as well to keep my brother's fed. Once I had finished the onion I began to drift off to sleep, but that sleep didn't stay long when I heard my door creak open and a thud on the ground.

~Bakura

I couldn't help myself, especially whenRyouand I were left alone like this on some nights. I began to panic. Of course I knew that Akefia went out at night to steal things, I mean he sort of used us as guinea pigs but I was nervous, what if he got caught? He told us time and time again that he wouldn't get caught, and we both knew he was surprisingly gifted at committing theft, but even the best thieves failed sometimes. What if tonight would be the night he failed and left us alone, how were we to survive without him, even just a few days? So, I couldn't help but hide behind a door and stare at the clear shot I had to the front door, just waiting for him. Ryou was already fast asleep in my bed like usual, he was too afraid to sleep by himself, and against Akefia's rules I snuck out.

I inwardlysighedin relief when I saw my brother's figure creep through the door and as much as I wanted to run up to him and hug him I decided to stay put for fear he'd be angry. I watched him as he made his way into his room and quietly padded along the hallway towards his room before peeking through the small crack in his door. I watched him wrap some things up in newspaper and hide some other things in his room, wondering how on earth he could've managed to get so many things without getting caught. I wanted to be just like him, I wanted to pay my brothers back for the damage I've caused a couple weeks ago. I didn't want my brother to spend more hours awake at night when we had school the next day. I could see how exhausted he looked every morning, if he wasn't stealing, he was comforting us after nightmares, but he'd never show how exhausted he was. As he bit into an onion like an apple I couldn't help but scrunch my nose a bit because I hated onions, but he seemed at peace so I smiled a bit to.

When he began to doze off, I couldn't help but begin to fall asleepaswellagainst the door which led me to facepalm the floor in a rather painful way.

"Whoa! Kura, buddy are you okay!? What are you doing up out of bed, nightmare?" Akefia yelped as he jumped off his bed and ran to my aid.

"Hnn? Couldn't sleep...wanted to wait for you to come home," I responded blearily as I was picked up from the ground and held in his arms.

"Kura, I already told you that there is no way I'm going to get caught. I'm never going to leave you two all alone."

"I wanna learn how to be a thief like you."

"Kura it's not safe for little boys like you, you'll get hurt," he tried to explain.

"What if you get caught and you can't see us anymore!?"

"Kura that's not going tohappe-"

"What if it does! I want to learn how to be a thief to" I protested, tears beginning to collect in my eyes.

"Kura, quiet down, you're going to wakeRyou," Akefia said sternly.

"I wanna be a thief! I wanna be a thief and help you!" I continued, the lack of sleep I had during those days making it very easy for me to have temper tantrums. One thing about Akefia, he wasn't afraid to discipline us, especially when he had to accept the role as caregiver, so in response to my outburst I had a hand slapped over my mouth and two purple eyes glaring at me.

"Bakura Touzoku, if you wake up your brotherIwill paddle your ass. Neither of you get enough sleep as it is," Akefia explained sternly before sighing and softening his gaze,"You're too young to go out there with me, but if you behave and eat yourvegetables I'll teach you the basics, alright?"

I continued to sob inresponse, bothout of relief andbecause ofthe threat. I tended to be the trouble child and therefore got smacked a few times (okay a lot of times) out of discipline, but unlike my mother or father, Akefia couldhit pretty fucking hard to knock some sense into your brain. Akefiasighedagaintiredly and decided to walk around his room andwait for me to tire myself outwhich never took long thanks to sleep deprivation from nightmares.

When I awoke the next morning I received my first lesson from the infamous Thief King which only paved the way for many more lessons to follow especially when I began to start getting into fights at school.

~Ryou

I yelped as I was pushed roughly to the ground as a group of tall boys stood over me guffawed at the weakling they decided to target today. The leader, whose name seemed to be along the lines ofJounouchi,had my stuffed rabbit in his clutches and hung it over me like a tempting piece of steak to a dog. The stuffed rabbit was a gift from Akefia in hopes of offering comfort should I ever feel distressed at school which was becoming often as we became the poor kids in school. It wasn't very large which made it easy to hide it in theside pocketof my backpack, but I would carry it around during recess. Usually Bakura accompanied me, but he was busy trying to practice stealing things around the playground which usually resulted in failure by being yelled at or sent to stand at the fence by a teacher.

However a flash of white and blue entered my vision as the leader was sent to the ground with a red mark to his cheek.

"Hey get off me you jerk!" Jouscreamed as his goonies stood around in confusion as what I realized to be Bakurawas pushed backwards before the leader climbed on top of him and began to punch at his face, the rabbit was long forgotten on the ground. I made the move to pick it up, too frightened to intervene on the fight even though my brother was taking a pummeling.

"What is the meaning of this!?" a teacher shrieked as she tore away the kid on top of Bakura.

"He punched me!" Joushouted.

"They were messing with Ryou," Bakura protested, his brown eyes set into a heated glare.

"I don't know what has gotten into you lately Touzoku but this is your third warning. I'm sending you both to the principal's office and you'll have your parents to answer to tonight," the teacher said as she roughly grabbed Bakura's arm as well as Jounouchi's and hauled them off.

That incident was the start of Bakura's habit of getting into fights he knew he couldn't win...at least at that moment. After a couple visits to theprincipal's office he tried to keep his fights off school grounds, which were still brutal, but at least he wasn't going to be faced with expulsion any time soon. It wasn't that he was looking for fights, the fights seemed to look for him, especially when it involved me. Whenever he came back from one, Akefia would patch him up before scolding him, as years went by that became my job. As years went by those scoldings seemed less effective, and the fights more dangerous as he began to take Akefia's shifts to steal for our next meal. Well, let's not get ahead of ourselves, there's still a good chunk of story left before I get explain the light of my life.

~ Bakura

Yeah, I really shouldn't have come home after that first fight. It wasn't becauseRyouwould worry over my face, it was because of my older brother who scared the living shit out of me. When I got home that day I was put to the test without warning, quite literally. Akefia chased me all over the house for several minutes before he caught up with me and grabbed me around the ankle before lifting me up.

"So, you want to fight do ya?" He said as angry purple eyes met mine.

"They were messing withRyou," I protested.

Akefiasighed before muttering under his breath something along the lines of "what am I going to do with you two?"

After a few moments of dangling there, upside down, a small smile lit up Akefia's face,"Alright then, but by the looks of it you got your ass kicked, so how about I teach you how to really fight, aslongas you don't make it your life's goal to seek out every single one you find."

As I was gently set down on the floor I looked up at him, my head tilted to the side in confusion. Mom never wanted us to learn how to fight, I mean the only reason Akefia knew how to fight was only because he had managed to convince her to let him go out for karate. Sure it wasn't like fighting with knives, after all it is supposed to be a sport to encourage self-defense, but training with Akefia had a mixture of karate and the use the weapons.

To this day I still don't know how he learned how to use a knife, he'd always mumble about learning how to from a friend of his that he had met in the sport. But after that dayRyouand I had slowly fell into our niches in the household.Ryouwould take care of the cleaning and cooking since he loved to help mom out around the kitchen and refused to steal for food. Akefia would be our parent, to provide and protect us, while I sort of fit in between the two. Some days I'd helpRyou, and other days I'd help Akefia. While this was going on, we'd see our father like a neighbor that came over to ask for a cup of sugar. He'd bring home groceries, never enough for all of us, he'd bring home this woman every once in a while but only on nights he smelled of alcohol. Every time he saw one of us it was like he was sheepish about the fact he had three kids, like it was a surprise for him. Sometimes he'd apologize about not being home all the time, that work was busier than normalor some bull shit like that. He was a fucking disgrace.

Things began to change months later. That woman kept coming home with our dad and that led to one thing or another, as in they began dating. One night when my father came home, in which I had the misfortune to be spotted by him, he said that we would be moving in with his girlfriend in about a week. We would be moving away from the house that we were all raised in, we would be moving away from Amane and Mom. I felt my stomach lurch sickeningly at the thought and I wished greatly that Akefia was the one trying to break this down to me, especially after his next words.

"Doesn'tthat sound great? We can finally get away from dusty old place and you'll have new playmates," my father said.

I slowly shook my head back and forth and stepped away from him. No, no it wouldn't be great, not at all.

"Bakura...buddy it's okay, you'll still have your schoolmates, it'll just be a different house," he said, trying to reach out for me but I was long gone.

"No no no! I don't wanna move! I wanna stay here with Amane and mom! You can't make me go with you, your not the boss of me!" I screamed.

"Bakura, I'm your father you have to obey me. This change ofenvironmentwill be good for you, I've heard from your teachers that you haven't been behaving well in school..."

"You're not my father! I hate you! You're the worst father ever!" I yelled before backing away from him and runningto my room to which I nearly ran into Akefia who heard the commotion and decided to investigate. A tan hand clasped around my arm and turned me so I was facing Akefia and I cursed his quick reflexes.

"Bakura, what's wrong?" Akefia tried, violet pools filled with concern, but I was too busy trying to wrench myself free of his grip when I heard our father attempt to once again try to get through to me. Akefia hissed and tightened his grip when I sent a kick into his stomach, but I was too small and skinny for my age to break free. By the time I saw my father's figure walk towards us I stopped resisting and instead hid my face in his neck. The commotion also luredRyouin who walked up beside Akefia and grabbed a fistful of his pant leg as he looked from us to our father in confusion.

"It seems Bakura and I have gotten into a little spat, but I'll take care of it," he said, reaching out towards me.

"No, I'll take care of it. He's tired, maybe after a good nights rest he'll be okay," Akefia responded, his violet eyes steeled over but his tone polite, but based on the tightening grip around me he was pretty pissed off.

" Oh, well I hope he feels better soon.I've been meaning to tell you guys some very great news. We're moving out of this old place and into my girlfriend's place. There's two kids a bit younger thanRyouand Bakura, and theirs a girl your age Akefia! It could be a nice change, and you'll still be able to go to the same school to," my father explained in further detail which only made more upset. I looked down atRyouwho was biting his lip and trying hard not to cry, and I could feel Akefia stiffen up and adjust me so a hand rested on Ryou's head.

"Yeah, that sounds great dad. Can't wait to meet this girl, I'm sure Bakura and Ryou are a little excited to. They're just tired and it's such a big change. Anyways, I'm going to go put them to bed," Akefia said, his voice barely able to keep steady before he turned away from our father in favor of taking both of us to his room.

"Yes, I suppose I could've picked a better time to tell you. Thank you, ever since your mother died you really turned into quite the man of the house haven't you?"

I felt Akefia tense up further before muttering a small yes before walking into his room and closing the door behind him. That's when Akefia really started to show his true colors,"That fucking asshole. Just when things were settling down and becoming normal."

"I don't want to move, what about Amane and Mom? We've been here for our whole lives,"Ryousaid through tears.

"I know baby, but sometimes we have to do things we really don't want to do," Akefia tried to explain as he helpedRyouup on his bed before setting to the task of setting me down who was a crying mess.

"I-I'm not going! H-He can't make me!" I sobbed angrily.

"No, you're going to come with us. Remember? As long as we have each other, whatever happens and wherever we go, we'll be okay. Right? Or was that a lie?Look, we'll be okay, we'll make it through this, I promise," Akefia soothed as he joined us on the bed, sitting cross-legged with a soft smile on his face although he was trying hard not to lose his composure.

~Akefia

Yeah, it took everything I had not to throw a fit like my younger brothers, I mean he's ditched us for how many months and now he decides it would be all sunshine and rainbows when he told us we were moving away!? We were moving away from our losses, we were moving away from the house we were born in only to move in with a lady and her kids whom we knew nothing about!? Well, it was a pretty big shocker, especially when it hasn't even been a year since their deaths and as much as I wanted to cry, kick, and scream at him, I had bigger things to worry about, like how the twins are going to cope with this new change.

So after several minutes of trying to soothe them I had two eight year olds fast asleep and clinging onto me on either side. I was left with my own thoughts as I tried to separate the pros from the cons. I guess it might be a good change, I won't need to worry about feeding my brothers anymore and maybe having other kids running around the house would distract them. It felt like a betrayal, to just up and leave this house that held fond memories of our family before it became a wreck. I've gotten used to providing for my brothers, in fact running around at night seemed to be one of mysources for coping. When I stole things it felt like I was taking back what the world owed me for taking away my mother and sister, so if I no longer had to provide, what else was I going to do? Sure it was risky business, especially when the kids at school got a whiff of a rumor that someone was stealing things around town, but God did it feel great!

Well, when everything was said and done I decided to continue my little thefts, sure it wasn't that often and I would only steal an onion there, or a package of meat there but I wanted to spite my father. I wanted to still be that provider for my brother's instead of just a human teddy bear after a nightmare or a shoulder to cry on. Besides, skills can turn rusty if you stop practicing, right?

~Ryou

In a week's time we waved our tearful goodbyes to our house and moved into our new home which seemed colder in comparison to our own house both mentally and physically. As brothers we were all forced into one room and had split it into three areas which were small but livable. Bakura had taken the far left as his side of the room, sulking all the while, I took the other side and Akefia the middle. We didn't mind rooming together since it was becoming a habit anyways, but we didn't really feel welcomed there. It was like the family we had moved in with was my father's present life, and we were just phantoms of his past. The girl that was Akefia's age was pretty stuck up and kept to herself, the two children close to Bakura and my age were annoying but I tried to play with them while Bakura sulked. Akefia and I adapted quite well after a week, the feeling of abandonment was there, but Bakura was another story.

Bakura wanted absolutely nothing to do with this other family and would only eat in our room, he'd leave here and there to shower or if sometimes he couldn't fall asleep he'd watchTVwhen everyone else was asleep. TheTVwas always quiet though. One night after coming back from a run around the block, a habit Akefia developed over the weeks he decided to approach him on the topic. I was busy reading a book at the time but I couldn't help but eavesdrop especially when I heard Akefia gasp and grab Bakura's arm.

"Bakura what the hell are these!?" Akefia whispered, but his voice was stern, the milky white arm he held up was covered in angry red lines, some were scabbed over with blood.

He got no response as Bakura slowly removed his arm from his grasp, his eyes trained on the wall in a blank stare. Akefia was not going to take silence as an answer and in response he forced the younger to sit up and look at him as shocked, angry violets met uncaring brown.

"When did you start doing this?" The tanned skinned boy asked slowly. I dropped my book in favor of retrieving the first aid kit, a sickening pit in my stomach. Ever since the accident I've been frightened of blood, but that didn't stop me from patching up Bakura after a fight. The fact that he did it to himself though...was worrisome...the fact I hadn't noticed these past days made me feel even sicker. As I returned to our bedroom,Bakurawas set on Akefia's lap to restrain him if need be. I sat down and set to work on his arms, or at least tried to by the thought of my brother doing this to himself, at such a young age, that he was hurting so much and possibly blaming himself over the accident...I just couldn't handle it. I had to run out of the room and lock myself in the bathroom.

~Akefia

So I took over wrapping his arms even though he refused to say anything. He stayed silent through the whole ordeal even as I disinfected his wounds, but I refused to let him get away that easily. We're supposed to be here for each other, we've all seen what happened that day and if one was in pain we were supposed to support each other instead of shutting ourselves out from the world.

"Bakura, I think you need to apologize to your brother. I know you're in a lot of pain, but from now on I would likeyou to tell one of us instead of hurting yourself to make you feel better. You don't have to...I just think you should," I said as I let go of his arms and got up to go comfortRyouwhich usually involved holding him or braiding his hair. When we returned to our room we couldn't find Bakura anywhere and his bandages were laying on the ground by his bed. Shit.

"Ryou, stay here in case he comes back. I'm going to see if I can catch him, he couldn't have gotten far," I responded, my heart beginning to race as a dozen thoughts rushed through my head as to what he could be doing. I ignored Ryou's wavering reply as I raced out of the house, ignoring the questions as to where I was going this late at night. I had to catch him before he got into serious trouble, this wasn't normal for Bakura!

~Bakura

I stared at the bandages wrapped around my arms, wondering why someone would make something so pathetic for a waste of space like me. I was stupid enough to cut up my arms, someplace where anyone could see, and now they were set with the task of once again taking care of emotionally unstable Bakura. Stupid me. Stupid people like me didn't deserve to have their wounds taken care of, to be covered up, stupid people like me didn't deserve to live. If I wasn't born mom and Amane would still be alive, we wouldn't have to live here with people who would rather we have not existed. Yeah...people like me didn't deserve to live...so maybe I should do something about it...but how?

I stood up, slowly unwrapping the bandages from my arms, after all they wouldn't be needed where I was going. I let them fall to the floor before I walked out of ourbedroom as quietly as possible. It was pretty easy sneaking past everyone, I don't even think they heard me when I opened the front door, just goes to show how much I'm not needed. I walked into the cold night air that smelled of petrichor and decided to see where my feet would carry me, all the while these thoughts that have been plaguing me for awhile kept me company.

Ever since I was born I was a trouble maker, I was an inconvenience to everyone around me, another child to feed, another child to try and discipline to no avail. I know the last thing my mother would like to see would be my face, but I couldn't help but try to see her somehow, just one last time before I descended into hell. I wanted to apologize to her, I wanted to apologize toAmane. By taking my own life, my brothers wouldn't have to worry about me, they would be able to live on without carrying a dead weight like me around. They could figure out how they wanted to divide my possessions, I didn't have much to my name after all.

Yeah, I admit these were pretty dark thoughts for an eight year old kid, but with circumstances the way they were I matured fast for my age. All I wanted to do was to stop the ache and pain, to stop the sleepless nights, to stop the nightmares, the guilt from consuming me. Yes, I realize now that this was rather selfish of me, to break the mental promise we held that we would hold on for each other, but god I was so tired. It didn't matter anymore. I had no friends. The teachers hated me. School was a waste. It just wasn't worth the pain anymore.

Soon my feet had carried me to a big bridge and I couldn't help but laugh a bit, but it had no humor to it. Hell it could've just been considered a cough or asighfor all Icared. This would do. I didn't need something elaborate likemixing medication or cutting deep into my skin and the fact that I was a shit swimmer only gave me a greater advantage. Who was I kidding I was shit at everything. As I slowly made my way over the bars so I stood behind them, above choppy waters, I realized it had began toran. My hands grasped the railing to hold me steady, slowly loosening, my heart anticipating the fall, I could hear the wind begin to roar in my ears but it sounded a little strange. When my fingers finally loosened and I began to fall, I was shocked force on my chest held me back. The force quickly dragging me back away from the water and throwing me back on the bridge where I hit my head harshly enough to see stars.

When I looked up and blinked the rain away I saw Akefia, his chest heaving from running all the way here, his eyes wereglistening with tears. What came next was a hot flash of pain on my cheek when he walked forward and then he was crushing me against him and sobbing harshly.

"Y-You I-I-idiot," he sobbed as he rocked us back and forth in the pouring rain,"Don't y-y-you ever s-scared me l-like that a-again...d-don't you ev-ever...I-I c-can't l-lose youto..."

"K-Kefi..." I whispered the nickname thatRyouand I always called him when we were younger since we were too lazy to say his full name,"I-I wanted to see Mom and Amane again..."

"I-I k-know. I w-want toaswell. B-But I can't leave you two here, she'd want us to continue living," he sobbed.

"But I'm not worth it, I'm just a burden-"

"You are not a burden.Ryouand I both love you. W-We love you so much, w-we want you to be happy. I-It's not your fault what ha-happened, w-we don't b-blame you, y-you didn't know a-and any one of us could've done it," he interrupted, trying to keep his voice steady again his white hair sticking to his face. Then he placed both his hands on my face and tilted it up so I was staring face to face with him,"Bakura...you have to promise me y-you will never do this again. E-Ever. If you need help..if you're feeling depressed and need someone to talk to, then b-bother one of us. Please. Whatever time of day...we can't afford to lose you to. Promise."

Akefia. Ever since their deaths he had always hidden his tears from us. He taught me how to thieve and how to fight. He provided for us, he was a father to us, he chased away the nightmares for us. Now he was reduced to tears. He was broken. He held the weight of the whole world on his shoulders and continued to hold that weight all by his lonesome until he met the girl of his dreams. I was the cause of his breakdown, I was the selfish one, and as he asked me to promise him I felt tears leap into my own eyes. My chest hurt, the second to the pain I had felt after I found out that they were dead.

"Promise me, promise us Bakura," Akefia repeated, shaking my shoulders a little bit, his tone desperate. I lowered my head and began to cry,"I-I'ms-sorry...I-I'ms-sorry...p-promise...I-I promise...I-I s-swear onth-their gr-graves."

And then I was enveloped in warmth again as we both sat there, getting soaked, crying in each others arms for God only knows how long. When we both had calmed down and the rain had stopped, that's when we began the trek home, or at least Akefia. I couldn't remember much of itsinceI began to pass out but when we got home the only one awake wasRyouwho gave us one look and rushed to go get towels and a change of clothes.

Least to say we didn't do much that night except for getting in dry clothes, brushing, drying and braiding our hair, and falling asleep with Akefia. And that's how I started to come here to this place, a.k.a. your office at school since we couldn't afford to pay for actual help. Just to be clear I'm not actually telling you any of this, I'm hiding all sorts of secrets from you. I lie and say my home life is just fine, that I'm just depressed over my mother and sister, that way when you talk to my father he won't figure out what's really going on. In fact, we're all hiding things from you, instead we're writing it down away from your prying eyes, but now is the time you'll get to know how our shitty lives, filled with darkness, turned into light. Let's hope you can keep up.

Note: Hiii, I'm sorry for so much description for these two chapters. They're kind of like the introduction but not really. I decided it would be cool to have all three brothers fill in their own point of views leading up to when they met their lovers. Next chapter will be a huge time skip and the Ishtars will be introduced! Enjoy!