This chapter was supposed to include a big fluff scene, BUT...I ended up having to redo nearly 2/3 of it when I began my initial 1st edit after discovering I voided out something entirely from an earlier chapter. I wanted to cry.
As the trio entered the arcade, Bakura found himself being nearly knocked over and latched on to by an unknown assailant. The attacker was none other than the tiny flame elemental from earlier.
"What the hell are you doing here?!" Bakura nearly shrieked as he tried to pry Kat from around him.
She released him, looking up with big doe eyes and hands laced behind her back. "Well, I was going to do some work on my car, but you said not to burn anything down. Figured I wouldn't chance it with a plasma cutter."
"That doesn't explain why you're here. You could have gone anywhere, but you chose here of all places."
Kat ignored Bakura's question as she shoved him aside and latched onto Marik's arm. "Gamiil, wanna show me around?!" she asked excitedly. Something across the arcade caught her attention and she ran off towards it, dragging the Tomb Keeper along with her.
Bakura stared after the two, looking bewildered. "Did she just-…but-…."
"You okay there Bakura?" Yugi questioned.
"Did she seriously shove me aside and ignore me for the Tomb Keeper?!"
"Um, kind of looks that way?"
"BUT WHY?!" Bakura shouted, completely perplexed.
Yugi's face broke into a wide smile as he tried not to laugh. "Isn't it obvious? She likes him!"
"But...he's...well...he's…" Bakura stammered, making confusing gestures repeatedly towards the direction the two had run off to.
"Oh. My. Gosh. You're jealous!" Yugi stated, making it obvious he was having a hard time hiding his amusement at the idea.
"I am not!" Bakura growled in defense.
"Oh really? So it wouldn't bother you at all if I told you that she kissed Marik on the cheek last night?" Yugi said teasingly.
Bakura thought back to the night before, how she had shown up and wanted 'casual'. He tightened his jaw and fists, his eyes wide at the realization that he had been a replacement for the one she actually wanted. His eye began to twitch in irritation, wanting nothing more than to beat the Tomb Keeper to a bloody pulp.
Yugi snapped his fingers in front of Bakura's face, trying to get his attention. "Bakura! Earth to Bakura! Hey, snap out of it!"
"I'm. Going. To. Kill. Him." Bakura seethed.
"Whoa! No you're not!" Yugi jumped in front of the pissed off elemental, arms outstretched in a feeble attempt to keep him from going anywhere.
Bakura glared downwards at the teen. "And what makes you think you can stop me?"
"Just stop and think about it! If Kat actually likes Marik, what do you think she'll do if you beat the crap out of him?" Yugi tried to reason.
Bakura physically shook as he made a throaty growl that sounded more canine than human. After several minutes he finally calmed down, having taken the time to realize beating the Tomb Keeper was just an invitation to getting his own ass handed to him.
"You're right. I hate that you're right. Don't you dare tell anyone that I said that!" Bakura demanded sharply.
Yugi chuckled. "Don't worry, I won't. I just find it funny that you're this worked up over a girl that you obviously had five millennia to make a move on. So why didn't you?"
Bakura took a step back from the teen, rubbing at his neck nervously. "We...tried. A few times. But it just...it was hard to do. We were always afraid that if things didn't work out...plus her being considered my adopted sister and all…"
"The key word there is 'adopted'. You're not actually related. It's obvious the two of you share something special. I can see it in how she rushes to embrace you."
"Rushed. Past-tense. Now she shoves me aside for the Tomb Keeper," Bakura pouted.
"So far that's only happened this one time." Yugi reminded him.
Bakura looked at teen with a puzzled expression on his face. "Kid, just a bit ago it was obvious that something was bothering you, and it was me trying to cheer you up. Now it's the other way around. What gives?"
Yugi smiled up at him. "Because you obviously need it more than I do right now."
"I...need it more? You just found out about the Pharaoh's previous hosts and their fates, but somehow I'm the one that needs cheering up more than you? You realize how fucked up that sounds, right?"
"Well… I do still have to beat you at Tekken. I call dibs on Heihachi!" Yugi shouted as he rushed off towards the game.
"Heihachi? You make winning too easy!" Bakura called out, chasing after.
Marik found himself being drug around yet again by the tiny flame elemental, only this time he followed willingly. She pulled him excitedly over to a section of the arcade that was blaring music from numerous rhythm games, stopping in front of one that a group of punkish looking teens were jamming away on guitar controllers. Marik noted the excitement in her eyes as she watched the game in action.
"If you don't mind me asking, why did you come here? You didn't seem that interested yesterday," Marik questioned, though he hoped repeating Bakura's question from a few moments ago wouldn't set off Kat's temper. It was apparent that she had avoided answering the other elemental for a reason.
She removed her gaze from the screen ahead to look up at him, attempting to hide behind his arm in the process. "I'll tell you...but you have to promise not to laugh."
"Um, okay?"
"It's because you were here…." she said quietly.
Marik looked down at the girl attempting to hide from him, his face expressing his obvious surprise. "You came here because of me?"
"You made me feel human...you made me forget...even if it was only for a few hours. I know it's stupid….but….I wanted more of that," she replied, trying even harder to hide.
"I don't think it's stupid," he stated, slightly puzzled at how she had come to the conclusion that it might be.
"You don't?" she questioned, looking perplexed. She slowly came out from behind her failed hiding place.
Marik shook his head. "Why would I? So what. You want to have a chance at what you perceive as 'human'. I pretty much did the same thing by moving here to Domino. I wanted to have a chance at what I think of as 'normal' for a teenager. Sure that means going to school and having to catch up on a bunch of stuff, but it also means getting to hang out with friends. I can forget that I'm a Tomb Keeper for a while while we play games here at the arcade, watch a movie at the theater, or while wandering through the mall."
"So you don't find it strange at all that I only came here to be around you?" She was beyond puzzled at how well he had taken her reasoning.
"Nope. If anything I'm flattered," he chuckled. "So did you plan on watching others play games all day, or were you going to try your hand at a few?"
"I'm content just watching."
"Are you sure about that? Cause while that group was playing, I could feel your fingers twitching to the rhythm of the notes."
A pink tint formed across Kat's cheeks. "Okay, so maybe I do want to play….but I have an unfair advantage. It wouldn't be right."
Just as Marik was about to argue that it wasn't that big of a deal, two guys that appeared to be in their late-teens to early-twenties approached, snickering at the pair.
"Hey lovebirds, take your sweet-talk somewhere else. You're standing in front of our game," one of them said in a snobbish tone.
"Your game? Sorry, I must have missed the plaque that said it belonged to you," Kat commented sarcastically while looking towards the pair she deemed to be nothing more than jerks.
"Sweetheart, this game is for hardcore gamers only. Your wanna-be boy-toy doesn't fit that description," he continued rudely.
Marik scowled bitterly and opened his mouth to say something in defense, but Kat pressed her hand against his chest to indicate that he should remain silent. "You know what, I changed my mind. I want to play this game," she stated, acting smug.
The two guys laughed in mockery. "Oh please! A tiny girl like you….playing a game like this!" the other choked out between fits of laughter.
Kat released Marik's arm, picked up the controller, looked the laughing pair dead in the eye, then selected the 'Expert' difficulty. She then scrolled through the songs, stopping at one in particular while sporting a wicked grin.
"Oh look, she thinks she can play 'Through the Fire and Flames'!" the first one continued to laugh. "Sweetheart, no one can beat that! There's no way you'll even stand a chance!"
Marik hadn't heard of the song, but guessed based on their reaction that it wasn't an easy one to play. He wondered if she had chosen the song as pure irony because of her status as a flame elemental. As soon as she selected 'Start', he quickly discovered there was more than irony in her song choice. As she hit the 100 note streak in the first ten seconds, he realized this song was pretty much one giant 'Fuck You' to the two jerks. Compared to the song that the group before them had played, this one was insanely fast paced, with continuous strings of notes flying down the screen. Not only had Kat started singing along with the lyrics (making Marik realize she knew this particular song pretty well), but she was barely looking at the screen. Instead her eyes were closed half the time as she fully got into the rhythm of the song, clearly enjoying herself. She acted as if she was holding an actual guitar in her hand, and not a controller.
He looked over to see the pair that had ridiculed them staring, their faces flushed in embarrassment and jaws nearly on the floor. He also noticed that people were stopping to watch, forming a small crowd. As soon as she finished with the song the words 'YOU ROCK!' surrounded in flames flashed across the screen, followed by a detailed list that showed she had scored 100% across the board. Kat calmly placed the controller back on its stand, looked the pair of jerks dead in the eye one last time, grinned devilishly, then held up both middle fingers while walking away backwards through the crowd. Marik couldn't help but laugh at the sight and followed after her, not even bothering to look back to see everyone else's reactions.
Once they had gotten a good way away from the crowd, Kat lost her composure and doubled over in laughter. "Did you see their faces!"
Marik was laughing nearly as hard. "I did! You weren't kidding about that unfair advantage!"
Kat managed to calm down a bit so that she wouldn't be struggling to talk between breaths. "Right?! Sorry, but I just couldn't resist showing off and putting those two in their place."
"They definitely deserved it! Best use of inhuman speed I've ever seen," he said while smiling at her. "I could tell you were having a great time up there, and it had nothing to do with showing up those jerks."
"Yeah...I have a tendency to forget what's going on around me when I get into anything music related. Especially when it's a song that I can relate to," she said shyly.
Marik shook his head. "Maybe you should do that more often then. You were so focused on what you think makes you not human, that you were stopping yourself from doing the things you actually want to do. You wanted to play the game, but were too afraid that it was unfair because you can move faster. Yesterday we hung out like two normal people, and you enjoyed it. You didn't hold back from telling me about your parents, your friends, or that you agreed with me about the Pharaoh being dumb." Both chuckled at the last bit. Marik continued. "We talked like it was normal. That's why it felt human to you. Maybe you find it easier to do with me because like you, I'm a mixture of both the past and the present."
Kat stared at him as he spoke, realization slowly painting its way across her face. She then looked downward, embarrassed that she hadn't realized it sooner. "I guess I've just spent too long trying to hide myself. As it is, Mkhai is gonna have another fit. I saw several phones pointed in my direction when I walked away."
Marik chuckled again. "I think you can relax a bit there. From what I was able to gather earlier about him, he seems to be pretty adept with technology. I'm certain his computer is already hard at work erasing you from the internet."
"You mean computers. Multiple. As in, 'I've lost count of the number'," Kat stated humorously. "Which reminds me, I have to show up for raid night tonight," she groaned. "I guess it beats sorting and assembling his stupid toys, or watching a marathon of his nerd movies again."
Marik laughed. "Maybe I'll have to come check out this game you're talking about sometime."
"I would invite you to come watch tonight, but I don't think Mr. Muto would be too thrilled with you being out that late. Raids can go well into the following morning."
"I could always stay over?" Marik had said the words without thinking, realizing too late that he had pretty much just asked to stay the night over with a girl. His face turned scarlet at the thought.
Kat grinned, smiling flirtatiously up at him. "Why gamiil, I had no idea you were that kind of guy..."
"Wait! That's not how I meant it!" he held up his hands outwardly, trying to avoid the sudden awkwardness he had placed himself in.
"Personally I wouldn't mind you staying, but I'm not certain how my brother would feel," she said, continuing her flirty behavior. "I might become distracted and my DPS might fall. That would make Mkhai very angry."
"Right… we wouldn't want that!" Marik said nervously. "Plus, I don't need Bakura assuming anything happened between us," he added.
"Oh? You're worried about what Kura thinks?" Kat asked curiously.
"Well, I do consider him a friend. Plus he didn't sound too thrilled about who you woke up next to this morning."
"You know what, now I think I'm going to have to insist that you come stay the night," she said while grinning devilishly.
Marik took a nervous step back, swallowing hard.
"Come now gamiil, don't make me kidnap you for real this time. I promise nothing bad will happen, I'm just curious to see his reaction is all," she said casually.
"I would rather not….plus I still have schoolwork to finish...and I don't think Mr. Muto would approve...and Bakura will kill me for sure!" he rambled nervously.
"Don't worry about Kura or Mr. Muto. As far as your schoolwork, bring it along. We'll need to stop over and grab your stuff anyways."
Marik's face fell, realizing he wasn't getting out of the situation that easily. "I have to go check in with Yugi, let him know I'll be gone. He's probably still playing Tekken with Bakura," he said in a final attempt at escape. Surely Bakura would put a stop to her plan right then and there.
"Alright, let's go then!" she said excitedly while taking Marik's arm again and directing him towards where the fighting games were located.
"There's no fucking way! Another rematch!" Bakura shouted, oblivious to the fact that he could be heard several sections away. He felt a light tap on his shoulder. "WHAT?!" he growled loudly without looking away from the screen in front of him.
"You can calm the fuck down, that's what," Kat stated firmly.
He turned his head towards her to say something, but froze as soon as he saw the expression on Marik's face. The Tomb Keeper was scarlet and extremely nervous for some reason.
"What did you do?" Bakura asked Kat cautiously.
"Nothing. I swear," she replied innocently.
"Then why does the Tomb Keeper look like he's about to pass out?"
"He's just nervous. I invited him to stay the night," she smirked, looking Bakura directly in the eye.
"No. Absolutely not." He felt the rage from earlier starting to return.
"Why not?" she questioned in mocked innocence. "It was his idea in the first place."
Bakura glared at the Egyptian, curling his hands into fists. "Is that so?" he said through a tightly clenched jaw.
"Bakura, I swear it's not what you think!" Marik tried to back away from the extremely pissed off pale elemental, but Kat still held tight to his arm keeping him rooted in place.
Bakura slowly began to take a few steps towards the pair, his eyes locked onto the face that he intended to make unrecognizable. He halted his approach when Kat placed herself in front of Marik, putting her free hand on the Tomb Keeper's chest and pressing herself close while looking back towards Bakura.
"Kura, you wouldn't hurt my gamiil, would you?" she asked in mocked accusation.
Bakura took a deep breath, attempting to calm himself. He could see that Kat was purposely trying to rile him. 'Two can play that game' he thought to himself. He plastered a devilish smirk of his own across his face, mocking in return. "Oh no, I would never think of doing something like that. I just wanted to tell the Tomb Keeper that I realized I really don't care. It's my fault for refusing you last night after all. My loss, his gain I suppose," he finished with a shrug. He stared her in the eyes, grinning as he watched her face fall.
He'd forgotten how fast she could move. One moment he was enjoying the look on her face, the next Bakura was on the ground, his jaw screaming from the sudden impact across his face. Kat was on top of him, with her hands wrapped around his neck. "You're such a jerk! Why did I even bother to have you re-Awakened?!" she screamed.
Marik and Yugi tried to pull her (unsuccessfully) off of the pale elemental. Neither knew how they were going to de-escalate the situation.
"Katrina! That's enough!" Yami had appeared in his ethereal form, hoping that he could redirect her rage towards him (as she was apparently fond of doing). "Let Bakura go!'
"SHUT UP ATEM! DON'T TELL ME WHAT TO DO!" she shouted in fury. She continued to strangle Bakura for another moment before realizing what she had said. Her eyes widened, slowly releasing the pale immortal from her grasp.
Bakura glanced up, catching his breath. Normally he would have shown amusement in the fact that she had said something she wasn't supposed to during a fit of rage, but in this instance he knew better. He watched as she slowly rose and began to walk towards the exit. He pulled himself up, and chased after, barely catching her by the shoulder.
"Let go of me, Kura," she said bitterly.
"Not until you let me apologize."
"For what? I was being a bitch and you called me out on it. And as usual I lost my temper and did something stupid," she stated, still bitter.
"And I was being a jealous idiot. I should have just brushed it off," he replied earnestly.
"It doesn't matter. What's done is done."
Yugi approached slowly off to the side of the two immortals. "Can I ask a question?" he asked timidly, not wanting to upset Kat further.
She didn't look at him. Instead she ignored him and spoke directly to Bakura. "Mkhai will be pissed if I miss tonight's raid. You're on guard duty."
Bakura nodded, then released her shoulder. She immediately left, not even bothering to look back.
"The answer to the question you want to ask: Yes. She just spoke the Pharaoh's name aloud." Bakura stated, not looking away from the exit.
Yugi looked at him in slight surprise. "Can I ask a different question then?"
Bakura let out a sigh of defeat, then looked towards the spiky-haired teen. His expression reminded Yugi of the first day back to school. He appeared sad and exhausted. "If you're going to ask how she could say his name while I couldn't, it's simple. A spell like that doesn't affect the caster."
"Are you saying that Kat is the one who took the Pharaoh's memories? But why?" Yugi puzzled.
"Yes to the first part. For the second part I'm still unable to answer that. The spell is slowly unraveling, but until he remembers something a bit more specific, I'm afraid I'm still bound."
Yugi nodded his head. "I understand. We'll just have to wait. At least we know his name now." Yugi turned his head towards the Pharaoh, smiling softly. "So, Atem, how does it feel to finally have your name back?"
"It will take some getting used to." Yami, or Atem as he now tried to think of himself, smiled in return.
Bakura rolled his eyes. "Listen, I'm leaving for a bit, but if you need me just call out."
"Okay. I have to admit though, it's a little weird to think that not long ago you were trying to steal the Millennium Items, and now you're acting as my guardian," Yugi chuckled in amusement.
"Hey, I wasn't exactly right in the head at the time. I just wanted my power back. I don't even remember how I arrived at the train of thought that led me to thinking I could get it back that way." Bakura turned and as before gave a curt wave before vanishing into his element, not even caring about any possible witnesses.
"Hey Marik! How exciting is it that-...Marik? Everything okay?" Yugi had turned and was hoping to see that the Tomb Keeper was excited as he was at discovering the Pharaoh's name, even if it was purely accidental. Instead, he was met with the Egyptian hanging his head dejectedly.
"Have you ever unintentionally been a part of something that caused a huge problem for someone else?" Marik questioned.
"Hey, you didn't cause the fight between Kat and Bakura. When she shoved him aside earlier and took off with you, he was beyond jealous. From what he told me, it's something that's been going on between them for the past five millennia. You just happened to get caught in the crossfire," Yugi said, trying to cheer up his friend.
"It doesn't make me feel any better," he replied.
"You couldn't have known any of this was going to happen," Yugi stated. "I am curious though: Did you really suggest staying over at her place?" he questioned teasingly.
Marik looked up, covering his face with his palm. "Not this again." He moved his hand, brushing his fingers up through his bangs and holding them in place away from his face. "I just made the comment about wanting to see the game that she and Mkhai play. She told me I could come over and check it out tonight, but that it might be very late before they finished. That's when stupid me, without thinking, said I could always stay over. Next thing I know we're over here and I'm caught between whatever is going on between her and Bakura."
Yugi dug into his pocket and pulled out a card. "Maybe we can call Mkhai and ask him about the game? Then we can check it out from home," Yugi suggested.
"Yeah, sure. Sounds good," Marik sighed. He was still beating himself up internally over what had happened. Kat had wanted to get away from everything, but had ended up revealing something that was probably still being hidden for a reason. He hated that there were secrets that could help the Pharaoh, but he recalled how Kat had mentioned that she had withheld Atem's memories in an attempt to buy more time. He could only assume she was trying to delay Anubis from claiming whatever soul had been promised to him.
'Through the Fire and Flames' by DragonForce. Amazing song. Should definitely check out the lyrics! Also, if you haven't played Guitar Hero, I highly suggest looking up the video 'Guitar Zero- Through the Fire and Flames - Expert 100% FC - HD'. You will quickly get an idea of why I referred to it at one giant 'Fuck You'. And yes, I timed the note streaks. In the beginning with zero misses there is approximately 100 notes every 10 seconds.
I hadn't originally planned on Atem's name reveal until later, but after having to fix this chapter multiple times, I went ahead and did it now. Not much reason to keep it hidden other than stubbornness.