Disclaimer: I do not own Yu-Gi-Oh! I do not own Vampire Hunter D. Nor do I own any of the rights to the trading card game. I own nothing of that sort…I just own the little ideas that roam in my head.
Chapter Five: Fitting In
Now that Bakura felt that a home was secured and that they were safe for the time being, he realized something he had not noticed ever since he had freed D and himself from the clutches of a madman. He was cold.
It made sense when he thought about it. It was January, and although there was not a cloud in the sky and the ground was as dry as it could have ever been, it did not mean that it was not still winter. Now that he did not have another adrenaline jolt swimming through his body, and he was not so fixated on one thing, he could notice the world around him better; and it was very cold. His bare feet ached as they touched cold pavement, and he tried not to shiver as a light wind seemed to ignore his clothing, causing goosebumps to form where ever its cold fingers could reach. 'How was it that I didn't notice this before?' he wondered as the passed by a store that looked well maintained for something that had to face an explosion that blew nearly half of the city away.
D's breath made little puffs of white mist as he exhaled, and as he walked alongside Bakura, he tried to stay as near as to the man's body as he could. His face showed no discomfort, but the boy was indeed cold as well. The child looked up toward his friend, and the young man looked down at him, smiling. D could not form his lips into the smile he would have liked to return. Now that everything was getting underway, now that Bakura had actually gotten them a place to stay, to live, he was more worried than ever. A new home was more fear inducing than if he and Bakura had just stayed out in that massive expanse called a countryside. That did not stop him from trying though. This man had helped him, this he knew, and he should be grateful that this new life did not entail getting tested on for the rest of his life. So he tried, his lips forming a half grin, half grimace on his face.
Bakura laughed quietly, and although he had not understood what the boy had been trying to do, it had helped the younger one's attempt turn into an actual grin. D enjoyed it when his friend laughed. He had rarely heard it from anyone during the few years he had lived.
"I know it's cold," Bakura whispered, low enough that no one else noticed, but D heard it clearly, "But we will be home soon."
"I'm not worried about that," D answered quickly, "But I'll tell you when we get…home." The word felt strange in his mouth, as if he was lying when he did not want to. He was not though. Home was now with Bakura, and it felt more like home than that bunker of a place had ever felt just holding the man's hand. He would just have to get used to the idea.
"Oh, okay," Bakura said, nodding in understanding and visibly happy that the boy had replied with the word home. Raising his voice to a regular decibel he asked, "Mokuba kun, why is no one awake? How come we aren't seeing anyone?"
"Well, I'd say it's a good thing no one is out right now," Mokuba replied, "If I remember you correctly, you were about as shy as Yugi was back then. I doubt it if you'd like to be bombarded by people and like my brother said, most aren't that smart. Even with my being here, anyone who could reach for a projectile would probably try to kill you with it."
"Has it really gotten that bad?" Bakura inquired, shocked.
Mokuba looked back at him in disbelief, "I don't know what hidey hole you've been living in, but it has been hell over here. This crackdown on who can and can't live here is pretty new, and I for one am glad my brother started it. Four months ago some group of…pardon my language, assholes wormed their way in because Nii sama actually felt bad for them. They seemed like good enough people, and Nii sama figured that it would be necessary to expand again, so they lived here for about two months. Then out of nowhere, some other group of idiots appeared out of nowhere, overwhelmed our border patrol, and those two groups stole a good portion of our rations, and killed a good portion of our residents before hightailing it out of here."
"So they were working together?" Bakura asked, already knowing the answer.
"Well duh, but we didn't know that at the time. We had been living in a sort of peaceful existence up until then. The patrol at our border could have been called mediocre at best since we figured that most of the survivors of our city would have been already with us, or would be willing to cooperate to get in. You guys came in from the east, and as you could see, that part of Domino is completely deserted. We are the core in a sense, so we figured that we would be the safest, since our only true unprotected side was the east, and we figured that since it was in such a mess, no one would attempt to come from that side in attack."
"You were wrong," D chimed in, nonchalant.
"Yeah, we were," Mokuba said, now truly noticing the boy, "Figures they came from that side, looking meek and helpless, only to relay the message out somehow so they were fully able to ambush us. Nii sama was so angry that day, I don't think I could ever forget the look on his face," he looked down at his feet, "It kind of reminded me of the days before Death-T…"
"Death-T?" D asked, unable to hold the question back.
"Don't worry about it kiddo," Mokuba said, "Something that happened YEARS ago, and doesn't really matter anymore. Anyway, Domino North has been paranoid ever since, so relations with them are a bit strained. I felt I should warn you, since your apartment falls on unclaimed property. This will fully make it ours, but for your safety you may see a few guards here and there to keep it that way."
"How exactly will it make it 'ours'," Bakura questioned, "They could just take it as a threat." He had to ask this question, even though it scared him to even think about it. He had D to protect and he did not want anything to go wrong.
"No, whoever truly lived there gets first dibs; that is what our little peace treaty goes by. We can only hope they follow through with it though. If you had come in from their side, you would have gotten that piece of land for them. All of this is neither here nor there though, you are safe, and will be safe. I was just warning you that you might see some guards around, so don't be scared."
"I take it that since there is a 'Domino North' there is a 'South' and 'West' one too?"
"Yep! Like I said, we are well protected since those sides are covered."
"What makes them different from this Domino?" D inquired, "Didn't they all come from the same city?"
"The city was huge, kid, huge before all this happened," Mokuba said, motioning to the partially demolished buildings that they passed. They were in pretty good condition; some even looked more intact than the area around Kaiba Corp. itself. "And I'm not going to lie; some people just didn't want to be under my Nii sama's watchful eye. So each side, aside from the east of course, agreed that they would keep the center safe, so long as we aided them with items they needed since we had most of the department stores and stuff. We aren't a complete unit, this my Nii sama was trying to do by letting people in and working with the heads of the other Domino Cities, but we still try to operate as close as possible to it. It benefits all of us in the end. We just refer to everyone like that because it is their request."
"So are we Domino Central?" D asked, emboldened, and Mokuba shook his head.
"No, but it is a good deduction," he replied, "We got to retain Domino City."
Bakura nodded, but he posed his unanswered question again, "So why is no one awake?"
"Because we imposed a curfew to keep a better eye on them all. We wake them up, and we tell them when it is time to hit the lights. They didn't like it at first, but now they seem to enjoy the extra sleep, and the protection it gives. Only patrol is allowed out at these times. That or Nii sama, but he doesn't leave his office unless he has to."
"Well that didn't change," Bakura said, and Mokuba laughed.
"No, you are right, it didn't."
"Has Yugi always been patrolling the outskirts of the city?" Bakura asked, suddenly struck with the thought, "It doesn't seem like his type of deal."
"No," Mokuba replied, "That was thanks to the lack of patrol due to the ambush. When I say we lost them, we lost them. Most died," Bakura tried not to gasp at the thought, "So Yugi ended up getting the job. He actually dealt with a lot of the traders before, well, he still does. He had an office in Kaiba Corp, and worked directly under my Nii sama. This was all because of how much he knew, since he helped his grandpa out at the store, but I personally thought he should have been in charge of patrol all along. He is a really good strategist. Not as good as Nii sama of course," he added quickly, and Bakura had to stifle a laugh. Mokuba still had his brother on a pedestal that was for sure. "But he would have done the job better than the other moron. Nii sama didn't have time to look at all of the things that guy did, and if he had, he would have probably sent more people to protect the east."
"So I take it you guys recently found out that the east was poorly protected?" Bakura said.
"Kinda. We knew it was less protected, but we didn't realize how poorly those who were there were trained. It was as if that was their 'practice training' area. If Yugi had been in charge, none of that would have happened, and if it had, the losses would have been minimal. We just weren't ready."
"What happened to the man who had been in charge in the first place?" D asked with morbid curiosity. He could not help it. After all the time he lived with his father, most things that had interested him aside from the thought of leaving was how bad things were for others. He wanted to believe he was not getting the worst hand in life, even though he felt bad for thinking about it.
"Well, Nii sama was so pissed, and there really is no other way to put it, he exiled the guy. Of course, rumors had leaked out that the man had been in charge of that whole debacle and those who had lost family members literally came after him with whatever they could find and pummeled him to death."
"Rumors had leaked out?" Bakura asked skeptically, "Are you sure about that?" He had a feeling that Kaiba had been apart of that leak, but he was not about to go pointing fingers at a time like this. D just nodded his head, as if this was what he had expected.
"What do you think?" Mokuba asked, turning again and looking Bakura directly in the eye.
"I think that it doesn't matter right now," was his reply.
"Same here," Mokuba said, and they resumed their walk in silence for another mile or so. Bakura wished that the sun would begin to heat up the ground so his frozen feet would feel some relief, but the sun did no more than block some of the sight out of left eye as its beams passed between the buildings. D was looking around in wonder; the height of the buildings reminded him of some of the colossal monsters that his father had been trying to create for one reason or another. It was as if seeing them in real life, only these came before the monsters, and looked nothing like them. He marveled at the sleek shapes that although burnt and tarnished, still gave the impression that they used to. Or so he supposed.
Bakura was eying the horizon for the building he had called home when he asked, "So what happened to your brother's eye?" It had been the question nagging at him, for some reason something in his mind found it important.
"His eye?" Mokuba repeated. He paused, as if to find a way to explain it, and said, "Head trauma."
"Head trauma?"
"That's what the doctor who still lives here said," Mokuba replied, "When the bomb hit, a ways away from here, the impact of the explosion blew my brother across the room and his head smacked into a wall. It went through it," he added with force, as if they would not believe him, "He…should have died, but he woke up a few hours later, confused, and I don't know much about what happened after that except for seeing him hovering above me, asking me if I was okay. His eye was normal then, but both of them were dilated incorrectly, and they flicked one way or the other randomly. It took a few days to find a doctor for him, and by that time his eye had partially changed color. He's fine now, as you can see, and not many people know that he went through a wall, but I dunno," he said, sighing, "sometimes when I look at him I can't help but look at that eye. The streak is such a bright blue it attracts my attention. It feels like I'm not even looking at him when I'm looking into that eye."
"It reminds me of the holographic Blue Eyes White Dragon card," Bakura offered, and Mokuba grinned.
"Yeah, I guess it does, doesn't it? My Nii sama was protected by his favorite card then!"
Bakura smiled in return, but something in the thought was unsettling. He gripped D's hand in his own and looked upward again, searching for his home. D's eyes widened at the pressure, but it had not been just from the man's hand. He recalled the first day that he had met Bakura, and how he had wondered if maybe the man had not been human at all. That was of course impossible, but the strange aura engulfed him now all the same. It was a cold and frightening feeling, darker than even what his father had given off, but not as strong. Yet. He wondered if the man noticed what he was doing, but his expression never changed, and nor did Mokuba's. D began to wonder if he was just becoming paranoid, and if the chill had been from a gust of wind, the pressure caused by the buildings that shielded them from the sun's rays.
"Bullshit and you know it," his left hand jeered, "You've got yourself a bonafide mental case who doesn't even know what he has under his sleeve. You certainly know how to pick your 'friends'. Let us hope this one doesn't accidentally kill you with all of his good intentions."
D squeezed his hand shut, closing his eyes as his nails dug into his skin, first pressing and then slicing open his skin in neat half moon cuts. He would not speak ill of Bakura, he had done so much for him already. Even if he scared him sometimes…
Suddenly he could feel Bakura tugging on his arm, and D realized that just power walking would not do, Bakura was breaking out into a full run. Forgetting about what his hand had said, D sprinted with Bakura, hearing the surprised cry from Mokuba and the cocking of a gun from the guard, who also shouted out a warning, but it was unnecessary. By then, Bakura had reached his destination.
Gasping, tears filling his stinging eyes, Bakura looked up at the building that had suffered a minor battering but still stood, its curving balconies jutting out in perfect alignment, seemingly untouched by this new world. Bakura could see why. The doors that usually lead into the lobby were not only locked, it had chains wrapped around on the inside, the rest of it was boarded up with random pieces of furniture, and there was probably a barricade behind it. The glass showed signs of attempted break-ins, the bulletproof glass (which Bakura had never noticed had been bullet proof in his time living there) had spider web-like cracks where people had battered and shot at it, but it still stood impenetrable. The whole building must have been like this.
Mokuba ran up to them after cursing at the guard, following Bakura's gaze. "Yeah," he said, winded, "I thought so. Good luck getting in. I didn't realize until just a few minutes ago what building you were talking about exactly. This one here has been impossible for either side to get in. We figure the guy who owned this place barricaded the door, maybe tricked the people inside that it was safer to do the same afterward, and we haven't been able to get in. Nor have we seen any random people coming and going from this area, unless they are from the north. The guy must have committed suicide or something, and the rest probably died inside."
"That's stretching it a bit don't you think?" D asked, "I mean, for all you know, they could be living in there just fine, or they could be somewhere in the 'north' part of town."
Mokuba was about to say something, curiosity filling his eyes, when Bakura let go of D's hand and began to walk back and forth in front of the building. D looked down at his now empty hand, the comfort he had felt disappearing as the heat of the other's hand faded. Mokuba forgot about his question, and watched Bakura pace with a bemused smile.
"What are you doing exactly?" Mokuba asked.
"Looking for the fire escape, I think it is around back," Bakura replied.
"Don't you think we've tried that?" Mokuba asked, "We went up four flights of stairs. All of the rooms were barricaded."
"But not the sixth," Bakura added, and D raced toward him when he motioned him to come. He did not want to be any great distance from Bakura if possible, he still did not fully trust these people, and if Bakura was willing to humor this need, which it seemed he did as he grabbed the boy's hand when D reached out for him, he would take the chance.
"What would be so special about the sixth?" Mokuba asked, following him. The guard had been long forgotten, but he followed suit anyway, taking great care to keep his eye on Bakura at all times, just as ordered.
"I lived on that floor. If I could somehow climb up to my balcony, I could grab the extra key I left under the mat there. I always had a spare just in case I was on the balcony and the door got locked behind me," he spotted the half hanging ladder and nodded, "I suppose that this time my paranoia will have helped me. D kun," he let go of the boy's hand and lifted him up to the ladder, "climb up and then I'll be right up with you. You'll stay with me until I get to the balcony. I'll get inside and unlock the fire escape for you."
"What about us? And how will you get down again?" Mokuba questioned, "Not to mention, do you think that that thing is safe?" He motioned to the fire escape, just as Bakura struggled up to the first platform. D was already tentatively climbing the stairs, but stopped at Mokuba's last statement. He looked at Bakura with a worried expression, more for the other man than himself. D was quick, he could easily get himself off of the structure if necessary, but Bakura…was human. No matter how one looked at it, he was not super human at all; in fact, he hand looked a little clumsy climbing the ladder. How was he supposed to climb onto a balcony that probably with his luck was at the other end of the building?
Bakura paused for a moment, looking at D. "Do you want to stay down here?" he asked and D shook his head without hesitation. Bakura looked down at Mokuba, smiling, but D could see now that he was giving him one of his false smiles. D was beginning to realize that most of the smiles Bakura wore were not true smiles at all. Secretly he was pleased; all of the real ones he had seen recently had been directed at him.
"Stay down here Mokuba," Bakura said, "And if I fall when I climb onto my balcony, please take care of D. I have a good feeling that I will be fine though." The fake smile widened, and Bakura could see that Mokuba was not fully up to the idea. "I would ask that next time I do something ah…a little out of the norm that I don't get a gun pointed at me," he added, "It was just a tad bit rude wouldn't you say Mokuba kun? I mean I just saw my home."
"Yeah," Mokuba said sheepishly, "I suppose. Just be careful. I don't want my brother to have to deal with your dead body and all you know."
Bakura nodded and began to climb the stairs, moving D behind him so he could test each flight first. The stairs had been shaken, yes, but they had held well. Each step he took gave him more confidence, and by the third flight he was walking a steady pace, keeping D close behind him. He glanced down at Mokuba who was looking up at them, rocking back and forth on his feet as if one of them were to fall he would try to catch them.
'He always was a nice kid,' Bakura thought as he ignored the way the metal was pressing into his feet, 'Well, after you got past his bratty attitude for strangers.' He continued his climb, sure all would end well.
That had been the third flight of stairs, though, when his confidence still roared with the aid of adrenaline. Now, as he reached the top of the sixth one, his heartbeat thudded painfully within his chest, fear overtaking him. He had to stop and hold the railing as he looked down at Mokuba. He had never been afraid of heights, but the realization that he would have to climb on the railing to get near the balcony's opening, and that if he slipped off…it would be to his death. What he had told Mokuba had only been words; he had no intention of dying, but what if he did? Bakura swallowed hard and looked back at the boy who had risked his life to get him out of his prison, and steeled himself to the thought of falling six flights, to have his last memory be one of cement connecting with his head, blood and brain spraying everywhere before he blacked out forever, at least as Bakura Ryou.
"Bakura sama?" D had watched the young man's pallor change from a self-assured shine to the green tinge of sick fear and now wondered if he should be the one to take this daunting task. It was not as if his father had not asked him to balance from a fishing wire above a tank of broken glass (for motivation of course) to see how his motor skills were coming along. After that, this would be a piece of cake. "Are you okay?"
Bakura nodded, knowing full well he was not. "I will be fine," he said, "Just got a little surprised by how high it really is, but I will be fine. I will be fine." He had said it the last time as a sort of a mantra to calm his nerves. Taking another deep breath he lifted himself onto the railing, swaying for a moment that seemed to last forever as he attempted to stand on the thin bar. Placing his hand against the wall, he took one more look at D and sighed.
"If I fall, I just want to say I'm sorry."
"You won't fall," D replied, "And I wanted to see the world anyway."
With that Bakura gave him one of the brightest, most genuine smiles that the boy had ever seen him wear and he turned, looking forward. This would possibly be the most dangerous thing he had ever done while conscious in this body. Taking a step, he heard the beams groan softly, and he closed his eyes, reminding himself that they had carried them up this far, and they weren't about to break now. Opening his eyes he took another step. Another. Another. By the fifth one he felt his confidence slowly return, he could do this after all. He took another step. The metal rattled together as his foot connected more forcefully to the small piece of metal that held him up. D said something, but it seemed distant, even though he was barely a few meters away. The boy called out more urgently, but Bakura did not notice until he reached the end of the beam. By then he realized what the boy had been trying to tell him. He was looking at a gap, one too large to breach by jumping from where he stood to the next balcony. He felt his heart sink in defeat. What would happen to them now? He had a feeling Kaiba had known exactly where he had been talking about even if Mokuba had not. That had been why he had agreed so easily to allow them to stay. It would be impossible to get inside, therefore they would have to leave and find another place to live. He groaned in anguish. That asshole! He even had let Mokuba give him more false hope.
"Bakura sama…" D began, but Bakura waved his free hand at him to stop. He would show them, he would show them all. He would get in, and then what? Kaiba would have to allow them to stay. How would he do it though?
"By not thinking like myself," he muttered, "by possibly doing the most stupid thing I could ever think of doing," and he would do it, because of the boy. The boy that he did not want to let down.
He turned to walk back, and D looked at him with an understanding that was beyond the years he had lived. What the boy had not expected was the young man's lips to spread into a smirk that was not his own, and the boy's mouth opened in disbelief as the man winked and spun around, sprinting on the very bar that he had been so careful to traverse earlier.
"Bakura sama!!!" the boy shouted, unable to move. Bakura ignored this, his mind had to be focused, and he had to tap into whatever that spirit had tapped into all those years ago to make his friends so fearful of him. That spirit had had confidence, agility, and a craftiness that had almost put Yugi's other half to shame. He had just been dealt an unlucky hand by fate, just as Kaiba, to always be one step behind. This would be different. It would have to be different, and he would have to call on strength he did not have in order for this to work.
"Amane," he thought as the end of the beam rattled under his foot, "Please help your big brother out here! I have to make it for D kun. I have to make it, like I would have if I had been there for you!"
His foot left metal to greet smooth concrete, and without thinking twice, knowing somehow that his footing was secure, he ran along the wall. As his body began to dip downward with the gravity, he launched himself forward, arms outstretched for the balcony's edge. He could hear screams from below him, and a soft wail from behind him as his left hand smacked the edge and slipped, flying backward from the force, blood gushing from the gash it had received. Bakura reached forward with his right hand to feel the tips just graze the edge before his fingernails scrapped against the cement below it. His heart seemed to stop beating for a moment as he realized that he had just missed it. Fate once again was going to throw in another dirty card and let him fall. His foot connected with the concrete below him, and he pushed upward, trying to grab at the ledge again before he fell any further. Yet again it was only the tips that reached it.
"No!!!" his voice screamed in his head, but his mouth remained open in silent horror, not a sound would come from it. He felt the tips of his fingers scrape against the ledge down to the smooth concrete again and his anger bubbled within him. He was not going to die like this; he was not going to leave D alone like that. That thought seemed to resonate throughout his body. Finally it felt as if his heart had begun to beat again, but it seemed to force itself. The first beat was a painful explosion, and for a moment it felt as if he was lighter. His vision was obscured by splotches of darkness, and he felt a cold breeze caress his skin. He tried to turn his head to see if he was falling, but his hand slapped up against the ledge once again, and he reflexively gripped it with all the force he could muster. Swinging his left hand forward, getting a quick glance of the faded scar that had been left by a 'durable poly-resin' game piece, he grabbed the ledge and used his feet to propel himself upward, swinging his body over the ledge to crash into a potted plant. He could still hear muffled screams from below, but D's voice had disappeared. Gasping for breath as he lay in the dirt and foliage of a dead plant, he waited for a moment to collect his thoughts. They were jumbled, and he still had no idea how he had gotten up there, as he could recall very clearly that his fingers had slipped passed the outcrop, but here he was, alive, and on his balcony. He knew this because he remembered placing the very pot he had landed on there three days before his birthday, to get a little less sun because its leaves had begun to burn. He chuckled, a lot of good it had done.
Standing up and brushing himself off, he walked to the front of the balcony, surveying the city that used to be. The little line of ocean that he had been able to see was still there, a little less blocked thanks to the lack of taller buildings. If he turned his head toward the east, he could see the Kaiba Corp. building towering over the remains of a once great city, a tower that held the dreams of the people that lived around it. He sighed and turned to the mat that had once been in front of the sliding glass door. Again, the glass had not broken, not even a crack had damaged its clear view into his apartment. Bending down to collect the key that had been in plain view and holding his bleeding hand to the area that the gun was under his pajamas, also realizing that somehow after all of the excitement that it was still there. Not to mention the notebook that had his most recent letters to Amane. He could not help but think that it was a very lucky situation when it came to that. Inserting the key into the lock, he turned it, and had to steady himself when he heard the bolt slide out of its lock. It was almost surreal, this happiness. He was truly home now.
"Thank you, Amane," Bakura whispered, resting his head against the glass as he wept, "I know you had something to do with this. Thank you."
He knew that he could not be idle however; he still had to get D inside, and then unlock the front door, if he was indeed alone in this building. He opened the door and stepped inside, his feet leaving small dirt smudges on the living room carpet as he did so. The room had not been torn apart by the bombing, but it had certainly been affected. His cabinets had been thrown open, the contents on the floor. It was then that the smell reached him. Covering his face he turned toward his kitchen, which was emitting a disgusting odor. It was rotten food of course, which he would have to remedy as soon as he got the boy inside. Making his way to the front door, he paused; a little worried at what he would find when he opened it. He pushed this thought aside and took hold of the handle, opening the door of 601 for the first time in years.
The corridor was empty. Some doors were open as if the occupants either had run out, forgetting of the door's existence, or they just did not care any longer. Bakura carefully sidestepped to one of these open doors and peered inside the room. He did not want to frighten anyone, as the consequences may not be in his favor. Who knew who rested in these places? Who knew their tempers, their reflex actions? Most everyone in the apartment building kept to themselves, Bakura doubted that any of them would have remembered their neighbor's name if it had not been posted right below the room number. Still he called out, just to see if anyone would respond.
"Hello? Is anybody here?" He swiveled his head around quickly, in case anyone had heard him from another room. Listening hard, he stilled his breathing to pick up any smaller noises. A creak, a heavy sigh; Bakura listened for anything, but only received the persistent ring of silence. He took another step in, but realized that it would be best to get to D as soon as possible. So without so much as a peek to make sure there was no one waiting in a corner to come after him as he turned away, he went to the fire escape door and pushed, almost expecting the alarm to start blaring, giving away his position to anyone that may have been there.
Instead, the door made a feeble creak as it was pushed out of its rusting hinges. At first he could not see D which made his heart seem to jump into his throat and he swung the door open with such force that it nearly knocked Mokuba over the railing. Bakura stood there in confusion for a moment, seeing as that Mokuba had not been there when he had left the boy, but shook it off when he saw D, who's eyes were wide and filled with fear. Moving toward him, Bakura reached out for the boy, who unintentionally took a step back.
"Shit!" Mokuba spat, flailing his arms around in wide circles to regain his balance. Bakura grabbed his shoulders to steady him and then turned back to the boy.
"Are you—" he began before the child took his hand.
"I'm fine," the boy said, his voice quavering a little, "You just scared me…I thought you were going to fall."
While Bakura had a feeling that this was not the full answer as the boy's eyes would not meet his own, he figured it would come up with time. At the moment he had more pressing matters to deal with.
"Why did you climb up here?" Bakura asked, looking at the teen that now stood closer to the door, eyeing the structure that they were standing on with a skeptical look on his face. Mokuba looked up at Bakura and motioned to D, who looked more uncomfortable than ever being placed in the spotlight.
"That kid nearly passed out when you made that jump, I didn't want him falling off. Just what were you thinking?!"
"I had to get into there somehow, right?" Bakura asked, "I'm not going to say it was the smartest plan, but it worked."
Mokuba just shook his head, "Well, next time you pull something like that, get a rope or something. It looked like you were going to fall."
"He was going to fall…" Bakura heard D mumble, but when he turned, the boy was just looking up at him, as silent as he ever was. Bakura sighed and motioned for the boy to follow him inside, but they did not get any further than a step before Mokuba held his hand out.
"Is it safe in there?" he asked.
"I don't know," Bakura answered truthfully, "My apartment is in the same shape that I left it, aside from a few things falling out of the cupboards and stuff. If you are asking about people, I didn't hear anyone, but if anyone was on my floor I think they would have come out to investigate by now, anyway."
"Oh," Mokuba replied, "Well then, I'll just climb down and explain the situation to the guard. We'll wait for you to come downstairs to unlock the door if you can. If you can't, well then…I guess this is your means of getting in and out. Just make sure you don't lock yourself out, I don't need to hear that you've gone and killed yourself by jumping of the goddamned stairs again."
"Sure thing," Bakura replied ushering D into his apartment, "Be careful when you climb down, okay?"
"Yeah," Mokuba replied, "See you soon!"
"See you." With that, the teen let the door swing back, the lock clicking in place, leaving Bakura in a darkness he had not noticed before. Glancing down further into the hallway, he realized that the only light came from outside, and only came through the doors that were open. Suddenly feeling uncomfortable, he hugged his arms and went into his apartment, closing the door behind him.
D was still in the walkway, his right hand covering his nose in disgust. Bakura tapped his shoulder, and the boy turned to him, unsurprised. "It smells in here," he stated.
Bakura chuckled, "Yeah, well, about three years ago I had food in the refrigerator. It's probably in its final decaying stages…or the smell just stuck. I hope it's the former." Bakura looked back at the closed door and then turned again to look at D. "Now," he started, "I know that something is going on, D kun, and I would like for you to talk to me about it."
For a moment, the boy remained silent, looking into the apartment with a mix of forced and honest interest. Then with a glance in Bakura's direction the boy answered. "How's your hand?"
"My hand?" Bakura looked down at his hands and realized that his left one was still bleeding lightly from when he had cut it open, attempting to reach for his balcony. "Ah…" he hurried to the nearest closet and grabbed a towel that was half folded and half falling off of the shelf to place it over the gash, "Fine now, I suppose, but I don't think that's what really is bothering you." He turned back to the boy who had followed him, his shoes tracking in debris from outside. D noticed where the young man was looking and flushed in embarrassment.
"Sorry, I forgot," he said, sitting down and taking off his shoes, looking for the nearest pair of slippers.
"It's fine," Bakura replied, going over and handing the boy a pair that would fit him. "Now tell me," he continued, kneeling down in front of the boy, "What's bugging you?"
"You," D started, glancing up at the man before placing his full interest in the slipper he was putting on, "should have fallen."
"I know," Bakura said, to which D looked up at him in surprise, "I had a feeling I was supposed to, but I didn't did I?"
"So you did that then?!" The boy cried, jumping up and nearly kneeing Bakura in the face.
"Did what?" Bakura asked, confused.
"That!" The boy cried, "That thing! It was there! I saw it, I know I did!"
Bakura looked long and hard at the boy, whose frantic face only provided that the boy was not lying about whatever he saw. His heart beating faster with the knowledge that something happened to him that he did not know about, again, Bakura swallowed hard, trying to get the itchy feeling off of his tongue. "What did you see?" he asked, almost whispering.
"It was there, but it wasn't!" The boy shouted hysterically, "I saw it, it was so cold, so dark…it was…" Sitting down again the boy looked up at Bakura with shame in his eyes, "It scared me."
"What scared you?" Bakura inquired, putting his hand on the boy's shoulder, "What did you see, because I didn't see anything."
"How could you not?!" he exclaimed, and Bakura marveled at how loud the boy could be when he wanted to, "How was it that I was the only one who saw that? Mokuba san didn't see anything either! He just saw you slip, start to fall, kick back up, and then you were up there, but YOU DIDN'T!" D sobbed, tears actually forming in his eyes, "I'm not crazy, that big scary thing was there! It felt like my father only ten times worse! It felt like…it felt like…" D's voice faded as Bakura held him close. He could hear the boy's spastic breathing, could feel his heartbeat pounding rapidly against his chest. Bakura did not think the boy would finish his sentence, but raising his face away from the crook of Bakura's neck he did.
"It felt like, if it wanted to, it would have…I dunno how to explain it," the boy spat, angry with himself more than anything, "It felt like it could have eaten me, but not eaten me, like I, my body would have been here, but I wouldn't."
Bakura frowned. That was not a comforting explanation. "And you saw this thing, right? What did it look like?"
D rested his head against Bakura yet again. "I can't really remember, I was too afraid," he began, "It was huge though, and kinda blended into everything, I think that was why no one else saw it. And it was there one moment and gone the next, too. It had a really big hand though, and it picked you up, that's what I don't get," D stared into Bakura's eyes, "It picked you up and moved you to where you could reach the ledge again, and you did not see it. How did you not see it?"
Bakura did his best to recall the moment that he realized that he was going to fall to his death. He remembered thinking that fate had somehow played another nasty trick on him, he remembered his heart feeling like it had stopped before he even had impacted with the ground, the dark spots that came before his eyes, it had been dark, oh so dark. Then…a cold wind. 'But there was no breeze,' he reminded himself, 'the wind was pushing up, like a fan or something.' His hands began to shake uncontrollably, to the point where he had to grip the boy harder to him for the child to not realize he was afraid. He had not been afraid when the situation happened, no; he even recalled believing that Amane had had something to do with it. What D was explaining though, it just did not fit, and the way he explained it sent chills down his spine, like that wind should have.
"And is that all you remember?" Bakura asked.
"Well, I remember its hand, but I've said that already, and its hand had long nails. I couldn't really get a good look at it though, I believe that I have explained that everything happened too quickly," D replied, his voice becoming steady again, "It had a chameleon like thing going on, where if it moved it could be seen but I suppose now that I think about it, that might just be due to my eyesight."
"Well you do have a keen eye," Bakura offered, and was pleasantly surprised to see the boy give a small smile in return.
"I just wish I could explain it better. I've never seen something like that before," D explained, "I've seen plenty of things, mind you, things and beings that I really didn't ever want to see, but nothing has scared me as badly as that thing. Not even my own father and he…" with that he stopped and shook his head, "And it didn't look like anything he's ever attempted to create."
"I don't think it would," Bakura said, wracking his brain, "I have a farfetched idea, one that honestly makes no sense in truth, as that could never happen, but do you remember what Mokuba and I were talking about earlier?"
"What? About the city or his brother?"
"His brother," Bakura replied, situating himself into a more comfortable sitting position. D sat across from him Indian style, his arms hanging across his knees. He watched the young man with the interest of a child who is about to be told a story they've never heard. Bakura shrugged his shoulders as if he did not know where to start and then began, "His eye. I know that it doesn't make any sense. Eye color can change when there is trauma to the head, but like Mokuba said as well, Kaiba should have died. Now, I told you before that the man was stubborn, right?" The boy nodded. "Well, Kaiba is human, and no matter how stubborn he is, his neck should have snapped, at least from the way Mokuba told it."
Again D nodded, "He said, 'It went through it.' The only way I could think of him surviving was if it was a soft wall…"
"Dry wall," Bakura corrected, and D flushed with embarrassment.
"Dry wall," D said, correcting himself and shaking his head when it looked like the older man was about to apologize, "But his walls looked sturdy, and there was even something that looked like it was blocking a hole, so it isn't like they fixed it or anything."
"Keen eyes," Bakura repeated, and the boy smiled at him shyly. "My idea was something so crazy, I'm really not even sure if I should say it."
"Tell me," D pleaded, "I know what I saw, and I want to hear what you think it was."
"But it doesn't make sense, because all of the power to produce what I'm thinking was lost when Yugi defeated Zork," Bakura said, shaking his head, "I doubt if any of that magic still exists, and if it does then how in the name of…"
"You think the Millennium Items had something to do with this?"
"No," Bakura said, "Those things are in Egypt; I know it because I saw the final duel between Yugi and his other half. There is no way that…I mean I would chalk it up to A…something else before that."
D frowned. If he had been holding something back, he had told it to Bakura. So why was his friend hiding something from him? He dropped it though, knowing when the time came he would understand everything a little better. "Well, is there anyway we can see if it was or if it wasn't?" he asked.
"The closest thing I could think of is showing you my deck," Bakura said, shrugging, "The man who created the game got inspiration from the ancient world, but I'm telling you D kun, if something like that really did happen, I am worried. Very worried. I can't control that magic, and I don't know anyone else who can. Even Yugi couldn't, it had been his other half opening all of the dark games." Still the man stood up and went looking for his deck of Duel Monsters cards with D following close behind.
Bakura's room was still about as neat as it had ever been aside from a few things that had fallen from his desk, and the man was pretty sure if he opened his closet that other items would be sure to fall on top of him as well, but it was here that he needed to go. Opening the closet and holding up his hand to block a few boxes from crashing down on his head, he took these offending items down and placed them onto the bed, and once again entered his closet, looking for his card holder. D watched him for a moment before turning to the boxes, his childlike curiosity peaking again. Lifting the lid of one, he saw envelopes perfectly aligned in the box, packed to its full capacity. Pulling one out, he saw the symbols he had somehow expected. Amane, he mouthed before quickly putting it back in its proper place. He would read these later, possibly when Bakura was asleep so as to not bring up any bad memories. Of course, he would read the letters and listen to the man when he was ready, but the boy was curious now. Quickly replacing the top, he turned to Bakura who had now found his cards. Sitting on the bed, the man began to spread the cards out to where D could see each one. When he was done, most of his bed was covered with the trading cards, and both D and Bakura had had to stand before the man had been done, just to make room for the rest. Bakura looked down at his collection, a good portion overlapping each other just enough to still show the picture, and gave a low whistle of surprise.
"This really looks like I had no life," he said, chuckling, "And this wasn't even my favorite game."
"I want to see that," D said, "After I look at these and we open the door for Mokuba."
"Yeah," Bakura said, nodding. He had almost forgotten about the teen already.
The boy folded his arms in front of him, turning his left hand upward to look at its palm. Bakura had excused himself to go and pull some of the trash out of the refrigerator, so D was left to figure out exactly what he saw with no interruption. Glancing back over the cards and then to the door, he considered his quiet left hand before speaking. "Did you see it too?"
"What?" his left hand answered, finally forming on his palm, "the thing that got you so frightened that you nearly wet your pants? Did I see that?"
D scowled. "Yeah," he replied shortly.
"I dunno, maybe I didn't. I was of course treated rather rudely, I might not have bothered to peak when you felt you were in danger."
"Do not speak to me in this manner!" the boy hissed, but the hand just chuckled. "Did you see it or did you not, that is all I want to know."
"Oh, I get the formal talk. I see how it is. That guy," the left hand stated, using one of its fingers to point in the direction that Bakura went, "first scares you with his aura and then calls upon something that may have been a demon to save him gets the buddy-buddy talk, and I get this snooty little do-as-I-say shit. I'm the one attached to you, you know!"
"This I know," D answered, "But he is my friend, and hasn't hurt me—"
"Yet," the hand interjected.
"Yet," the boy continued, "but you are just a parasite who needs me to live. We are not friends so we should not pretend to be so."
"It would make life a hell of a lot easier if you did."
"Then you start," D said curtly, "Now answer my question, did you see the being that I saw, and can you help me find it in the cards?"
His left hand considered him for a while, before using the boy's wrist to turn himself toward the cards. "Are you sure that it will be there?" It was an honest question.
"I don't know," the boy replied, "But I have a feeling it will be. These are his favorite cards."
"And you think that he conjured up something that had to do with the magic he possessed before?"
"Yes, even if he does not believe this to be so."
"What makes you so sure?"
D shook his head, continuing to look at the cards before him. "I'm not sure, but I think that there was no one else around that could do it. But I am sure that it has something to do with these things. Bakura said they were in a sense the ka of other people from the past. He may not know much about it since his part was played by another…" 'Someone like you,' the boy thought bitterly, 'someone like you who wouldn't go away.' "But from what he was told, he knew about that. And if the magic stayed, then those things might still be in tune with it, and since they are his cards…maybe they sensed him?"
"Doubtful," his hand replied, "if that were the case then all of his friends with that magic would be able to bring up the same things. I think that was something else."
"Something special?" D wondered, "His ka?"
"Who knows," the hand answered, "even if it was, it didn't look or feel kosher to me, and I've seen some crazy things thanks to your father."
"So you did see it," D said, unsurprised, "why do you have to be such a pain?"
"Because," the hand replied, "how else do I get you to talk? If it wasn't for that kid over there, I would have sworn you didn't have vocal chords."
D snorted, resuming his search for his mind had begun to wander as all children's minds do. When he looked over the next lineup of cards, he gasped, startling his now quiet left hand out of its resumed rest. Picking up the card in his hand, he eyed every detail with scrutiny. The hands, the shape, if it had not been for the color, the boy would have said it had been this card exactly. Looking down at the description and then up to the element, he read to no one in particular, "When this card is summoned, destroy all cards on your opponent's side of the field. This monster cannot be destroyed by battle…six stars and earth element attribute…Fiend/Effect type, and has a point system of 2500/2100. This sounds confusing."
"Damned skippy it is," his left hand replied, "Lemme have a look; I want to be sure you got it right. We don't want emotional wreck over there to get any worse than he might be at the moment." D turned the card in the hands direction, lifting it a little higher so it could be read better, and could feel what could have been called a nod by the left hand.
"Yep, that sure looks like the outline we saw. The color not so much, but then again, maybe the magic is weak…"
"Or the guy who made this got it wrong," D ended, hurrying to show the picture to Bakura.
The young man was twisting the end of a garbage bag and tying it off as the boy came rushing to him. Smiling, Bakura waved his hand at the refrigerator. "It should start smelling better in here soon. I just need to open the balcony window and toss this somewhere other than inside."
"It smells everywhere," D replied, "but this probably will make it smell better in here."
Bakura nodded, his smile fading a little. "Did you find it? The thing you were looking for?" he asked, continuing his new battle of making his apartment smell decent again, "Probably not, I think that we both probably just got overexci—"
"I did." The finality in the boy's voice made Bakura's skin crawl, and he threw more than set the garbage on his balcony, taking the card from the boy's hand before it was offered. He stared at the picture for what seemed like hours, and D was beginning to wonder if he should trek down to the bottom of the building to let the other two in alone when the man handed him the card back.
"Huh," he said, his voice strained, his face pale, "Diabound…nah, I doubt it." He made a waving gesture as if to swat a fly away, "I rarely ever played him, no. No, not him." D opened his mouth to protest, but Bakura placed a finger against his lips. "We probably were just a little jumpy, I had told you about this stuff before and it probably was just your imagination trying to find the strange here as it had at that other place. It's best if we didn't talk about this to anybody else, though, we need…to fit in."
"Fit in," D repeated, "I guess you need to just as much as I do…"
Bakura nodded, "After we open the door for them, we will talk a little more, and I'll get you something to eat. You need to eat." D watched as Bakura's eyes flicked away from him for a moment, and felt a dread that he did not realize he would feel. He did not want to feed from this man. It was not like he had not fed on his blood before, but he knew perfectly well that his father had never allowed anyone to bite the man, and after he began his experimentation on the man in earnest, he had disallowed the bloodletting from him, just as a precaution. D did not think that the experiments that were performed would have affected the man's blood, but he did not want to bite him, or watch him cut himself to feed him with the chance of the man possibly bleeding to death. He did not know if he would be able to survive without blood, though. His father had yet to test that on him. With little blood, he could survive, but after a few weeks, then what?
Bakura motioned for the boy to follow and he did. What the child did not know was that the young man fully believed in what he had been told by the boy. He just did not want to. 'What if he is back and I don't even know it?' he thought, 'What if…D kun gets hurt?' He did not want to think this, but if it was true that his card had just mysteriously come to life, then who else could it have been? He also wondered why he had felt so right, so comfortable with that card in his hand. Mentally shaking these thoughts away, Bakura led D down the stairs to the others, hoping that it had just been a one time thing, and that they could truly begin their peaceful life here, at home.