Disclaimer: I do not own Yu-Gi-Oh! or Vampire Hunter D. I'm beginning to wonder if I own my muses or my muses own me…

Thank you all for the reviews! I'm sorry that it has taken so long for another chapter to be posted, but I've been pretty busy. Good news and bad news by the way, I have more than just this chapter done. However, my beta reader is as busy as I am, and hasn't responded about this particular chapter. So this was not beta read. If anyone would like to be my beta reader (as I know this is an odd taste in reading), give me a shout.

Chapter Nine: Dreams

It repeated itself in a maddening way, changing only fractions, but enough to make him realize it was a dream. However, it remained vivid enough that he continued to wonder.

He was home, but it was not a home he recognized, and if it was, the memory was too hazy for him to decipher. He called out for his mother, his father, and his sister. He called out for his friends. Either way there was no response from anything except for the ever shifting being hidden behind a cloak in front of him. He called out to the sitting veiled figure and finally got a response. It always did when he called to it. It turned to him and smiled its coy smile, the rest of its face hidden in the shadow of the cowl. It spoke, but nothing that he could understand, and it was frustrating.

"I don't understand you!" he cried, stamping his foot on the cold stone floor. For some reason he could move no further than a few inches. It was as if there was a barrier between him and the being. The creature tittered, rising from its seat and motioning behind him. He could see the outline of its body and figured from the curves that it was a woman.

"You are going east?" It asked; its smile widened. When he did not respond its joyful look faltered some, "Come now, you forgot already, boy?"

"No," he said finally, "but my name isn't boy…"

"Then what is it, my little friend?"

'Little?' he asked himself, and looked down at himself. He did not seem to have shrunk significantly, but he indeed felt younger now that it mentioned it. "Bakura Ryou," he answered solidly.

The woman/creature let out a laugh that sounded more like a thousand people crying. Bakura cringed at this, backing away as far as he could, which was not to say much; it seemed there was a barrier there as well. "I know you very well; I didn't need you to respond," It said, "I'm surprised you don't remember me…"

"What?" he asked confused, and the world darkened around him immediately. The thing disappeared and he felt the insane realization that it was going to repeat itself. It had done so already, and it would do so again unless he woke up, unless…

There was light in the edge of his peripheral vision, one that he never turned to but felt as if it was him waking up; a light that would make him realize he could pull out of this dream at any time, but never feel that he had completed it. This time however, he did, knowing this dream would never stop until he found what was making all of that light.

A girl he recognized immediately waved to him and smiled. His heart swelled with a painful joy and he ran to her, forgetting about any barriers that held him. It was as if they had never existed at all. The girl raced up to him and he collapsed in her arms, a tearful mess. She sat and rested his head in her lap as he let his sobs of sadness and frustrations overwhelm him. It seemed like hours before he stopped, but when he looked up her face had not changed its warm welcome.

"You've always been a crybaby," she said, her tone jovial, "but really Ryou kun…"

"I've missed you so much!" he choked, wrapping her in a tight hug.

"Yes, yes…I know…"she said soothingly, "and we both know that this is a dream." Her finality made all emotions within him stop.

"A dream?" he asked, and the realization burned him, "just a dream…"

"Ryou kun, I know life has been difficult for you, and I know you miss me; I miss you, too!" she exclaimed, returning his forceful hug, "I wish I could stand there beside you, instead of hoping that you'll feel me."

"What is happening to me, Amane?" Bakura asked, "I've never felt like this…I've felt useless before, I've felt like I've been going crazy, but never to this extent…"

Amane looked down at him and frowned. "You've been through a lot," she started, "and I'm sure that whatever happened when you were experimented on can be attributed to it. But Ryou, I'm not here so we can catch up, I'm not here period. In your dreams, yes, but the place in the world that you live in is not a good conductor for spiritual manifestation."

"What are you here for, then?" the boy cried, "Am I just trying to make myself crazy?"

The girl raised her hand and Bakura closed his mouth. "I'm here to give you, how do I put this, a slap in the face," she said bluntly. He gave her a confused look and her smile returned. "You've been through a lot," she repeated, "but so has someone else." Waving her hand in front of them, it seemed as if the dream opened up into reality. Bakura was now standing in front of his old bed with Amane beside him pointing down at the huddled mound.

"He has been through a lot too, and you took care of him even when you didn't have to," she continued, "But that means he depends on you now, and no matter how sad or useless you feel, you have to take care of him. So, first off," she spun him towards her, "enough with scaring him. If he sees you do something weird, talk to him about it. He hasn't dealt with spirits or anything like that until you arrived in his life. Secondly, remember your dreams have always pointed you to important things, but be VERY careful, while you will see me, and I promise you where you are headed it's the perfect place to see me, don't trust everything you hear. And thirdly," she rose her hand again to silence him, "and thirdly, remember this. I love you nii sama, and I have never left your side. We are twins, and we will do everything together, and that includes reaching the other side. So talk to me all you want, but remember, D needs you more than I do." She paused for a moment, looking again at the boy, "He's a real sweetie, and I hope I haven't scared him too much, I just wanted to share with him; tell him I'm sorry if I have."

Bakura watched her for a few more moments, knowing that it was time for their goodbyes. "I love you, Amane," he said, hugging her.

"I love you too, Ryou," she replied, and pulled away, "Remember what I said."

And this time Bakura woke up feeling groggy, but contented in the darkness of the early morning.

D however tossed and twisted within his sheets, waving his hands at something unseen as if to ward it off. The parasite being in his left hand awoke with a start as it was slammed unceremoniously on the edge of the desk beside the bed. Taking over the arm so as not to cause further pain to itself it turned to snap at the boy but held its tongue. There was something beside them.

D raised his head to better see over the ledge that hid him. The creature stood there, taller than his father and with red eyes that did not shine with a sad yet hopeful curiosity, but a malicious, hateful glee. It turned, a black mass against the already dark background, and spotted him. Its mouth split open into a wicked grin, its sharpened teeth all too obvious with their pearl white opacity. The boy gave a small cry and ducked down, backing as far as he could into the brick behind him. He did not want whatever it was to find him, and under the logic of dreams that children follow, he did not believe it would if he stayed there. He was now hidden.

He heard the beast pass him, its ever changing shape creating a painful chorus of footsteps to his ears. There was clacking of high heels, thumps of the biggest dinosaur, clocking of boots, squeaks of rubber soles on tiles, patter of unprotected children's feet. D covered his ears to give them peace, but even with all the force against them he could still hear the noise as clear as if he had not bothered. It was in front of him now, passing the barrier on the left side, its tail swinging in slow sweeping motions trying to flush him out of the darkness that molded into obscure shapes before bubbling into nothingness. D removed his hands from his ears to cover his mouth when the sharp looking appendage streaked by him, barely missing the tip of his nose. He shook with fear. He was a brave boy; there could be no contest to that, but the being that was manifesting before him made his skin crawl, his eyes water in pain, and he could not help but squeak as the thing's tail swept by him again. He forced himself to keep his eyes open, however, and was alarmed at how quickly it disappeared into the darkness. When he first had seen it, it had lumbered around with slow plotted steps, now it seemed to almost slither with the way it sped off into shadow. D listened careful for the footsteps to fade before letting out a shaky breath. He turned his head each way to make sure nothing else was around before standing up and dusting off the seat of his pants.

Something behind him tapped his shoulder and he shrieked, spinning around. The same eyes greeted him, however at his level instead of the massive height from before. The teeth in this smile were straight and humanlike, but the canines continued to have pronounced points. The boy stood in silent terror as the being (for now it looked at least somewhat human) hoisted itself on the ledge, patting the empty space beside it in a welcoming gesture for him to sit. He remained where he was, wondering if he was dreaming. It was the only explanation he could think for this strangeness, but he did not recall ever falling asleep. The cold surrounding him did not help, everything felt real, even the brick had when he had hidden from the larger monster had its usual corrosive surface.

"Sit," the personified darkness said, its red eyes burning into his, "Come, don't be rude."

D sat where the being motioned him to, trying to regain some control over himself. Even in a dream, he should not be rude. Should he? He was not too sure; it had certainly scared him, and this was his dream. Was it a dream? He eyed the creature with distrust. The voice that had come from its mouth had been that of a child's. Was it trying to get to him that way?

"Who are you?" the boy demanded.

"Funny," it stated, "I should be asking that question, you are the one in my home."

"Your home?" he asked, more to himself. He could not imagine ever wanting to live in this darkness. The boy liked the dark, but this felt almost painful, as if he was being drained of some vital energy that kept him animated.

"Questions, questions…you are a curious boy, aren't you?" The thing inquired, its smile widening to an impossible size, "I will tell you something, boy; our discussion must be short. I know you want answers, and I want some too. We'll trade what we know, and that will be all. Let's not argue. I don't want anything bad to have to happen to one of your kind."

"What does that mean?" D responded, "Are you threatening me?"

"Me? No!" the childlike creature exclaimed, abashed, "I just want answers. I'd play games with you too, but I don't want you to get hurt. You see, this world…but I'm sure you can feel what it does, right?"

D watched the thing's face contort into something that was supposed to look sad, its perfect child nose wrinkling, the eyebrows furrowing. Its smile shrank and became a disquieted frown. It was remarkable that he could see its ink-like skin against the blackened background, and it was remarkable in how honest the reaction looked, but the creatures eyes continued to look at him with unheard laughter. "I suppose," he replied.

"You couldn't last ten minutes in here, I'm afraid. No one can, except for me, and things like me, oh, and that one other boy, funny child he is, but I can rarely find him and he's moping around half the time."

"Sounds like my mother…" D mumbled, and the creature nodded.

"I don't doubt; you look as though you haven't seen a real smile in ages."

D frowned, looking away. "That's not true."

"Well, I'm just saying," the creature said, shrugging.

"You still haven't answered any of my questions," D snapped, and was surprised at how pleasantly the thing took his anger. It giggled, which was strange in the boy's opinion, and placed a cold hand on his shoulder.

"This is my home, and it really is no place for a child such as you, no matter how tied to the darkness you are. What brought you here, if I may ask before answering the other question?"

D shrugged, wishing the thing would take its hand off of him. Its fingers gripped his shoulder with a familiarity that he did not understand, its sharp, elongated nails nearly caressing his skin. "I fell asleep, that's all."

The thing tilted its head in confusion. "Well that's not how this usually goes, but then again," it smiled at him and D realized the figure was becoming lighter in color and a robe of sorts was covering its body, "I usually don't talk to the souls who wander in here."

"What do you do, then?"

"I eat them."

D stiffened noticeably and the creature-child began a heaving fit of laughter. It slapped its leg; its eyes squeezed shut, its body rocked from the force. Slapping his back with good humor the thing wiped a nonexistent tear from one of its glittering red eyes as it gasped for the dark air surrounding them. "You are rich kiddo! Rich! Like I would eat you! Oh, I haven't had this kind of a laugh in years!"

"Why um…not that I don't appreciate it, and I really do," D stammered, losing some of his composure, "why wouldn't you eat me?"

"Because of what I said before, you silly moose," it stated, standing and giving him a little curtsey bow, "I wouldn't want anything bad to happen to your kind. You just saved me a hell of a lot of work…a hell of a lot of work." It tittered and flounced away from him, "I can't say I totally agree with your father's methods, but by golly to your supposed god, I have a chance to do what I've wanted to do for YEARS."

"And what is that?" D asked, noticing that he was feeling a bit sluggish as he tried to follow the childlike thing.

"Well, walk the earth with my own two feet is one of them," it stated, and D was beginning to realize it was taking the shape of a young girl with messy hair and fair skin, "although what I'll look like there I'll never probably know. You've noticed I change my mind rather often in what I want to look like? Well, of course you have. You aren't blind. You could see me when I was supposed to be hidden, well, aside from my eyes. The second part is to balance your good for nothing planet. Of course, a few years back I admit I went a little overboard; I'm a jealous being you know. Jealous and envious; and chaotic! But he loves me, or at least wants me…"

"Who does?"

"The boy, who else?"

D looked around, confused. "You mentioned him before, but who is he?"

"He is the darkness," the creature said with a soft sigh, "and his loyalty is only second best to his cunning."

D shivered; it seemed the darkness was getting to him finally. "What is his relation to you?"

"What is his relation to you?" It asked in return, "To me, he is my left hand man, close to the heart, or where a heart should be. He is also my master as I am his."

"I don't know him…" D replied, confused once again. "Who is he?"

"He is the darkness."

"Then who are you?"

"I am…" It smiled, "whatever you want me to be, boy." It waved its arms and curtseyed. "Now you must go. I will speak to you again, someday."

D shouted something that he did not recall although he knew it was directed to the being but the creature disappeared none the less and darkness became the only thing he could see. He fought against his overwhelming exhaustion to see further into the murky shadows trying to find it and screamed. The huge monster had returned out of nowhere, and it was charging him, it was going to eat him, it was going to—

D awoke from his dream with a start, finishing his strange flail by sitting straight up in bed. He gasped for air, clean, open air, and turned to look around the room to see that he was there, in Bakura's old bed, at home, and not in some strange place where people wanted to eat your soul. He was calming down when out of the corner of his eye he caught a tall dark mass. Without thinking he screamed, and pushed himself out of the bed in the opposite direction, crashing with an unaccustomed clumsiness onto the ground. He raised his hands up in protection before peeping between his fingers to get a better look at the being.

"What?" The young man asked sleepily, rubbing at his eyes. D gawked at Bakura as he shuffled over to the boy, and could not close his mouth when the man picked him up to put him back onto the bed. Bakura stared at him for a moment, unsure of what he was seeing, and then a confused smile graced his face, quelling the boy's rapidly beating heart and allowing for his jaw to answer to his commands.

"What were you doing there?" D asked, shaking his head, "You scared me."

"I think I sleepwalked," Bakura answered, "I'm sorry if I scared you."

"You do that a…" D covered his mouth, hoping that the man was still too much asleep to have been able to hear it coherently.

"Yeah," Bakura said, sitting next to the boy and pulling him in a half embrace, "I've been doing it a lot, you don't have to hide it D kun. I may not remember it, but I know I have been." The boy shrugged in the man's arms and Bakura held him a little tighter. "I want you to know, if I ever scare you, or if I ever do something that you want to talk about, don't be afraid to talk to me about it. I've been…stupid. Stupid and over emotional, and unwilling to talk about things that were probably going to be brought up anyway. So if you have anything, please tell me."

D eyed him for a moment, unsure whether to speak or not and when the man gave him his welcoming smile, he knew it was okay. "About the card—"

"That we should probably discuss a little later in the day, or later on, I'm not quite sure how to explain that one yet."

"Oh," D replied, twiddling his thumbs. "Can we play Monster World before you go to work today?"

Bakura looked at him, surprised, and his smile widened. "Sure."

So early on that morning, while the rest of Domino slept, Bakura and D played Monster World. D had gained a few levels before succumbing to the basic beginner's mistake of going after the main boss too early. Bakura laughed good naturedly at his oversight, and taught him what might have been one of the most important lessons he would ever learn in his long life: when dealing with a stronger opponent, patience is key.