Yu-Gi-Oh! Fan Fiction ❯ Death's Not Particularly Fair ❯ Te'a's Past ( Chapter 4 )

[ T - Teen: Not suitable for readers under 13 ]

As Te'a's body completely reformed, she was back on the ground again, her body lithely naked against the ground, as her clothes had not repaired themselves. One cheek pressed to the hard cement stone, one arm brought protectively in front of her chest, the other arm sprawled limp above her head. Those great navy eyes were misted and fixed on Bakura's boots in an unfocussed sort of way.
Bakura got down on his haunches, staring her in the face, watching her still form just lie there as if defeated. She didn't move an inch, but just lay prostrated at the cold ground.
"It hurt."
Reaching out a hand, Bakura stroked her hair out of her face and peered down into that angelic face with something like pity. Tears streamed silver from those eyes, dripping from her cheeks in a forlorn way. She not even caring that she was bare, when just a day or two ago she'd freaked when she'd had to get in the tub in front of him, nude.
"I'm proud of you, little one." he said, maybe more tenderly than he'd intended, but this was Cassandra's face he was looking into, "I'm very proud. You did well. But get up now."

He took hold of her wrist and pulled her onto her feet. But as soon as he let her go, she staggered, then fell sideways back onto the cement with a dull thwack, bounced once, then lay still again.
"Leave me. I want to stay here... I want... I want to..."
Bakura bared his fangs, letting some of the dead old lady's blood drip off the points and onto his sire's lips. He watched bemusedly as she licked it off sensuously, then looked back up at him with a tinge of confusion on those features. She reached out a white hand to take a grip on his own, gripped with a half-hearted will, and allowed him to pull her up to her feet. Resting her hands on his shoulderblades to keep her balance, looking straight into those great brown eyes as if he were her brother. Tears still slithering slowly down her woebegone face, her arms shaking.
"I'm scared. You aren't going to do lots of painful things - are you?"
Bakura didn't answer at once, but pulled her tight to his chest, reaching his arms over her head and pulling his silk shirt up over her shoulders and drawing it closed at her front.
"I was hoping to attract less attention when we got there." he said regretfully, "But we'll have to make do with this. It's long enough to cover your butt anyway.
She pulled away from him, "Answer the question."

Bakura considered his sire for a few seconds, his eyes roving over her expression seriously as he reached forward and jammed one arm through the sleeve of the shirt.
"The pain of becoming what you are should have taught you to have a higher pain threshold."
"You dropped me from 500+ metres up! You let me fall onto hard cement till my body was practically disintegrated. Do you even know how much that hurts?"
He shoved the remaining arm up the other sleeve.
"Admittedly, I don't know what that precise thing feels like. But I have a good idea about pain of all kinds."
Te'a made no answer to this, but simply stared at him as if he might be slightly loose in the head. She pushed his hands away from buttoning up her shirt and turned her back on him, doing it herself. She knew she was on the losing side of the argument. After all, Bakura had been alive far longer than she, so for all she knew, she might just be showing him her ignorance.
"I'm hungry"
"So I've heard."
"So, oh brilliant master, teach me how to hunt the humans down."
"Oh? Turning into a smartass are you? I was under the impression that you were totally against killing other people to eat."
"Shut up." she said grumpily, shivering and pulling the shirt closer to her, forgetting that there was no body heat to warm it up, "I'm hungry... and I won't kill what I drink anyway."
"Want to be carried again?"
"No, I want to walk." Te'a stepped over the body of the old woman, kneeling beside it and stroking those steel curls away from the forehead. Te'a let out a sigh, bowing her head down, her hand going automatically to her heart as it so often did when she felt intensely powerful about something, especially when she was desperately saddened.

"Did you have to kill her, Bakura?" she asked softly.
He watched the wind tickle her curtain of hair, creases marring his high forehead, "Yes, she was old anyway. And she had heart problems, I could feel it."
"Do you know if she had family?"
"A son" said Bakura with a grunt.
"Poor thing" Te'a laid a kiss on the woman's brow, then got to her feet.

But what she did next Bakura did not forsee, because the next moment, Te'a had snatched up the fluffball of a dog and was cuddling it to her bosom. "Can I keep it?"
"A dog?" Bakura asked, aghast, "What the hell for?"
"He's alone, and he has eyes like you too... brown, and woeful. Besides... he's warm."
Bakura waved his hand dismissively, "Sure, keep the fleabag if it makes you happy, but I warn you... if he crosses me..."
"He won't" Te'a said hurriedly, cuddling the dog. She looked right at Bakura's face and he saw the spark of joy that had been absent for so long now. It made a warm spot enter his chest, as if a warm human's ear were pressed against it. And Lor, if the little fleabag kept her happy, then by all means, she could keep the thing. It wasn't as if it would hamper his life very much. It was far too small.
And she was different from Cassandra in that aspect. For Cassandra had loathed dogs of all descriptions. She would scream and hit the roof if one just sniffed at her shoe.

But Bakura hadn't just got Te'a because she looked like Cassandra had. When he considered her, he'd just got a good feeling about her as a sire. Though he dreaded it if anyone actually asked him why he'd chosen her. Because in truth he'd just picked her because she placed a warm feeling on his chest like now. And it felt different from the icyness he'd endured for so long.
"Come on, Bakkie-kun!" Te'a waved a hand in his face energetically, "I'm hungry! Let's just go wherever we're going for this first 'hunt'"
"Mind you, Te'a... don't call it a hunt from now on. I was just being sarcastic."
"Huh?" she looked over at him, confused.
"Getting humans isn't called a hunt... I was just teasing... it's getting other vampires that counts as a hunt, not humans."
"Oh."
She didn't seem all that concerned however, but cuddled the dog to her chest and pranced down the still slightly bloody sidewalk, past the dead old woman, crumpled and lost. Forever lost to her son anyway.
But Te'a didn't spare her another glance, for a fierce delight at being a Night Walker seemed to have gripped her. The sensations, the smells, things that one didn't percieve as a human. She felt them at full force now, and just wanted to embrace them, to forget about Yugi Moto - at least for awhile. Wanted to stop thinking about being the sire to a monster.
No, she just wanted to run across a moonlit street, next to darkened houses that were obviously mostly abandoned for the winter. The wind at her hair and face were far better than when she was so high. And Lord knew, she never wanted to be that high again either. What if Bakura dropped her again?


She tried not to think about it anymore, but just ran into the strong wind headfirst. She wanted to run until she felt free, wanted to run until she got a stitch in her side and collapsed onto the ground. Away from worry, from this never ending fear, from this new life that she'd been made to face so harshly. She wanted to run into eternity.
The silk shirt swirled around her upper thighs very immodestly, and if Bakura hadn't been flying casually above her head, he would have had a spectacular view. But he wasn't behind her, he was floating lazilly above her with an amused grin on his face. How funny this child was. Always bursting with the unexpected and bizzarre, especially when outwardly she seemed so proper.
"Having fun?"
Wrinkling her nose, she looked up at him, then quickly back the ground. Her grip on the dog tightened as if she thought he'd snatch the fluffball away from her. And those thin brown eyebrows curved determinedly down as she tried to quicken her speed without both her arms to pump. Even so, she ran faster than any humans with the enhanced power of being a vampire.
She didn't want to speak, she just wanted to run. Maybe even away from Bakura.
She didn't hate him as much as she used to. But she didn't particularly like him. All she felt for him was a reasonable level of tolerance. Because though he'd taken her away from sixteen years of her life forever, it seemed to matter less and less, the more and more she lusted for blood anyway. Not even Yugi's name entered her mind when she could almost feel a pulse going through her head relentlessly.
Her tongue slipped out of the corner of her mouth. And the thought of that beautiful liquid trickling down her throat was driving her crazy.

But before she could run another step, Bakura grabbed her upper arm and hauled her into the air, cackling amusedly, "As much as I love to watch you run, sweetheart. I'm afraid you already look a sight. If we turn up there with your hair mussed and your skin sweaty, you'll really make an impression."
"Where are we going?"
He licked his lips, "To a friend of mine first... you'll like him. He's the gayest Vampire I've ever met, but he is amusing. And he'll be able to fix you up in no time... typical."
"And then where are we going?" she asked impatiently, moving her free arm around his neck and hauling herself up so that he could slip his arms around her back and under her knees to keep her from falling.
"Hunting." he gave a wry smile
"Sarcasm again?"
"Maybe."
"I'm hungry."
"Charming."
"You have bubblegum on your pants."
"WHAT?!"

Te'a giggled mischeviously, allowing her fangs to slide out properly for the first time. As if she had lost all shame in them and was willing to accept them as a new part of her life. She had strength in her emotional being, no one could deny that. Bakura could see it always in those eyes. And he thanked whatever Gods there were that she'd been brought up well, with a balanaced, happy lifestyle. Something not many people had.
You didn't often find one such as she. Most teens all thought they were so different from the rest when really they were the same, complaining creatures.
They surrounded themselves with darkness and thought they were special because of it, when really, everyone else was basically also like that. Every teen and indeed, every adult suffered from depression and rebellion.
But Te'a was the type to be resented because of how happy she was. Jealousy and spite caused many to lash out at her, trying to make her as miserable as they were.
"What have you been looking at my pants for?"
"Couldn't resist that gorgeous butt."
"My, my child. You do seem to be becoming quite sly and mischevious. Maybe I'm a bad influence on you."
"It must be because I'm starving."
"Do you ever stop complaining? We need to get your fixed up before we just attack some human in the place we're going. They are of little threat to us, yes. But they are of even less threat when oblivious."

"Come in, come in" said the strange vampire in the doorway, taking Te'a's hand and kissing the knuckles as if he had known her all his life, "Been awhile since I've seen you Bakura."
The vampire had dark, curly brown hair that met half-way down his back, enourmous, bulging black eyes and a fringe that hung into them as often as possible. He had a wobbly scar that looked roughly like toothmarks on his neck. And this made Te'a stare all the more, for she was sure that vampires couldn't get scars.
He was lean like Bakura, and muscly as Bakura also was. But he wore a most interesting frock coat, and a great amount of eye liner on his eyebrows, making them charcoal black.
"This is my sire... Te'a." Bakura said with a half a grin on his face, looking directly in the vampire's face, "Te'a... this is one of my less popular friends... Ko."
"I'm delighted, delighted." said Ko, obviously with such genuinity that Te'a could not help but smile and squeeze his hand in return.
"Ko... as you may have noticed... Te'a isn't looking ready for a night of..." his lip curled into a grin, "...hunting..."
"And you would appreciate my help I suppose... mmmmm?"

And then, a person who was very familiar came up behind Ko and stood silently, staring at Te'a with doleful blue eyes that radiated his immense power. But he gave no indication of any emotion on his face, even though Te'a was a hundred percent sure that he had really communicated with her in her dream.
"Dan? What're you doing here?" she asked, before she could stop herself
"I live here." his eyes flashed crimson, then he turned toward the doorway, "That thing you call Ko... is my brother..."
Ko didn't take any offense at this obvious insult, but beamed all the more as if it were a compliment. He placed an arm around Te'a and drew her into the passageway, still grinning from ear to ear as if he had scored something great. And when Te'a peered around over his shoulder, she saw Dan and Bakura giving each other a look.
"Shall I go with?" Dan asked so softly that Te'a's vampire ears could only just catch it.
Bakura nodded, trying to make it look discreet, as he was aware of Te'a's gaze.

Dan took his coat off, lying it next to Bakura's trench-coat. His pale muscles shimmered as if dipped in oil. He wore no shirt.
Cracking his neck, his eyes went crimson and he walked on after Ko and her, his hands stuck casually in his jeans pockets. His dark, glossy hair was tied back in a loose ponytail, so she could clearly see his expression. He looked angry, but lord knew why. This Dan person, she knew nothing of him except that he was a mixture of two races, extremely powerful, and somehow seperate from the rest of the cult.
And now the thirst for blood was welling up in her throat, making her eyes water. It felt awful, as if her very organs were shrivelling up with the desire to grab someone's shoulder, yank them toward her and consume their lifeforce without any thought to the human themself.
And for Te'a Gardner, this thought would have sent her into a shock only a few days ago. Heck, maybe even yesterday. But now her brain could only think of the blood, and how beautifully delicious it had looked when it shimmered in the light. Like a great jewel.
She could smell Ko's blood too. It was dead, cold. As hers was. And it would never quench her thirst. But she still hungered for it with a closed mind. The thought of it was driving her crazy. Moving every other image in her head, from Yugi to the necklace Joey jad given her, to first time she'd been bitten, to who exactly had been behind the mask, who had killed her hamster.
But one thought that hadn't bothered her for quite her awhile snapped her
She's not yours, Bakura! She's-
out of it. She shook her head roughly and concentrated desperately on anything else that was even of minimal interest to her.

Dan's heavy footsteps as he walked behind her, the feel of Ko's hand on her shoulder - steering her forward, the hairline crack in the wall to her left.
"Where are we going?" she asked croakily.
"You're a flipping mess, child. The shower may be a little cold but-"
"Shower? You're going to make me shower... here?"
Ko stared at her as if she were mad, the bulging eyes surveying her perhaps more warily than before, with a little less delight around the edges. "Yes, that's what Bakura said."
"You have to remember, brother, that she is still young. You recall how you were in front of others at her age?"
A pink tinge coloured Ko's cheeks, but he nodded earnestly, and he smiled, "Of course, of course. I was forgetting... don't worry, there's a shower curtain"
Te'a looked gratefully back at Dan, who didn't smile back, but looked over at the same hairline crack that she'd interested herself in earlier. A frown creased his brow, as if looking at Bakura's sire wasn't allowed, and he didn't want to abuse the rule. Those beautiful blue eyes seemed rimmed around the edge with crimson. The most marvelous pair of eyes Te'a had ever seen. Even the blue was gorgeous, not like her own dull navy ones, they were bright and alive. The nasty crimson only framing them mystically. Making them smaller or larger, depending on the light.
The dark brown hair that fell about his face was nothing like his brother's. Ko's hair was almost black, and hung in long, loose curls. Dan's hair was straight, and most of the time, hid his sharp features.
His brow crinkled, she wanted to reach out to him, reach right inside and pull out whatever troubled him so much that he had trouble looking her straight in the eye for too long. But there was nothing she could do. She belonged to Bakura, and to him alone. She couldn't suddenly clutch onto another Night Walker, especially as he wasn't a full vampire. A half breed.

Back in the front, Bakura sat down with a sigh and held Te'a's warm dog to his front. The old Tomb Robber stared out at the stars that he'd grown to loathe over the years, the very stars that burned into his brain, reminding him that without Ryou awake in his body, he would die in the face of sunlight. That he would perish out when that beautiful orb rose into the sky. Turning him to dust, rendering his rank to nothing. Making him into a mere memory, a nothing. Flattening his efforts over the years to become someone whom he could be proud of. Whom Cassandra could be proud of.
With another heavy sigh, Bakura lowered his eyes to the ground, ignoring it when the timid dog tentatively licked his cheek. The wetness of the tongue was nothing to him right now. He was waiting for her. Because undoubtly, now that she knew he was here. She would come. And having to deal with her would be painful.
And sure enough, when he raised his head, he saw the unmistakable dark figure land on one knee in front of him. The blonde hair stirring slightly in the breeze, the bright eyes glistening in the dark. The small figure of Rebbecca Hawkins stepped out into the streetlight, pulling her cowgirl hat off of her head and fiddling with it in her fingers.
"Bakura-"
He didn't let her say any more, but got to his feet and took both her hands in his. Staring down into those strangely sad bright eyes of hers. He squeezed them hard when she tried to speak again, and shook his head. The fluffy white hair flew into his face, but it unfortunately didn't obscure his vision. Didn't stop him from seeing the Vampiress from looking away from him, tears in her eyes.
"Rebbecca, you've got to stop this. You're Marik's sire - not mine. And if he knew that you kept on coming back for this, you'd be in huge trouble."
"But I love you!"

Bakura let out a short, but painful hiss. Letting go of her hands, he turned his back on her and looked fixedly at Ko's house. The dog wriggled uncomfortably at his tight grip and whined slightly, but he ignored that. He was trying desperately of a way to shove the girl away, to get her to understand that her love didn't move him in the least. Even if she hadn't belonged to Marik.
A short wave of breeze swept her cowgirl hat out of her limp fingers. She stared out at the Tomb Robber she wanted more than anything in the dreaded silence that she knew was Bakura thinking. And when the silence was over, he would reject her, just as he always did.
"I'm not looking for love" he said at last.
"But you took Te'a! If you're not looking for love, why'd you take on a female sire? Everyone knows that if you do not desire love, you pick a male, because he's stronger."
Oh. The difficult part to explain now. He didn't exactly know himself why he'd picked Te'a to be his sire, and having to explain it to a Vampiress who was barely out of fledglinghood was almost maddening.
"I've learnt from Ko making Dan into a Vampire, that having a male one can be too tough. And I didn't feel like having masculine clashes."
Rebbecca's hat slid across the ashpalt and rested at his boots like a pet. The child hadn't bothered to pick it up after she'd dropped it. She didn't think she had the strength to even flex her fingers. Lowering her head to the ground, she could find no more words to say to express the deep devastation she felt. Like every day was an effort. As if she felt she could ake no more.
She wished she could have been Bakura's sire. She wouldn't have cared how hard he made her work, as long as she could have been near him.

But a feeling of ice slid down her spine, and Rebbecca knew her real master was coming for her. She was supposed to have been feeding, but she had skipped on eating for the third time in a row to see Bakura. She was starving for blood, but that physical ache was nothing to the inner turmoil that haunted her everyday life. She wanted to see Bakura all the time. Wanted to still the growing obsession. At least for awhile.
But he had chosen Te'a Gardner instead. But oh, it would have hurt less if he'd chosen no one at all. That at least was bearable.
But as Rebbecca stood there, letting the wind ruffle her hair. She knew it was hopeless. There was no way she could ever be with Bakura. Marik would massacre her for a start.
The coldness of being a Vampire seemed ten times worse now. Ever since she had developed this obsession so very much like love. She was cold all the time. Cold, freezing, ice. Especially when Yami Marik looked over his shoulder at her with that expression of indifference and superioroty. Something Bakura never did to anyone.
Yes, comparison of two people could nearly always lead to falling in "love" with the "better" one. And maybe, deep down, Rebbecca knew that. But that deep down place was smothered in a thick layer of Bakura's image. Deluding her of any sensible thought.
She felt the long fingers of her master curl over her shoulder and draw her close to his chest. She could almost feel the bemused smirk burning into her back. She knew Marik knew how she felt. And he enjoyed every second of her suffering. Enjoyed watching her struggle with her workload when her mind slipped into daydreams of Bakura.

Marik had simply chosen her randomly. Insisting to himself that it didn't matter whom he chose, for he was assured that he could train whoever to conform to his rules. No matter the personality.
"Having fun?"
"Immense fun. Life is so much fun when you're sitting on the porch steps with your sire's dog, and your Second's sire whining at you."
Rebbecca felt Marik's fingernails dig into her skin, and winced. She knew the lecture and the shouting and maybe even the beating she would recieve when she got home. Not because she loved Bakura, but because she'd lied to Marik about where she was going. Indeed, not to steal a mortal's blood, but to see Bakura.
"I apologise..." Marik said stiffly, and his nails dug into her shoulder even harder, "I won't let it happen again, Bakura-sama."
Bakura inclined his head, then turned back to look worriedly at the house. He wished that damned gay Vampire would hurry up and finish up with Te'a. He said he wanted to make her look presentable, not like a flipping Princess! Besides, there were only a few more hours till dawn. He didn't want to waste them. Part of the fun of tracking down humans was the chase, which took the longest.
He wasn't hungry himself, he'd just drunk the blood of that old fool. But his sire might just tear the curtains out of their hooks if she were made to wait any longer.
"Marik... I wat to speak to Rebbecca for a moment, if you don't mind. I won't take long."
"Fine. Do with her as you want. I'm done for the night anyway."
The great grey wings flapped the air above his head angrily, and then the blonde-haired Vampire was in the air, looking up to the moon so that the reflection of white shone all over his tanned face. He glanced down at Bakura and his sire only once before taking off up into the stars. His speed wonderful and also alluringly graceful. Like a particularly beautiful bird.

Rebbecca's face was flushed pink, but she didn't say a word. Instead, she bent down on one knee to reach forward and clutch her hat. She jammed it back onto her head, then looked away from the man who was staring at her so intensely. His could see her jaw clench as she gritted her teeth. Her eyes were thankfully dry. Bakura didn't think he could take anymore female tears today.
"Rebbecca... I did that for your own good."
She swung around, her hands fisting themselves, "For my own good! Now I'm in trouble because of you! Now he won't let me see you anymore, just like you wanted!"
Bakura kept his back to her, a fleeting frown marring his forehead. Sighing, he let his fangs slide out and his eyes turn crimson. It was time to teach this foolish girl that he was not what she thought. It was time to make her back off, as he was not the one to have patience for this kind of adolescent nonsense. He was no angel, far from it. And it was time she knew that.

Rebbecca didn't know anything of what he was going to do until it was too late. The Vampire snarled as he spun around, his fangs bared and angry. He pounced on her, knocking her to the ground, and no matter how much she struggled against him it was to no avail. But she wasn't really even trying, she was too shocked for that. The green-grey eyes widened, the thin hands clutched at him as the awful icy teeth sank into the side of her throat. Not gently either. At least when Marik had done it, he'd had a small amount of sensitivity for the pain, and had tried to ease it a little.
But not Bakura, he practically ripped at the skin, tearing it as if it were material. His chin and cheeks got smeared with blood as he delved his mouth down and buried the fangs into her. Her blood didn't taste bad, but it would do nothing for the Hunger. Which wasn't bad either, as he'd already fed.
The girl was barely struggling. She seemed in shock, and the worst she did was just grip onto his bare shoulders. Twitching slightly, stunned that the Bakura she held in such high regard could do this to her. Her fear of him increased every time he shred most of the skin about her neck, splattering blood across his face with the speed of a whip.
Then he threw her away from him in disgust. And the girl skidded across the ashpalt, landing in a pathetic heap, staring out at him as if she were seeing him in a whole new light. Her hat had displaced itself again, but she didn't pick it up this time. Her hand flew shakily to the gaping wound at the side of her neck. The shock of touching it made her pull her fingers away from it hurriedly, so that she could examine the red tips with a disbelieving horror. Her face was now even paler than usual.

"Get out of here." Bakura hissed, allowing his fangs to disappear behind his upper lip once more. Besides the blood all over his face, he looked quite calm and serene.
Rebbecca stared at him for a few more seconds, her mouth parted slightly. He saw a great disappointment behind the pupils of those eyes, reproach and an awful sadness that everyone had to bear. Then, with a yelp of pain, she shoved herself onto her feet, stumbled once, and then ran from him like a human. Forgetting that she could fly.
He wiped the rest of the blood away from his face and flicked it disdainfully on the ground, watching the child go. He'd had to teach her somehow that she was obsessed with an illusion. He regretted that he had to bite her, but as he saw it, there was no other way to engrave it into her memory forever. To make her stay away from him from now on. To see him only as an object of respect, not a friend.
Marik might not be too pleased that he bit her though, as biting one of your kind was the greatest insult. The bite wounds would never heal fully, but would leave the scar forever. And God knew that girl had suffered quite allot of scars already, thanks to Seto Kaiba.

Reaching into his pocket, Bakura pulled out what he intended to give to Te'a when she was ready. It was a velvet, black choker that he had once intended on giving to Cassandra. A small green gem hung in the middle of it, glowing softly from the moonlight. He'd never had a chance to give it to Cassandra, as she'd died before he'd ever had the chance, but Te'a was worthy of it. And besides, it was a mark that she belonged to him until she had gotten the full capacity and handling ability of being a Vampyre.

Seto Kaiba ignored the homeless person who hobbled up to him, begging for money, and carried on walking. His sapphire eyes burned angrily, he looked as if the first person to bother him would lose their head. His grip on his laptop was tight, turning his knuckles white. The memory of Bakura still blazed brightly on his mind, imprinted forever in his memory.
That stupid Vampire would pay. Seto would build a bigger U.V. gun next time. Filled with ten times the punch the original one had had. Even if it took him his whole life long, Seto would destroy that impertinent Vampyre. And he would make him suffer too. Bakura had too much self-confidence. That would definately have to be the man's downfall.
Seto didn't know where he was going, except that he was walking and he needed to think. His fingers grew tighter and tighter on the handle of his suitcase/laptop. His slim boots thudded on the pavement, passing by the clueless people, the people whose problems were nothing compared to his. He had all this shit to think of, all these Vampires to track down. And even though he was a machine genius, he didn't really have a clue what he was doing. But for Mokuba, as long as Seto was alive, he would make mistake after mistake until he had a success. Until he could avenge of the death of his little brother.

But Seto Kaiba didn't have another second to think, for he was suddenly nearly bowled over by a small figure with blonde hair. The sound of sobs met his ears, and Seto - not being patient with tears - was just about to push her away. But when he grabbed onto the child's shoulders, she yelped as if she'd been hurt, and he felt something wet come off on one of his hands.
Seto was not all that unfeeling, but after he'd examined the blood on his fingers, he looked down at the child and recoiled slightly.
Not only was a gaping, ragged wound bitten into the side of her throat, but it was none other than the Vampiress that he'd tortured a few days ago, only to be rescued by Bakura himself. But when she recognised the man, she tried to run away, only Seto wasn't about to let her get away so easily this time. His hands curled around her wrists and he hugged her to his chest.
"My, my, my. Long time no see, child. Do you think you might have something to say this time?"
"I will never say anything." she said, but healf-heartedly, as if her mind dwelled on other matters. Tears were still not quite dry on the young cheeks, the wound still open. Shouldn't it have healed by now?
He peered closer, and saw that it was healing, just awfully slow. It seemed to be hurting somewhat, for she winced with every movement she made, and fresh tears constantly appeared.
"Please let me go. I want to go home. I want to go and curl up and sleep forever."

He pulled a device out of his pocket, and pressed it to her throat before she could even think of moving. It looked very much like a dagger, except that instead of a blade, there was a jet of light, very much like a lazer. Maybe like the Life Savers in Star Wars. Except it wasn't a knife, or a lazer, or a star saver. The lazer part was just a U.V ray, very strong. Or at least strong enough to disintegrate her.
Rebbecca didn't struggle much. Which was strange since the last time Seto'd seen her, she'd put up one hell of a fight. Especially for one so young in both human and Vampire years. He respected her for that. But he would kill her if necassary. Because the shit who killed his little brother hadn't much cared about the youth of the eleven year old.
"I know where the favourite hit-spot is for your master and his friend, Rebbecca-san." Seto said, dangerously soft, "We're going to go pay them a visit. Wouldn't you like that?"
The eyes widened, "How could you possibly know?"
"Pure luck actually, if you really have to know. I just happened to be there when I saw your master and his white haired buddy eyeing a blonde slut in a black leather skirt."
"You can't attack them when they want to feed. Seto-sama, please don't. You'll get both me and yourself killed. You know it."
"Then I'll have died in good cause, yeah? Besides, what concern is my life to you? So just shut up and let me take things on from here."

Rebbecca squeaked, and the reason why was apparent. Because just then, a shirtless Bakura walked into the road she and Seto were in. Followed by Te'a Gardner, who didn't look herself at all.
Te'a had her hair done up above her head in an elegant style that she obviously didn't feel comfortable with. Diamond earrings dangled from both ears, only an inch from brushing her shoulders. Rebbecca took her eyes off Bakura for a few seconds, staring open-mouthed at the almost transformed, dazzling Te'a.
Bakura's sire had on a truly feminine, white shirt with flared sleeves. The top button was open, displaying an open throat, and a black choker around it. The green jem sparkling in the streetlamps.
A black skirt reached the girl's knees, and she wore the most flimsy pair of high heels Rebbecca'd ever seen. And it seemed Te'a thought so too, for she didn't seem able to walk very well. She kept on stumbling, and had to catch onto Bakura for balance. The grimace on her face showed that she didn't appreciate her new stunning look, but would rather be in more practical, comfortable clothing.
But all Rebbecca could see was the exasperated but fond look Bakura gave her when he righted her up. The kind of look that he'd never given Rebbecca. All the expressions that he'd ever given the thirteen year old had included weariness, annoyance and sometimes even anger.
But not when he looked at his sire, when he looked at Te'a she could sometimes even see a soft fondness and understanding that he didn't show for anyone else. No, he wasn't in love with Te'a or anything like that, which was a relief - at least to Rebbecca - but he did share a kind of bond. Almost like a father viewing a rather a amusing but quite adorable child.

But to Rebbacca, Te'a didn't look adorable in the slightest. Suddenly, the feminine looking clothing which to her eyes had been rather stunning a few moments ago, were repulsive now. They made her look like a high-class slut. And that was all there was to it. Yami Bakura must be off his rocker to even spare such a creature even a glance. Rebbecca knew that if she had been his sire, she would have served him on bended knee, and followed his every order.
The U.V dagger at her throat twitched, and Seto pulled her into the nearest alleyway out of sight of Bakura. His left hand came up and smothered Rebbecca's mouth and half of her nostrils till she felt she might just die of the smell of the hand cream the rich boy used. She wasn't going to scream anyway. She could take care of herself. Besides, she didn't want Te'a seeing her all helpless like this.
"Mmmm... I don't think it'd be a good idea for the idiot to see me like this." Seto mused gruffly, "If he would lead me to more Vampyres I might be happy."
Rebbecca thought that if she could lead Seto to destroying Marik, perhaps she would be adopted as a second sire by Bakura because he and Marik were close friends, and Yami Bakura might feel he owed it to Marik.
But she was just a kid, even if she had been a human and allowed to age roperly she would still be just a kid. She'd never killed or helped someone else kill anybody in her life. And the guilt of it would drive her insane. She could feel it in her gut.
But this was Bakura.
Surely she would do anything for him?

Bakura and Te'a didn't see Seto following them stealthily. Yami Bakura had other problems, one being how you could look digified with a literally unbalanced girl hanging on your shoulder for support every two seconds. The flimsy high heels were obviously meant for someone not only with grace - which surprisingly Te'a did possess when she wasn't tripping over coffins - but also a great poise and high concentration.
"What I wouldn't give to walk barefoot." Te'a said, looking as if the world had ended, "People are staring at me, and you didn't want to attract attention."
"Oh, don't worry." Bakura said, placing his arm under her armpits to keep her standing, "The attention from those horny bastards is just the type I want you to have. Because one of those men are going to be your dinner... see any of them that you'd prefer?"
She looked at him, aghast, "You mean, I have to pick a person... like picking fruit from the Supermarket?" her hands flew to her mouth, "These are people we are talking about, Bakura!"
"They're our food. And if you want to carry on feeling this thirst intensify, then by all means, you're welcome to starve yourself."
"The man with the black tie." she bowed her head, looking at the ground, "I'll take him. He looks like he might be..."
"...an asshole"
The man in the black tie winked at Te'a as she passed him, careful to avoid looking Bakura in the eye. He was muscular and lean, you could see that from a mile away, even from beneath his fancy white suit. His hair was nicely cut to compliment his face, he had heavy brow ridges and large, but slitted dark eyes. The subtle smell of aftershave followed in his wake.
"You're right... he does look rather tasty. I do admire your taste in food."
"But, food can't be the be all and end all for Vampires... can it? I'm sure food is just a part of life to the average Vampire?"
"Yes... and no. I guess Night Walkers take more time to appreciate their meals than humans do. And the best thing is, you don't have to pay one damned thing for what you eat."
Te'a clutched at her black choker, the skin around her neck and her face growing white in contrast. And yet men were still eyeing her with what they thought as an unobtrusive manner. But both Te'a and Bakura had keener senses than they realised, and could see their advances from a mile off. Bakura looked amused, Te'a felt slightly sickened that such old men would look at her.

"I'm going to let you go now. You are going to walk smoothly over to the man with the black tie. And I want to see how natural you are at Hunting. If you are completely useless, I will have to help you."
"You want me to try this... on my own?"
"What? Do you think I'm always going to be at your side, helping you? I might die one day, princess. And then no one's going to help you unless you're still a fledgling. In which case Marik will adopt you. But if you're past into adulthood, you're on your own. And the sooner you learn to take care of yourself, the better."
"I can't walk on these heels" she said desperately through clenched jaws.
"You can walk perfectly fine, and you know it. Stop faking it for all your worth, because I can read minds."
The stare she gave him had a calculated blankness behind it that he didn't like. As if she were brooding something in that dark mind of hers. Her innocence was slipping fast now, and Bakura could not afford to underestimate her. Women, especially the pretty ones, could be witches in pantyhose. But that didn't mean that he would crumple under her glare either. She was a mere fledgling. Her strength was nothing.
"I don't know how" she said finally, with something like desperation behind gritted teeth, "Bakura, I don't even know how to flirt!"
"You don't have to flirt... just talk to him as you would with your friends. He's a horny bastard anyway, he'll see any friendly talk as an invitation, so it won't be hard to lure him to a private room."
This didn't seem to make Te'a feel better. On the contrary, the blood drained from her face so fast she swayed on her feet - nothing to do with the heels - and had to press a palm to her brow.
"You mean I'm going to have to bite him without you there? I can't do it, Bakura!"
"Fine, then go ahead and starve. I'll just enjoy myself down here and watch you suffer."

Something fine and noble in Te'a seemed to crumble right before his eyes. As if her real personality was withering away to make way for the personality he wanted her to have. But more than that, not just her nature, but her sanity seemed to erode slightly right before his eyes, though she fought manfully to control hysteria. She collapsed onto one of the white chairs that dotted the outside of the Hotel and put her face in her hands, taking great lungfuls of unneeded air down, obviously trying to calm herself down. Her legs were so limp they looked as if they belonged to a ragdoll. Her face as pale as the white wall behind her.
Her fingernails dug into her forehead until little blood rivulets ran down to the bridge of her nose, and Bakura had to resist the frightful urge to lean forward and lap it up.

Flash. Flash. Flash.
Images in her head. She couldn't think straight. She could feel herself shivering. Could feel the goosebumps rising up along her mostly bare arms. But she could only feel that at a very distant but insistant level. Most of her mind was spewing out pictures as if it was tired of holding her past from her, of keeping the deep dark secret of her past from her.
The masked man was hurting her bad. He was sinking long teeth into her shoulder.
Bakura! It had to be Bakura! Who was behind the mask? Who? Who?
She's not yours, Bakura! She's-
MINE!
Yugi pulling off his mask and leering at the little Te'a, a bloody knife held in hand. Her dead hamster in the other.
She's not yours Bakura! She's mine.
Mine. Mine. Mine.
Oh, now her head was throbbing badly, a headache seeting in on her temples and aching so bad. But not as bad as the horrible ache in her chest.
It was YUGI. Yugi who'd hurt her when she was a little girl. The boy she trusted and loved more than anything. It was him. He was a Vampyre, he did it. Her best friend had done this to her. Little Innocent Yugi. Oh God, it couldn't be true! It couldn't possibly be true. If it was, Te'a thought she might never carry on with her life again.

But her brain wasn't lying. It had hurled out the information with alarming speed that took the great unneeded breath from her, and made her have to let go of her forehead to clutch her knees in agony.
She's not yours Bakura! She's mine.>
She was his. Her mother had belonged to him. Hadn't he mentioned her mother...?

She didn't want blood anymore. At least not now. The ache that had settled in her chest was so much worse than the craving for blood.
Cold, you're all cold, Te'a.
Oh no, he hadn't wanted her to be cold. He wanted to haunt her till she died. And that was why he looked at her with such disgust when he'd found out what she was. And he could survive in sunlight because of Yami Yugi. Dark Yugi. He could survive whilst the Pharaoh was in the soul room of theiur interlinked minds. And she hadn't seen it. She'd loved him, and she hadn't seen it as he subtly controlled her life. As he made himself of utmost importance to her. So that he'd become first priority. And she'd been a fool. He wasn't her friend. He just liked to own her, pretend he was so sweet when he was a-
"Te'a. For Godsakes... luring some guy to a bedroom to eat isn't that disturbing. Pull yourself together."

Her lips moved, but no sound came out, only a dry squeak that brought on floods of tears. She sagged on the astonished Bakura's shoulder and sobbed as though her heart would break. The navy eyes were bleak, and the lips wouldn't stop stretching into all sorts of forms of despair. She clung to Bakura like she was a little girl again. Because she didn't belong to Bakura. She was Yugi's. That was why Yugi had been mad. Because Yami Bakura had stolen what had rightfully belonged to him. And Te'a had been a fool. Such a goddamned FOOL!
"Stop crying you pathetic lump. I'm telling you to go after the man with the black tie. NOW!"
"You knew." she choked, her hand flying up to the black choker around her neck, giving her hand a shock that made it fly back to her chest. She hugged her arm there as if it were broken, and she let out another half-dry sob that showed so acurately how she felt. Half-dry. Wrung out. Tired.
"You knew who owned me, Bakura. You knew and you didn't tell me. Why didn't anyone tell me? Bakura, he was supposed to be my friend!"
Bakura grabbed her by the shoulders and peered desperately into her face, "Of course I knew he owned you, Te'a! I don't know what he did to you and your mother in the past. But I know that he'd make you life hell, and that was one of the reasons why I chose you. You needed to get away from him. So he no longer owns you. I do. I do, Te'a."

Te'a flapped her hands frustratedly through the air, looking desperate to smash something to vent out the awful buzzing that coursed through her veins. She gripped onto Bakura's shoulders for just a second, pushed herself onto her feet and started to run. She smudged the tears away with the back of her hand, and frowned in concentrating to think of nothing but to run. It helped slightly. The great sadness was still undoubted there, but shoved temporarily to the side. And running was good. The cool air against her cheeks no longer bothered her so much. It made her think of how cold she was instead of thinking about Yugi, unmasked and with her little rodent in his hand, all bloody and dead.
And now Dan was in her head, she pushed him out so roughly it almost made a twinge of guilt surface. She didn't want Dan in her mind. Didn't want images of her and Yugi laughing and lolling under the tree on a picnic blanket. Little innocent Yugi. That same little innocent Yugi with a bloody knife held in his hand, and a huge smirk befouling his features.
Cold. You're all cold, Te'a.
bad.>
And she belonged to him. She couldn't believe that she was his property. That he could speak of her in such a way in front of Bakura. With no shame at his actions. When she loved him. She'd spent a good portion of her life with him, and now the thought of him betraying her trust like that was worse than the thought of him cold and dead.

She ran right past Seto and Rebbecca, who watched her but didn't say anything to attract her attention. Especially as Te'a was half stumbling on heels that were certainly not made for running. They seemed to want to collapse at any moment, and she was pretty sure they would soon. One of the stupid flimsy heels would snap and she would probably trip and fall face-first into the ashpalt. But that didn't matter. No, not after being dropped from 500 metres in the air. Nope, a little graze across her face. What would it matter if it happened? That would heal in a second, but the insitant ache and turmoil in her mind felt as if it would never heal.
said Seto's voice in her head,
She didn't argue with the voice, squeezing her eyes tight shut, she pumped her arms and accepted the freedom of running. Even when she lost the whole of the feeble high heel and had to kick the other off before continuing. She wasn't running from Bakura, she was beyond fearing him. It was the insistant thought
<<i>I'm owned>
that was scaring her to death. She didn't want to think anything right now. She just wanted to run into the future until she could run no more. And since she no longer needed to breathe, running was a whole ton easier. When pains started to shoot up the back of her legs, she could ignore it with supreme ease. Sweat evaporated off her brow from the cool breeze, her fingers clenched themselves into fists. She was free for now. Free from worry, from being owned. From being clueless her entire life long. She was free. And right now, that was the most beautiful word she knew.

Bakura hadn't persued her for very long, because his nose caught the very familiar scent of a certain so-called Vampire Hunter as he passed. He stopped running immediately, unaware that all the people were staring at him in his bare-chested glory. He could sniff out Rebbecca too, particularly the smell of her shoes, which smelt as if they'd been polished lately.
He skidded to a halt and sniffed the air carefully, forgetting temporarily about Te'a. Still not noticing that people were now openly gawking at him, and feeling the tingle down his spine that told him that a pair of eyes were resting on his back. But when he whirled around to confront whoever dared to face him, he came up with nothing but more staring humans. Now only partly aware of their insistent gazes and wishing they would carry on with their business so he could find the Seto Kaiba easier. It was hard to smell someone out in a place so full of overcrowding smells.
Damn it, you stupid Hunter. I'm not in the mood for your bullshit.
He pulled his tangled hair behind his back and narrowed his eyes, squinting into the far corners of where normal humans couldn't see. At least not from where he was standing. He took one step forward, still sniffing at the air uncertainly, smelling the freshly washed smell of Seto-fag's hair, and the slightly acrid scent of recently buffed nails. By the direction they were coming from wasn't a hundred percent clear.
And he had to be careful. Seto was watching him, and if Bakura tried to move too fast, the stupid human might panic and run away with his second's sire.

Bakura didn't care much for Rebbacca, but he did care for Yami Marik. The girl had been his choice at a sire, supposedly loyal and on the verge of exiting fledglinghood. And even though Bakura himself would never have chosen someone like her, she did belong to Marik. And it was Bakura's heavy duty as a Leader to keep his group together, tiring as it was.
Sometimes, Bakura just wanted to give up the bloody group to become a loner, as many Vampires chose to do. But he had to admit to himself, he liked being a leader, he liked to control and manipulate. Without the weight of responsibility on his shoulders constantly, life would be incredibly boring. At least to him. His cult was like his family, whether that sounded laughable or not.
Rebbecca looked like she could very well be a loner herself, though. Yami Marik disagreed, and he supposedly knew her best. But Bakura wasn't sure. To him, she constantly looked like she was acting for all she was worth... but then... shouldn't he trust her more after that whole thing with Seto? She could have spilt everything she knew about Marik, but instead chose to suffer.
She was a pain, but a wiser choice at a sire than met the eye. She was strong, and he gave her the benefit of the doubt that she was loyal, she was respectful and quiet (when she wasn't ranting about her so-called love for Bakura) and followed every one of Marik's orders to the letter.
"This had better be quick, I have my own despairing childer to take care of." he muttered darkly, feeling he might gladly wring both Rebbacca and Seto's necks for them.

People had stopped staring so much at him now, so it was mostly safe to take a few hesitant steps forward, sniffing the air with puzzlement. He could smell the sun! It was nighttime for Christ's sake! It had to be another one of that damned Hunter's useless contraptions that he was using to save the brother he'd lost to a Night Walker. Quite pathetic really.
Bakura felt he might have to be in a very good mood this time to leave Seto unscathed. At very least he would leave the stupid Hunter bleeding most terribly and in great pain.
The night air froze the skin on his chest even more, but Bakura ignored it for now. Soon, he would be home with Te'a, sleeping in a coffin (he felt melo-dramatic today) with silk sheets pulled up to his chin. Drifting off into blackness with the pleasant thought that he had caused Seto anguish equal to the irritation Bakura himself felt at the moment. That was... if he managed to save Rebbecca and Te'a in one night.
"Jesus Marik. Why am I always the one to go running off to save your goddamned sire? It's getting goddamn tiring... no wonder the runt's infatuated with me."

He caught a definate smell of aftershave and looked up sharply. Taking a few quick steps in the direction he was sure Seto was in now, he fell into a nearly concealed alleyway where the hotel seemed to have its rubbish stored. And there, in sweaty, tussled glory, stood Seto Kaiba with the little runt. Breathing hard and staring at Bakura, his U.V dagger kept threateningly close to Rebbecca's throat.
"You're starting to annoy me, Seto-kun."
Seto glared, "Annoy you? Heh! Really now? After one of your kind killed my brother, you stand there and talk of how annoyed you are... you really are a worthless piece of shit."
"That's the second time you've grabbed my second's sire... it's getting tiring, and I need to take care of my own too. Would you mind letting her go, and moaning about your brother to someone who cares?"
Bakura's reward for this was to watch the bright dagger cut into the flesh above the girl's eye. The skin peeled away from the knife, as if scared, retreating, shrivelling, turning black.
Rebbecca shrieked, and her limp hands tautened, the fingers stiffening into something like claws until she could clutch onto the material of Seto's trench-coat. Her face growing even more bloodless than before from pain. Bakura could see her shivering from where he was standing.

But Bakura couldn't feel all too angry at the runt. Not when his great brown eyes hovered over the scars along her face and neck from that U.V torch Seto had used on her, then lingered to the newest wound. The great jet-black burnt piece of skin above the right eye. He couldn't be angry at a girl who only looked thirteen, with the eyes of an angel, and a loyalty that was highly respectable.

"I could stand here and play with you, mortal. But right at the moment, my own sire is very upset. I would so hate to let her get away. Fledglings can be so abysmilly dumb sometimes."
Rebbecca's eyes filled with tears. But Bakura ignored them. She was not his responsability. And when he got her home to Marik, he was going to have to give his second a sound talking to about how he should look after his childer. Bakura couldn't run after her all the time, saving her from the big bad Hunter. She either had to learn common sense, or Marik would have to protect her.
Seto's brow puckered. Most often, his dark eyebrows were hidden by his heavy fringe of hair, but the wind had blown it out of the way. So that Bakura could see the triangular shaped face better. The diamond-shaped sapphire blue eyes, the sharp nose and blunt chin. The lips thinner than Bakura's own, the cheeks pale, and the lips bloodless.
But the eyes were the most fearsome sight Bakura had ever seen. They seemed to swim like distorted fish in a fishbowl, they were bloodshot and desperately tired. Yet, grim determination rested in them. And Bakura knew suddenly that Seto Kaiba would kill the little fledgling girl who hardly knew what she was doing in order to get that one baby step closer to avenging his brother.
And the silvery wink of madness was in them too. Bakura found himself inwardly groaning at that. Of all times, when his own childer seemed to be on the brink of raving insanity, he had to run into this Hunter who looked as if he might be possessed. Truly, Bakura really didn't have time for this rubbish. He just wanted to get Te'a and make her feed, before retiring home to sleep.

"Are you going to kill her then? What the hell am I supposed to do to stop you, Seto?"
"Get me the Vampire that killed my brother! When I get that son of a bitch I won't ever bother your pathetic race ever again."
"I don't know who the hell killed your goddamn brother, you twat. If I did, I would probably kill him right about now. Do you at least know what he looked like?"
"NO!" the U.V dagger jittered furiously, digging a small line across the underside of Rebbecca's chin, "I just came home that night to find my little brother dying on the floor with bite marks on his neck. I never even got a glimpse of the stupid cuntlicker who bit him! He was long gone by the time I came back."
"It has nothing to do with me, and it has nothing to do with Rebbecca. So let her go so that I can get my own childer. I'm sure you know Te'a, don't you Seto?"
Distracted, Seto's eyes narrowed dangerously, "Yes. I knew you were going to make her your little bitch. And you did. Is the prat crying now, huh? Want to rub her back all better for her?"
"It's none of your business, mortal. And I suggest you let go of Rebbecca. I haven't got the patience for this kind of bullshit. If you make me have to take her from you, you'll be in for a loard of pain. Later on."

The knuckles on the hand clutching the U.V knife were chalk white from the great grip Seto had on the thing. It still shook uncontrollably, but Rebbecca managed to keep her face just centimetres out of its direction. Her own dress was plasetered to her back from the cold sweat this fear had sent her into. She looked pleadingly at Bakura, but he just returned it with a cold glance of his own that chilled her, right down across her spine. Tingling especially on the still healing wound over her shoulder, where he'd bitten her.
Save me. Please.
"What's it going to be, Mr. Kaiba? Going to hand her over to me, or are you going to act like the pathetic loser you really are and force me to take her from you?"
Seto's only response to this was the press the knife more fiercely up against Rebbecca's throat. The mad eyes staring defiantly at Bakura. The desperateness, and the knowledge that if he let Rebbecca go now, he might just burst into tears for the first time in years. Right out in public no less. And that loss of control would be unbearable. Seto Kaiba had been in control of his life since Goziburo Kaiba had adopted him and his brother and taken them in to KaibaCorp. Just because Mokuba was dead didn't mean he had to fall to pieces.
But still, the 18-year-old couldn't stand the thought of letting Rebbecca go. He couldn't fail again. He'd go crazy. Right here on the streets. And he didn't want to. How could he avenge his brother if he was carted off to the nuthouse? Him, classified as a genius from a very young age. He was not going to let go of Rebbecca for the world.

And where was Te'a whilst all this hanky panky was going down? She was clutching her knees and gasping in great gulps of air. Her mind was buzzing with uncomprehending thoughts of panic. The sort of thoughts that you only sort of paid attention to. She was too busy staring down at her bare feet, the little scrapes and cuts healing with that painful slowness which was a trade mark of fledglings.
But she wasn't concentrating on her feet. She was becoming paralized with fear as she realised that she'd run away from the secure bright lights of the hotel, and was now, in almost total darkness.
She couldn't move now. She just crouched there, knowing the shadows were swirling around her, getting ready to eat her for real this time. They were slow, but she could feel that if she tried to run toward the light, their speed would improve drastically. And the thought of being so easily chased down was awful. Te'a wished now that she hadn't run. Even if Yugi had... owned her.
her mind roared at her,

And still the shadows swirled mercilessly around her. And Te'a was scared that even though they couldn't kill her, they would still eat her. Just as they had tried to do all those years back until Yugi told them forefully to stop. How the Shadows had come right off the wall and curled around her arm like a thick black whip. She remembered trying to scream, but being unable to. And Yugi's eyes bore into hers all the while. Daring her to cry. Wanting her to cry. To bawl like a baby and fling herself into his arms, begging for his mercy. For release of this pain and madness even if it had to be through death.
But she hadn't. Even as a little girl she hadn't begged for his mercy. She just winced and gasped when the awful sting of the Shadow vibrated through her arm. As if it were gnawing on her with stubby but sharp teeth. Sinking them into her flesh hard enough to make tears come involuntarily to her eyes.
And to think. The Yugi that had so tormented her at such a young age, became one of her firmest friends later on in life, when they met in high school. The very same Yugi who'd saved her from Hikari Marik when he had her tied to a chair with her death looming just above her head. The very same Yugi who had held her hand and tried to

help her with her nyctophobia. This Yugi whom should win a goddamned Nobel Prize for his superb acting.

Te'a felt as if she were going mad. Like the walls of her sanity were crumbling around her to dust. As if Yugi were the support of her pillars. And now that he was gone, that support was gone. So that not even the Shadows brought an icy shaft of fear into her chest. The pain of losing someone so important was worse. And the thought that wouldn't leave her

pounded into her temples and made every muscle in her neck stand out straight. Why hadn't her mother said something to Te'a about Yugi? Why had her mom even smiled and offered him cookies when he came over to visit? Why had she allowed Te'a alone in the room with him? Had her mom also forgotten that the boy who looked sixteen had once distressed her? Had any bloody memories he left behind been wiped clean. Had her mom's brain also shut down all the images to prevent insanity? That was the only explanation possible. Te'a's mom was a loving, kind person.She would never not tell her own daughter about a maniac like Yugi Moto. And that maniac was even worse than Bakura, and all this time Te'a didn't even know that. He had finished with her mom. And now it was her turn.
She had to face him. Not yet. But soon. Bakura had handed her weapons to use against him, and was teaching her how to use them. And by God she was going to learn! She was going to dedicate every second of her day to learning how to face someone like Yugi Moto. Even as a Vampyre, she didn't have much of a chance, but she had more of a chance than she would have as a human.


Weird, wasn't it? The one she hated really wasn't that bad. And the one she trusted was a lunatic. Obviously, she was a very bad judge of character. And now it didn't even matter, because the Shadows were twisting and moving as they did when she was little, and she didn't really feel she was ready to face them or Yugi yet. Unless she could continue to pretend that she trusted him. That she was still his friend. But... could she do it? Te'a's feelings had always been easily read before. Why should now be any different? Yugi was probably intelligent himself, and would suspect something almost straight away. But he was close, maybe even watching her for all she knew. Watching his former friend cower in the middle of the road, on one knee. Her face lowered and the eyes hidden under her brown bangs.
Now the Shadow was creeping up her arm just like it had done when she was little. Slithering all the way up, but not stinging as it had done before. Just moving up her arm like a snake, or a hand of a comforting friend. Te'a didn't fight it this time, didn't scream or try to run away. Maybe if it ate her, she would die after all. And maybe that just might be better.
She raised her pale arm in front of her face and watched the Shadow, that wasn't really much of a shadow anymore, as it crept up her arm. Enveloping the skin with grey. Almost as if it were dressing her bit by bit into a negligee. The great navy blue eyes dulled in acceptance. So this was how she was supposed to die after all. Well, it wasn't so bad. Didn't hurt at all.
It was just a little sad though. That she, the person who was supposed to be a born dancer. Supposed to have found a loving husband and had three children, and taking care of her parents in their old age. And who would have her own children take care of her as she grew old. She always imagined that her death would be peaceful, with very little regrets.
But of course, these kind of plans for one's life was a mark of a naive person. And planning a perfect life was just like someone such as Te'a Gardner. The worst was the disappointment. Though at the moment it was subdued and lifeless. She hardly felt it much now. Her eyes were fixed on the Shadow still curling up her arm, nearing her shoulder.

"I'm sorry you had to find out this way, Te'a. I was trying so much harder for you than I did your mother."
Her back stiffened, but that was the only response she gave to show she'd heard him at all. Her concentration was fixed on the Shadow, which had recoiled off her slightly at the sound of Yugi's voice. The silky feeling that it left across her skin was lovely. As if it were really made of negligee material. And it was warm too... warm as the dog she'd left with Ko. It reminded her of daddy, when she had a bad dream. Daddy would give her a mug of cocoa, and a hot water bottle. Then he'd turn on her bedside light and sit with her till she fell asleep. Because he cared. The best father she could have ever asked for, lost to her now.
"Why wait so long to kill me then, Yugi? Why block the memory of what you did to me? Why not just kill me then, when I was little and completely helpless?"
Yugi crouched next to her, not answering. The great big dark purple eyes surveying her new feminine looking face almost mournfully. Then he placed a hand on her arm, allowing the Shadow to creep up into his fingers, stroking it softly as he watched her face. And he still looked so adorable. So innocent. As if hurting somebody was the last thing on his mind.
But still, the picture of him looming over her, knife in hand, was awful. The leer on the beautiful face contorting it till it was ugly. And that couldn't be her Yugi. Her Yugi was kind, sweet, understanding.
"I don't want you dead." he grunted, "I didn't want your mother dead. And I didn't want you dead either. And yet you are."
"I love you."

His eyebrows puckered at the flat way she said that. Her gaze still fixed on the Shadow that rolled over his fingers, and up around his neck. But he made no comment on what she'd said. After all, she had known him for years. It was understandable, if totally stupid. The girl would have to know her place. She didn't even know who she was talking to. Didn't even know that Bakura himself would bow before him.
Speaking of which, Bakura would have to learn a hard lesson himself. Taking Te'a out of his ownership was a pointless thing to do. The white-haired Vampyre thought he knew pain. Yugi sneered. It was about time the little shit really knew what pain was like. Yugi could take Te'a away from him as easily as he'd taken Cassandra.
Tears brimmed in Te'a's eyes, "I love you." she said again, as if it were vitally important that he understand this. Her navy eyes fixed on his, wide and meaningful. Inconsolable and weak.
Yugi reached out with his fingers and stroked back her thick hair away from her face, "Honey-bunch, you don't know what you're saying. By the suggestion of your thoughts I think you've found out everything about me. Don't deny, it's written all over your wretched face."
"You control Shadows," she said blankly, "You want them to eat me whole. It wanted to when I was little, didn't it? That's why it stung... it was tasting me. But you called it off."
"It's not a shadow" Yugi said softly, taking his hand away from her head and tickling the thing around its middle, making it wiggle, "That's just what you thought when you were a foolish little baby."
"What is it?"
He looked at her solemnly, with those huge dark purple eyes that seemed to pierce her very soul with the sincerity that hid behind them.
"I didn't give it a name. I just call it 'servant'..."
"Is that what you call me?"
"I call you Te'a."
"I love you"
Yugi slapped her.

The sharp pain his hand left over her cheek was brief but shocking. It made the slightly feverish look leave her eyes, to stare at him stupidly. It was quite funny really, and Yugi smiled. A sneer really more than a smile. Or maybe a simper. Possibly both. Te'a wasn't fixed on describing the smile except that it sent chills snaking throughout her entire body.
Where was her Yugi? Where was the gentle friend she'd known? Surely it couldn't be fake. That was unacceptable, he must be in there somewhere. That lovely person must be in there somewhere. Had to be. Because if that character was really only an act, Te'a didn't know how she could carry on living. Or how the world could continue looking as beautiful as it used to.
"Shut up cunt" Yugi said crossly, "You loved the person I showed you. But you don't love me. And you don't have to. When the time comes for you to Serve though... then you must Serve. Don't even pretend you know who you're talking to, because you don't. Anymore than you fool of a mother knew who I was. I tortured you when you were little, remember? I almost drove you insane."
"But you didn't. Or maybe that was because you didn't want to."
"Of course I didn't want to."
Yugi grabbed her arm and hauled her up onto her feet, pulling her so close that her cool forehead touched his. And his was not cool. It was as warm as it had ever been.

Warm like any human, any animal. She pulled back, her face aghast. She grabbed his hand, felt across his cheeks, down his neck, down his chest right inside his t-shirt. Like some strange kind of feel-up, when the one doing the touching looked as if she might have found that the touchee had leprosy or some uncurable skin disease. If anyone had been watching, they would have found it decidedly odd.
Warm, warm. Everything throbbing with life. And yet Vampire teeth drooped down his lower lip. What the hell was he? How could you be alive and a Vampire at the same time? Was this the reason why her dear Yugi Moto was so respected within his race... because he was a live Vampire? It didn't make any sense.
But Yugi carried on talking as if what she were doing was perfectly natural. "I didn't want you to go insane. But you were your mother's child, your mom wasn't good enough. But you were."
"I don't understand!"

"Of course you don't. Your mom didn't tell you anything, did she? And neither did Bakura? In fact, he tried to stop you from finding out, didn't he? As soon as he searched your mind and couldn't get into your old memory. But he knew it was me. And that just confirmed his suspicions about what I was up to. Then he really tried to stop me."
Te'a let her forehead rest against his again, letting out a sigh that tickled his nose, "You wanted mom to have a daughter, didn't you? So you set her up with dad and..."
"No. I didn't set her up with anyone... well, I did, in a way."
"I still don't understand. You're not making any sense to me, Yugi. You really aren't."
Yugi smiled, the old angel smile that made him look like the world's sweetest boy. Then he backed up a bit taking both her hands, the shadow curling around his neck like a scarf, "You're not ready to hear any more, Te'a. When I decide that you deserve to know, I'll tell you. And don't bother to ask Bakura either," he added, giving her a sharp look, "because he doesn't know either. And if he did, he wouldn't tell you anyway. He knows how much shit he'd be in if he did. Cling to him, Te'a. What a loving master he would make for you, as he'd never give up something that was his responsability."
"Yugi, tell me what you're talking about!"
He let go of her hands, still grinning like a cat. The Shadow about his shoulders ever-twisting, like a restless child. "Go back to your master, Te'a. He's having a bit of trouble with an old friend of yours."
"I don't want Bakura." she said, almost pleading now, "I want you to tell me that this is all a sick joke. Please tell me that you weren't a lie all this time. I don't think I could take it.
"You can take it. And you will."

And now, Te'a wasn't afraid of the dark anymore. No Shadows were there to eat her. Her biggest fear had been right in front of her all through her highschool years. And Bakura had saved her from that.
In fact, the dark seemed like nothing but a protective blanket that hid you from your fears. Daylight was now the killer, and her best friend too. She had been born for this wretched purpose only, and the mere thought of it was making her mind spin. If she didn't push it away, she'd most likely pass out.
Her legs felt like jelly. How could those eyes be capable of such madness, when Bakura's insane eyes were not as bad as the mind behind those orbs that belonged to Yugi. Evil and twisted. A mind covered in gunk and slime and negativity. Was this really her Yugi? This the real one, not the friendly, supposedly honest and open one. But this malevolent, sinister bastard that should be forced fed his own heart.
And her legs collapsed back under her, Yugi chuckled and planted a smooth kiss on her forehead, before turning and starting to walk away. Te'a wanted to lunge out and grab him, but controlled herself with difficulty. Then her chin wobbled, and her eyes threatened floods of tears. But she reached out a hand to clasp at a lamp pole next to her (the light didn't work), shaking all over.
It took several tries to get onto her feet. And when she did, she had to lean against the metal rod, because it felt like she was on those flimsy high heels again.

And right now, Bakura wasn't here to

drag her back home. Yugi had said something about Bakura having some kind of conflict with one of her friends? Te'a didn't have many friends now, unless you counted Ryou or Yugi. And the two of them weren't capable of irritating Yami Bakura now for obvious reasons. And Te'a, who felt a fierce sense of gratitude toward Bakura at the moment, knew she would have shift her butt to help him.

She's not yours, Bakura. She's-

She's-

She didn't have time to stand here, thinking about unimportant things. She had to find whoever was bothering her master, and get rid of the problem. Because no problem seemed as great to her as Yugi at the moment. Anything else had to be easy to handle compared to this monster stress. She wished Yugi might have killed her when she was little, for at least it would have been easier to face.
Breathing in that nasty way of hers, she wrapped both arms around the lamp post as if it were a lover, then pressed her face against it as if it were her daddy. When she'd been sad about something, daddy had always hugged her tight, so that she had to bury her face in his chest, whether it was bare or if it was swathed in a thick jersey.
But this goddamned pole wasn't daddy. It was cold and hard and unloving of anything, unaware of her presence. She would find no comfort in standing here, pretending it was her father. Usless, useless dreams. Those days were over. Now she was a childer to one of the most powerful Vampires in existance today. Bakura wasn't the only one with responsabilities, she also had things that were under her care. For one, it was the right thing to do to go back and help Bakura with whatever was facing him. And then apologise, and then thank.
But the thing was, Te'a couldn't move. She felt as if she might lie forever with her face pressed to the hard metal that was starting to imprint itself into her skin. The mere thought of running back all the way she came was exhausting. And her mind didn't have enough will power to push her up and make her help. She wanted to stay here forever, pretending daddy's muscly arms were wrapping around her.

"Miss Gardner?" it was said with an amused smirk, and Te'a lifted her head, looking blearily for who had spoken. Eventually she found Ko with her dog in his arms, staring appraisingly at her. His bulging black eyes seemed to laugh as Yugi's used to, and that just made more tears leak out the corner of her eyes. Even though he didn't look anything like Yugi Moto, his gentle face was brazenly driving her mad.
Ko reached up and pulled lazily at his long, curly brown hair, still looking at her when she looked away. Then he reached her and took a careful hold of her arm, lowering himself till his face was on her level. The eyelined pitch black eyebrows sunk down into a frown of concentration, as if he were trying to imprint her image on his brain for all eternity.
"Dan sent me to get you. He knew you'd be feeling weak from lack of blood, so I'm to bring you back with me. He has some mortal you can eat."
So this was why she couldn't move? Because she was thirsty? She supposed that was right, but the pain from Yugi was worse. She hardly noticed the craving now.
"Bakuuuura..." she gasped, clutching at her side.
"He's fine." Ko raised one of his brilliant eyebrows, smiling, "If you think he can't take care of that twerp... then I don't know why you respect him."
"I don't know what twerp he's up against, I just know he's up against someone."
"It's that weird Hunter with the shaggy hair in his face. His little brother was killed by one of us."
"Seto Kaiba!"
"Something like that, yeah. But don't worry about that, fledgling... Bakura's taken care of worse than a stupid human idiot like that, trust me. Nearly all Hunters have a sob story of some kind."

Te'a stared at him as if she'd never seen him before. The way he could speak of Seto's life, as if it were nothing. She couldn't believe it. True, she didn't like Seto Kaiba, but she did sympathise with him. And besides that, she could just picture Ko, in a frock coat as he was wearing now, over the same pink shirt with the high collar and frilly cuffs, telling everyone that Te'a Gardner thought her life was such a sob story. All because she discovered her best friend was a traitor. And then the people he told would snigger at her for being such a baby, when they knew nothing of how it felt.
"His little brother died!" she said, in the most scandalised tones she could manage. She backed up from Ko, even though her body protested its weariness loudly, by making her knees shake uncontrollably.
"I had to watch my mortal family die too." Ko said with a shrug, "...'cept maybe Dan. But still, the two of us watched our family die out after only a few generations."
"Are you a Demon Vampire too?"
"No... I'm just a third generation Vampire. I don't know what Dan is so don't ask. He refuses to tell anyone about how he became a mixture of two species, or anything about himself really."
"Yes. I did get that impression" Te'a said softly, pressing her fingertips to her forehead in an attempt to clear the fog that swirled aimlessly around in there.
"He's not a bad guy though. He does take special care of fledglings... as young Vampires are the ones picked on most by Hunters." Ko sighed and reached out his hand for hers, then frowned when she backed away from the profferment as if he were holding a taser that would shock her all the way up to her shoulder. Funny child. But Ko had no time for fledgling nonsense.
"Come on, Te'a. I know you're stressed, but that's just because your blood is getting weak from your own lack of feeding. If you don't get a human, that blood will start to dry up."
"...dry up?"
"Yes. And once it's dried up, you'll go crazy, and be fit for nothing more than being killed by a stake. And I assure you, that's something Bakura doesn't want to do. Especially as he just found you."

But the bulging black eyes were scary, made almost hawk-like by the darkened eyebrows in fact. And the obvious gaiety in them was so like Yugi that it made that familiar pain in her chest as if her lungs were tightening from smoking too much over a long period of time. She reached out to grab the pole again, desperately not wanting not wanting to go with Ko and his brother, to kill some poor mortal.
And when he tried to take hold of her wrist, she pulled back so sharply she lost her balance and went falling to the ground, very undignified, with the skirt that Ko himself had picked rucking up till the immodesty was enough to make her flame red. Even in present panic.
"I'm not hungry. Go, and I'll go back with Bakura... he says that he's got something for me to eat back home."

Ko sighed. Dan had warned him that fledglings were especially delicate before their first feeding. And they were apt to fight you because they were scared, and they would stop understanding how badly the thirst was hurting them. Their eyes would blur from dizziness, but they wouldn't be able to pass out. When they didn't want to drink blood, most didn't even go insane from blood drying, most just grew so weak that they could no longer move, and would lie helplessly as the sun rose and blasted them into oblivion. Which was one very important factor of a master's job. Teaching wasn't just something they did for fun, teaching could be the thin line between life and death (although that context did sound rather strange when in reference to Vampires.
"Come on, Te'a" Ko tried to take her by the wrist again, noting that that glazed look was creeping over her pupils again, making it look as if she were looking through him instead of at him. Her thoughts were just a puzzled daze, barely noting the discomfort of a parched throat and the pain that was starting to buzz through her veins. Just the beginning of Vampiric starvation.
"The shadow was a servant" she mumbled, sliding down the length of the lamp post, still hugging it like a loved one, and then she smiled. A wide, maniac smile. But also bitter and tragically pained, "the Shadow was just a servant and mom didn't tell me. She knew the shadow was just a servant and she didn't say... she knows what I am now, she knows and the shadow is a servant."
"Yes honey-bunch" Ko finally managed to lift her up into his arms, resting her face against his chest.

Te'a gripped onto his pink shirt and muttered something that sounded like 'daddy', before bursting into tears. The smile now gone, and the face was so white and pinched it looked as if she might have some terminal illness. Ko didn't know what was the matter with her, and her thoughts made no sense either. He only just barely caught glimpses of shadows and a face much like Te'a's that was probably her mom. And some creep holding up a dead, bloody rodent of some kind. And huge, kind purple eyes that made her chest ache hollowly.
Did fledglings get quite so emotional without blood? Dan hadn't mentioned that she'd act like a lunatic when Ko finally caught her. But she wasn't unbearable, so the man just heaved her up over his shoulder, keeping tight hold of the back of her thighs. The front half of her hung down over his back, with no further struggles in the least.
"It's gonna be okay now, sweetie-pie. We're going to let you drink something, then all the pain will go."
Her voice floated over to him then, dry, brittle and cracked, "Really? You promise?"
"Yes, of course. Dan said it would anyway... you might have a little back-ache for awhile, but it'll fade in time, I swear."

And just as Ko was taking Te'a home, Bakura also had someone slung over his back. A human, by the name of Seto Kaiba. Bakura had warned him, after all, to let Rebbecca go, and the fool had continued to resist, until Bakura had to use his dark gifts to knock the fool out. Bakura didn't want to kill Seto... yet anyway. Things with this Hunter were just starting to be interesting. Even if it earned the little Rebbecca scars that would never go away, all along her face. And the newest blackest one across her eye. One thing though, was that scars of this sort did give you a grudging respect at the very least. It showed her loyalty as a sire.
Rebbecca was next to him now, her head hung down, crying softly, in such a way that Yami Bakura wanted to slap some sense into her. But he supposed she'd gotten enough punishment from Seto anyway, even if it didn't seem to have taught her shit all. She seemed loyal enough, but she was also as thick as a plank.
"I'm sorry, Bakura."
"Don't worry about it." he said gruffly, looking as hard as he could in the other direction. For he felt that if he looked straight into those stupid big eyes of hers, he might want to grab her and shake her till her tiny brain rattled. But he satisfied himself by just staring at the stars, trying to keep his temper in check so that he would say what he had to say calmly. Irate people were rarely taken seriously.

"Rebbecca-san... I want you to go home. And after you go home, I want you to stay with Marik as his sire. When I see you, I want you to ignore me unless I speak to you directly, or should the need arise that we interact. Stay away from me, because I'm sick of saving your ass. I have my own childer to take care of, and because of you, I couldn't help her when she needed me. You'd just better hope to God that she's with one of the cult, or I'll have to tell Marik about you. You're out of fledglinghood, child. You may not be all that experienced, but at least try to act like you have a brain in your head."
As expected, Rebbecca's face went a stark pink, then red of humiliation. He could see she was dying to burst out with something supposedly meaningful, like I love you. But for once, she held her tongue. And for that, Bakura was sorely grateful. Because if she'd said one single word, he would have literally killed her. He was in a black mood, and was in no frame of mind for her childish bullshit.
"Stay out of trouble, kid. I'm not always going to be there to pull you out of it. And neither is Marik."
Rebbecca nodded. For once in her life having been shocked so much that she'd actually stopped crying. Her green-blue eye having been slashed right across with that awful black scar. Also narrowly around her eyelid before crossing over her forehead. The other end finishing just by the bridge of her nose.

"Now I've got to find the other fucking idiot in my life" he growled, hoisting Seto up into a better position against his shoulder, sniffing the air for Te'a's scent. Which wasn't hard to find, since Ko had managed to find her a perfume to wear out. A stupid perfume that had a fuck-me name of some sort. He thought it might be Deadly Sin or Lust or something like that. Admittedly, it did smell nice. Totally feminine. Ko probably wore the damned stuff himself, knowing him. Bakura didn't know how Dan could live with someone like that, he himself would have to shut himself in the bathroom every ten minutes.

He watched as Rebbecca rose into the air, her wings flapping. She said not one more word to him, but he could tell that tears were probably still coursing down her cheeks. Tears. Lord, he'd seen enough tears to last him a lifetime. If not Te'a, then Rebbacca or fucking someone.The next person who dared to cry in front of him were going to lose both their eyes.
Yes, he could be unbearably selfish, unfeeling for the suffering of others. But that was how one grew after years of only doing your duty, of making sure that you always did everything you were supposed to.
Yugi had killed Cassandra, and that was the end of it. There was no point in going on like this, there was no point in wanting everyone to be happy. Those were ideals for someone very young, like Te'a. Someone who didn't know any better.
Now Bakura hadn't been a vampire for the whole 5000 years of his life. Of course not. That had only happened for about a century or so... not that long as a Night Walker.

And Yugi was most certainly not a vampire at all. Te'a just couldn't comprehend that not only vampires had fangs. Yugi had never died, and never would. He could take on any form he wished and live anywhere he wanted. Bakura could never mess with a guy like Yugi. And Te'a's pain was too fresh. He couldn't tell her anything more about Yugi, because it had barely been half an hour since she'd found out. He didn't know how she'd reacted, what she was doing. He could sense she was still alive, but he could not tell what she was thinking. It was too far for him to catch that.
He just watched as Rebbecca flew off into the night. Silent and angry. He liked her hurt, because of all the aggrevation she'd caused him. But that didn't mean he wanted her to have permanent scarring. Something that would haunt her for the rest of her life... death. After all, even when you added her four years of being a vampire, she was still only seventeen. Very young.

Sighing, Bakura dropped Seto to the pavement. Now was not the time to deal with him, though he really wanted to. The twinge of worry about Te'a was eating him alive. He was fond of her at least, even if her constant fears and human-like habits got on his nerves from time to time, she was still a rare personality. In a world where depression reigned supreme, she was a hard find.
And even if he had hated her guts, she was still his sire, still his responsability. He would never drop her for anything. Just as parents should never give up on their children, no matter what kind of problems or disabilities they had, they still deserved love... or care at least.
Rebbecca was last on his priority list. He saved her because she was his second's sire, and that was all. If she had just been some random fledgling, he wouldn't have bothered. It was not his job to go running after fledglings and making sure that they had their fucking asses wiped. Bakura was a leader, not a baby sitter.

Rebbecca became a dot in the skyline, and Bakura turned to look down at the tragic vampire Hunter. Seto's fringe had fallen to the side to reveal his diagonal slash of a scar. And right next to it was a rather large bruise that Bakura had given him when he'd slashed his fist through the air and sent a wave of dark energy whipping out to hit him in the face. Seto was nothing but a particularly stubborn child to Bakura. But it would have been entertaining to watch him struggle against the vampire. To watch him fight what was a losing battle.
But Bakura couldn't do everything for enjoyment. He had to think of his group too, and his sire. Seto may not be able to touch the older vampires, but the younger ones were easy prey. There was Cherise, Rebbecca, and Te'a. They would all perish under that U.V light. He was Bakura, and he could not risk that. His group was his responsibility. He would not abandon their interests just for a little fun.

Damn, just when Seto was getting interesting. Bakura hadn't had any real fun with a human for at least fifty years... unless you counted Te'a... but that wasn't really fun. It was more a little toying with her before he got to his true purpose of making her his sire. But then, this wasn't about fun. Bakura had a duty to fulfil. He wasn't about to neglect it.
"Sorry Kaiba old boy. But at least you'll meet up with your beloved brother, won't you?"
Seto, of course, didn't respond.
"Bakura"
The white haired vampire almost jumped out of his skin. At first thinking that Seto had spoken after all. But on reflection, he realised that Dan was exceptionally good at sneaking up on people without being sensed. He was as silent as a shadow on the wall, and could flow in with the soft movements around him so easily that he couldn't be detected as anything else but a soft breeze. Bakura turned, turned to look into those bottomless blue eyes framed by darkness. But there was no one there. He cast his gaze to the one side, then the other, then above him. Still no one.
He scowled, hoisted Seto up across his shoulder again and began to walk. If Dan had something to say, Bakura wasn't going to play his little games. Dan either had to say it, or get lost.

His empty footsteps echoed over the walls of the dingy alley around him. His boots kicked up bits of dust over the pavement. Bakura wanted to breathe, to see how it felt to be human again. Just for one day, just for a little while. For just a few hours, he wanted to be free from worry. To wipe the hollow black rings around his eyes from lying awake for hours during the day. He wanted to stop crouching in the corner of his basement, knowing that there was no solution. How was he supposed to stop a creature like Yugi from destroying someone like Te'a?
And why was he, Bakura, going through all this just to rescue a sap like Te'a anyway? Was it a simple curiosity... to see why Yugi had chosen her as his victim in the first place?
Maybe so. After all, Yugi wasn't the type of person who just picked someone at random.

But then... Te'a Gardner was the daughter of Yugi's first victim, so maybe that'd be why he'd chosen her. Maybe he'd figured that the girl would be just as interesting as her dear old mum had been. How the hell was Bakura supposed to know? Throughout his hundred years as a vampire, he'd stayed out of Yugi's way. Yugi could crush any vampire that crossed his path, Bakura being one of them.
So, staying away from the guy hadn't actually done him any good on getting to know him. Bakura was a vampire, not a fortune teller. He couldn't know fucking everything! He couldn't protect his sire from that monster should he come forth and decide that it was time for little Te'a to exit this world. He would fight for her life boldly, as was his duty.
But if Yugi wanted her dead. Then he had no chance. She would die.
The wind splattered his hair across his face, he brushed it away impatiently. Having Seto on your shoulder and hair in your mouth was not the way to start your evening, in his opinion. Especially not when you were worried sick about what was happening with your sire, and how she was taking things.
Was she going crazy? Was she ranting and raging? Was she sitting in some dark corner, her eyes wide and her mind blank? Was she trying to graze her wrists open against the stone wall?

"She's fine, Bakura. My brother found her shortly after she ran away from you."
Bakura looked up. Dan was walking beside him as if he'd been doing so all along. But Bakura was completely used to such sudden appearances that he didn't flinch. He knew Dan well enough to know that the guy would weave in and out of lives quickly and silently. Interfering very seldomly. Even when one thought that it was time for him to step in and stop something bad from happening, he didn't always do it.
Dan and Ko were very different... not only from each other but from the rest of the group as well. Dan didn't regard things as good or bad. And even when the most awful dire things were happening, he didn't step in to help. He wasn't an easy way out from problems, he'd said it many times. He'd probably say it many times again. It was up to them to sort out their own disorganised lives.
But Dan looked up at Bakura, his face expressionless but his eyes trying to say something meaningful, "Are you going to tell her?"
"Tell her? Dan, are you crazy?" Bakura sneered, his thin mouth curving upward, "If I tell her why she belongs to him, she'll most likely stab herself in the head with a silver spoon."
Dan met his leader's gaze with a cold one of his own, taking his time before answering. The stiff, proud vampire turned his beautiful eyes away to rest on Seto's face.
"You underestimate her."

"I think you give her too much damned credit. You haven't seen her, you don't know how she is. If you'd witness her crying when the light turns off, or gripping me tight when faced with heights. If you'd seen her running in blind panic from the most mundane thing, you wouldn't have such a high opinion of her nerves, my friend."
Dan waved this away with impatience, "Petty fears... easily overcome. I know a strong vampiress when I see one. And that doesn't include Ursula, Rebbecca or Cherise. Open your eyes. Look past all the human drawbacks she has against her. You will see more than you could have imagined."
The demon-vamire's voice faded, and Bakura watched distantly as he dissolved into the air around him. Melting easily into the shadows and out of sight, his words still ringing in the white-haired leader's ears.
Look past all the human drawbacks she has against her. You will see more than you could have imagined.
What was that supposed to mean? Te'a wasn't powerful. Te'a didn't have much determination or pride. What the hell would Bakura see within her to impress him?

He walked up the alleyway again, knowing that once he got to the demon-vampire brothers' house, Dan would not be there to answer these questions. And even if he were, he wouldn't. Bakura knew that Dan saw things his other vampires missed, Dan was always right when he said something. And as was quietly speculated when Marik wasn't around, Dan would make a hell of a better second-in-command.
Bakura often wondered if the others discussed how much of a better leader the man would be when he, Bakura wasn't around either. He didn't like to think about that.
Dan had a lot of good qualities, and would be able to lead the group into glory. But he was disorganised, nearly always late... and besides, the demon didn't even want to lead.
Gah, if Bakura kept on thinking about things like this, he would drive himself mad. Dan had made himself very clear for once on one thing. He wanted Bakura to tell Te'a exactly why Yugi chose her in the first place, why he owned her, why the ownership had passed to Bakura when he'd turned her.
But that was madness. Dan had to be wrong this one. He didn't know Te'a all that well, after all. Te'a Gardner had already experienced the most shocking news of her life, she wouldn't be able to take something... something far worse. No... especially as she'd once been in love with little Yugi. The truth would be too much for her to bear. He knew it.

"Come on, Te'a. You have to drink." Ko urged, cupping her chin and making her eyes focus on his. But she impatiently pulled away from him, her hands were shaking. She clutched at the little dog as if he were her baby son. Such a sweet little dog really, with big black floppy ears and a lolling pink tongue. It wagged its tail at her attention, letting her scratch absent mindedly behind its ears.
Ko was looking especially good now. He'd fed off the unconscious human a little himself, and it had tinged his pale cheeks with thge faintest pink glow, brought out by his rosy shirt. His long curly ringlets went tumbling down over his shoulders, shining most gorgeously in the candle light that surrounded the room. Te'a stared at him, at his prominent black eyes almost matched perfectly by the eggagerated eyebrows.
There was something very regal about him, even though he dressed slightly on the feminine side of things, you could see a glimpse of Dan's mysterious personality in the man. And for some reason, she also saw a little of Yugi... well... Yugi as a nice guy, not as an evil scheming bastard that was.

Ko got down on his knees, releasing the knocked out human and taking one of her cold hands in his. He felt her twitch, and knew she was still shivering as if she'd just been attacked by fifty armies of ghouls. But he ignored this, and gripped onto her fingers even tighter, staring straight into those lost, pained eyes.
"You have to eat, sweetie. You'll go mad if you don't..."
"I don't want it." she turned her gaze away from his, the dog still held on her lap as her free hand moved up its back, absent mindedly. Those eyes of hers... they looked so void. Ko didn't say anything about Yugi, even though he wanted to comfort her. It broke his soft heart to see anyone in pain, especially the innocent. But he knew that if he let something slip whilst talking to her, both Bakura and Dan would massacre him. So he kept silent, and just held her hand in a docile manner.

"I don't want it anymore." she said again, getting to her feet and making the dog tumble off her lap in an undignified heap. It yelped, gave her a reproachful look and trotted off and out of the room. But Te'a effected not to notice, she just pulled her hand free of Ko's and turned her back on him. She could feel her shoulder's stiffening, supressing a rage that wanted to boil forth and destroy all the life-forms around her.
She didn't like this. She wasn't a destructive being, she wanted other people to be happy... or at least... that was how it had been. Now she wanted to crawl back home with Bakura, crawl under the covers with him, hide herself in his arms and weep the whole day long.
Te'a began to laugh. It wasn't a normal laugh, it was a wheezy laugh that tore at her throat and burned her nostrils. She pressed her forehead to the wall and laughed some more, unaware that Ko was trying to pull her away and into his embrace. It just struck her as bitterly funny, and quite pathetic, to realise that now she didn't have Yugi, she was thinking of leaning on Bakura.
Lean on yourself, Te'a. Her mom had once said, a haunted look in her eye, Never ever depend on someone else. They always let you down.
How true that was. That struck her as even funnier, and her wheezing laughter grew worse. Her legs buckled under her, she collapsed to her knees. Tears were bursting forth, even as she was laughing. She brought her hands up to her face, still shuddering badly. Her fingers tightened into fists.

"She's not yours Bakura, she's mine." she muttered softly, rubbing her hands up and down her freezing arms, still giggling uncontrollably even as she was crying.
Ko stood above her, looking down at the creature who didn't seem to take the loss of Yugi very well, by the look of it. Normally, if it had been Cherise, or Ursula, or even Rebbecca, Ko would have grabbed them by their hair and pulled them to their feet, telling them firmly to pull themselves together.
But he couldn't do it with Te'a. She was just a fledgling, and she had suffered the worst truama of her life. Yugi Moto, the boy she had trusted beyond reason, without ever questioning, had turned out to be her greatest enemy. That had to pull painfully at your insides at least a little. Ko didn't entirely know, as his emotions could just about fill a teaspoon. He was a friendly guy, no doubt about that. But rage, or depression, or excitement... anything that overdid themselves, he didn't ever get much of. He existed in a state of bliss, that was all.

Te'a's fists tightened, and her head lowered even more. She ignored the slow trickle of blood moving down from the corner of her mouth, where Ko had tried to tempt her into biting into the human's throat by swiping it there. It was how most reluctant fledglings began to drink other people's blood, by being left to hunger for awhile, before luring them into biting another being.
But not Te'a Gardner. Not when she'd just had one of the most life changing experiences done to her, worse than being turned into a vampiress. Worse than anything she could ever have imagined. She'd rather have been killed, as far as she was concerned. Facing man-eating Shadows seemed prefferable.
She let Ko take her by both elbows and lift her to her feet, she let him slip an arm around her back and support her all the way to the couch, where he sat her down. He didn't know exactly what to do. After all, she wasn't responding to anything he said. She was now looking at her pale arms, twisting her fingers together in her lap.
For this type of thing, he needed Dan... or Cherise and her brother. He himself was useless at comforting.

But he wasn't insensitive either. He sat down beside her, curving his heavily done eyebrows down into a worried frown, but saying nothing. Afraid to reach for her hand lest she pulled away again. Afraid to speak in case she burst into tears and started sobbing on his shoulder. Her laughing had stopped, as well as her tears. Now her eyes had the faraway misty look of a person who wished they were somewhere else.
"Ko" she choked, bringing her fist up to her mouth as if she were afraid she would get sick, "I have no one. No one. He was everything. And everything was taken away from me."
"Don't"
He stroked a tear from her cheek, then looked away. His own fingers starting to copy hers in their never-ceasing twisting and pulling at each other. He wanted Bakura to come. Damn it! Where was their fearless leader when his own damned sire needed him? It was a Master's job to calm their children down, to soothe fears and depression. To train, to protect, to take care of. Other vampires only helped up to a certain point.
"No one." her heard her whisper again, before she fell silent. She leant her back against the couch and stared at the ceiling, then she closed her eyes and curled up against the side of the couch, hiding her face in her arms and breathing softly. Her broken high heel fell from her foot to the floor, but she affected not to notice.
Ko rubbed her back soothingly for a few seconds, before deciding that she was quiet enough to be left on her own. And alone was how he left her.

And for once, when he switched off the light, Te'a felt no fear of the Shadows. For once she wanted them to come. For once she wanted them to come and scare the life out of her. It would be a distraction to what she felt now. She didn't want to think about Yugi anymore. She didn't want his vision to swirl in front of her face, haunting her. Always everything.
Bakura's thin fingers curled over her shoulder, half an hour later. But her position hadn't changed. She was still staring blankly out in front of her. Though she had stopped shivering, she didn't respond to his touch. It was as if he didn't exist at all. Bakura frowned, but was too used to her to mind all that much. At least she wasn't getting hysterical and beating at him as if he were the cause of her pain. When he reached out to lift her up in his arms, she didn't resist. She just rested her forehead on his shoulder and breathed in and out very slowly. Her arms tightened around his neck, she closed her eyes.
"I'm tired."
"We have an hour till dawn." he told her, taken aback by how calm she was, "We should be able to... to get back home before the sun rises. Then you can sleep, as much as you want."
"I want to sleep... forever."
"No you don't. It's not that bad, Te'a. You just need rest, and maybe a little blood. You'll be fine."
"I'm not hungry. Let me sleep." she said tiredly, tears brimmed in her eyes, but didn't overflow. She was too exhausted for that. And Bakura didn't act like his usual cruel self. Normally, he would have chucked her onto her own feet and yelled at her to pull herself together and get a move on. But that just wouldn't work with her, he knew. She would go into that catatonic state, and nothing he could do would make any difference. And then she wouldn't lift a finger to get herself some blood.

"Even vampires have to love, you know." he said, smoothing her short brown fringe down over her forehead, "We've all been through pain. We've all suffered... all lost family members and loved ones. And although you probably don't believe it, we all know exactly what you are going through right now. We just don't... we don't pamper to it usually. You're expected to get back on your feet in the maximum of a week."
Te'a said nothing. She was staring into his eyes with vacancy in her own.
"You know, Rebbecca loves me... Ursula has a thing for Dan. Cherise has a crush on Marik... and yet you could never normally guess. Vampires have to hide who they are, Te'a. I know it sounds dark, and I know it sounds wrong to someone like you. But we have learnt from bitter experience what happens when we let our guard down. Never let you guard down, Te'a."
"I'm going to kill him."

Bakura, who was just about to start his way across the living room, stopped dead. His arms went slack and he nearly dropped her, his thin lips parted in a gesture of disbelief. When he looked down at the supposed sprite of a girl, he didn't see that pleasant expression she usually had on her face. He saw fury, a will for revenge. She'd been betrayed. And she was angry.
"You'll kill Yugi?"
"Yes... teach me how. And I will destroy that... that thing. For my mother, myself... and any other unfortunate who has the luck to come across him. Teach me how to destroy him."
Bakura hesitated, wondering what to tell her. On one hand, if he told her there was no way she could defeat Yugi, she would want to know why. And the answer was more than he could give right now. On the other hand, if he said yes, he would teach her. But in a few years time, he would have to tell her. And then she would face bitter disappointment, laced with bitterness toward her master for not telling her sooner. She would resent him. Maybe some day she would even seek revenge because he had put her through the hell of training all for nothing.
Bakura stared into those angry, expectant eyes, totally lost for what to say. He didn't care what Dan said, Te'a was not yet ready for the truth, not ready to know who Yugi was to her, and who Yugi was to the world. It was beyond humans, and that was basically what she still was. She needed time. She couldn't be told yet. No, not yet.
Besides, maybe this was the one way to motivate her into acting like a real vampire. Perhaps this was it would be easier to get her to become someone worthwhile. So that he not only could show Marik that he, Bakura could certainly bring up a Childer. But she would also be able to take care of herself after awhile.

"Te'a..." he paused, then took a deep breath, "Yugi is a very strong being. All I can promise is that I'll train you the best I can... but I warn you he might be too much for you to handle."
There. He hadn't told her why Yugi was so strong. But he had warned her of her high risk of failure. She couldn't really blame him should she find out how impossible it was to kill someone like Yugi. A demon beyond anything she knew or wanted to know. Bakura wouldn't be able to stop her from wanting to do this anyway. She was buzzed full of more pain than he could imagine. Betrayal was a hard thing to accept.
"Come. Let's go home... you need rest."
She pulled herself off the couch and walked right past him. He noticed a limp in her step but said nothing. Right now, the priority was just getting her to lie down. To close her eyes and slip into blissful oblivion. But he knew that although she was dead tired, there was a very small chance that she would actually sleep. The thing he had feared she would find out had been uncovered, and after he shut her up in the room with the blacked out windows and white curtains, she would most likely sit at the foot of the bed and brood until night once again came.

Te'a Gardner had spent a great deal of her time supporting her friend. Watching him duel against evils and triumph. Yugi Moto had defeated Marik, and Pegasus. Two people who had threatened the world or his family in some way. He had saved Seto and Mokuba Kaiba once. He had tried to save Mai when stepping in the line of fire for her.
How could it make sense that that same boy could also terrorise little girls and kill animals. What was he? Why did he do so many couragious and loyal things when he was really psychopathic? What sense was there in that? What was his motive, his inspiration? What made him save people one minute and kill them the next?
She envisioned his sweet, boyish face with wide deep plum eyes, round cheeks and a big smile. That same face had been hidden behind a mask. With the eyes staring out at Te'a, and the fangs drooping down in a grin. And her damned pet... and that rodent all bloody and dying. Dying because he was a damned bastard!

Ususally, Bakura wasn't all that compassionate. but today he could see real pain, not just whining about how depressed you were to anyone who would listen. Te'a wasn't one of those who bitched about how terrible their lives were, and about how they wanted to kill themselves and slit their wrists and such pathetic stuff. When really, as far as Bakura could see, all they actually wanted was some attention.
Not that there was anything wrong with wanting attention once in awhile. But there were limits to how far you went to get it.
Bakura slung his arm around Te'a's shoulders and drew her to him without a word. He was feeling particularly fatherly to her at the moment. This was what a dad must feel like when his precious daughter had her heart broken by some shit of a guy that she had given her feelings to and had not recieved anything in return. This was how it must feel to want to run out after the little runt who left her in tears, to throttle him to fucking death for not caring enough to at least spare the girl some pride.

But that was not a damned option. Bakura would just have to keep his cool when it came to Yugi Moto. That demon had been alive far longer than the white-haired vampire had been. And Bakura had spent a good deal of his 5000 years sleeping, trapped within the Millennium Ring. And those long millennia of no experience hadn't made him any stronger. Yugi on the other hand... Bakura had no idea how old her was, or what damage he could inflict upon other people. He had been a Tomb Robber in Egypt when he had first met the guy, and had learnt fairly quickly to stay out of his way.
Te'a leant weakly against him, not fighting against his helping her. She wasn't too full of pride to accept help when she needed it. And that was one of the things Bakura liked about her. She wouldn't stubbornly pull away just to prove to him how tough she was. She was who she was, and needed to prove nothing to make anyone else happy.
Her bare feet padded on the carpet next to his own. her footsteps soft on the wooden floor, whilst his were loud and heavy in his thick leather boots. She was taller than him, that was definite. And yet, her submissive, mouse-like personality made her seem much smaller. Especially as his power dominated over hers a millionfold.

Normally, her being taller would have made it quite uncomfortable for her to lean against him. But she was so tired, and so utterly depressed, that it was really better this way. Her own tentative arm snaked around his back, pulling him close. Someone to reach out to when the world seemed to be cruelly pressing in on her skull. When the frightening and very sad images wouldn't go away. Thinking about all the times when that person she'd reached out to had been Yugi himself. Now, that option was almost laughable.
All she had left was a man that three days ago she'd thought was a maniac. This white haired vampire who was now her master, closer than a father, and the best friend that she had available to her.
There was no access to Joey, or Tristan. Ryou was gone... or going. All of Bakura's friends were either assholes, or power crazy bastards.
There was Dan. He was decent. And so was Ko, she supposed. But she didn't know Ko all that well, and Dan had something about him... something dark, silent and angry. He wasn't the type of person she could cling to for support. He wasn't the type of person she could confide her deepest pain to.

She was beginning to see what Bakura meant when he said that you had to learn to bear your pain on your own. Depression didn't have to be shared. Happiness didn't have to be shared either. And once, this might have been a daunting prospect for her. After all, Te'a had always shared everything with her friends. Now she was expected to always lean on herself?
But now she had seen what friends could do to you. Bakura had opened her eyes to something she didn't think existed. Betrayal of total trust. And what was worse was that she still loved Yugi, even now. The idea of him had been so strong, so powerful. In order to imagine what she was feeling, one would have to picture the person they most loved in the world and then imagine that same person turning around and ending up to have just been toying with you all along.
Bakura squeezed her to him, feeling her desperate emotions rushing through his mind. He'd been through a pain himself when he'd first changed into a vampire and knew exactly how she felt. Only he himself had been abandonned by his master and had to learn his way around on his own. And he'd had no one to comfort him, to reach out to him. He supposed that was what'd made him strong.
He was pampering his sire, he knew it deep down. Marik had never given Rebbecca an easy time as his sire. Little Rebbecca had suffered as alone as Bakura had most of the time. And when she'd gotten things wrong, she'd either had to look up to an angry or a disdainful expression of the blonde's face above her.


But Bakura, as mean as he might be at times, was not Marik. He could be as nasty as anyone when Te'a was scared or in a normal mood. But Bakura crumbled into a much nicer version of himself whenever he saw someone who was in so much pain they didn't care what you did to them. It made all your meanness and cruelty seem somehow petty and childish.
"Come on, princess. Let's get you home, okay? Stop dragging your feet and we'll be there sooner."
She didn't answer. Her body was weak. It may have been his imagination, but her rib bones seemed to stick out at a far sharper angle than they had before. But then of course. When Vampires started to starve, they didn't die... but their bodies became weaker and weaker.

See, usually, even though they were dead, vampires didn't look it. They'd have glowing skin, luminicent and lustrous nails, sparkling healthy eyes. When on top form, they looked almost unnaturally healthy, for no one's skin could glow as much as theirs did. No one's hair could shine with radiance as theirs did. Vampires on top form looked far superior to what they could have looked like as a human.
But when they began to starve. When they craved blood. They began to take on that corpse-like appearance once more. Their eyes would become flat and dull, their skin would pale to as white as paper. They would grow skinny as well, just as if they'd been any normal human. Their flesh would receed back, and their bones would stick out.
Bakura had seen it before. As often, some very high up vampires forgot to eat for as long as two weeks because they were so busy and stressed. In fact, it had happened to him quite a few times as well. When some other group of vampires who were strong enough to be a threat were in their area.

That gaunt, hollow dead look. With great big black circles around the eyes. The hair lank and dull. Often had Bakura seen suffering when vampires just didn't have time to drink. Contrary to what humans thought, food was the least thought on any undead's mind. He'd read their vampire stories, and nearly all their characters had been obsessed with blood. When really, they were about as obsessed with blood as any normal human would be obsessed with where their next meal would be coming from.
How long had Te'a been a vampire now? Bakura's mind was too dull to remember... a week maybe? Only a few days? Either way, tomorrow he would have to drag his sire out again and force her to go hunting. If she didn't, she would weaken to the point to the very brink between sanity and madness. he didn't want that, for then he would be foisted with a mad vampiress for the rest of eternity.

Yeah... just because your sire went mad didn't mean you could abandon them... well... you could. But it lacked morals and pride of a normal vampire. As you had to take care of your childer no matter what. They were your choice, your responsibility, basically your child. They weren't there to keep you company because you were lonely.
Te'a had been one of the toughest choices he could have made. There were people somewhere between pride and psychopaths who he could have chosen. The ideal person for a sire.
But only frail, vapid, lazy vampires made choices like that. And in the long run, those decisions would not be very useful. Sires like that rebelled against their master in the end. They were stubborn, difficult and often lazy themselves. It was actually very difficult to find one who had true vampiric pride. Not even Bakura was always the ideal vampire.

Dan was the ideal vampire, now that Bakura thought about it. He always fought when he had to, spared when he could, had mercy on those who had a bigger chance of turning out alright. Of course, he was no saint. But he was quiet, mysterious, and somehow he managed to stand out most in their little group. Maybe this was because of the demon blood in him, Bakura didn't know.