Yu-Gi-Oh! Fan Fiction ❯ Pharaoh Bakura and Thief Atemu ❯ Chapter Six ( Chapter 6 )

Atemu: O.O

Bakura: O.O

Priestess: ^_^ Wasn't that fun?

Atemu & Bakura launch into a bunch of sheepish mutters which signals that it probably was

Priestess: Good. Well, now that we're finished with

***

"Seto, it's 1:31 AM, I really doubt anybody's coming out," said Mokuba.

"Maybe they're both dead," suggested Honda-cheerfully, as that was his bet.

"Honda!" cried Anzu. "That's a horrible thing to say! Maybe the living one just fell asleep. I sure hope it's the Spirit of the Millennium Ring..."

"Let's follow their example," snapped Mariku.

Kaiba sighed, not understanding why he felt guilty at making Mariku stay up. He was an evil murderer, right? On the other hand, he also hated Atemu. And he's hot...he shook his head sharply to get rid of that thought. What was happening to him? "Fine, but only because I haven't slept for months and it's 1:39 AM."

***

Bakura stretched and yawned, and was surprised when he felt arms around his waist.

He glanced down and realized with surprise that it was Atemu holding him, his head buried in Bakura's chest. Then he remembered. "Pharaoh, wake up," he whispered, shaking Atemu gently by the shoulders.

Atemu stretched and rubbed his beautiful garnet eyes, and jumped slightly when he saw how near Bakura was to him. Bakura could see the sleep-rusted wheels of his head turning as Atemu remembered the events of the previous day.

"Was that...just a dream?" Atemu whispered.

"Hmm...Well, let's see," replied Bakura sarcastically. "We're lying in a puddle of blood and cum in a room we've never seen before, we're both naked, my knife is impaled in the wall, we're in our own bodies, and we both remember. Draw your own conclusions."

Atemu chuckled quietly, amused by the cynicism which would under normal circumstances infuriate him.

Bakura rose up and started putting his blood-stained clothes on, and Atemu did the same. They were silent for a while, but we all know that can't last forever. Atemu whispered, albeit timidly, "now what?"

"Huh? What do you mean? We tell no one, and pretend it ended up in a draw."

"Well, I know that. I mean..." Atemu wasn't very good with his feelings. "Did that night mean something or nothing to you? I need to know now so I don't end up getting hurt later on."

"It meant something to me. What did it mean to you?"

Atemu paused, and at last said quietly, "everything. But..." he turned to look Bakura in the eye. This height was actually comfortable to him, he had gotten used to it over the years. "Aren't you still mad? About, you know..."

"Your father massacring my village?" Bakura's straightforwardness made Atemu wince, and he nodded slowly. "No, not really. That was your father, not you. You didn't even have your crazy hair when it happened. Anyway, the voices are gone." His eyes were filled with a wistful relief, as if all his past suffering and anguish and despair and hatred had all been released. "The souls of my family and friends can finally rest in peace. I can be free of them. They didn't want hatred, they wanted love."

Atemu felt warmed by the word. There. He had said it. He hadn't said he loved him, but he had said he felt love to him. Sort of. After all, who else had he hated?

***

"It's a disaster!" moaned Isis.

"What is?" inquired Kaiba, trying to rip his eyes from Mariku. Why did he have to be so Horus-damned hot? And why did Kaiba need to know the name of so few Egyptian deities? It was irritating now that he could no longer think something that has "god" in it without using an Egyptian god.

"Malik is staying with Ryou. That leaves me alone with Mariku! I'm doomed!"

Kaiba flinched. "Do I ever pity you! Why are you telling me this anyway?"

"I wasn't! I was complaining to myself and you just went and asked me what was a disaster."

"Oh," replied Kaiba absentmindedly, his eyes already back on Mariku, who was sitting at the couch and watching television.

Though he didn't know it, Mariku wasn't paying any attention whatsoever to whatever was on. He was thinking.

He wasn't a real person. Or he hadn't been a real person. More like a bit of it. A pretty big chunk of another person, all right, but nonetheless, just a part. What was he?

Honestly, he (and I, who am writing this) has no clue. Worse intentions, the personification Malik's hate, pain, and despair, bad karma...call it whatever you want. In short, he was his black side, his darkness...his yami. But he wasn't a real yami either, though. He'd met two of the real stuff, so he knew what he was talking/thinking about.

Yamis in general tend to be Egyptians from 3500 years ago who got stuck in the Millennium Items and lived in their descendents bodies until mysteriously getting their own. Mariku was five years old, but he would kill anybody who had any remark about that part.

He was less of a lunatic now that he didn't consist out of just negative feelings. He had his own mind, feelings, intentions, and-believe it or not-sanity. And too much of it! For example, due to it, he realized he was bored out of his wits.

Why else would he be thinking this nonsense?

***

"Mm...It's good to be back in this body, even if it is inferior to my real body," said Bakura.

"Well, my body is covered in scars and my clothes smell!" complained Atemu as he started opening the dust. "Why are you so obsessed with blood anyway? It isn't very healthy, you know."

Every single head (except Mariku's, since he had fallen asleep on the couch) turned when the two yamis entered the room. And at least half of the jaws dropped when they saw that it was, indeed, two yamis.

For about ten seconds there was silence (while Atemu and Bakura desperately tried to restrain their laughter) then at least three quarters of them started screaming, pointing, and complaining.

"Glad to know we're so popular," muttered Bakura.

Then Malik (who had yet to speak) said, "You switched back."

"Duh!" Atemu and Bakura chorused, and Bakura said calmly, "Now, what were these bets?"

One by one they got the stipulations, and while they did Malik turned to his sister with a slightly accusing expression. "Isis, them killing each other wasn't really the way to break the spell, was it?"

"Of course it wasn't," Isis replied, as if it should have been obvious. She was still upset with him due to being left with Mariku for the four months they intended to remain in America (would you be?)

"Then what-you've got to be kidding me."

Isis didn't reply, and nodded pointedly at Atemu and Bakura, who had just heard her bet and seemed as stunned as everybody else had. But more stunning then the bet was what Bakura said-"What are you waiting for? Pay her!"

Isis, Mariku, Bakura, and Atemu were the only ones not to stare at them like he had gone crazy. Jou was the first to speak, only three words as he and everybody else started begrudgingly removing the money-"I'm lost here."

This time Bakura and Atemu didn't bother to restrain their laughter.

"And here I was wishing I would be rid of one of you two stinking lunatics," muttered Kaiba, then he clapped and said loudly, "All right, fun's over, now get out! You heard me! Everybody out! Out!"

Isis walked over to the couch to wake Mariku up, when Kaiba grabbed her by the wrist. She jumped and turned. "What?"

"Give me that money and Mariku can stay here," said Kaiba, quietly enough that no one else would hear him.

Isis stared at him. Then she seemed to realize he was serious and smiled, dipping into some invisible pocket in her white gown and extracting the bills. "All right, but don't sue and don't say you weren't warned."

***

Mariku yawned and stretched like a cat, rubbing his eyes as he rose up into a sitting position. "Uhh...what time is it?"

"2:46 PM," Kaiba replied promptly (unlike the other timings, this isn't real. It's 6:24 PM), sitting on the couch with a plate of sliced kiwi fruit. "You've been sleeping since you fell asleep watching TV."

Mariku shrugged. "I was bored. And if it's 2:46, why am I still here?"

"Actually, it's 2:47 now, and you're here because Isis paid me to let you live here. Kiwi?" He decided Mariku didn't need to know he had offered.

"Terrific," muttered Mariku, accepting the fruit. "And you accepted, why?"

Kaiba shrugged. "I felt sorry for her. Malik is staying with Ryou, and that meant four months alone with you. Doesn't really sound like it would be the most agreeable of experiences. So, how did you get your own body anyway?"

Mariku laughed slightly at the memory. "Well, after a long and apparently very eventful time during which the Pharaoh got his name and his memories, they came to Egypt for this `final duel' thing. If Yugi wins, Atemu goes to the afterlife. If Atemu wins, he stays there. They had their own decks prepared for this, and everybody-including Rishid, Isis, and Malik-was there to watch."

He then went into great detail about the duel, Kaiba hanging on to his every word. "So, Yugi's about to win, when the Millennium Items in their special tablet thingy start shining and-" He threw up his arm to demonstrate-"boom!!"

This was so sudden and unexpected that Kaiba yelped and fell backwards, but immediately snapped back up and said, "And?"

"When all the dust cleared, I had just one thought running through my head. Never again! Never! And a thousand times never! With Shadow Games, losing your body, and fighting with Millennium Items I could deal. I actually even happen to like Shadow Games. But I definitely did not need an entire temple to cave in around me.

So, I was in a pretty bad temper when I realized something-I was back from the Shadow Realm, and in control of my body...or Malik's. So I smirk and plan my revenge while the dust clears and everybody's coughing. One by one, everybody emerges from the rubble. Except me. So they start shouting my name, and I intend to shock them a bit by answering.

I say `right here' at the same time as an irritatingly familiar voice behind me says `over here.' I turn around, and am face-to-face with Malik. Not the most pleasant sight, to be staring at yourself.

We were probably the most surprised. Yugi and the Pharaoh seemed to take it quite well after the initial shock-the spell to separate them was only supposed to last until the duel ends-and the Tomb Robber...well, he seemed to have completely forgotten about his other self.

He had gone into something resembling a hysterical fit of joy shouting all the while something about finally having his own body again until he realized that it was 100% identical to how he had looked while possessing Ryou. Then he starts wailing about wanting his real body. Quite a sight. And Malik manages to put not one, but both yamis between us. How I'll never know, considering they had immediately went to opposite ends of the pile of rubble which used to be a temple.

So there was this short yet amusingly hectic time full of attempted mind crushing-the Pharaoh really has to work on that aim of his-stealing, murdering, soul banishing, and other fun activities. I think the Tomb Robber died about a million times! I have got to learn how he does that...anyway, everybody eventually settled down enough to go home. Think you're able to imagine Isis's reaction? To say the least, she wasn't exactly ecstatic with joy." He chuckled.

"But there were several drawbacks to this whole thing: I have to have my own feelings and intentions, including some degree of sanity-and confidentially, it's goddamn annoying. And I don't have the Millennium Rod. As a matter of fact, I don't even know where the Rod is."

Kaiba, who had been silent until then, replied in apparent surprise, "You don't? I have it."

***

"You see, several months ago Yugi had been pestering me for weeks. Calling me on the phone, stopping me in the halls at school, and even paging me. I have no idea how he got any of my addresses. Ok, well actually I'll bet a hundred bucks it was Mokuba. Anyway, he had been insisting that he had something of value that rightly belonged to me. I had no idea what he was talking about," explained Kaiba as they walked down halls.

"It was the Rod, of course. And holding it just felt so...natural. It sends chills up my spine just thinking about how it felt-like some missing limb had been mysteriously reattached. Yugi leaves, and I just keep staring at it. Then I traced the Millennium eye on that orb and-"

"And?" urged Mariku, practically jumping up and down.

"Suddenly, everything seemed to go black. First I was swirling through a surge of colored lights. Then I was falling, plunging into darkness. I-I had been transported to ancient Egypt. For months I lived as High Priest Seth, learning every aspect of my past life. When I woke up, Mokuba said I was in a coma. I put the Rod away and started working like a madman, because only when working did I not have visions of the past."

Mariku stopped walking. "I can teach you."

Kaiba blinked. "Huh?"

"To use the Rod. To harness its powers. I can teach you."

Kaiba blinked again, still not understanding. "But-but I thought you wanted the Rod!"

"I did. I do. Whether I want it or not isn't the issue. You're the chosen one. The Rod won't accept me as its owner. If it had accepted me, it wouldn't activate without my say-so. It will obey you and only you."

Kaiba nodded slowly, still trying to digest this information. "A-Are you sure?"

Mariku sighed. "Unfortunately, yes."

***

"You have a nice house," Malik remarked casually as he entered Ryou's house with several suitcases.

"Now, tell me again why Malik is staying at our house?" said Bakura, ever the grumpy one, as he followed Ryou inside. Actually, he couldn't be blamed for being grumpy. Malik and Ryou had been pestering him continually about the whole Atemu thing since they left Kaiba's.

"Oh, be quiet," snapped Malik.

Bakura rolled his eyes and stormed away, muttering something under his breath.

"Sorry about that," muttered Ryou, his pale cherub face going a bit pink. "He's touchy. Maybe we shouldn't have kept bugging him about Atemu..."

Malik shrugged. "He'll get over it. I can't say I'm that fond of him, though I can put up with him if I have to. That guy has an awful temper."

Ryou chuckled. "Believe me, I know what you mean."

They sat on the couch, and soon all thoughts of Bakura were gone as they chatted in a friendly familiar way about every subject you can imagine: favorite ice cream flavors, favorite anime, favorite manga, hobbies, manga vs. anime, and so on and so forth.

The entire time, Malik found himself just...staring...at Ryou. He was just so...angelic, so childlike, so exquisite. He also had a beautiful name and quite an alluring personality. Definitely a virgin. But there was also something haunted in his eyes, like at one point or another he had given up hope. He thought of how he hadn't reacted through the entire Egyptian thing. Malik knew he certainly had!

"And he's right, it is kind of crazy to write letters to dead people, but I don't do that anymore. I really missed Ayame, and I guess I was kind of in denial. Dad is out of town all the time, and that makes Bakura my only relative-not exactly the ideal kind. He isn't even a living relative, though he has a body now. I wonder what his real body looks like-do you know?"

"Huh?" repeated Malik a bit blankly, realizing he had been asked a question. He had been thinking about Isis's reaction when he told her he would be staying with Ryou for the few months they would be there. But Ryou just repeated, "I said, do you know what Bakura's real body looks like?"

Malik shook his head. "No idea. I'm guessing that he has a tan and was more muscular, and his hair was probably shorter. He probably had a few scars too, and Atemu mentioned the `maniacal glint' in his `dark blue eyes', so I just assume that his eyes were dark blue. But I could be wrong, though I'm pretty sure I'm right."

Ryou laughed. "You're pretty distracted right now, aren't you?"

Malik laughed too. "Impossible not to be. Yesterday was quite a day."