Yu-Gi-Oh! Fan Fiction ❯ The Golden Dance ❯ 4: Truths and Consequences ( Chapter 4 )
[ Y - Young Adult: Not suitable for readers under 16 ]
By: tsutsuji 
Ryou Bakura meets the King of Thieves, and he's very impressed! But a startling fact about the Millennium Items is revealed.
Anime/Manga: Yu-Gi-Oh! Fan Fiction | Genre(s): Hentai / Drama / Adventure / Romance | Type: Yaoi | Uploaded On: 01.08.2005 | Pages: 2 | Words: 2.4K | Visits: 654 | Status: Completed
Ryou Bakura meets the King of Thieves, and he's very impressed! But a startling fact about the Millennium Items is revealed.
Anime/Manga: Yu-Gi-Oh! Fan Fiction | Genre(s): Hentai / Drama / Adventure / Romance | Type: Yaoi | Uploaded On: 01.08.2005 | Pages: 2 | Words: 2.4K | Visits: 654 | Status: Completed
Title: The Golden Dance Chapter 4: Truths and Consequences
Author: Tsutsuji
Fandom: Yugioh!
Type: Slash/yaoi romance, adventure
Pairings: Seto/Jou, Thief Bakura/Ryou, Priest Seth/Jou, Priest Seth/Thief King Bakura. Implied Yami Bakura/Ryou.
Rating: NC17 in later chapters.
Warnings: WIP. AU version of Ancient Egypt story.
Spoilers: Spoilers for Ancient Egypt Arc, even though this will be contain an AU version of it.
***
Chapter 4: Truths and Consequences
"Yugi... I've come ...to warn you," Ryou cried, panting between words as if he'd run all the way here. "... Something terrible... Oh!" His eyes grew huge as he caught sight of Thief Bakura, who stood up to get a look at the newcomer. "Oh..." he gasped again. "It's *you*!"
Jou's mind, adjusting to yet more strangeness, was able to register the fact that they didn't look all that much alike after all when you saw them face to face. Yet you could still see some of Yami Bakura in each of them. At the same time, a thought that had been at the back of his mind all along seemed to leap to the front of his brain: Could the Spirit of the Ring be the cause of all this strangeness? He'd vanished after Battle City, but it wouldn't be the first time he'd come back from oblivion to cause trouble.
Bakura stepped forward to face Ryou, who stood in the doorway, panting and dripping with sweat. They stared at each other for a few seconds. Jou thought Ryou's eyes couldn't possibly get any bigger. The thief's glance traveled up and down Ryou's body appraisingly.
"Well... my, my, you are a pretty one, aren't you?" Bakura said with a smile that was just short of a leer.
Ryou blushed a very rosy shade of pink and blinked several times rapidly in confusion, his long lashes fluttering.
"I am? I mean, thank you..." he stammered, "You... oh dear..."
Jou, Yugi, and Seth all said "Bakura!" at once, sharply, but in quite different tones. Seth muttered something that Jou heard as "shameless slut!" and he knew the priest wasn't referring to Ryou. But he and Yugi were alarmed at their friend's ditzy reaction to the thief's attention. Bakura's smile turned to something more unpleasant as he once again locked gazes with Seth.
"What does it matter to you if I approach another? Or is he to your liking as well, Priest?"
Seth's face flushed darkly, and his lips were a thin, tight line as he glared at the thief. Bakura gave an impatient snort and turned back to Ryou, who was now staring up at him with an even more amazed, but also more intelligent, expression.
"Bakura is also your name?" Ryou said in a tone of awe. "I've often wondered if it was, but he would never admit it."
Bakura frowned at him. "What nonsense are you speaking? What of my name?"
With a shock, Jou realized that they understood each other, even though each spoke in his own language. From the looks on Yugi's and Seth's faces, he was the only one who had noticed this, and the only other one in the room that could understand all that was being said. Even Dark Yugi seemed puzzled by some of what the Egyptians said, and Seth clearly couldn't understand a word spoken in English. And a moment ago, neither could Bakura, he was sure. But before he could mention this confusing fact, Yugi spoke up.
"Bakura - I mean, Ryou - are you saying this isn't the Spirit of the Ring? Or is it?"
"No. I mean yes, it's the same person, but not the Spirit. Oh!" he jumped, as if suddenly recalling himself, and he turned to Yugi and Jou with an urgent look. "This must be what he was warning me about!"
"What, the Spirit of the Ring gave you a warning?" Jou asked in surprise.
"Yes, just before something happened to him. He said some great threat was approaching, and then there was a loud bang like thunder and he disappeared. A little later I only heard his voice warning me to find the Pharaoh. He said we were all in danger, and something was draining my life force."
He paused and glanced wonderingly at the thief before he continued. "I don't know what he meant, but he seemed to think he could protect me from it for awhile, if he gave it his own strength instead. I don't understand, but for a moment I felt terribly weak, and then it passed. But he's gone now. It was as if something was dragging him away. And... he let it happen ...to protect me," he finished in a whisper.
He placed his hand over his chest and looked down. To Jou's surprise he seemed more sad than anything else. But then Ryou's eyes lifted to the thief's face again, searching it. It was the same way Seth kept searching his own face, Jou noticed, as if he could almost find what he hoped for there, but not quite.
"This is strange," Dark Yugi said thoughtfully.
"That's putting it lightly!" Jou agreed. "I thought maybe the Spirit of the Ring was behind all this, but now.... I'm not so sure. About anything."
Dark Yugi nodded in agreement. Jou noticed Bakura had gone very quiet again, and was now regarding Ryou with much more seriousness than he had at first.
"Who is this person you speak of who tried to warn you?" he asked. His voice was low, but Jou thought he caught a hidden urgency in the question. Seth was clearly annoyed by all of this, but looked on curiously as well.
"Well, in a way I guess it's you," Ryou said to Bakura. "You're from the past, aren't you?" he guessed shrewdly after a glance at the thief's clothing, and at Seth. Bakura's eyes narrowed but he didn't reply. "In the present, you're a spirit, and you're a part of this..."
Jou felt the hair on the back of his neck rise as Ryou drew the Millennium Ring out from under his shirt. Nothing good had ever happened when that thing had appeared. He'd hardly stopped to wonder what had become of it after Battle City, but he'd hoped it was gone for good. Seeing it again was enough of a threat as far as he was concerned.
But all that happened for a moment was that Bakura looked, just for a second, more disconcerted than he had since Jou had first seen him. And then his face closed down completely.
What happened next was more unexpected. Seth gave a cry, a shocked howl of anguish and anger, and leaped forward, shoving the thief aside. Before Yugi or Jou could react, he had one hand around Ryou's throat, the other white-fisted hand gripping the Ring and pulling its cord tight around Ryou's neck as well.
Jou and Yugi both jumped on him to save their friend from strangulation, but Seth had the strength of a man maddened by grief.
"Jumoke's Ring!" he cried through gritted teeth. "How did you gain possession of Jumoke's Ring?" He shook Ryou, who was too rattled and strangled to answer, even if he'd had an answer to give.
"Get off him, you maniac!" Jou shouted, finally wrenching Seth's vice-like fingers from Ryou's throat. Dark Yugi got hold of Seth's other hand with both of his, and at least managed to keep him from completely strangling Ryou with the cord.
"That Ring belongs to Ryou," Dark Yugi snapped. His tone of authority got Seth's attention for a moment. "Whoever may have owned it in your time, it is his now! Leave him be!"
Seth hesitated a little, but he was obviously unconvinced, and didn't loosen his grip. "When Jumoke's body was found, the Ring was missing," he said, with the slightest crack in his voice. "It has not been seen since! There is no other like it, so those who now have it must be Jumoke's murderers, or know of them!"
The harsh anger on his face shocked Jou. Even Dark Yugi paused, although he did not loosen his grip on Seth's hand. Ryou was pale and still choking. He looked like he was afraid to move, for which Jou didn't blame him.
A quiet voice spoke from behind them.
"That is certainly not Jumoke's Ring," the thief said.
"What would you know of it?" Seth snarled. Suspicion showed in his face as he twisted his head around to look at Bakura without letting go of Ryou. Intent on keeping Ryou breathing, both Yugi and Jou kept their attention on Seth. "So you are not ignorant of Jumoke's murder as you claimed?"
"I know that is not his Ring," Bakura went on calmly. "Because I have Jumoke's Ring myself."
Seth's eyes widened, and his grip on Ryou faltered. Jou spared Bakura a glance. His mouth fell open as he saw that it was true. A golden chain looped around Bakura's long fingers, and from it dangled another Millennium Ring.
"Yugi... look!" he said in a choked whisper. Dark Yugi turned with a scowl, and gave a soft gasp.
Seth's face turned nearly as white as his robes.
Slowly, Seth let go of Ryou, who gasped as he caught his breath and steadied himself on Yugi's arm. Seth shook Jou's hands off him as well as he turned. Jou didn't like the look in Seth's eyes as he faced the thief. Judging from the flicker in his eyes, Bakura didn't like it either; but he stood his ground, unmoving.
"So," Seth said, his voice suddenly cold and soft again. "So it is true, as Pharaoh Akunadin himself suspected, and as I in my foolishness denied. Out of your endless greed and jealousy, tombrobber, *you* murdered Jumoke."
Bakura said nothing. The Ring hung in the air in front of him. Its gold was bright and it glittered sharply, differently from the old, dull gleam of Ryou's Ring. But it could not be any other artifact. Jou glanced over at Dark Yugi to see him gazing at it in amazement, one hand touching his Millennium Puzzle as if to assure himself that it was still there. Ryou clutched his own Ring as if for dear life.
Seth took a step toward Bakura, pulling the Millennium Rod out of his belt to hold in front of him. Again, Jou's neck hairs bristled, remembering the damage caused by that Item in Malik's grasp. Bakura's glance flickered to it, but he held Seth's gaze - bravely, Jou had to admit. He wouldn't want to be the one facing the Priest just then.
"I did not kill your precious Jumoke," Bakura said finally. "I last saw him breathing and full of life. I did not believe it when I heard he was dead. I came to his tomb to see if it was true, only to have you attack me."
Seth's lip curled. "You came to rob Jumoke's tomb and mock my grief," he said.
"You know me so well," Bakura said sarcastically. "Wise Priest and Prince who knows all! Feh! I did not steal anything from your Jumoke. He gave me the Ring of his own will."
"You lie so easily," Seth said. "Why would he do such a thing?"
"To protect you. Or so he said. I was not willing to take it, but he forced it on me." Bakura's voice dripped with acid as he continued. "He seemed to have the mistaken idea that I might care what happened to his beloved Priest."
Jou winced at the venom in his words.
Seth shuddered. "Liar," he hissed.
He gripped the Millennium Rod with both hands, his knuckles white and shaking. Then with a flicker, a glittering blade appeared in his hands. Ryou yelped, Yugi gasped, and Jou jumped back a step, yelling "whoa!" In the next second, Seth lunged for Bakura.
The thief was apparently as surprised as the rest of them by the sudden appearance of the blade from the magical Item's handle. He gaped, standing there as Seth flew at him. Without thinking about it, Jou leaped after Seth and grabbed his arm just before it could plunge the blade into the thief's chest.
That gave Bakura the second he needed to recover his wits and twist out of the way. He grappled with Seth and tripped him while Jou still had hold of him. The three of them went down in a tangle on the floor. Seth snarled in rage and Bakura grunted, while above them Jou could hear Yugi yelling something. There was a flurry of fists and elbows, the flashing blade, white robes and red ones tangling their limbs.
Suddenly Jou found himself flipped off into the air. He landed hard against the solid arm of Yugi's sofa, which knocked the wind out of him. He heard Yugi shout again and another yelp of alarm from Ryou, and a thud as someone else was apparently knocked aside. Just as he was shaking his head to clear it, the blade came flying through the air and landed point down in the floor next to his foot.
He looked up in time to see a flash of red, as Thief Bakura slipped out the door and disappeared.
***
To be continued! Next chapter: Seth meets Seto!
Author: Tsutsuji
Fandom: Yugioh!
Type: Slash/yaoi romance, adventure
Pairings: Seto/Jou, Thief Bakura/Ryou, Priest Seth/Jou, Priest Seth/Thief King Bakura. Implied Yami Bakura/Ryou.
Rating: NC17 in later chapters.
Warnings: WIP. AU version of Ancient Egypt story.
Spoilers: Spoilers for Ancient Egypt Arc, even though this will be contain an AU version of it.
***
Chapter 4: Truths and Consequences
"Yugi... I've come ...to warn you," Ryou cried, panting between words as if he'd run all the way here. "... Something terrible... Oh!" His eyes grew huge as he caught sight of Thief Bakura, who stood up to get a look at the newcomer. "Oh..." he gasped again. "It's *you*!"
Jou's mind, adjusting to yet more strangeness, was able to register the fact that they didn't look all that much alike after all when you saw them face to face. Yet you could still see some of Yami Bakura in each of them. At the same time, a thought that had been at the back of his mind all along seemed to leap to the front of his brain: Could the Spirit of the Ring be the cause of all this strangeness? He'd vanished after Battle City, but it wouldn't be the first time he'd come back from oblivion to cause trouble.
Bakura stepped forward to face Ryou, who stood in the doorway, panting and dripping with sweat. They stared at each other for a few seconds. Jou thought Ryou's eyes couldn't possibly get any bigger. The thief's glance traveled up and down Ryou's body appraisingly.
"Well... my, my, you are a pretty one, aren't you?" Bakura said with a smile that was just short of a leer.
Ryou blushed a very rosy shade of pink and blinked several times rapidly in confusion, his long lashes fluttering.
"I am? I mean, thank you..." he stammered, "You... oh dear..."
Jou, Yugi, and Seth all said "Bakura!" at once, sharply, but in quite different tones. Seth muttered something that Jou heard as "shameless slut!" and he knew the priest wasn't referring to Ryou. But he and Yugi were alarmed at their friend's ditzy reaction to the thief's attention. Bakura's smile turned to something more unpleasant as he once again locked gazes with Seth.
"What does it matter to you if I approach another? Or is he to your liking as well, Priest?"
Seth's face flushed darkly, and his lips were a thin, tight line as he glared at the thief. Bakura gave an impatient snort and turned back to Ryou, who was now staring up at him with an even more amazed, but also more intelligent, expression.
"Bakura is also your name?" Ryou said in a tone of awe. "I've often wondered if it was, but he would never admit it."
Bakura frowned at him. "What nonsense are you speaking? What of my name?"
With a shock, Jou realized that they understood each other, even though each spoke in his own language. From the looks on Yugi's and Seth's faces, he was the only one who had noticed this, and the only other one in the room that could understand all that was being said. Even Dark Yugi seemed puzzled by some of what the Egyptians said, and Seth clearly couldn't understand a word spoken in English. And a moment ago, neither could Bakura, he was sure. But before he could mention this confusing fact, Yugi spoke up.
"Bakura - I mean, Ryou - are you saying this isn't the Spirit of the Ring? Or is it?"
"No. I mean yes, it's the same person, but not the Spirit. Oh!" he jumped, as if suddenly recalling himself, and he turned to Yugi and Jou with an urgent look. "This must be what he was warning me about!"
"What, the Spirit of the Ring gave you a warning?" Jou asked in surprise.
"Yes, just before something happened to him. He said some great threat was approaching, and then there was a loud bang like thunder and he disappeared. A little later I only heard his voice warning me to find the Pharaoh. He said we were all in danger, and something was draining my life force."
He paused and glanced wonderingly at the thief before he continued. "I don't know what he meant, but he seemed to think he could protect me from it for awhile, if he gave it his own strength instead. I don't understand, but for a moment I felt terribly weak, and then it passed. But he's gone now. It was as if something was dragging him away. And... he let it happen ...to protect me," he finished in a whisper.
He placed his hand over his chest and looked down. To Jou's surprise he seemed more sad than anything else. But then Ryou's eyes lifted to the thief's face again, searching it. It was the same way Seth kept searching his own face, Jou noticed, as if he could almost find what he hoped for there, but not quite.
"This is strange," Dark Yugi said thoughtfully.
"That's putting it lightly!" Jou agreed. "I thought maybe the Spirit of the Ring was behind all this, but now.... I'm not so sure. About anything."
Dark Yugi nodded in agreement. Jou noticed Bakura had gone very quiet again, and was now regarding Ryou with much more seriousness than he had at first.
"Who is this person you speak of who tried to warn you?" he asked. His voice was low, but Jou thought he caught a hidden urgency in the question. Seth was clearly annoyed by all of this, but looked on curiously as well.
"Well, in a way I guess it's you," Ryou said to Bakura. "You're from the past, aren't you?" he guessed shrewdly after a glance at the thief's clothing, and at Seth. Bakura's eyes narrowed but he didn't reply. "In the present, you're a spirit, and you're a part of this..."
Jou felt the hair on the back of his neck rise as Ryou drew the Millennium Ring out from under his shirt. Nothing good had ever happened when that thing had appeared. He'd hardly stopped to wonder what had become of it after Battle City, but he'd hoped it was gone for good. Seeing it again was enough of a threat as far as he was concerned.
But all that happened for a moment was that Bakura looked, just for a second, more disconcerted than he had since Jou had first seen him. And then his face closed down completely.
What happened next was more unexpected. Seth gave a cry, a shocked howl of anguish and anger, and leaped forward, shoving the thief aside. Before Yugi or Jou could react, he had one hand around Ryou's throat, the other white-fisted hand gripping the Ring and pulling its cord tight around Ryou's neck as well.
Jou and Yugi both jumped on him to save their friend from strangulation, but Seth had the strength of a man maddened by grief.
"Jumoke's Ring!" he cried through gritted teeth. "How did you gain possession of Jumoke's Ring?" He shook Ryou, who was too rattled and strangled to answer, even if he'd had an answer to give.
"Get off him, you maniac!" Jou shouted, finally wrenching Seth's vice-like fingers from Ryou's throat. Dark Yugi got hold of Seth's other hand with both of his, and at least managed to keep him from completely strangling Ryou with the cord.
"That Ring belongs to Ryou," Dark Yugi snapped. His tone of authority got Seth's attention for a moment. "Whoever may have owned it in your time, it is his now! Leave him be!"
Seth hesitated a little, but he was obviously unconvinced, and didn't loosen his grip. "When Jumoke's body was found, the Ring was missing," he said, with the slightest crack in his voice. "It has not been seen since! There is no other like it, so those who now have it must be Jumoke's murderers, or know of them!"
The harsh anger on his face shocked Jou. Even Dark Yugi paused, although he did not loosen his grip on Seth's hand. Ryou was pale and still choking. He looked like he was afraid to move, for which Jou didn't blame him.
A quiet voice spoke from behind them.
"That is certainly not Jumoke's Ring," the thief said.
"What would you know of it?" Seth snarled. Suspicion showed in his face as he twisted his head around to look at Bakura without letting go of Ryou. Intent on keeping Ryou breathing, both Yugi and Jou kept their attention on Seth. "So you are not ignorant of Jumoke's murder as you claimed?"
"I know that is not his Ring," Bakura went on calmly. "Because I have Jumoke's Ring myself."
Seth's eyes widened, and his grip on Ryou faltered. Jou spared Bakura a glance. His mouth fell open as he saw that it was true. A golden chain looped around Bakura's long fingers, and from it dangled another Millennium Ring.
"Yugi... look!" he said in a choked whisper. Dark Yugi turned with a scowl, and gave a soft gasp.
Seth's face turned nearly as white as his robes.
Slowly, Seth let go of Ryou, who gasped as he caught his breath and steadied himself on Yugi's arm. Seth shook Jou's hands off him as well as he turned. Jou didn't like the look in Seth's eyes as he faced the thief. Judging from the flicker in his eyes, Bakura didn't like it either; but he stood his ground, unmoving.
"So," Seth said, his voice suddenly cold and soft again. "So it is true, as Pharaoh Akunadin himself suspected, and as I in my foolishness denied. Out of your endless greed and jealousy, tombrobber, *you* murdered Jumoke."
Bakura said nothing. The Ring hung in the air in front of him. Its gold was bright and it glittered sharply, differently from the old, dull gleam of Ryou's Ring. But it could not be any other artifact. Jou glanced over at Dark Yugi to see him gazing at it in amazement, one hand touching his Millennium Puzzle as if to assure himself that it was still there. Ryou clutched his own Ring as if for dear life.
Seth took a step toward Bakura, pulling the Millennium Rod out of his belt to hold in front of him. Again, Jou's neck hairs bristled, remembering the damage caused by that Item in Malik's grasp. Bakura's glance flickered to it, but he held Seth's gaze - bravely, Jou had to admit. He wouldn't want to be the one facing the Priest just then.
"I did not kill your precious Jumoke," Bakura said finally. "I last saw him breathing and full of life. I did not believe it when I heard he was dead. I came to his tomb to see if it was true, only to have you attack me."
Seth's lip curled. "You came to rob Jumoke's tomb and mock my grief," he said.
"You know me so well," Bakura said sarcastically. "Wise Priest and Prince who knows all! Feh! I did not steal anything from your Jumoke. He gave me the Ring of his own will."
"You lie so easily," Seth said. "Why would he do such a thing?"
"To protect you. Or so he said. I was not willing to take it, but he forced it on me." Bakura's voice dripped with acid as he continued. "He seemed to have the mistaken idea that I might care what happened to his beloved Priest."
Jou winced at the venom in his words.
Seth shuddered. "Liar," he hissed.
He gripped the Millennium Rod with both hands, his knuckles white and shaking. Then with a flicker, a glittering blade appeared in his hands. Ryou yelped, Yugi gasped, and Jou jumped back a step, yelling "whoa!" In the next second, Seth lunged for Bakura.
The thief was apparently as surprised as the rest of them by the sudden appearance of the blade from the magical Item's handle. He gaped, standing there as Seth flew at him. Without thinking about it, Jou leaped after Seth and grabbed his arm just before it could plunge the blade into the thief's chest.
That gave Bakura the second he needed to recover his wits and twist out of the way. He grappled with Seth and tripped him while Jou still had hold of him. The three of them went down in a tangle on the floor. Seth snarled in rage and Bakura grunted, while above them Jou could hear Yugi yelling something. There was a flurry of fists and elbows, the flashing blade, white robes and red ones tangling their limbs.
Suddenly Jou found himself flipped off into the air. He landed hard against the solid arm of Yugi's sofa, which knocked the wind out of him. He heard Yugi shout again and another yelp of alarm from Ryou, and a thud as someone else was apparently knocked aside. Just as he was shaking his head to clear it, the blade came flying through the air and landed point down in the floor next to his foot.
He looked up in time to see a flash of red, as Thief Bakura slipped out the door and disappeared.
***
To be continued! Next chapter: Seth meets Seto!