Yu-Gi-Oh! Fan Fiction ❯ The Golden Dance ❯ 12: Caught Stealing ( Chapter 12 )

The Golden Dance

by Tsutsuji

Chapter 12: Caught Stealing

 

Date written: 10/14-26/06

Rating: R (nothing strong in this chapter, though)

Warnings: yaoi with a touch of angst, brief violence. See previous chapters for other warnings.

Disclaimer: I do not own the copyright to these characters and I'm making no profit from this fic and intend no copyright infringement.

Spell-checked and self-beta'd. Please inform me of any errors I've missed.

 

 

Summary: Bakura and Seth almost manage to have a civil conversation without trying to kill each other. Almost.

 

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If it wasn't for Ryou fainting in his arms, Bakura would have bolted rather than passing through the gate surrounded by guards. Although it was clear that their attitude had changed from threat to welcome under their captain's order, still it was a forced welcome, and he knew they were watching every move. All of his thieving instincts screamed warnings of capture and imprisonment. Besides, he simply was not accustomed to enter a rich man's house through the front door. An underground passage or a second-story window was his usual entryways.

 

But while he stood hesitating, Ryou had moaned softly in his arms, and he had seen the look of sympathy in the captain's eyes before she gestured for him go inside. Reminding himself that this was why the Spirit had urged him to bring Ryou here, Bakura set his fear aside and followed her through the gate and into Seto Kaiba's mansion.

 

His eyes darted around the wide entry hall, automatically noting the rich decorations, the available exits, and how many guards had entered with them. The guards were joined by several people in white, and somehow Bakura knew that they were healers. Ryou's friend Yugi came toward them from the far side of the hall, along with a dark haired boy he'd never seen before. Then, just as Ryou stirred and started to protest at being held this way, Bakura looked up and saw the one person he most hoped and dreaded to see.

 

His heart clenched when he saw Seth's flashing blue eyes staring down at him from the top of the stairs. He looked very much like the young priest he had first laid eyes on, who had been so fierce and indignant at finding a thief within his temple's sanctuary. Back then, the sheltered priest still had some of the softness and innocence of youth, but with secret longings hidden in his eyes.

 

The image from the past came back to Bakura's mind sharply, reminding him of how Seth's beauty had lured him away from treasure he'd intended to steal. He had grown into an even more handsome young man, with no softness left in his slim, well-trained body, but his eyes were as fiery blue as that first time Bakura had seen them. It was no stolen treasure that he held in his arms now, but Seth looked just as indignant to see Ryou there instead.

 

Carefully, keeping one eye on the priest's face, Bakura set Ryou's feet onto the floor. Even though Ryou insisted he was able to stand, he still leaned heavily on Bakura's arm, although that may have been more from reluctance than from weakness. Bakura wasn't eager to let him go, either. He felt a protective affection for the pretty one that he'd never felt for anyone before. But the memory of their urgent desire for each other only seemed like a pleasant dream now, while the flashing spirit in the priest's blue eyes sparked desires that were as fresh and strong as ever.

 

The guards and healers stood around him and Ryou, hesitating and wary as Seth stalked through them. Ryou took an unsteady step away from him to wave at his friends.

 

"Yugi! Mokuba!" he called to them.

 

"Are you all right, Ryou?" Yugi called back from halfway across the hall, in that deep and yet halting voice he used when he spoke Bakura's language.

 

Ryou nodded, smiling his sun-bright smile. Then he asked an urgent question in his own language, mentioning the name of Kaiba. The dark haired boy nodded as well, although his young face was creased with worry as he glanced back and up over his shoulder.

 

Bakura followed his gaze to see Jonouchi standing on the floor above, leaning over the rail and staring down at the group in the hall. But he also turned and looked back through the corridor he'd come out of with a worried frown. Bakura guessed that this Kaiba was somewhere within, and that he must be even weaker than Ryou if he had not come out to meet them in his own house. The look on the blonde's face reminded him sharply of the one Jumoke had worn the last time Bakura saw him.

 

He was relieved to see that Seth's spirit had suffered no harm yet. Fear that he would find Seth already as weakened as Ryou had been growing on him ever since the Spirit of the Ring had spoken to him, although the first spark of that fear had been put in his heart by Jumoke's cryptic warning. Unfortunately, he had no better idea now than he did then how he was supposed to use the Ring to protect Seth. He was determined to find out, however, even after feeling the burn of Seth's stare on his arm that held Ryou upright by his side.

 

Seth had paused when Ryou said Kaiba's name, and had glanced back in the same direction as well. Jonouchi seemed to hesitate, as if he thought of coming down to join them but was reluctant to go so far from where Kaiba rested. Seth's gaze flickered for a moment as he watched Jonouchi turn away and disappear down the corridor above the hall. Does he still see Jumoke there? Bakura wondered.

 

Seth turned back to Bakura and Ryou, and continued toward them more slowly. He looked troubled.

 

"Seto-Kaiba fades in and out of dreams, growing weaker by the hour," he said in a low voice when he was near.

 

He glanced at Ryou sharply, then at the healers standing nearby. Understanding dawned in his eyes as he realized why Bakura had carried Ryou into the hall.

 

"Your double suffers from the same weakness?" Seth said thoughtfully. Then his eyes narrowed and he pointed at Bakura. "If you are the cause of this, Tomb Robber, then it is time you revealed what you've done!"

 

Bakura felt the familiar sting of the priest's accusation like a slap in the face, shattering his reawakened memories of the past. The young priest he had surprised at the temple had been fascinated by the wild life of a wandering thief, but High Priest Seth was much more eager to judge him and see darkness in his heart.

 

"You fool!" Bakura snarled. "Can't you see that we are both the cause of our doubles' weakness? Our presence here is drawing the life force from our other selves, and if we remain here it will kill them! Ryou has brought me here to help. We need to do something, Priest Seth - or do you want to let them die while we argue?"

 

Seth's eyes flashed briefly in response to Bakura's tone of voice, but then, as the words sank in, the fury left his face. He glanced back again to where Seto must be in the healers care, with a flash of guilt in his gaze.

 

"Yes, I suspected it might be so," he admitted. "If that's true, it is up to us to make this right."

 

"Exactly! We have to figure out how we came to be here so that we can return to our own world, if we are to save these two lives in this world," Bakura said. "And ourselves as well! If they die, this curse will affect us in turn. Without their Ba to sustain us in this time, we will die here, too."

 

"Then we must all work together to solve this riddle," the commanding voice of Dark Yugi said.

 

Startled, Bakura and Seth both turned to see him standing next to them. Intent on each other, they had forgotten Yugi and the dark haired boy were there.

 

"This is Mokuba Kaiba, Seto's brother," Ryou introduced the dark haired boy to Bakura. Just as the others had done, Mokuba looked curiously at him and at Ryou, as if comparing the two of them. He muttered something to Yugi, who seemed to agree.

 

"He said we look somewhat alike, but not nearly as much as Seth looks like his brother," Ryou translated, blushing charmingly. "I think we're quite different, really!"

 

"Thank you for bringing Ryou to us, Bakura," Dark Yugi said. His voice held authority, even though he spoke as if he had to call up some of the words from the depths of memory. "Mokuba is having a bed set up near Kaiba's, so the doctors that are looking after him can keep an eye on Ryou as well."

 

"Oh! That's not really necessary, is it?" Ryou said fretfully, looking from Yugi to Mokuba to the white-robed healer standing nearby.

 

"I don't understand the medicine they practice in this world," Seth said, surprisingly gently, "but I believe that Ryou will be safe in their care as Seto-Kaiba is."

 

Yugi spoke to Mokuba in their own language, and they boy nodded to the healers. Two of them stepped forward, smiling uncertainly but kindly at Ryou.

 

"Well, I suppose, perhaps I should..." Ryou said. He took another shaky step away from Bakura, but turned back toward him and Seth when one of the healers took his arm. "Please don't try to kill each other any more!" he pleaded.

 

"I will not lift my hand against Bakura again," Seth said solemnly as the healers led Ryou away.

 

"And I never had any intention of killing Priest Seth," Bakura returned evenly.

 

"Is that true?" Dark Yugi asked. He sounded skeptical. "According to Jonouchi, that's exactly what you were trying to do when he first saw you, locked in what appeared to be a duel to the death! But since that's also the moment you both arrived in this time, I think that is where we have to begin to look for the answer to how you came here."

 

Bakura frowned. For some reason he found himself as uncomfortable with the memory of that duel as he was in the presence of the cursed Millennium Items. Seth still looked down his nose at the one who looked like Akiiki in his eyes, but to Bakura's surprise, he nodded.

 

"I agree," the priest said, turning to Bakura. "Some force was unleashed during our duel that brought us here, and only if we discover what it was can we have any hope of returning to our own time. If it was truly not of your doing, Bakura, then we must set our anger aside and recall exactly what happened before we left our own time and ended up here."

 

"That is why I came here," Bakura pointed out.

 

"Excellent," Dark Yugi said. "Then let's go somewhere where we can talk."

 

 

---

 

For the third time that day, Jonouchi was impressed with how quickly things happened under Mokuba's command. Minutes after the thief and Ryou had appeared in the foyer, a bed was being set up in a room that adjoined Kaiba's through a wide double doorway. While the medical experts were getting things ready, Jonouchi made a quick call on the phone Mokuba left in Kaiba's room, and let Anzu and Honda know that they could stop searching for Bakura and worrying about Ryou.

 

"Yeah, Ryou's okay," he told them. "He's looking like something the cat dragged in, but Kaiba's doctors are going to take care of him, and you know they're the best money can by. Come on over and join the party if you want to - but just ring the buzzer and talk normal at the gate, because the guards here are a little twitchy!"

 

Right after he hung up, Ryou came in. He was walking on his own but slowly, and two of Kaiba's medical staff walked behind him, holding their arms out to catch him if he fell. He did stumble a little coming over the threshold, and he blinked with a spacey look in his eyes when he saw the bed and the medical equipment that had been brought - but clumsy and spacey weren't unusual for Ryou.

 

It wasn't until he sat on the bed with a deep sigh that Jonouchi saw the fatigue bearing down on him. His face was pale and yet flushed, just like Kaiba's had been a while ago. Ryou was several hours behind Kaiba, though, Jonouchi guessed. It seemed bizarre that it was the Spirit of the Ring making the difference, but obviously something was - or at least it had been. Whatever was going on, it was finally starting to catch up with Ryou, too.

 

Ryou looked up and caught sight of Kaiba through the wide doorway. His eyes grew round and his kind, soft face crinkled in distress.

 

"Oh, dear! Is Kaiba going to be all right?" he said softly. "I'm so sorry about all of this!"

 

"What are you sorry for, it's not your fault," Jonouchi said gruffly.

 

He glanced back at the other bed; Kaiba had barely stirred even with all the activity in the adjoining room, but his breathing was deep and even, and he looked so peaceful Jonouchi had to stifle the urge to curl up in bed next to him. He dragged his attention back to Ryou.

 

"Anyway, Kaiba's okay for now," he said. "He's just sleeping like a baby. Mokuba says that's an improvement over how he was before, and the docs say sleep is just what he needs. Looks like you should get some rest, too, Ryou!"

 

As if on cue, Ryou broke into a huge yawn. While he was distracted by that, one of the nurses scooped up his feet and swung them up onto the bed, while the other gently but firmly pushed him back onto the pillows.

 

"But I don't want to sleep!" he protested weakly. "I want to help!"

 

"You're the one who needs help right now," Jonouchi said, leaning against the doorway between the rooms. "Just let the nice nurses look after you while the rest of us figure out what's going on here, okay? By the way, where're Bakura and Seth now?"

 

"I guess they're still downstairs with Yugi and Mokuba. I heard Dark Yugi asking them about that duel they were having when you first saw them, so I suppose they're trying to figure out what happened just before they came here. Bakura really wants to help, you know. He really cares about Seth," he added softly, "a lot more than he'll admit."

 

"Yeah, well, that makes two of them," Jonouchi said.

 

It was still hard to imagine the wily thief really caring about anyone, but he'd seen the gentle way Bakura handled Ryou down in the hall and decided there had to be a decent human being in there somewhere after all. Besides that, he guessed Bakura wouldn't have come walking into this place the way he did if he really meant any harm to Seth or anyone else. And he was pretty sure he knew how Seth felt about Bakura, whether he'd ever admit it or not.

 

He looked back at Seto, remembering the kiss that had finally made clear what neither of them could say.

 

"Maybe someday those two will get their act together and figure out that they're stuck with each other," he said. "Stranger things have happened around here."

 

"Yes, I hope they do," Ryou agreed, smiling.

 

Jonouchi thought he looked sad in spite of the smile, but maybe it was just weariness making him look that way. Now that the nurses had him settled in the bed, he looked too limp to move again.

 

Seeing Ryou like that suddenly gave him the urge to do something about it, but as soon as he turned around and saw Kaiba lying there, he didn't want to leave the room. He stood there in the doorway, rubbing the back of his neck in frustration.

 

"I really should get down there and hear what they're saying," he muttered, but he couldn't make himself go. "Thing is, I keep feeling like I should be the one figuring out what to do about all this and how to save Kaiba - and you, too, Ryou! Only I don't have a clue!"

 

"Well," Ryou said thoughtfully, "maybe there's some reason you were the one who found Seth and Bakura right after they appeared here. Maybe you are the one who... "

 

He was interrupted by a loud thump, like something large had fallen over downstairs. He looked up at Jou anxiously. "What was that?"

 

Before Jonouchi could answer, they heard a shout that sounded like Dark Yugi's voice. It didn't sound like a happy shout, either, Jou thought.

 

"You don't think...?" he began, but before he could finish, they both jumped as a loud crash was followed immediately by an alarm going off. Over that they could hear more shouts and the sound of running feet.

 

"Oh, no!" Ryou cried. "Not again!"

 

Jonouchi rolled his eyes and groaned. "Then again, maybe those two won't ever get their act together," he said.

 

---

 

Bakura spared a last look at Ryou before following Mokuba and Dark Yugi to a smaller room off the main hall. He was relieved to see the pale boy slowly climbing the long stairway on his own, but he was also glad to see that the healers stayed near him.

 

He barely glanced around the place Mokuba led them to. The sun of late afternoon had broken through the departing storm clouds, throwing slanting golden light into the room. Outside, he caught a glimpse of green lawns and hedges, and beyond them trees that hid the gate and wall from view. Within the room, shelves along the walls held nothing but books, but a large desk was strewn with several of the curious little boxes he'd seen in the marketplace. Some glowed with their own moving light and made strange sounds. At any other time Bakura would have been intrigued by the many strange artifacts of this world, but at the moment they held little interest, and he turned his attention to Seth and the others.

 

He perched on the arm of a cushioned chair not far from the door, where he could look out and see the guards still milling around in the hall as if they had nothing better to do. Seth chose to stand, arms crossed and feet apart as if he was conducting an interrogation, but his face was thoughtful. Mokuba sat up on the edge of a large desk and looked on anxiously.

 

"Now then," Dark Yugi said, standing before them as imperiously as any Pharaoh holding court. "Tell us everything you remember from the moment before you found yourselves in this world! Exactly how did your duel begin?"

 

Bakura realized Dark Yugi was looking straight at him for the answer.

 

"I was only defending myself," he answered shortly. "I told you earlier, I went to the tomb hoping to find that the story I'd heard wasn't true and that Jumoke was not dead. Seth came upon me there and challenged me the moment he saw me."

 

That much was certainly true, he remembered, thinking back. He'd been distracted by the unusual difficulty of avoiding Pharaoh's guards, and disturbed to find that Jumoke was indeed dead and entombed, leaving him with the Millennium Ring that he didn't want to touch. He hadn't even realized Seth was there until he heard the priest's voice challenge him.

 

"What else should do when I see a tomb robber sneaking around a freshly sealed tomb?" Seth asked. "You answered my challenge readily, and immediately called forth a creature far more deadly than I knew you were capable of summoning!"

 

"There was madness in your eyes," Bakura said in a low voice. "With your dead lover's warning ringing in my ears, I thought you were already possessed by whatever dark force he feared so greatly that he was willing to give up the Pharaoh's treasure to me. What else should I do but defend myself?"

 

"I was possessed only by grief," Seth said through clenched teeth. "And with Pharaoh's warning ringing in my ears, of a white-haired thief who had turned to murder in order to steal the Millennium Items, of course I challenged you!"

 

"Are you saying you didn't launch a deadly attack directly against Seth, as Jonouchi said?" Dark Yugi asked Bakura pointedly.

 

"I did not intend to kill," he said sullenly. "Although I was angry enough, I only meant to end the duel."

 

"All right," Dark Yugi said, though he didn't sound convinced. "So, at any rate, the duel began. Did either of you noticed anything strange about it?"

 

They both fell silent, thinking back, each watching the other.

 

"I remember that the air seemed to grow cold the moment we began," Seth said, scowling darkly at Bakura. "Not the normal cool air of the dawn, but a strange, sudden chill that seemed to seep into my heart."

 

"And the sky turned black," Bakura remembered suddenly. He shivered as if he felt the same chill cross his skin. "And then, it was as if thunder cracked the sky, but instead of lightning, the day was suddenly bright and clear... "

 

"...Because suddenly we were here, under the bright sun in your world," Seth finished. He eyed Bakura skeptically. "The black cloud came when you summoned your serpent creature, Thief. I thought you had had used some dark magic to bring us to the world of Shadows. Are you certain this was not your doing?"

 

"It was certainly not me!" Bakura snapped. "Even if I knew such magic, what reason could I have to bring us to this world? And even if I had," he continued with less anger, "I would undo it now, before it causes Ryou any greater harm."

 

Seth narrowed his eyes. "Your concern for him is touching. How did you happen to find him in order to bring him here?" he asked suspiciously. "Did you seek him out, like some treasure that you wished to plunder?"

 

Seth's words cut too close to the truth, and Bakura found he didn't have an answer that he wanted to give. He had wanted Ryou from the moment he first saw him, but he didn't care to explain to Seth all that had happened between them.

 

Dark Yugi had been quietly passing on all that they said to Mokuba in their own language, but he stopped and watched Bakura with hard eyes, waiting for his answer.

 

"I won't deny that I find Ryou beautiful and desirable," Bakura said, watching the line of Seth's mouth grow thin. "And perhaps you noticed that he was quite attracted to me as well when we first met! But whatever I might have done or wished to do with him, Ryou only longs for another - the one who is my true double in this world, even though he is only a spirit! It wasn't me he wanted to be with, no matter how much it seemed so."

 

Seth stared at him a moment longer, then abruptly turned away. To Bakura's surprise, there was a look of pain in his eyes.

 

"Yes," Seth said with a sigh. "I know..."

 

He stared at nothing for a moment, and then seemed to catch himself. Bakura grinned, remembering the way Seth had stared at Jonouchi when they first saw him.

 

"You were also much taken with Jonouchi when we first met, weren't you? " he said. "Did you also wish to make love to Jumoke's spirit in Jonouchi's form?"

 

To Bakura's surprise, instead of snapping back at him, Seth suddenly seemed unable to speak. An astonishing shade of red crept up his throat into his face.

 

"You two-faced jackal!" Bakura hissed as the truth hit him. "You did more than wish it, didn't you?"

 

Seth couldn't meet his eyes.

 

"My heart is weak," he said in harsh whisper. "I could not resist the chance to touch Jumoke again, and be with him one more time ..."

 

"What are you saying?" Dark Yugi gasped.

 

A cold spear seemed to have plunged into Bakura's heart. He turned to Dark Yugi with a twisted grin.

 

"It's quite plain enough, isn't it?" he said. "Seth, High Priest of Egypt, upholder of Truth and defender of Justice in the Pharaoh's name, seduced your friend Jonouchi in Jumoke's memory."

 

Dark Yugi fell speechless, staring at Seth as if he'd suddenly transformed into a monster from the world of Shadow. Seth managed to stare back with his chin raised, flushed with shame but still defiant, still superior.

 

Anger that Bakura had kept hidden even from himself seemed to burst in his heart. If he had his diadiankh on his arm now as he had at the tomb, he was sure his anger alone would have summoned a monster greater than any Seth had ever seen. Rather than reach into his bag for it, he turned on Seth and unleashed his rage in words.

 

"How dare you, oh great High Priest, who spoke so harshly to me when I found you with another, after you long ago swore that our hearts were bound together - who attacked me when I went to your new lover's tomb seeking for a way to protect you at his bidding - who would have plunged a knife into my heart in righteous anger over a crime I did not commit - who judged me when I merely looked at another man - how dare you stand here and accuse me of doing what only you yourself have done! Yet you, wise priest, are always so quick to judge, and tell me my heart is dark!" he sneered.

 

The superior look on the High Priest's face crumbled. Seth winced at every word, as if each truth was a slap. When Bakura finished, he looked up pleadingly, his blue eyes liquid as if with grief. The pain on his face suddenly threatened to douse the flame of rage that had been lit in Bakura's heart.

 

"Bakura!" Seth said, reaching out to him. "Thief of my heart, forgive me!"

 

The cold spear in Bakura's heart twisted. To hear Seth say that now, when he had not spoken those words since before he'd given his life to Pharaoh's service and his heart to another, was like a mockery of all that Bakura felt for the Priest. Words failed him. His fist spoke instead, launched at Seth's face with the speed of a viper's strike.

 

A heartbeat later, the pain in his fist cut through the cloud of fury that had overtaken him. He stared in horror as Seth clutched his face and stumbled backward, knocking over a chair. Blood trickled between his fingers.

 

"Bakura!" Dark Yugi shouted furiously.

 

The thief knew the angered voice of authority when he heard it - no matter what Dark Yugi looked like to Seth's eyes, he spoke with the commanding power of the Pharaoh himself. Instinct took over; he darted toward the door, but it was already full of guards. He wasn't about to let them throw him in chains for striking the High Priest! With a snarl, he spun around and leaped past Yugi.

 

"No, wait, Bakura!" Dark Yugi shouted again. He sounded more startled than angry this time and tried to grab for Bakura as he passed, but nothing could stop the thief now.

 

There was only one escape route left. Bakura jumped up and threw himself through the window. A high-pitched wail began as glass shattered around him, as if Kaiba's home screamed from the wound he'd dealt it. The stolen leather coat and trousers prevented most of the shards from reaching his skin as he tumbled onto the grass outside. In a heartbeat, he was back on his feet and running for the shadows under the trees.

 

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to be continued!

 

 

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