Yu-Gi-Oh! Fan Fiction ❯ White Shadows ❯ Tears of Blood ( Chapter 5 )

Next chapter here. I still have no idea what's going to happen.

White Shadows 4 - Tears of Blood

I don't want to do this to him, do I? Why do I hurt him so much?

I want him to say he's sorry. Sorry for hurting me. Sorry for killing me. I want…

But I can't make him, can I? Nothing…no, I can make him. He's my other half, and I love him. I'll always take care of him and one day he'll love me in return. I know he will.

Because…he's my other me. He can't hate me. He can't - if he hates me…do I hate me?

I hate him.

Yes...no…He's crying again, tears of blood. Who did this to him? Me?

No…I love him. I love him…I just wanted him to say `I'm sorry'. Is that so much to ask? He loves me - he just doesn't know it.

He loves me. I love him. He is yin to my yang, the flip side of the coin, the second half of my soul… My brother, my other…tell me you love me…

The kids at school always call me by his name - which is my name too, but that's beside the point. They laugh and wave and call "Hey, Bakura…" if only they knew who I really was. If only I could show them…

I walk into the bathroom, placing Ryou's backpack on the counter and leaning over the sink to wash my hands. I scrub at the too-pale skin roughly, the sensation invigorating. Then I splash water on my face, hoping to wake myself up. School is such a bore.

I look in the mirror, white bangs dripping with water, and see his face. Wide blue eyes and gentle features stare back at me from the silvered glass. I glare at the reflection, willing my own face to appear - wilder bat-winged hair, narrow, darker blue eyes…but nothing happens. I'm staring at his face - staring at my face.

I look just like him.

The wail of terror is still hanging in the air as I scramble out of nightmare, shuddering with reaction. I slide out of bed and go to the mirror - my reflection stares back at me with wild hair and dark blue eyes. But still - is that a touch of gentleness in the set of the mouth, a taint of softness in the eyes? No…I can't be broken. Not by him.

:Tell me you love me…: The thought drifts from Ryou's soul room. I shiver - but he's still sleeping, still dreaming. For a moment I'm free.

The knife is in my hand - I'm not sure how it got there, but it's in my grasp, the handle hard and solid and comforting. I raise it to my hair - it should be shorter, so I chop off those long silvery locks until they just brush my shoulders.

Better. But still not enough. I raise a finger to my right eye, trace a memory over the lid and down the cheek. I used to have a scar… right there… I remember that night…

--Flashback -

Bakhura slipped the tiny sliver of bone into his wrist shackles, working the fragile object through the copper bonds. The lock was simple enough - he had it memorized after so many months of close association. Finally, the lock clicked open, falling to the straw-covered ground with a muffled thunk. The boy - though no longer truly a boy, he had not been since his ninth year - rose, tying the cloth of his smock closer about him. He would free himself of this place - but first he had a stop to make. He undid the lock attaching the chain to the wall and wrapped the cool metal links carefully around his hand.

The master's house was not far away; after six month of `training', he knew the way well. Like a ghost he slipped through the night. His master's room was at the back, but likely in this weather he would be sleeping on the roof, to take advantage of the cool night air.

Bakhura smiled at the ladder leading to said roof, one hand fondling the wood before he slid up, bare feet making less noise than the wind. As he expected, his master lay there on a straw pallet, nakedness exposed to the stars of Nut. The boy slipped across the roof to the man, unwrapping the heavy chain as he went. The clanking of the copper links sounded overly loud in the night air; the slave master woke with a start. Bakhura stopped as the man's eyes opened, uncertain now. He had thought to strangle the man in his sleep - sudden fear raced through him, paralyzing his limbs.

"Boy…Bakhura…what are you doing here?" A smirk crossed the man's lips. "You want to play now? I must have trained you better than I thought…"

The boy snarled, fear banished behind blinding rage. He swung the chain, the copper weight unwieldy. Bakhura stumbled as his master ducked the clumsy swing, over balanced. The man caught the front of his smock before he could react, throwing him on the pallet and pinning him there.

"I think it's time you were given a slave-mark, boy." The master produced a knife from under the pallet and brought it down; blinding red pain laced through Bakhura's face; agony exploded in his right eye. He screamed, but there was no one to hear save the man who laughed wickedly at his cries. A second line cut across his cheek, and a third - warm blood ran down the side of his face like tears. He screamed again, a primal sound of fear and hate…and the shadows moved.

:You want him dead…yes?:

Set…the pain must be making him hallucinate. Now he was hearing voices. His diaphragm knotted with agony.

:Trade, child of the dead…know the bargain; I will give you strength, and revenge and you will give me…power, freedom.:

He felt the master's hands ripping at his clothes and the rage built to overflowing. Surely he was mad…but it didn't matter. :Yes!:

:The bargain is made.: Dark power flowed through him…Bakhura screamed again, this time with fierce joy as he felt a tug on his soul, felt something forming above him, a something that ripped his master off of him and threw him into the roof with enough force to crack the mud-brick. He climbed to his feet, still naked and no longer caring, as a creature spawned from the shadows loomed over him. He felt no fear - this was the creature of his bargain, the creature that would give him revenge. He stalked over to his master; his hate gave him strength he never knew he possessed, and almost lovingly he wrapped the chain around the man's neck, pulling it taut. He watched as the man's face turned blue, as his tongue protruded and his limbs twitched in need for air. He watched…and smiled.

end flashback -

I'm still staring at the reflection when I come back to myself. Staring at the picture of Ryou in the mirror, the picture of his face. My face. I raise the knife again.

My face. The pain as the blade slides through the flesh is exquisite - I savour it as I do the pain I cause in others. This is my strength, the price I will pay to be free of this curse. Blood slides down my cheek, dripping off my chin in a solid rivulet. The blade tastes me again - across the first cut, over my cheekbone. It burns like fire, like ice. I shiver in something resembling ecstasy.

:Kura-chan!: He's awake now, but it's too late. The third slash is in place, parallel to the second. Sign of my oath; my binding and my freedom. I gave my soul to the darkness - until Diabound was destroyed, and Zork Necrophisisu was defeated, and the Pharaoh returned, triumphant. I look in the mirror, finally seeing my own face staring back at me…and the bitter tears of longing that mingle with the blood on my cheek.

Death…would have been a blessing.

Kura-chan…why…what…you hurt yourself again, Kura-chan, and you don't want me to help. Why? I don't understand. I just want to help.

Don't you understand? I love you…please, love me too! I pull him into his soul-room, joining him in there moments later. He's up against the wall again, surrounded by the remnants of his life this time. But there is something new here - spirits of darkness, of the dead. They don't come near me, but I can sense them.

"Why, Kura-chan? Why? I don't want to do this to you…please, say it. Say you're sorry…please…"

"Rot in Hell, Ryou." I wince at the words, at the tone. Always so harsh - I just want to help him.

…punish him…

I lash out with a hand, a whip of darkness cutting at his flesh. But the spirits block the blow.

Take away his pain.

…break him…

He's laughing at me now, a wild, wicked sound. "You can't do it anymore, Ryou! I WILL be free!

Love him.

…make him pay for KILLING ME!

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