I'm back again.

I know I've taken forever!!! I'm sorry. I have no really good excuse. I've had time to write, just no real inspiration lately….I could blame finals, or a Latin convention, but really, it's just a lack of will to sit and write. . Which is entirely my fault.

I get to switch math teachers now, thank the gods. I've heard Mrs. Whiting actually teaches…..Mrs. Errthum was awful. . She didn't even tell us all the rules for the stuff we were supposed to learn, and I'm in calc. How am I supposed to know that sin(x)/x leaves a hole when it cancels out?????

But that's done now. And I'm trying to write. By the way, if anyone cares, I do think I managed to fix the problem with Bakura acting completely OOC…..sorta. Now, instead of suddenly flinging him into complete out of character actions, I sort of ease him into it. I had no way of writing this with him in character….Yami would never figure it out. Nor would Bakura, I'm starting to think. He's taking his sweet time anyways….

And now, to the story!!! D

Chapter 11

Bakura walked calmly out of the game shop, or at least he looked calm, to the average bystander. Inside, he felt like his stomach was boiling. He blamed it on anger, and as soon as he was too far away for the ex-Pharaoh to see him acting so undignified, he broke into a furious sprint towards home.

He didn't bother to turn on the lights as he entered the house he shared with his hikari. He simply stamped to his room, slammed the door behind him, and threw himself on the bed to fume.

Goddamned pharaoh! Can't keep his nose out of my business…all this idiot talk about sorry and having changed—heh, like I've never heard that before. Oh, I'm sooo sorry Bakura, I never wanted you to get hurt, never mind that I was the one hurting you, never mind how much I enjoyed hearing you scream in agony, I never meant any of that….what utter crap

But a small part of his mind was betraying him, whispering quietly, he said he loved you. He never said that before.

All right, then. Oh, Bakura, I'm sooo sorry, I never meant to hurt you, I love you, let's go fuck so I can get back to hating you and doing my best to destroy you forever.

What if he did change?

Riight. That's likely.

The voice was persistent. What if?

I'm ignoring you. See? I can't hear you. I can't hear you, I can't hear you, la did a did a…..

He heard the door slam downstairs. "Bakura, I'm home!!!!" The thief heard light footsteps leaping up the stairs. "Are you up here?" Ryou's head peeked into his room. "Yami?" There was a pause. "Yami, are you all right? Hey, 'Kura…"

"Go away." Bakura's voice was murderous. Ryou ignored it, walking over to sit on the bed by his yami. The spirit felt a slim finger poke his side. He growled and slapped at it, then turned over to glare at his hikari. "I said, go away."

"No. What happened, 'Kura?"

"Nothing. Nihil, nada, zip, zero, rei, nothing. Now leave me alone."

That goddamned finger was poking him again. "Hikari….."

"Yeeesss…?" The teen's voice was teasing, and gods be damned, that teasing always made him relax. I don't want to relax, though, let me fume in peace already!!

"Stop that!"

"Not 'till you tell me what happened." Yep. Ryou was definitely teasing him. Bakura glared again, but his anger was losing ground.

"All right, all right. I give up. But you get to ask questions, I'm not gonna sit here and spill my guts to a little weakling like you." The spirit's words were harsh, but they were said with the air of an older brother giving in to a younger sibling's demands. He quickly sat up and stuck his nose into the air, purposely avoiding looking into his hikari's eyes. Bakura knew they'd be in full-force puppy-dog mode.

He could also hear the pout in Ryou's voice when the teen spoke. "Fine, be that way. Umm…..let's see. Yugi and everyone got out of school when I did, so it doesn't have to do with them….umm….as far as I know, Marik is still gone, so that's not it….and Kaiba-kun was in class today, for a change, so that isn't it…and it's not like you to get this mad at random strangers. So let's see, who's left….does this have something to do with Yugi's yami?"

Bakura flinched and turned his head to face the teen, glaring full-force again. "NO."

"Ha! I'm right, aren't I?" Ryou smiled happily. "So what about him…you….ran into him randomly on the street?"

"Nope." The spirit's voice wasn't quite so angry this time. It was a legitimate answer, not a way to get out of talking.

"Hm. He came here, then? I can't see you going to find him—" But Bakura was shaking his head again. "No? So you didn't see him on accident, and he didn't try to find you…did you go to Yugi's house, then?" Bakura's glare, though focused at the curtains, was answer enough. "Really? 'Kura, that's not like you. What happened next?"

"I'm not telling you, remember?" Bakura's voice was monotone, full of anger—but Ryou could swear he heard confusion, or even fear, as well, buried under it.

"All right, then. Be that way. So…you went to the game shop to see Yami…and knowing you two, you fought. Over what, though? Umm….did you fight over something that happened in the present time?" Bakura said nothing. "Yami that's not helpful."

"Sort of, then. Partly." The monotone anger was still there.

"So partly over something that happened in the past, I guess, as well. Over….something you said? Or something he said?" The thief nodded at this second guess.

"I would've thought he'd already said everything that made you mad enough to make you immune to it. Hmm, so something he hadn't said before, maybe?" Bakura nodded. "He's said before…umm…pretty much everything about hating you, you being a dirty thief, evil, twisted, insane…hm. So not those. What else is there? Something neutral wouldn't offend you this much, would it?"

"Nope."

"So maybe something opposite. Did he….ask to be friends?"

"That's something that friendship freak would say, not him."

"True. But am I on the right track, at least?" Bakura's glare hardened. "I'll take that as a yes. Something a little more drastic, maybe, though, or you'd just insult him back. So maybe…no. That wouldn't be right. All right, 'Kura, I give up. Tell me?"

Bakura sat silently for a moment. Ryou was just about to go over to him and poke the thief until he told, but he felt an odd prick in his mind, like a knock on his soul room's door. "You want to…show me?" The spirit nodded. "It's that hard to say? All right, then…" He hesitantly entered the hallway in his mind, where he saw Bakura waiting for him. The spirit turned and walked into his own soul room, leaving the door open for the hikari to follow.

Ryou entered, only to find himself in the living room of Yugi's house. He felt like a ghost, watching the scene unfold before him. Yami was standing on one side of the room, his shoulders slumped, his back to Ryou. Bakura was closer to the teen, obviously both furious and confused, yelling loudly at the ex-pharaoh.

…the hell would you care if I hate you now? You're the one who caused it! You're--"

"No, stop…stop it, Bakura, please." Yami's almost pleading voice was tight, as if he were trying to hold back tears.

"Then tell me!!"

There was a moment of silence. Then a slight whisper filled the air; "…I—I love you."

Ryou suddenly felt himself jolted back into his own body. He blinked rapidly, feeling his eyes water slightly. He must have left them open while he was watching Bakura's memory…

The memory certainly hadn't been what he'd expected. I mean, I saw that Yami was upset when he left, sometimes, last week, but I thought they'd just been fighting again…I never dreamed…

The hikari looked over at his yami. Bakura was leaning against the bed's headboard, knees curled up to his chest, pouting viciously. He looked angry, still, but confusion and now definitely a hint of fear showed through, though Ryou wasn't sure he'd have picked up on that last emotion without their mental link. "Yami….?" The teasing note was gone from his voice.

"Leave me alone." Bakura's voice showed his emotions clearly. It sounded like he was on the verge of tears…he must hate showing so much weakness, even to me, Ryou thought. He reached over, wrapping his arms gently around the thief.

"It's OK, 'Kura. It'll be all right."

"No!" The spirit pulled away at Ryou's words, glaring fiercely. "You don't get it, hikari. I don't trust him, I can't, and why can't he just leave me the hell alone…" Bakura buried his face between his knees again. "I just want to never see him again." His tone was unconvincing.

Ryou shook his head gently at the spirit. "Why can't you trust him? What's he done? If you don't want to discuss the past with me, fine, but…look at now. He sent you to the shadow realm once or twice, yes, but never so deep that you couldn't escape, or that you were driven mad by the experience. And it was always to protect someone else. And he just spent a week taking care of you, when he didn't have to—"

"A ploy to gain my trust."

"It's a rather long-winded ploy, then. That's a long time to have you yelling at him, just to try to earn a trust he wanted to destroy. So I don't think that's it." Bakura didn't move. "Yami, I think he might be telling the truth."

"Too bad."

Ryou sighed. "Do you really want to push him away, 'Kura? If he really likes you so much…"

"I don't care." His voice was unconvincing again.

"Really? It sounds like it's bugging you quite a bit, for your not caring." There was a pause. Finally, the teen grew exasperated with the spirit's behavior, and said, "Yami, I know you had problems with him in the past, but there's really no reason for you to not trust him now. He hasn't done anything truly bad to you in over 5000 years. It's your decision, but I think he's serious when he says he cares about you, and if you want him to care as much as I think you do, then you should stop being silly and accept it."

Bakura's head shot up. His mouth worked for a moment before he managed to spit out, "Who the hell said I wanted him to care about me???" the teen was out the door and down the hall.

He heard Ryou call up the stairs, "Dinner will be ready in an hour or so, 'Kura."

-0-(Time Break)-0-

Bakura lay in bed, tossing and turning. Finally he sat up and glared at the reddish glow of his digital clock. 2 AM, and that bastard still wouldn't get out of his mind.

For some reason, nor would his hikari's words. Stop being silly and accept it…That stupid voice in his head seemed to agree.

He collapsed back onto his pillows with an exasperated grunt. "Damn it all, make these voices go away…"

Oh, but you should listen to us.

He groaned. Not you again…

After all, we make sense. It sounded like the voice—or conscience, or spirit, or whatever the cursed thing was—was laughing at him.

No you don't. I don't want him to care about me, I want to wipe him off the face of the earth. Even his mental voice sounded unsure, to him.

Fine. If you don't appreciate me, then I'll just leave, and see how far you get then.

Finally!! Bakura grinned triumphantly.

But think about it….if you have to consider this for so long—maybe you liiiike him tooooo… Oh yes, his little crazy voice was definitely teasing him now.

No. I hate him. Go away already. But the thing was already gone.

And now there was nothing to argue with, to block out his thoughts. Two words simply refused to get out of his head.

What if…

-0-(Author Notes)-0-

Hehehe…what if what? Though I'm sure most of you have figured it out by now. You're all smarter than Bakura is acting, I'm sure. He really is slow, isn't he?

In any case…wow. I've managed to write all of the above in around 2 hours. . Guess my excuse of no inspiration is gone now. I just needed a thing to write on. (This laptop can only have one program other than music open without the music glitching, so I'm not distracted by addictive little things like solitaire.)

But that's not the point. Hm…what is the point? Oh, Molly, I know you don't read author's notes, but just in case, guess who inspired the pokey thing and the little voice of doom? Muahaha….6 years of close friendship does pay off, it seems, when writing.

Oh. After this fic ends—eventually—I have a few ideas for other stuff. Unfortunately, by the time I write one of them, I may lose inspiration for the others. So we may have to choose. I'm pretty sure we'll be visiting Ancient Egypt again….question of pairing. So far I have Bakura/Ryou with an evil Yami, Bakura/Yami with no hikari involved, Yami/Ryou with evil OC (as a more minor character, not in the main stream so much), or Bakura/Seto. Currently I'm leaning towards Bakura/Ryou or Yami/Ryou, but that may change. Yes, I know all my stuff is Ryou-centric. He's just perfect for the role, though!! In any case, any opinions, anyone?

Well. That's all, other than providing my little page break. Now, back to our little story….

-0-(End Author Notes)-0-

The sun had barely begun to light the eastern sky when Bakura set out from his home. His steps were determined, leading him directly to the very building he'd fled from the day before.

After all, he'd had a sleepless night to make up his mind about the situation.

Since he was walking slowly and the Game Shop was a fair distance away without a subway, Yugi had already left for school when he arrived. The shop wasn't open yet, but it wasn't so hard to pick the lock. Plus, it was much more fun than knocking.

He snuck into the building, making sure to make enough noise to alert the other spirit in the house. That way, if he was unexpected, he could fairly blame Yami for it. When he reached the kitchen, he heard the gentle noise of the television in the living room, just down the hall, and headed towards it. The thief saw a bit of tricolor hair peeking over the back of the sofa as he walked in, and smirked widely. Walking over silently, he reached around the back of the furniture and clamped his arms tightly around the ex-Pharaoh.

It seemed he had been too quiet after all, that or Yami hadn't been paying any attention whatsoever to his surroundings. The spirit jumped and turned quickly to face Bakura, eyes wide. "What—" He was cut off as a hand wrapped lightly over his mouth, muffling sound without cutting off breath. Bakura leaned down until his mouth brushed Yami's ear.

"Hmmm….not paying attention, are we?" His voice was quiet and seductive, barely more than a whisper. The spirit struggled in his arms for a moment, trying desperately to break free from the thief's hold, before surrendering to Bakura's strong arms. "There now, that's better. If you don't want people sneaking up on you, then you should really pay more attention." His smirk grew, if that were possible, and he released Yami's mouth, allowing the ex-pharaoh to talk.

Said spirit didn't speak right away, though. He stared silently at Bakura, various emotions flitting swiftly across his tanned features. Finally, he asked, "What're you doing here? I thought—" But the thief cut him off again.

"I needed time to think things through. I figured it out now." His words had turned sharp, clipped and spoken quickly, as if there were far more interesting and important things to get to still.

Yami frowned slightly. "And….you decided…?" In response, he felt two muscled but lean arms wrap more tightly around his shoulders. The thief's nose pressed gently into his hair.

"I thought it would be obvious." Bakura's voice was vaguely bemused. "I'm here, aren't I?"

"You'd be here either way, I think. The question is, is this what you've decided or a ploy to throw me off balance and steal my Puzzle?"

"What would I do with the hunk of gold? I had to get rid of the Eye, it wasn't compatible with me, remember?" Yami felt Bakura's lips pressed gently against the back of his neck.

"As I remember, there was something to do with 99 souls and blood…"

"As I remember, that wasn't exactly your choice."

"All right, then is this a ploy to gain my trust and use that for your revenge?"

"Hn. I would think 5000 years in a bunch of little gold puzzle pieces is revenge enough. Remember, that was my fault, wasn't it?" The thief's tone revealed the rhetorical nature of the question. (1)

"So what is this then?"

Bakura slipped over the sofa's back to sit beside Yami. He used one hand to gently pull the teen against his chest while pulling his chin up with the other. His eyes were smiling, but also a little sad. "Am I not allowed to be sincere, Yami?"

The spirit blinked. "Since when do you call me by nam—" He was cut off by a pair of lips pressing gently against his mouth.

-0-(End)-0-

Well, it's getting late (for me) and my head (and throat…and neck….and body) hurts, so I plan to go to bed now.

Heh. Be honest—how many of you thought I'd stick a lemon somewhere in there? Sorry, I can't write those. It doesn't work. . But it's fun to tempt people!!

(1): Rhetorical. I think it comes from the Latin word rhetor, which is a kind of teacher. So a rhetorical question is a teaching question….not a learning question. Ha!! Fun, fun. Words. By the way, we started learning Greek letters in Latin class the other day. It's rather fun. It's like a code—some letters are similar, while some are completely different. I like my Latin class. It's amusing—and really easy, contrary to popular belief. …I'll shut up now.

Wow, 7 pages or so (not including author's notes!) written over a 3-day period!!! I can't stay up so late on school days, usually…but I made an exception here. Hope you all enjoy it. But finally, Bakura's beginning to cooperate!!

The beginning of next chapter will probably be solid fluff. Oh joy…. . Maybe Bakura isn't so nice to this poor authoress.

Molly, prepare for me to pick your brain for nonobsessive fluff ideas.