Summary: Bakura Ryou deals with the aftermath of the Memory world. If Yami no Bakura was Zork from the start…what does that make Ryou? Ryou explains…

Disclaimer: I do not own Yu-Gi-Oh.

A/N: I've been watching/reading the Memory Arc again, and I realized something that made my plot-bunnies jump in elation: Yami Bakura is actually Zork. Prior to this I had assumed (like most people) that YB is the spirit of the Thief King, but apparently he's not. He explicitly states that he is Zork. So it got me to thinking—does that mean that RYOU is actually the full reincarnation of the Thief King, much like Seto is the full reincarnation of Seth? The more I thought about it, the more it made sense. And that's how this one-shot was born.

What You Sow

I suppose I shouldn't be too surprised. I mean, now that I do remember, it makes almost too much sense.

In Egypt they didn't believe in reincarnation. You died once, and only ever had a single body. Apparently the Hindus and Buddhists got it right, if my and Seto's situations are any indication.

Are you confused? I apologize. It has taken me awhile to come to terms with the reality myself, and I'm still not entirely at ease with it.

Let me explain: I, Bakura Ryou, am the reincarnation of the Thief King who shares my name.

Ah, I see that you don't believe me. I must admit that I had trouble believing it myself, at first. Meek, polite Bakura Ryou-- a ruthless and vengeful thief in Ancient Egypt? Surely not!

If only denial could actually make things any different. But it never does. It didn't bring my mother back, it didn't bring Amane back, and it certainly wouldn't rid me of a past life that I considered unsavory.

The dreams were what really drove the point home. I had never suspected, not in all the time that the Voice possessed me, that I was fulfilling some kind of twisted contract. But when the dreams started, shortly after the Voice was vanquished once and for all, it all came flooding back. The destruction of Kur Elna, Diabound, the creation of the Millennium Items—it all unfolded before me in the guise of sleep-induced fantasy. Heh-- if only!

When I first stole the Ring from Mahaado, I forged an unwitting connection with the Dark God, Zork—one that would haunt me even after I had died and been reborn into a new body. In my blind, misguided pursuit of revenge, I doomed myself to be his pawn not once, but twice.

My life this time around was better. At least I didn't have to witness the death of my loved ones. At least my father, neglectful though he is, is still alive. I even have friends. I imagine things might not have been all that different this time around if I had lost everything again. I'm glad that I didn't. Carrying around that much hatred, that much grief, was very unpleasant.

I always have had a talent for understatement.

Do you believe me now? It makes an awful lot of sense, when you think about it. I really don't deserve everything that I've been given this time around. I hurt—killed—so many, back then. It sometimes hurts to think about it.

Pathetic, right? I know. I'm too much of a coward to face up to my own misdeeds. The Hindus and the Buddhists really did get it right: You reap what you sow. I'm living proof of that.

I deserve every little bit of pain and sorrow that I have. I have absolutely no right to complain.

But still, I would have been happier never remembering at all. I would have been happy to remain ignorant, innocent Ryou for the rest of my life. In a way, the Voice was doing me a favor. He made sure that I was never aware of anything that was going on.

And in that way, I haven't changed much at all.

I'm still so very, very selfish.