#tk bakura

The Thief King brightened, a smile like a child's slicing his face. "You're the kindest of Lords, certainly, Yugi Mutou!" He stood as Yugi fetched the keys from some ways down the hallway, then turned back and kissed Ryou's forehead with a murmur of, "Be back, my love." Yugi couldn't tell if it was for show or not.

"Just a quick walk around the garden," he said, as if to reassure himself of the fact. The Thief King came trotting—laudably restrained, in his excitement—into the hallway, and waited as Yugi re-locked the cell.

"Did you want to cuff me?" he asked, and Yugi shook his head.

"It wouldn't do a lot of good, anyway, if you decided to try anything."

Bakura laughed, flexing one bicep. "I know these look impressive, but I'm really not capable of shattering chains."

Yugi gave him an unamused look, less than assured. "Let's go..." he sighed, and Bakura kept obediently to his side as they walked down the corridor.

"So what's your sad story?" Bakura asked, conversationally. Yugi glanced over at him in surprise.

"My sad story?"

"You were a slave, right?"

Yugi nodded. "Yeah..."

"Parents sell you?"

"Oh no..." Yugi shook his head. "Someone I beat in a game. I bet my life on the game, against the debt on my grandfather's shop. He couldn't pay, so I played for a chance for him to keep it. But when I won, the man attacked me. And when I woke up, I had already been sold."

Bakura gave a low chuckle. "Ouch."

"From what I heard, he didn't make half of the money my grandfather owed him, by selling me. That made me a little happy."

Bakura laughed. "That is a bit satisfying. I still think you'd fetch a fairly high price, though."

Yugi gave him a baleful glance, but didn't speak as he opened the outer door of the dungeon complex. Bakura pulled a step or two ahead, but stopped just on the threshold. He raised his face and inhaled deeply, eyes closed.

"It's good to be alive."

Yugi blinked up at him in surprise, closing the door as quietly as he could manage. The Thief King certainly looked more magnificent in the open than in a cage, face turned up toward the moon, his scarred and supple body bathed in silver. Yugi was momentarily caught short of breath.

"I owe that to Ryou, you know," Bakura said, with a catty glance toward Yugi. Then he set off at a leisurely pace, Yugi trotting to catch up and then padding along beside him.

"Was that all true? What you told Atem?"

"You believed it," the Thief King said, with a sideways grin.

"But was it true?" Yugi repeated.

"Every word," Bakura replied easily. He kicked playfully at a stone in the path. "Ever wanted to die, little pharaoh-ling?"

"No."

"It's a wonderful thing, really, if you're lucky enough to live through it," Bakura said, gazing up at a tree as they passed. "You never see things the same way."

Yugi nodded slightly. "I know what despair is like," he said, "even if I've never wanted death. So I do have some idea of what you're talking about."

"I can imagine. From a slave to the betrothed of a pharaoh? It's like me, going from street rat to King of Thieves."

"You did that by your own merit, though," Yugi said, embarrassed. "I was lucky to have Atem appear to pick me up out if the mud."

Bakura shook his head. "You and the Pharaoh... there's something very special that exists between you two. The fact that you got dragged into the Shadow Realm with him is proof of that. And you earn your keep dueling for him, don't you? Am I right?"

Yugi nodded, though he lowered his head. "That's... yeah, that's the big secret..."

"Anyone who knows their way around the Shadow Realm could figure it out. Luckily, there aren't that many out there who do."

"Why do you know?" Yugi asked with interest.

"I made a deal with a demon. A monster. Zorc, in fact," Bakura said, pausing and gazing up into the lush branches of a tree. "I'm going to climb this," he informed Yugi, without looking down. "I'm not trying to escape, so don't freak." He leaped, then, and heaved himself up with powerful arms, vanishing with a leafy rustle.

"H-Hey!" Yugi called after him, then hurried to scramble up the trunk. When he broke out into the moonlight once more, close to the top of the tree, he found Bakura waiting there, leaning on a thick branch and gazing up at the sky.

"We all make contracts with them, those of us who duel," the Thief King said. "I just took it a bit farther. I gave Zorc a piece of my soul, and he gave me access to the Shadows."

Yugi gaped. "A piece of your soul?"

"Mmhm," Bakura touched the hollow at the base of his neck, then trailed his fingers down to the golden ring that hung, always, against his chest. "That was long before I met Ryou. That was when I was dying, for real, as a street rat with nothing and no one. That deal allowed me to keep living."

"But... you gave up a part of your soul..." Yugi breathed.

"Aah, but you're talking to the King of Thieves, little Yugi. I got it back, a long time ago. My soul's intact, I assure you, and I can walk the Shadows, and I command Zorc as my servant in mighty duels. A true King, don't you think?"

Yugi swallowed, wondering yet again if he'd made a terrible mistake by letting the Thief King out to take a walk.

But Bakura soothed his fears with a surprisingly soft smile, and said, "I could overthrow your Pharaoh on a whim. But you, Yugi Mutou? I think you might be able to get the better of even me."

"M-Me...?" Yugi asked, the branch he stood upon swaying.

The Thief King nodded. "You think I didn't have that duel won? Little Yugi, you're the one who beat me, that day. And Ryou says you're the one who saved me, when my pulse stopped. Now I sit in a dungeon, with my precious Ryou, and I'm happy of it, because of you. I don't think there's another god or monster or human soul that could have that kind of influence on me."

Yugi didn't know how to respond, so he remained silent.

"Why don't you want to talk to Pharaoh?" Bakura prompted, eventually.

Yugi sighed. "Because... he can't make it like things didn't happen. He tries so hard... and he does so much, for me... but sometimes... when we sleep next to each other... he can see them, too. The flashbacks. The dreams. They cause him more pain than they cause me. I... Physical distance makes it easier to keep our minds separate, so he doesn't have to dream about that, too."

Bakura nodded slowly; waited patiently for Yugi to find the words to continue.

"It's like... what he doesn't realize is... he can feel my terror, but I can also feel his guilt. He takes it on himself, and he tries to make it like it never happened. But that's impossible. You can't change the past. I have a future, now, and that's thanks to him, but he has to realize that... that the past isn't something either of us can help!"

Again Bakura nodded; said, "The past makes us who we are, pharaoh-ling—you, and I, and even Horus-incarnate, the Pharaoh. We'd be different people, if not for our pasts. It'd be foolish to change them, even if we could."

"I know." Yugi gave a weary smile. "I wouldn't change a thing."

"Neither would I," said the Thief King.

They gazed wordlessly up at the sky, together, for some time. Bakura sighed, softly and in apparent contentment. Yugi recalled a similar night spent with Ryou Bakura on the palace terrace, and smiled.

"You know, I was absolutely planning to escape, if you actually let me out tonight."

Yugi's jaw dropped, and he turned to meet Bakura's eyes—gleaming with humor. "What?!"

"I don't have it in me, though," the Thief King said, with a shrug. Then he dropped down through the boughs, and Yugi scrambled after him, landing just as Bakura was brushing himself off. "Let's head back. Don't want Ryou to wake up and think I've killed you and run off, or anything like that."

Yugi's eyes narrowed as he followed the Thief King back along the path. "Are you teasing?" he asked warily. "About intending to escape?"

"Maybe. Maybe not." Bakura grinned. "Even if I play tame, I'd like to at least keep you guessing."

Yugi huffed.

"We should do this again, sometime," Bakura said, stopping to run his hand gently through a flowerbed as he passed it.

"Not happening. Not after what you just told me."

"Really? Maybe I should make a break for it while I have the chance, then..."

"W-Wait just a minute...!"

"Kidding, kidding... or maybe I'm not?"

"Please stop!"

The Thief King laughed—a warm, deep sound, and Yugi felt his spirit lifted mysteriously. He looked up; saw Bakura's face in profile. The pale, disfiguring scar contrasted even more vividly with his rich skin-tone in the moonlight. The sight should have been a frightening one, but the Thief King's expression was peaceful; his laugh and his slight smile both genuine.

"The legends of the Thief King don't mention your good humor or your wisdom. Why is that, do you think?"

Bakura gave a loose shrug of his powerful shoulders. "When you get a reputation as a thief and a killer, no one cares to listen to your jokes or your anecdotes."

"Makes sense, I guess."

"I am a thief and a killer, Yugi."

"I know that," Yugi said, a bit uncomfortably. "But..."

"But nothing." Bakura, suddenly serious, turned to him. "You should have let me die, by all rational thought."

"I couldn't do that," Yugi said softly. "You reminded me of... and Ryou..."

"I'm not sorry you saved me," Bakura said. "I want to stay alive, for as long as possible. But you're a smart one. You had to realize what saving me could mean."

"But I wasn’t thinking about that," Yugi said. "I was thinking about your life. That's all."

"Why not think about all the lives I've taken? And those I might take, if I lived?"

"I didn't make a mistake by saving you—I'm sure of that! Why are you trying to convince me that I did?" Yugi asked, a bit exasperated.

"So you don't go trying to make friends with every killer and thief you meet," Bakura replied. "Just because it worked this time doesn't mean—"

"It worked?!" 

Bakura blinked. "It what?"

Yugi beamed up at him, any annoyance banished instantly. "Are you saying we're friends?"

The Thief King paused; replayed the conversation, for himself, and then gave a rueful chuckle. "Shit... little pharaoh-ling, don't twist my words."

"I didn't! You said, 'Just because it worked this time.' So you do admit that it worked!"

Bakura laughed; nudged Yugi's shoulder lightly with one fist. "Don't tell the Pharaoh, okay? I'm not sure he wouldn't have me put to death on the spot for claiming to be your friend."

Yugi nodded, his smile brightening further. "Sure! But he'll come around eventually, I'm sure of it." 

"With your skills of persuasion? I'm sure he will."

As they reached the entrance of the dungeon once more, Yugi said, "We should do this again, soon."

Bakura gave him a predatory grin—obvious histrionics that made Yugi chuckle. "And if I try to escape?"

"You won't," Yugi said, with certainty, and Bakura softened.