Disclaimer: I don't own Yu-Gi-Oh! or any of the characters, or the card game. Please don't sue me.

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Yuugi stared longingly out the window. Yami was sitting in a chair by the door, eyes closed seemingly in sleep, but was no doubt ready to spring into action should his charge show any sign of attempting to escape. Yuugi had had his last two meals literally forced down his throat by the Egyptian Pharaoh, and shuddered to think about what they contained. Yuugi had twice tried to sneak out the door and once out the window, but Yami had caught him and it had earned Yuugi nothing but a good deal of time with Yami sitting staring at him unblinkingly. That had been darn _scary_.

So now Yuugi was lying obediently in bed making faces at Yami, whose eyebrow was twitching. Finally he snapped when Yuugi began making loud annoying noises.

"Stop that Aibou. It is not my fault you cannot avoid common illnesses, or deal with them, apparently."

Yuugi stuck his tongue out further.

"If you do not go to sleep I may be forced to go and find some more lizard for you. You look a bit peaked."

"How would you know, your eyes aren't even open. C'mon Yami, I'm tired! I want to go outside!"

"If you are tired, go to sleep. It would solve the problem."

"That's not what I meant."

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Yami sat in his bed, the golden box in one hand and the pyramid in the other. He was still recuperating from his fever, and was therefore bored out of his mind. And the Shadow Realm was calling again. He sighed.

"Fine. Take me there then." A flash of light, and Yami was standing on the purple floor that was the Shadow Realm. People shouting far off to his right attracted his attention. The magnificent white wings stretched again and he sailed off easily in that direction. Flying high above the stone floor he watched as three men sat around an elaborate golden table playing a game on a board with stone figures. The wings did not tire him as they were magic, and he had no wish to be discovered uninvited as he was, so he circled the game and watched silently.

After a few minutes he noticed a darker figure sitting a few feet away from the table in the shadows. Or rather he was just very hard to see, as no part of the world was lit any more than any other part. Upon closed observation he turned out to be Sehka, dressed in the same skirt but now wearing shining gold adornments. Yami recognized two of the three players, kings of neighboring countries far weaker than Egypt, and part of its empire, although he had never met them personally. It was doubtful they would recognize him either.

Yami landed a ways off, the wings disappearing in the same shower of gold and silver. The young Pharaoh straightened his manacles and marched forwards quietly and proudly.

Sehka was turned to face him, as if he had known of his presence all along.

"Ah, welcome Yami."

Yami growled under his breath. What right did this ... spirit have to call him by his proper name? The spirit continued.

"I am glad you could join us. Would you like to play?" Sehka motioned towards the three seated men who had hardly glanced up. Two were sweating and one looked almost ready to pass out. Yami could see nothing especially unusual happening on the board to cause such reactions. The tallest man, a mean-looking young man with very unusual light and unruly hair moved one of his pieces, and the other two cried out and swept theirs off the board. The ill-looking one passed out. The tall man stood, gloating, and grabbed a bag from the tableside.

"Ha! Fools, you cannot beat me, and now I will take my winnings."

"Please, I beg of you. Spare my family. They do not know what I do, it is not their fault I am a foolish man. They do not know!"

The other simply laughed. Yami bristled. Had this man won the other's family? Who would bet their wives and children? He turned to the man who had lost.

"You put your family up as stakes? What kind of fool are you?" He crossed his arms, inspecting the man as he waited. The man was dressed rather poorly, the only interesting aspect to him was the small glowing ball he held in one hand, with a picture of the Eye of Ra on one side. Sehka spoke before the disgraced man could, and as he spoke he took the ball from the man.

"He is, was, the ruler of a fairly small country to the west of yours. But now that he has lost this, and all his possessions, he is no concern to us." Sehka pushed the man back and he fell, disappearing into darkness. The other looser also disappeared, leaving behind him a golden ring.

"Neither of you were worthy of your items. Bah. No fools shall be given these any more, only those who are worth of them. As you are, Yami."

Again Yami growled inaudibly. The winner turned, brown eyes piercing Yami's heart, freezing him to his spot for an instant. Yami stared back. Something about this man made him look for a confrontation. His own blood red eyes hardened and glared, almost seeming to be bloody daggers, seeing right into the other man's soul. Neither backed down. Finally Sehka tired and stepped between.

"Enough. Perhaps soon you can play each other. When I have taught Yami here a little more about the Shadow Realm."

The other laughed.

"Still a novice, eh _Yami_? I learned to use the magic here in a month, something Sehka says is unheard of. I bet it'll take you years. And even then you wouldn't be able to come close to beating me."

Yami bristled. He could restrain himself from strangling Sehka for his lack of formality, but this ... underling?

"You will address me as "Your Highness", or "Sire", or "Pharaoh", but _never_, NEVER as "Yami." No one but myself and those I give permission to may call me by that name. And further, I will play you now, any game you wish." He scowled threateningly.

"Very well. We shall play a monster game. Sehka can explain the rules to you." He waved absently in Sehka's direction.

"Bakurah, are you sure? That game is no game for a beginner. I do not wish to have to expel such a promising player so early." He smiled pleadingly at the brown-eyed man. Yami got the impression that if he really didn't want them to play that game he could stop it in an instant.

"He said whatever game I wish, and I wish this game. Tell him!"

"Very well. In this game you command monsters, each player (and there are only two) had a deck of monsters, and begins with five. Each turn you may pick up another monster if you wish, and play him (or her.) Some monsters are stronger than others, and some get more power if you use certain magic abilities with them. Once a monster is played it cannot be recalled. If a monster is destroyed by the opponent the player looses points. You start out with 2,000 and when you loose all of them, you have lost. You will be provided with a deck of randomly selected monsters, Bakurah has his own that he has collected which he will play from.

"This game is the ultimate Shadow Game, Yami, very... stressful and many players, erhem, cannot stand the stress. I suggest you back out, you are not experienced enough to play this game yet, Yami. Very few are ever ready." Apparently Sehka had not taken Yami's rather obvious hint about the use of his proper name.

"I understand, and I will play. Where is the board, and monsters?"

A large platform appeared. Yami took a seat at the end opposite from his opponent. A pile of papyrus appeared at his right hand. He picked up five. On some were depicted monsters, with their attacks and powers written, and on others were drawings of magic and their powers. Bakurah laid down a sheet, face up. Yami fell back as a small green furry monster with large round wings appeared, real as life, on the board. He recovered himself quickly and stared at his hand. He then selected a card with a picture of a man dressed in green with pointed ears holding a sword. It appeared on the board and ran forward, running its sword through the green monster which disappeared in a flash of green light. His opponent cursed and threw down another card. A large grey wolf appeared. Bakurah put down another card, and the moon appeared in the sky.

"Ha. My wolf's attack is strengthened by the full moon. Can you beat him?"

Yami stared at his hand. He drew another warrior, this time a man in purple holding a scepter. It appeared on the field. His opponent snickered.

"Ha. Your card cannot beat mine, and now I will obliterate it! Wolf, attack!" His wolf did just that and Yami's warrior vanished in a burst of purple. Yami's eyes widened and he leant on the table. 'That hurt. Really.' He took deep breaths ignoring the pain in his chest, and the throbbing in his head. Bakurah laid down a sheet, this one face down. Yami stared at it, and then picked up another card, which he played. A large fat man carrying a sword and squinting threateningly. It attacked, swiping its sword through the space with the face-down card. The card flipped, and released a great hand which reached out, grabbing Yami. The young Pharaoh doubled over, gasping for breath while Bakurah laughed in the background. When then hand released him Yami fell to his hands and knees, breathing hard.

"Had enough? You're no match for me little boy. Just Desserts pulls 500 points for every monster on the field, lucky you're too weak to get more than one on the field at a time. Hahaha."

"That's hardly fitting as you cannot be much older than I. And I have not finished, thank you." Yami pulled himself up and held himself up against the table. Bakurah set another monster on the table, a large stone monster carrying a stone sword. Now Bakurah had the wolf and the giant stone monster, while Yami himself only had the swordsman in green with pointed ears.

He reached to the deck, breathing hard. A bead of sweat fell towards the top card and Yami's eyes followed it down. The deck seemed to glow slightly, and on the top a light shone. A new piece of paper appeared, face down. Yami picked it up. On the card was depicted a man in purple robes with a tall cone shaped hat holding a long staff curved on one end, standing in a circle. It read 'The Black Magician.' Yami stared at it. He could feel the power being emitted by this card, it seemed to shine in his hand while the other cards felt almost lifeless. Yami put the card on the table. Both Sehka and Bakurah stared at it.

"Impossible. He cannot have that card. There is no way that a random draw could have given him that card. It is one of the most powerful, and if used correctly almost the most ..." Sehka stopped, not daring to say more in front of Bakurah, who was still staring at the card. Yami was beginning to see double.

"Dark Magician, help me. Win this." He leant forwards, barely standing. The card stared at him, eyes amazingly close to being alive. The magician seemed, to Yami, to nod slightly and turned. From an outstretched palm a shock of power came, shattering all of Bakurah's monsters. Bakurah fell to the ground seemingly weeping as Yami held out a hand for the cards. They collected themselves into a pile under his hand. Sehka stared at him.

"I will take these back with me."

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Yuugi opened his eyes. Yami was lying on the floor sleeping, hair laid out like a punk starfish. Yuugi crept out of the bed, grabbing a set of clothes as he stealthily walked past his captor. He changed in the bathroom and ran out the front door.

In the park Yuugi met Jounouchi and Honda.

"Hey Yuugi! Where you been? Honda had to cheat off me for class."

"Yeah, and look what it got me." Honda held up a test with a large "F" written on it in red pen. Yuugi and Jounouchi sweatdropped.

"You guys really shouldn't cheat off each other..."

"Yeah, it works a lot better when we cheat off you." Yuugi glared at Jounouchi. Honda smiled innocently. Yuugi glared at him in turn. Honda laughed guiltily.

"Ah ha ha. So, Yuugi, why weren't you in school today?" Honda tried valiantly do deflect the attention from himself.

"I was sick. Yami wouldn't let me out of the house. Apparently fevers were a big thing in Egypt. He's been trying to feed me dried lizard and live bugs all morning. Oh lord, I think I see him coming."

Yami was indeed striding wrathfully through the park looking left and right for his stray Aibou.

"Hide me! Pleeeaaase!" Yuugi stared fearfully at Yami while shoving himself behind Jounouchi. Honda grabbed him and stuffed him up into a tree. Yami stopped, looking like a dog backed into a corner by someone holding a newspaper.

"Have you seen Yuugi?" He inquired with an air of "tell me the truth or I might very well throw you off the nearest bridge and then proceed to drive a double-decker bus over you."

Jounouchi and Honda looked at each other with expressions of innocence so fake you could have smelt them from Toronto. Yami, however, had never been to Canada, nor studied the lying habits of modern youths.

"Ah. I see. So you haven't seen him then?"

They shook their heads rapidly. Yami turned to walk away. And then Yuugi did something to ensure his own doom. He sneezed. Yami turned slowly and peered suspiciously at the tree behind Honda. He walked forward and, pushing past Honda and Jounouchi, climbed up into it. There in he found Yuugi handing from a branch upside down, also smiling innocently.

"Er, hi Yami."

Yami glared.

Anzu, who just happened to be walking by, stopped to stare.

Yami grabbed Yuugi and jumped down from the tree, Yuugi landing squarely on his other self's back, ending up sitting on him. Anzu continued to stare.

"Dare I ask what you boys are doing?" She raised one eyebrow slowly. Yuugi, a red line over his nose indicating his feverish condition, smiled happily up at Anzu. Yami grumbled into the grass.

"Soooo, I guess that's a no then."

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Hey hey, another chapter out. Boy, this is just flying by. I watched a clip of the Japanese first season with Yami dueling Bakura. Boy, is Bakura a little nutzy or what, eh?

So, 1 guess at who Bakurah is, then.

Play by Play of the Duel:

Ba: Feral Imp Attack 1300, Defense 1400
Ya: Celtic Guardian Attack 1400, Defense 1200

Ba: Silver Fang Attack 1200, Defense 800 w/ full moon attack 1500 (assumed)
Ya: Ancient Elf Attack 1450, Defense 1200

Ba: Just Desserts face down
Ya: Baron the Fiend Attack 1550, Defense 800

Ba: Giant Soldier of Stone Attack 1300 Defense 2000
Ya: Black Magician, Attack 2500 Defense 2300

Many thanks to "Yugioh Dungeon" (www.yugiohdungeon.com) for the card info. I really know very little about Duel Monsters and don't understand the scoring all that much. All the cards used are real (see, I don't make _everything_ up), however, as are their attack and defense points.

Thanks to all those who reviewed!