Destined to be Yours

Chapter 23: A Not So Peaceful Break

"That's my girl! You totally showed him who's boss," Mai applauded Akia.

Jounouchi then joined in and took a card out, "and, I got my qualification card back from that cheater!"

As everyone was congratulating her, Bakura stood at a bit of a distance. The Evil Spirit was taking over once more. After the duel against Yugi, it took him a while to recover. Now he actually also wanted to congratulate Akia, but he didn't want to admit it. If he was going to do it, then it wouldn't be in front of everyone.

"Man, this duel made me hungry. I'm going to go eat something," Akia announced.

"Alright, we'll stay here and watch the next match," Jounouchi told his friend.

"It's Yugi and Mai-san, isn't it?" The red-eyed girl inquired.

Yugi and Mai both nodded.

"You two do your best! I'm rooting for both of you. No matter the outcome, I don't think I'll be too disappointed," Akia cheered them on.

After some more encouragement thrown at the contestants' way, Akia headed out. Bakura, now completely possessed by the Spirit of the Ring, followed her.

As they got further away from the crowd, Bakura picked up his pace and caught up with her. Surprised to see him there, Akia came to a full stop. Since that hug he gave her, she couldn't really look him straight in the face.

"Ryou...!" She said. No, she realized that it wasn't Ryou. Akia just needed a glance at his face to know that she was in fact dealing with the Spirit of the Ring, "you... What is it?"

She didn't resent him, however. She talked to him in a soft voice. Her voice warmed his heart. He knew that, if he lost control, he would probably pin her to the wall and have his way with her. However, he mustn't allow himself to succumb to such lowly desires.

"Your duel. It was impressive. You're much fiercer than you look, " the Spirit of the Ring replied. He did see one of her duels before, but this one was especially spectacular. The way she handled Keith was something that even impressed him. He was taking a liking to her.

Akia blushed at the compliment. She smiled and lowered her gaze to the floor. "Th-Thank you... I just did what I had to do..." She giggled softly.

"Why is she acting like that? It's like she's asking for it! Stop tempting me... Stop looking so damn defenceless!" Bakura thought to himself.

"Um, if you want... do you want to grab something to eat with me?" Akia asked him.

He was surprised that she asked him to join her, since he knew she wasn't too fond of him.

"Sure. Let's go," he replied. He then took her by the wrist and dragged her to dining room, where there was always food on the table, replaced every hour or two. The problem was that there were always people eating there. Bakura didn't like the company. Strangely enough, he noticed that Akia wasn't resisting his grip on her wrist at all. She didn't mind it. He wondered if that meant he could go further.

Before Bakura could even think, his body acted on its own. His hand slid down from her wrist and held her hand. He couldn't even look at her face to see her reaction. Her hand was just as cold as ever. She was not resisting that either, so he guess that she was probably enjoying it. He felt a smile form on his face. Why was he enjoying it so much? He had to do something to get his mind off of all of this.

"Hey, what do you want to eat?" He asked her as he finally looked at her. Her face was bright red. She was holding her free hand curled up next to her chest. She seemed so nervous.

"Oh! We're not eating here?" Akia's voice was shaking too. She looked so cute to the Spirit of the Ring in that moment.

"No, it's too crowded."

Bakura then filled two plates of what he wanted and what Akia told him to add. He then put down the plates with Akia.

"Wait here, I'll go get some drinks," Yami Bakura told her.

"Alright..." She complied.

The drinks were all the way in a corner of the gigantic dining room. As Akia stood there alone, she noticed just how many men were actually there. They were all dressed up like the bodyguards she saw with Pegasus. They were probably off duty for a bit. She then noticed some of them looking at her. They were even smiling at her in a very creepy way.

"Why do I feel so uncomfortable...?" Akia asked herself.

One of them got up and got closer to her. He then looked her up and down.

"Can I help you with anything?" The red-eyed girl tried to add a hostile note to her voice.

"You're one of the contestants aren't you?" The man asked her, "didn't know such cute young girls would be participating."

Another one of the bodyguards got up and stood behind her, putting his hands on her shoulders, "whaddya say we have some fun together?"

"Akia." Seeing what was happening, Bakura had hurried back to where Akia was. He called her name to distract everyone's attention. As soon as everyone's eyes left her, Akia ran to Bakura's side.

"Hey, hey, no need to look so pissed, buddy, we were just having a nice little chat," one of the men tried to appease him.

"Get out of my sight before I lose what little mercy I have left," Bakura's voice was so menacing that it even made Akia's hairs stand.

"Tch, whatever. We need to get back to our duties anyway..." One of them said.

The fact was that, even though they didn't want to admit it, they just wanted to get away from Bakura. He had a very dark and menacing aura, more than Akia had ever felt him have. When they left, Akia got out from behind Bakura.

"Um, thanks..." She thanked him.

Bakura's eyes softened. He felt his rage almost completely disappear when he looked at Akia's shy smile.

"Didn't you want to eat?" The Spirit of the Ring asked her.

"Oh, yeah! Let's eat!" Akia replied and they finally dug into the food.

By the time they went back to the dueling arena, Yugi was winning. He sent the final blow and Mai lost the duel. Akia asked Jounouchi to fill her in on the highlights of the duel. While he was explaining, Pegasus then started talking, "without further ado, we will proceed to the second match of the second block: Yugi Mutou vs Katsuya Jounouchi."

"Good luck out there, I'm rooting for both of you," Akia cheered them on.

"I just didn't want to see both of you fight each other when you both have such important things you need to win for... Where did Mai go? She should be here by now..." the black-haired girl thought.

"Hey, I'm going to go look for Mai," Akia announced.

"I'm coming with you," the Spirit of the Ring said.

"No, you wait here. I don't want her to feel uncomfortable..." she told him.

Bakura looked at Akia for a while and then let out a sigh. She went after Mai and the duel between Jounouchi and Yugi began.