Introduction:

For 5,000 years he harbored revenge for the massacre at his village. As he grew, so did his grudge against the pharaoh of Egypt. He witnessed the slaughter of his family and friends, murdered for the purpose of creating seven mystical Millennium Items to defend Egypt. He called himself the King of Thieves, though he is known to the world as Bakura.

Little is known about his past or the time between the events at Kul Elna and his movement against Pharaoh Atem and his court. All he reveals about himself is his lust for vengeance and his desire for a dark power to summon the evil god, Zorc Necrophades. Even his real identity remains a mystery, as it is highly unlikely that in canon the Thief King was named Bakura. Fans gave him the name "Akefia," which means "Thief King" in Japanese, and is not at all canon. In the context of the shadow RPG between Yami Yugi and Yami Bakura, the Thief King is a pawn, and nothing is known of his fate 5,000 years in the past, or of his heritage and back story. All we know is that he is the last remaining survivor of the "Village of Thieves," Kul Elna.

For the purposes of this story and its exploration into the Thief King's past, he will be referred to as "Bakura." This takes place before the events at Kul Elna, while Aknemkhanen still reigned as Pharaoh.

Though this contains original characters, it sticks strictly to the events and facts either stated or alluded to in the manga and Kazuki Takahashi's original ideas. Some facts that were not addressed in the series, such as Bakura's familial relationships, were developed to further the reader's understanding of the Thief King's past. Also, factual references to the history of ancient Egypt and the mythological beliefs of the Egyptians, like the Egyptian gods' roles and their theory about life after death, were researched to provide a truer feeling to the time in which the story takes place.

Author's disclaimer: I do not own Yu-Gi-Oh! and the character of Bakura belongs to Kazuki Takahashi. Any events or characters in this story are fictional and any resemblance to modern-day events or people is purely coincidental.

Note: There is a chapter guide at the end of each chapter containing character's names and meanings as well as information on the Egyptian gods and mythology.

1.

The sunrise is a beautiful sight. But how was I to know that the bloodred sky reflected the carnage soon to fall upon my people?

He usually took time in the morning to admire the sun rising. The knowledge that the sun god, Amun, had successfully made his journey across the sky brought the young boy comfort. He waved at the sun, welcoming it back from the long night's pursuit. He loved hearing the story every time his older sister retold it. His smile was as full as the bucket of water he carried from the river. Though still quite small, he took pride in carrying the pail that was half as big as he was.

"Bakura!" a warm voice greeted him as he waddled into the small hut, and gentle hands relieved him of the heavy burden. "Thank you," his sister said, ruffling his white hair as she took the pail. "You must be getting strong, carrying that bucket!"

"Of course!" Bakura replied, flexing his arms. "See, Chione? Soon I'll be able to wrestle Buikhu!"

Chione laughed. "Try not to get ahead of yourself, little brother," she advised. "Now wash up. You know what today is."

Bakura groaned. "Cleaning," he grumbled.

Chione gave him a stern glare. She pulled her long black hair behind her head with a ribbon. The ring that their mother had given to her sparkled on her right pinky– it was the only valuable item they owned, and probably the only gold item in the village not stolen from a tomb. Bakura knew that his older sister detested the tomb robbers, though they resided in the town publicly referred to as the "Village of Thieves." Chione often reiterated that Kul Elna was her personal hell on earth. A majority of the residents were well aware that Kemnebi's daughter longed to escape the place… and was unable to. Bakura struggled to understand why she did not simply take him and leave, but Chione never revealed that to him, and he never asked.

"Don't complain," Chione sniffed, wringing out a rag. "We have such a small home that it only takes the morning." She tossed Bakura the damp cloth and said, "I will air out the sheets. You can have the surfaces." She picked up the bedclothes from the cot they shared and swept from the house to the sunny outdoors. "Get to it!" she ordered. Because she was much taller than her brother, Chione always took the laundry job. Most of the village men had figured this out and waited for her. A majority of the time, she ignored them, and only spoke to them if they approached her with friendly conversation, which they rarely did. Bakura felt that the one flaw of the village men was what they lacked; tact and manners. Gifted with those two talents, a man could probably court Chione with success. Were their parents still alive, Chione would have been married off for a dowry by then, but instead of finding a husband, Chione had focused her efforts into protecting and raising her little brother, for which Bakura was grateful.

As he dusted off the surfaces, which Chione kept orderly anyway and barely required any cleaning at all, he heard a man's voice outside the door. Curious, Bakura crept to the entryway and peered outside. His brown eyes widened. It was Chione… and she was talking to a man without a disgruntled look on her face, which took Bakura by surprise.

He recognized the man speaking to her; it was Buikhu, Bakura's idol and the village's famous warrior. Bakura was tempted to leave the house and speak to him, but he had a strong feeling that if he interrupted, Chione would make him pay later.

"You look as lovely as ever," Buikhu commented. Chione's lips curled in a small smile that she hid from Buikhu. Bakura held back a snicker. "How are you, Chione?"

Chione continued hanging the sheets as she conversed with him. "I am quite well, thank you, sir," she answered. Bakura reckoned that Buikhu was the only man Chione treated with genuine respect, which was a good start. "And yourself?"

"You do not have to call me 'sir,' Chione," Buikhu said, shrugging his chiseled, tanned shoulders. "You know that."

"I do, however, it would be rude to address you otherwise," Chione replied as she finished hanging one sheet and started on the next. Buikhu blinked and continued on.

"How goes your little brother, Bakura?" Buikhu inquired in an attempt to continue the conversation.

"Oh, he's healthy and happy," Chione responded. "Though I daresay I'm almost running out of stories to tell him every night."

"How are you both holding up after…" Buikhu trailed off. Chione's face fell. Not long ago, desert bandits had slain their father and four fellow villagers. He had left his two children with nothing but each other. Bakura had not been close with his father; it was Chione who had been her father's daughter until the end, and his death had carved a deep cavern in her heart. Since their mother had died immediately following Bakura's birth, Bakura had spent his life seeing Chione as a sister and a mother, and Chione had taken these duties seriously.

Chione hesitated momentarily before answering. "We… we're making it work," she said quietly. "I do not believe Bakura was horribly affected by our father's death, and he accepted it with a maturity I would not have expected of him. For someone of his age, he seemed to understand it very well."

Buikhu nodded. "Your little brother is remarkably grown up for a child so young," he commented.

"I have noticed," Chione said. "Sometimes I feel he understands things better than I." She smoothed the hanging sheet thoughtfully.

Bakura leaned forward, immersed in the conversation now that it involved him.

Just as Buikhu opened his mouth to speak again, a coarse yell interrupted him. "Buikhu!"

Bakura groaned inwardly; it was the village fool, Ialu, whose smell was about as attractive as his unkempt hair and leathery face. Chione visibly shuddered and turned away. Buikhu rolled his eyes. "What is it, Ialu?" he asked dryly.

"Adjo and Baraka ambushed a couple of bandits a short time ago, and dragged them here!" Ialu gasped, his piggy eyes shining. "It's the same few who killed Kemnebi and the others!"

Buikhu's eyes flew wide. "Is this true?"

Ialu nodded eagerly. "Yes, sir! They said it themselves! Come quickly, we'll see how the village men deal with them!"

As soon as the bandit's identity had been said, Bakura's gaze had immediately gone to his sister. Chione had frozen where she stood, her face blank and her hands shaking. "Come, Chione," Buikhu pressed. "We can see the faces of your father's killers."

"I-I'd rather stay with Bakura," she whispered, lowering her hands. "Will you… will you kill them?"

Buikhu's silence told her everything. She stepped towards the door and Bakura scrambled to the middle of the room so she wouldn't catch him eavesdropping. As soon as she set foot in the hut, she narrowed her eyes at him. "I know you heard everything," she said coldly. Bakura swallowed.

Buikhu poked his head into the hug. "Come along, Chione," he requested. "It could be fun."

"You think killing is fun," Chione murmured. "Go and enjoy yourself. I will not go with you."

Buikhu shrugged. "Very well, if that's what you choose. Come, Ialu," he ordered his companion, who shrieked and rushed to follow him.

Bakura got to his feet and approached Chione. "Don't you want to see them kill those bandits?" he inquired.

The look Chione gave him was sad and distant. "No, I do not."

"But they killed Father!" Bakura insisted. "Don't you want revenge?"

Chione shook her head, her fine features twisted in an emotion Bakura couldn't read. "Revenge will not bring Father back from the dead," she spat. "Revenge does nothing except destroy more lives. If those bandits feel any remorse for what they did, then so be it. If not, let their hearts be devoured by Ammut when their time comes to be judged."

Loud voices rioting in the village center reached the two siblings. Bakura left the house in an attempt to view what was going on. He was curious to see the people who had murdered Father, though not because he desired revenge. "Get back inside," Chione ordered sharply, but Bakura did not obey. "Get inside, now," she repeated. Reluctantly, Bakura followed her order and sat at the table with her. In the center, the villagers chanted and laughed. Then, one by one, human screams rent the air. Chione flinched visibly and covered her face with her hands. Bakura assumed that the criminals were being killed. He didn't feel sorry for them at all. He wasn't sure that he felt anything at all, other than a vague interest.

Bakura crawled around the table's edge to sit beside Chione, and he put his hands on her arms, hoping to give her some kind of comfort. She responded to his touch and lowered her hands. Bakura was shocked to see that tears flowed from her eyes. Could she be feeling pity for the bandits that had slain Father?

"Why?" she croaked. "Why must they take human lives?"

Because they want to make the bandits pay for their crimes, Bakura wanted to answer, but he figured Chione's was a rhetorical question and did not warrant a verbal response. Confused by his sister's reaction to the events, Bakura rose from his seat and tentatively crept towards the door. Chione did not stop him or call him back, so he took advantage of her silence and exited the hut. He made his way to the village center where the townspeople still gathered and scoffed over the bandit's dead bodies. As he observed the corpses, his nose wrinkled in distaste at the bloodscent. Yet in seeing the bandits, Bakura felt somehow satisfied. They deserved it, he thought smugly.

But if they deserved it, why did he feel so sick inside?

Bakura spent a long time looking at the bandits' bodies with a sort of sick awe. He had never seen a bloody corpse before, but instead of nausea, he felt… curious. The villagers went about their business as if nothing had happened, which Bakura did not understand; they had just killed two men, yet they seemed oblivious to the bodies in the center. He heard them muttering to each other; "Serves them right." Yet Chione's words remained in his mind, the warning about vengeance.

"Bakura." The young boy jumped at his sister's murmur. Chione knelt next to him, looking at the bandits with a sad expression on her face. She closed her eyes and put her hands together. Bakura saw that she was praying over them.

"Why do you pray for them?" Bakura questioned.

She was silent for a moment before responding. "Why not?"

"They killed Father," Bakura replied, and then added, "I'm glad they're dead."

Immediately, he wished he had not said it. Chione's expression caused guilt to wash over him like the Nile.

"We should never rejoice in the taking of another human's life," Chione reprimanded softly. "Killing is against the gods' wills, it is not to be done."

"But they deserved it… didn't they?" Bakura ventured.

Chione sighed and leaned back on her heels. "It is not our place to judge," she explained. The midday sun reflected on her soft features and the shadows on her faced moved as she spoke. "Only the gods may pass judgement on a soul. When the soul reaches Osiris, they will suffer for the sins they have committed while they were alive. They will pay by existing in eternal darkness. And who are we to call another man guilty?" She seemed to be speaking more to herself now. "If a man murders another man's brother, and the man whose brother was killed murders the other in retaliation… they do not see it as wrong, they see it as atonement. Only the gods know what is right and what is wrong."

Chione turned to Bakura. "Maybe you are too young to understand quite yet," she commented. "Come along, little one." She took hold of his hand and began to lead him away. "I hope they remove those bodies tonight," she muttered. Hand in hand, they walked the rest of the way to their hut in silence.

End of Chapter 1 notes:

Characters:

Chione (SHEE-own)- Bakura's big sister. Her name means "Mythical Daughter of the Nile." She is fifteen years old, modern-time.

Buikhu (BWEE-coo)- Warrior whose name means "the Best." He is 19 years old, modern time.

Ialu- (Ee-AHH-loo) name means "Field of Dreams." Relatively the same age as Buikhu.

Kemnebi- (Kem-NEH-bee) -Chione and Bakura's late father. The name means "Black Panther."

Mythological references:

1.) In ancient Egyptian mythology, it was believed that the sun god Amun was pursued across the sky by Set, Osiris's evil brother, the god of destruction. The sun rose every morning because Amun won the battle. Their judgement day would occur when Amun lost the battle and the world would be bathed in eternal night.

2.) Ammut is the crocodile goddess who devours men's hearts if they are heavier than the feather of Ma'at when being judged by Osiris, before passing to the afterlife.