Chapter 22

Bakura awoke in a bit of a daze. His back was killing from where ever it was he fell, and he honestly couldn't remember how he fell in the first place. Did he fall down the stairs or something? He blearily opened his eyes and was rather confused when he saw dark trees and night sky above him. It hadn't been night when he went into the King's trailer, nor were they that close to trees so thick.

He gingerly pushed himself into a sitting position, growing even more confused with the feel of dirt beneath his fingers. The circus compound was all grass. The white haired man looked around as quickly as his head would let him, and saw that he currently sat in a very dense forest in the middle of a blue dirt pathway. Since when was dirt blue? Had Malik been playing with the spraypaint again?

He stood up, almost pouting when his noticed one of his boots had a tear in it. Easily fixed (he should know, he ruined them with his knives at least once a month) but annoying none-the-less. Bakura took another survey of his surroundings, wondering where on earth he was. He suspected the Ring King had knocked him out and taken him into the middle of the woods as punishment for both touching his hat and going into his trailer. But this didn't have the signatures of a Ringleader trap. He'd usually be there to gloat and taunt him mercilessly.

Shrugging, Bakura set off into the woods, ignoring the path completely because that's just how he was. He'd find it a lot more fun to trek through the trees and discover hidden treasures than take the boring path and actually go somewhere. He was amused to find that tiny mushrooms that grew on the base of the trees glowed in the moonlight, lighting his way just enough so he didn't trip and fall flat on his face. He picked on up curiously and looked it over, a tiny bit disappointed that it didn't keep it's glow when it was pulled out of the ground.

After walking at a slightly slow pace, the white haired knife thrower thought he could hear something that sounded like a cat. He stopped in his tracks and listened carefully, almost certain he could hear the tiny mewls of kittens. Despite his cold and almost heartless demenor, Bakura was actually quite a cat person, and Marik was included in that spectrum. The pale man followed the sounds of the tiny cries, eventually finding what he was looking for at the base of one of the thickest trees that had been hollowed out by something or another.

"Hello." Bakura said endearingly to the little kittens in the den. He'd kill anyone who saw him now. He reached out a hand as he crouched down, stroking the closest one to him softly.

One looked like a proper little kitty-cat, while the other two could've easily been mistaken for a rabbit with their longer ears. When he shifted his position his eyes widened as the creatures changed before his eyes. He was no longer looking at three cat-creatures, but three half-cat half-humans. They retained their small size, but their furry faces switched to soft skin and bright eyes looking up at him fearfully. Two were tanned, the last almost as white as snow. All three had blonde hair but two of them had white streaks.

Bakura was just getting a proper look at them when he heard a savage but low growling behind him. Thanks to his quick reflexes from dealing with Marik pouncing on him all the time he managed to quickly dodge his attacker when they lunged and darted back from the tree. His jaw dropped when the attacker before him bore a striking resemblance to the lion he had just been thinking about.

Apparently his attacker also recognised him with the way he cocked his head to the side with interest and didn't go in for a second attack. With a grin, the other man, blonde and tanned with violet eyes, stood up straight and in an almost seductive pose instead of being poised for a strike. "Well now, looks like the circus is coming to town." He chuckled, eyeing Bakura up and down while leaning back on the tree. Bakura noticed this was in defense of the kittens despite how casual it looked. "I take it you're here with Marik and the Ringleader."

Bakura blinked in confusion. "They're here?!" He gasped, a little shocked. He'd dedueced that they were no longer in the circus anymore, and the feline-man in front of him proved it.

"Oh, you're not with them?" The man's tail swished around behind him coyly. "I suppose you just fell in too."

"Too? What do you mean 'too'?" Bakura questioned, taking a threatening step closer and reaching subtly for his belt, where he knew at least one knife rested.

"Calm down, dear Bakura." The cat grinned again, raising his hands defensively.

"How do you know my name?" Bakura growled. He was about to lose his short temper with this man.

"I know a lot of things about you thanks to the Ringleader." The cat said cryptically. "I'm the Cheshire Cat by the way. And you'll bee good to listen to me if you ever want to get out of here." The Cheshire Cat then turned and knelt down, tending to the kittens who were mewling at him.

"Who's are those?" Bakura asked a little more gently, slowly walking over to the bunch of felines.

"Mine." The Cheshire Cat said with a little pride and a lot of affection. "Well, mine and the March Hare's."

"Your children?" The red-eyed knife thrower raised a pale eyebrow in question, looking from the cat to the kittens. "How?"

"You'll come to quickly learn that nothing in this world makes sense, dear Bakura." The Cheshire Cat looked over his shoulder and grinned in an enigmatic way. "All you need to know is these little ones are mine, and I'll protect them with me life."

"You make it sound like someone is after them." Bakura phrased his sentence in a way that made it sound like he wanted to know more without actually asking about it.

"Someone is." The purple and black striped cat told him a little sadly, crawling into the hollowed out tree and cuddling with his children. "The Queen of Hearts wants rid of them. He thinks they're vermin. I know all he wants is a way to get me to his palace."

As instructed, Bakura didn't question why the Queen was a 'he' and just went along with it, shuffling forwards and sitting with his legs crossed in front of the gaping entrance of the little alcove. He was just happy to sit and listen to the cat-thing who was almost a mirror image of his long-time friend and fuck buddy. "I'm gonna guess this Queen is a bit of a bitch."

The Cheshire Cat laughed almost hysterically, and probably would've been louder had his kittens not been curled up in his lap. "You could say that, yes. But 'bit' is a complete understatement. He's the most ruthless and cold-hearted person you'll ever meet."

"You've not met Akefia." Bakura muttered to himself running his fingers through his long hair, but the dark feline's sharp ears picked it up.

"Yes I have." He said, staring right into Bakura's eyes with his own. "Your Ringleader might be a bastard, an asshole, seeminly uncaring and utterly sadistic, but he cares about you. About Marik. About everyone at your circus. He'd kill for you all given the chance."

"I know." Bakura muttered, looking down, unable to meet the cat's eyes anymore. Instead he idly stroked one of the kittens that had chosen to crawl into his lap and paw at his vest. "He's here then?"

"Yeah, but I'll leave it up to the King to tell you where exactly." The Cheshire Cat told him, his voice softened from the harsh tone before. "As far as I know your pet Marik is with the King himself, along with the March Hare."

Before Bakura got the chance to ask who those people were, two robed creatures suddenly appeared silently behind him, making him jump to his feet in defense and pulling out a knife from his boot.

"Relax, Bakura." The Cheshire Cat soothed him, putting the kittens on his lap on the floor. "These are the servants of the King of Spades. They won't hurt you. They were probably sent to find you."

"What for?" Bakura's steel gaze didn't leave the strange things standing motionless in front of him.

"I told you, Marik is up there. King Akefia probably wants you together so you don't go wandering around." The tanned cat stood next to him and put a hand on his shoulder. "You better go. Actually..." He trailed off, looking down at his children in the tree, "I'm coming too. I don't trust leaving them in one place for long."

Bakura helped carry one of the little kittens, happy that it just curled up and slept in his arms instead of struggling while they followed the two strange things in dark cloaks.