Disclaimer - I don't own Yu-gi-oh. That is all.
"I know what you're going through."
The voice was quiet, tone matter of fact, nearly emotionless.
"Shut up."
"You feel alone, cut off from the world, like everyone's turning their backs on you…"
"I said shut up!"
"…no one will ever forgive you and you'll spend the rest of your life alone…"
Malik clenched his fists and turned, facing the confused white-haired boy.
"I said," he managed to growl, "shut up."
Bakura blinked at him, clearly not understanding. "I was just saying I understand…"
"No one understands."
"I do." A pale hand touched his cheek, fingers feather light, before retreating back to safety. "I do…"
Malik twitched, unused to being touched by anyone but his siblings.
"Don't touch me."
"You're not alone, no matter how you may sometimes feel."
"I never asked for your input."
"You can't hide behind your anger. You forget how well I know you."
"I've forgotten nothing."
"You show that every day. Let it go, Malik. No one holds the past against you."
"Everyone does!" Malik fairly quivered with anger. "I can see it in the way they look at me, the way they don't want to talk to me. You're the only one who has given me a second chance. Those…those hypocrites don't trust me!"
"You did try to kill them," the boy pointed out dryly, though he might as well have been pointing out the fact that it was unseasonably warm for all the emotion in his voice.
"We should never have come back here…"
"But then we wouldn't be together."
That earned Bakura a glare. "We're not 'together.'"
"Whatever you say, Malik," he replied cheerfully, his brown eyes glittering.
"…"
"What is it?"
"I can never argue with you for long."
"That's because you know I'm right. You're not as alone as you feel."
"Then why won't they forgive me?"
"It's hard to let go of the past. That, if anything, should be obvious to you."
"But I've changed…" Malik sounded vulnerable now, like a wounded child seeking reassurance that everything would be all right.
"I know." Pale fingers stroked over his cheek again, the movements as soothing as his tone. "They'll see that eventually."
He wrapped his arms around Bakura, drawing the boy close, inhaling his scent and marveling at the seemingly coincidental chain of events that had drawn them together. Sure, Yuugi and his friends treated him like he had the plague, but as long as he had Bakura…
Perhaps it hadn't been such a mistake returning to Japan after all.