Thank you for taking the time to read Ink Shades! This is a Malik/Marik centered fanfiction.

As always, I do not own Yugioh!

Ink Shades

Chapter. 1-Empty shadow

I died once for three months.

It isn't something I remember. I just remember waking up one day on a stone slate, about to be prepared for my burial. How I ended up there or anything before that moment is blank. It was like I had been born then, at age eight. However, since then, something has never been right with me. The lack of memory was nothing I was concerned with, but the emptiness of my shadow.

It wasn't something anyone had noticed, but I had noticed it. It was lighter, like a painter had been using heavy ink while painting shadows and ran short on mine. As though his ink stone was dry and used up, so his only hope was to load his brush with water and paint a completely lacking shadow, a see-through wash of a shadow that would not be noticed amongst the others.

It was just like me, the kind of person who would disappear into the crowd if I didn't make a desperate attempt to do otherwise.

"Malik, are you getting up or not?" Isis, my sister, asked in an irritated tone from behind the flimsy wooden door. I was on my bed, white cotton sheets tangled with my legs, laying there naked. She knocked again, harder this time, and I still didn't respond.

I moved the sheets off my legs, stood and pulled on my boxers, then my black pants, then my purple shirt that barely covered my stomach. I picked up the gold arm pieces and carefully slipped them onto my arms. I picked up the gold earrings and with equal carefulness, I attached them to my ears. I ran my hands through my hair quickly as the door began to move under Isis's hard knocks. I ran over and pulled the door open. She stood there irritated.

"It's about time you woke up." She said in a scolding tone. "You said you would help me set up the new display in the museum."

"Let's go to Japan." I said, without even realizing that I had said anything until her eyes widened in surprise and confusion.

"Where did that come from? Why Japan?" She questioned, moving her weight to one leg and flipping her long black hair back behind her shoulder before crossing her arms. She looked annoyed but I could tell she was patiently waiting for my explanation.

"I just suddenly had the feeling it is somewhere I have to go." I spoke, not quite sure where these words, or this feeling, had suddenly sprouted from. I was never interested in going to Japan the last time I checked. No, in fact, I was rather happy in Egypt, I had spent my whole life here and I intended to finish it up quietly the same way.

Isis stared at me for a long while with her head cocked. I stood unmoving, without much complaint, since I had been a museum guard for the pharaoh exhibition for four years now, and standing around was something I did well. Finally, like a knife through butter, her words cut into the silence.

"Malik, after we set up the display lets go out for some coffee." She ordered quietly before turning on her heel and walking down the hall. I followed after, overwhelmingly curious about what she could possibly want to talk about. Coffee at night always meant she had some talking to do. Last time, it was to tell me she had lost the records of some ancient something or other.

Setting up the display was uneventful. I was in charge of watching everyone else move about placing ancient pieces on their different pedestals and lowering the glass to protect it from damage. I had to make sure no one pocketed anything, or did anything stupid.

There were people on ladders adjusting the lights to give each piece its own little spotlight. Isis was unraveling many of the pieces from the heavy packaging that someone else had placed caringly on them. She was wearing latex gloves, a face mask and an apron. She would hand the pieces she unraveled to other people dressed in the same manner and they would walk, place it, re-place it, and re-place it again. In other words, it is a terribly boring process to keep watch over.

I do like taking peeks at the artifacts though; especially if they were ones I haven't seen yet. This area is famous for its pharaoh exhibits, and I will admit they are interesting the first few times around but after seeing it over a hundred times like I have; it just doesn't have the same flare.

This time, there were new artifacts. I was at odds with this concept, considering this was supposed to be our regular run-of-the-mill selections that filter through here. This particular exhibit came from this area specifically so it is always turning back up here, no changes, nothing new. So why were they pulling out these gold pieces I have never seen before? Isis spotted them and rushed over, closing the box quickly before looking straight at me. She turned her head and said something to the guy that I couldn't quite make out and then everything went back to business as usual.

"Ah, we're finally done." Isis sighed happily, stretching her arms as we walked down the street to the coffee shop. We used to take the motorcycle but then Isis started caring about her hair and stuff like some kind of girl.

"It took way longer than usual," I agreed, "but what was that one box of gold artifacts? I haven't seen those before." Isis looked forward without answering for a long time. We passed three long blocks before she shook her head.

"They were misplaced today; usually they just stay in storage in the back of the museum." Isis finally answered.

"Why is that? They looked like they would be popular…gold usually is."

"I'm sure they would be, but it's not something we can display so lightly."

I furrowed my brows. My sister, my very frank sister, was skirting around the point. I sighed and gave up. Once she decided this or that, it is too much of a hassle to change her mind. Then again, we were walking to her favorite place to talk, so maybe she was considering telling me later. Nothing was said again until we reached the double glass doors of the overly modern coffee shop. We walked in and ordered our drinks, Isis paid for them, and we sat down in our favorite set of chairs around the outside patio area of the place.

Isis' iced coffee was coated in napkins- a weird habit of sorts. The light was hitting us in a way where our shadows sprawled across the sidewalk in length. Mine paled in comparison to Isis' like always. It was almost invisible; looking extra stupid because this washed out shadow of mine was holding a normal, dark, shadow of a coffee cup. I sighed and glanced up at Isis to see her looking at it, which shocked me, but she didn't look surprised. She looked troubled. I had always thought my shadow was light, but I never thought that anyone else noticed it. Feeling oddly naked in my sister's presence all of a sudden, I shifted in my seat uncomfortably.

She cleared her throat and opened her mouth but didn't say anything. Instead she took a sip of her drink and used the straw to stir it though the motion was entirely unnecessary. She looked around the area casually before looking back at uncomfortable me ignoring my drink all together.

"I never really thought you would mention Japan again." She said suddenly, catching my attention within seconds. I looked at her unable to hide my perplexed expression. When have I ever mentioned Japan? Why would I ever mention Japan? Her expression became strange after she assessed my reaction.

"I figured the day would come when you would look for your shadow again, but I was hoping it wouldn't." She replied honestly. My mouth opened on its own, and stayed gaping. I couldn't control it. She spoke again. "I managed to get in quite a bit of connections and cash secured ahead of time for this possibility so it shouldn't be hard to leave sometime tomorrow."

"By ahead of time you mean when?" I asked.

"Oh, several years now." She replied without batting an eyelash.

"How did you know about my shadow?"

"Really? Everyone knows about your shadow. You'd have to be blind to not notice such a washed out shadow." She scoffed, flipping her hair behind her shoulder. I was baffled this conversation was even happening. In this modern day and age who would think things like shadows ever 'washed out'?

"What did you mean by looking for it?" I asked. She paused for a brief moment before looking me dead in the eye.

"That thing that happened when you were about eight and the shadow all belong together. Of course you would have to figure out why half of your shadow abandoned you."

"What happened when I was eight?"

"Who knows? If you can't remember there's no telling. All we know is that you somehow got yourself stuck in a basement infested with snakes and rats. When we found you, you were murmuring to yourself in another language like a lunatic before your heart stopped beating. You at least remember dying don't you?"

"You don't think I actually died do you?"

"You were pronounced dead by the village doctor."

"But I'm alive now."

"Alive with half a shadow."

We fell silent for a while, sipping our drinks and thinking about the moments taking place. The air was muggy and disgusting. Mosquitos kept flipping around me and buzzing by my ear. I brushed them away and used a spare napkin to wipe off some of the sweat from my forehead, careful not to mess up my bangs.

"The language, I thought it was some ancient language, but after I asked some professionals, I found out it was Japanese." Isis said, taking it upon herself to coat my drink in an equal amount of napkins. I looked at it and raised my brow. "It's dripping everywhere." She replied in defensive tone. I shrugged and leaned back in my chair.

"You were really weird too…for a time. Sometimes you became angry, other times you became calm. It was utterly terrifying. Then one day- poof!" Isis threw her hands up animatedly "-your shadow became grey and everything was over. Your calm passive aggressive side won and that was that." I furrowed my brow.

"I'm not passive aggressive." I frowned. She laughed.

"You were when you were little. Now you're just a big wimp." She replied. I tossed a napkin at her and her face became stern in an instant. She took her straw out of her empty cup and threw it at me-hitting me square in the face before I had the chance to react. I could have got her back but it was too much trouble. I finally took a sip of my watered down iced tea.

"None of this really makes any sense. I don't really want to go to Japan but I asked to out of nowhere. I can't really recall what happened but I know that it did….my shadow is screwed up and that's a problem I have never heard anyone else having before." I listed out. Isis nodded at each point, closing her eyes, almost as though she expected each word and sentence to be said as I had said it.

"So shall we arrange to leave then?" She questioned. Without being so sure, I nodded once.

If you have the time, or enjoy/hated what you read- please tell me about it I'd love to hear from you~R&R

Love,

Nightparfait