Marik Ishtar had a bright smile on his face as he walked to the bus stop. His lilac eyes shone brightly in anticipation for his first day of high school. His older siblings, Ishizu and Rishid had waved him off as he left in the morning, his sister reminding him to make friends and his adopted brother offering to give him a ride, once again. For the week leading up to this day, Ishizu had been lecturing him about where to sit, how early to be to class and the kinds of people who he should pick as his friends. Rishid had been more concerned about his brother, reminding Marik that he was always a mere phone call away, and that he would come and pick him up whenever he needed it.
As Marik approached the bus stop, he saw that there was already someone there. The boy had long white hair that was rather spiky and stuck out in wing-like shapes. At first Marik thought his eyes were red, but when he took a closer look, he realised that they were actually a deep shade of brown. His skin was a pale white, making him look alluring and mysterious. The stranger heard Marik approaching, and turned to glare at him before turning his head back in the other direction.
'I can tell by that uniform that he goes to Domino High as well… I really want to talk to him and ask what school is like,' Marik thought, 'I never got to go to school back in Egypt. Except, he doesn't look very friendly. In fact, he looks like the exact sort of person who Ishizu told me to stay away from. He's definitely a lot older than I am, so he probably won't even want to talk to me… But I can't help it! I'm so excited for school!
"Hi! My name is Marik Ishtar and I'm twelve years old," Marik started, "I'm going to be in Grade Eight at Domino High this year. You could probably tell by my uniform, seems it's the same as yours which means that you go to Domino High too… which um, you already knew. So what's your name? What grade are you in? Do you like school? Is it fun? Are you –?"
Marik was quickly silenced by one glare from the stranger who had turned his head towards him. The cold, emotionless expression of the strange pale boy had the Egyptian scared, until he regained his composure and looked towards the stranger expectantly.
"Are you going to answer me?" The tanned boy filled in the silence.
"I hate to break it to you, but I don't make a habit out of telling annoying pipsqueaks my whole bloody life story," came the reply.
Marik was unfazed by the cold tone of the older teen, continuing his line of questioning.
"Can you at least tell me your name?"
"No."
"Why not?"
"Because I don't want to."
"It's just a name! What's the big deal? Is it a really embarrassing name? Oh, I bet it's a girl's name! I wouldn't be surprised if your parents thought you were a girl, with all that long hair."
"I wasn't born with hair this long, dumbass."
"Come on just tell me!"
The older teen paused before asking, "You're not going to let this go, are you?"
"Not until I get what I want and believe me, I always do." Marik smiled, knowing he had won.
The pale teen studied the Egyptian before silently admitting defeat. He supposed if he answered this one question, the younger boy would leave him alone.
"Fine. If you absolutely must know, my name is Bakura Touzouku."
"Now that wasn't so hard, was it? How old are you? What grade are you in?"
The albino rolled his eyes, so much for that idea, yet he still answered. "I'm seventeen and I'm in grade twelve."
"Oh, okay! Um, what's Domino High like?"
"Honestly? It's a total shit-hole. The classes are boring, the teachers are uneducated and the cafeteria food sucks."
"But surely spending the whole day with your friends makes it ok, right?"
Bakura shook his head at the naivety of the boy, "I don't have any friends. And before you ask, it's because I don't think anyone is worth me wasting my time on."
Marik pondered this until a thought occurred to him. "If you don't think anyone is worth your time, then why are you bothering to answer my questions?"
Bakura didn't answer, choosing to observe the young boy instead. He was definitely beautiful, although the word did no justice to the captivating looks of the boy before him. His sandy blonde locks framed his perfect, tanned heart-shaped face. What intrigued Bakura the most was the young boy's eyes. They were a mesmerizing shade of purple and like everything else about the boy, screamed unique.
'He's definitely going to be popular with those brainless girls at our pathetic excuse for a school,' Bakura thought, 'although with that comes a whole lot of jealous dicks. Short stuff is probably going to end up with his head down the toilet by lunch time.'
As he thought that, a strange feeling came over the albino. He felt like he needed to protect this boy and to shield him from any harm. It was as if any harm that came to Marik would also hurt him. But why? How could a boy he had met a mere ten minutes ago cause him to feel this way?
Bakura's inner turmoil was interrupted by the arrival of the bus. He boarded, chucking his money at the driver before making his way down to the back of the bus. He was halfway down before he heard the voice of the bus driver, causing him to spin around.
"I'm sorry son, but if you don't have the money I'm afraid I'll have to ask you to step off the bus."
The pale youth could see the panic in the beautiful eyes of the Egyptian as he frantically searched his bag.
"I swear my money was in here," Marik cried, "please let me on, I have no other way of getting to school!"
The bus driver looked at him with sympathetic eyes but nonetheless replied, "There's nothing I can do. Please –"
"Oh shut the fuck up. I'll pay for him, so just drive the bloody bus already you old bastard."
Marik whirled around to see Bakura glaring down at the bus driver. Said albino tossed the extra money at the bus driver before grabbing Marik by the wrist and leading him down the aisle.
"T-thank y-you Bakura," Marik stammered, a grateful smile crossing his face.
"Don't mention it short stuff, just pay me back when you can. Newbie's sit up the front, you don't want to piss off the older kids."
With that Bakura let go of Marik's wrist and took his usual seat at the very back of the bus. For the rest of the trip, one thought circled around in his mind.
'When the bloody hell did I become so… nice?'
~The Next Morning~
Bakura immediately noticed that there was something different about blonde the second he saw him. Yesterday he had been walking with his head held high, his lilac eyes' shining whereas today his head hung low and his face was covered by sandy bangs. Marik went straight to Bakura and held out the money he owed him. The albino's eyes narrowed in suspicion as Marik refused to look anywhere but the ground.
Instead of grabbing the money, Bakura grabbed the tanned boys' wrist and pulled him closer; using his other hand to gently lift up Marik's chin so the he had no choice but to look at him. The albino frowned as he took in the sight of the gash on Marik's cheek. It was a deep cut, and there was dark bruising all around the area.
"What happened?"
Bakura was surprised as he heard his own voice. It was unsteady, containing a barely suppressed anger.
"It's f-fine," Marik stammered, "really, it's n-no big d-deal. Honestly it's n-nothing."
"Oh yes, because a large cut across your cheek is obviously nothing," sneered the British teen.
"Why do you even care? I don't know you! Hell, you don't even know me! It's none of your business so just back off and leave me alone!"
The albino pulled away from the smaller youth and sat at the end of the seat.
'He's right,' Bakura thought, 'why the hell do I even care? I don't give a shit about anyone, except for maybe Ryou, yet for some reason the idea of someone hurting short stuff fills me with anger. Maybe it's because he's so small. Except, he's definitely not weak – he somehow managed to not be intimidated by me. I've got to admire his spirit, that's probably why I feel this way – he reminds me of myself when I was his age, just… more feminine.'
'Did I upset him? I didn't mean to,' thought Marik, 'I just don't want anyone to know. Rishid and Ishizu would tell the school and everyone would think I'm a loser. I don't understand why Bakura cares; we don't really know each other. But… I want to know him! I don't know why, but I feel close to him and I like seeing him.'
"Do you have any siblings?"
The older teen turned to face the blonde. "I thought I answered your stupid questions yesterday."
"Those were yesterday's questions," Marik replied, "but you made me realize that I don't know you… but I want to, so I'll keep asking questions until I'm satisfied that I know you well enough."
"I'll answer your questions, on the condition that you answer mine."
"It's a deal! So do you have any siblings?"
Bakura laughed at the tanned boys' persistence. "I have a twin brother, Ryou and a little sister Amane. What about you?"
"Wait! If you have a twin brother then why doesn't he catch the bus with you?"
"Hey," the pale one replied, "that isn't exactly fair. You have to answer my question first."
"Oh. Well, I have an older sister Ishizu and two older brothers, Rishid and… um…"
The older boy immediately sensed that this was a touchy subject for the Egyptian, and didn't want to make the boy upset.
"Gotten kicked out of any classes yet?"
Marik smiled up at Bakura, knowing that he had changed the subject on purpose. "No, Ishizu would kill me. My classes are okay I guess," the Egyptian paused, his lips forming a devious smirk, "My FRIENDS make them a whole lot better."
"Is that right?" Bakura returned the smirk, however his was truly wicked in a way that Marik's could never hope to be.
"Yes. They're in all of my classes. Joey is really funny and he's always goofing off with Tristan. Anzu is really enthusiastic and sweet, Duke is also funny and Yugi is totally nice and friendly. Yeah, my FRIENDS make all my classes fun. Boy am I glad I have my FRIENDS. Life is great with my FRIENDS."
"Yeah yeah, you made your point short stuff."
"Well maybe if you had some friends you wouldn't be so grumpy, 'Kura."
"On the contrary, if I had bloody friends I'd be even grumpier because there's not a single person on this bloody planet that doesn't annoy me, except you and Ryou. And what the bloody hell did you just call me?"
"I'm really one of the only two people that you can stand? And I've decided that since you call me short stuff, that I'm going to call you 'Kura."
"Listen here, if you think you can get away with calling me –"
"You're nickname is 'Kura, nothing will change that no matter what you say."
'He's got guts, standing up to me like that… Most people are too scared to even approach me, yet this kid has no problems talking to me. It makes me… happy. He's trying to find out about me and get to know me. No one else but Ryou actually gives a shit. My teachers have stopped cared that I don't do my work, no one in any of my classes bother me and my bastard of a father hasn't been in contact for years. But short stuff genuinely seems to care.'
"You're a feisty little thing, aren't you?" Bakura quipped.
"I'm not little. And as I've told you before, I don't take no for an answer. Which reminds me, why do you only care about me and your twin? What about your sister and your parents?"
"I scare the shit out of my sister, my mother doesn't want anything to do with me and my father moved to Egypt a few years ago. He hasn't been in touch since."
"I moved to Japan from Egypt three months ago!"
'That explains his complexion.' "Well," the albino said, "what about your parents? You haven't mentioned them."
The tanned boy looked at him feet and started to twirl his hair around his finger. "Oh, um… they… they're dead."
Marik looked up as he felt a hand on his shoulder. Lilac eyes met mahogany.
"You'll be okay short stuff," the older teen reassured, "you have your older siblings right? And I'll be looking out for you."
"Thank you, Bakura."
"Don't mention it. Seriously. I have a reputation to uphold."
"If you say so, tough guy," replied Marik.
Bakura turned and gave the boy a rare smile.
"And don't you forget it."
~ The last day of first semester~ (Four months later)
"What are you doing for the holidays?" Marik asked the older teen beside him.
"Tomorrow my family and I are flying to Britain to visit my mother's family. Bunch of wankers, I think I'd rather be at school, and that's saying something."
"Oh…"
The older of the two looked over at the other. Marik was twirling his hair around his finger, something Bakura had come to recognize as a nervous habit.
"Alright, start talking short stuff. What's the problem?"
"It's just… You're flying to Britain. I don't like heights, and planes go really high and what if the plane crashes then you could die and I don't want you to die! Everyone I care about leaves me, my parents, my friends from Egypt, my older brother! I don't want you to leave me!"
Tears had started to stream down the now thirteen year olds face. Bakura couldn't stand to see the boy looking like this, so he did something he had never done before – he wrapped his arms around the Egyptian and held him close to his chest.
The two sat there for a while before Bakura broke the silence.
"I won't leave you, so you don't need to worry. I promise."
"But how can you be sure?"
Bakura released the boy and placed something around his neck. Marik looked down at the object resting on his chest, his violet eyes widening in shock.
"You can't seriously be giving me your Millennium Ring," exclaimed Marik, "you told me it's your most treasured possession!"
"Relax short stuff, I just want you to hold on to it for me," Bakura calmly replied, "so that when I come back from Britain, which I will, you can give it back to me."
The young Egyptian gave Bakura a stunning smile, "I know you'll definitely come back for your Millennium Ring."
"Silly boy. I'd come back for you anyway, the ring is just to reassure you. It's you I'm coming back for."
Marik looked up at Bakura, but the taller teen wouldn't look at him, instead inspecting his fingernails. The tanned boy wrapped his arms around Bakura's waist.
"I'll be right here waiting for you to come back, 'Kura," Marik said before releasing the albino.
The bus pulled up and the two boys parted. For the whole of the trip, Marik could not wipe the smile off his face. Surprisingly, neither could Bakura. Although it was a small smile, it was a smile all the same.
'There's something about him, when I'm around him…' Bakura thought.
'I feel so happy and nothing can bring me down, it's like…' thought the Egyptian.
'Just seeing him makes everything okay…'
'I am content…'
'I don't know why, but…'
'And it's because of you.'
'I need you.'
-{0}-
Bakura was sitting outside the principal's office, trying to figure out what he could possibly have been caught doing. Sure, there were plenty of things that he could get busted for, but he was confident that he had covered his tracks.
He looked up as he heard footsteps approaching and sighed in relief as he saw his twin approaching.
'If Ryou's here, I can't be in trouble. There's no way Ryou would get in any trouble – the boy's practically a saint! I wouldn't be surprised if he walked in one morning with a bloody halo around his head.'
"Bakura," the nicer twin inquired, "what did you do?"
The tougher of the two smirked, "Nothing they can prove I did."
Just then the principal opened the door; he looked at the twins with a sympathetic look on his face.
"Boys, your father is on the way to pick you up. I'm sure he'll be here any minute."
"O-our f-father? What is h-he coming f-for?" Stammered Ryou.
"I think it's better if he tells you himself."
At that moment, Akefia Touzouku walked through the door, his face a stern mask revealing no emotions.
"Thank you Mr Pegasus," he spoke, "I'll take it from here."
Bakura, who had been quietly fuming until this point, stood up and showed his father exactly why people were scared of Bakura's infamous glare.
"Why the fuck should we go with you? You've done nothing, but abandon us. So why the bloody hell should we listen to you? You're not our father; you're nothing but a cowardly bastard! If you think, for one fucking second that –"
"Bakura," came the voice of the softer twin, "I think we should go with him. He must have a good reason, so we should at least hear him out."
The older twin said nothing and stormed off in the direction of the car park, his twin rushing after him and their father following suit.
Once both boys were seated in the back of the car, Mr Touzouku started to drive and after taking a deep breath, finally spoke.
"I'm sorry boys, but your mother and sister were involved in a car accident this morning. They… they didn't make it. You're coming to live with me now; I've been living in Aomori city for the past few months. Don't worry, I've spoken with the principal of Aomori High, and he's more than happy for you to attend school there. I know this must be hard on you, but I have an important meeting in a couple of days so we need to leave now. I've already had all of your clothes and possessions packed into a moving truck on its way to my house, so you don't need to worry about any of that.
Ryou had started crying as soon as his father had mentioned the car accident and was hiding his tear streaked face behind his hands.
'Mother… Amane… How could this happen? This can't be real,' he thought, 'Dad has to be lying. He's going to turn around soon and say that it's all just a big joke and then he's going to drive us home and mother and Amane will be there and everything will be fine and… He wouldn't lie about this. No… That means mother and Amane are really… No!'
Bakura felt his entire body fill with rage. His teeth were clenched and his hands were forming tight fists. As his anger increased, his arms started to shake with barely suppressed rage. However, he was not angry over the death of his family, who had never truly loved him in the first place. No, he was furious for a whole different reason.
"What about our friends, huh? Did you take that into consideration you fucking asshole! Is your fucking business meeting so fucking important that you can't even give us some fucking time to say goodbye to our friends?"
Mr Touzouku regarded his son with a calm expression. "I am perfectly happy to allow you to phone your friends and inform them of your situation."
Instead of calming Bakura as his father thought it would, this statement made him even angrier.
"AND WHAT IF MY FRIEND DOESN'T HAVE A PHONE BECAUSE HE'S AN ORPHAN AND CAN'T AFFORD ONE, AND HIS LANDLINE ISN'T REGISTERED IN THE FUCKING PHONE BOOK BECAUSE HE JUST FUCKING MOVED HERE! HOW THE FUCK AM I SUPPOSED TO TELL HIM?"
"I'm sorry Bakura, but life is like that sometimes. You'll make other friends."
Bakura chose to ignore his father, glaring out the window of the car.
'Marik… I'm so sorry. I know I'm going to break my promise, but I don't mean to. As soon as I can afford my own place and a car, I'll be back for you. If you even will want to see me that is – I don't know how long it will take, but for you I'll try.'
For the first time since he was an infant, Bakura let a single tear run down his face. A tear for the boy he was forced to leave behind – the boy who had somehow worked his way into Bakura's stone heart.
