EDITED! Whoop!
This takes place after the ceremonial duel, but I've made it so that Malik's (the hikari) dad is still alive and Odion doesn't stay with them anymore. Oh, and Marik (the yami) has a past life in Egypt, he will be a tomb raider and his name will be Mariku. See? That really isn't that much….Maybe….If there is anything else that comes up during the story that is different than in the anime (which is what I watched, I can't seem to find the manga anywhere -.-"), I'll let you know.
((((((LINE))))))
A group of three very close friends ran around the city park, a Frisbee occasionally being thrown between them.
One had black star-shaped hair, with tips dipped in violet and blond bangs that fell around his face. This boy was seventeen, though he was short for his age and looked to be much younger. He had amethyst eyes that sparkled with innocence, purity, and joy as he watched the disc he just tossed spin through the air. His name was Yugi Muto.
The boy who caught the Frisbee was a quiet boy, a pale young man the same age as Yugi. The pallor of his skin and the thinness of his limbs would have rightly made you to believe he was sickly, and too fragile to be doing anything strenuous. However, his long, silky white hair and chocolate eyes shined as he played and laughed with his friends, hiding the fact that his health was failing. His eyes, though they tried their best to hide it, seemed to hold an inner sadness, a loneliness that everyone strived to cure. They called him Ryou Bakura.
The last was known as Malik Ishtar, who was chasing after Ryou in an attempt to steal away the Frisbee. He was seventeen as well, had crazed platinum blonde hair that flowed to just past his shoulders, and his tanned shoulders shook as he ran and laughed with his friends. He was of average height, being slightly taller than Ryou. He had shining lilac eyes, which threatened a powerful and vengeful rage if anyone was to hurt his family or his friends.
Ryou squealed at the sight of the oncoming blonde and ran away from Malik, who was shouting at him to get back so he could teach the albino how you're supposed to throw a Frisbee.Yugi watched the chase, shaking his head, as Malik tried to catch up to Ryou, to no avail. He moved to lean against a tree as Ryou came jogging to a halt in front of him. Malik finally caught up, bending over to catch his breath, his hair falling into his face.
"What the hell, Ryou? Who knew someone who never participates in gym could run so fast?"
He giggled and gave the other a mock-glare. "Just because I don't participate doesn't mean I can't run."
Malik grumbled something along the lines of 'I'm talking to the gym teacher' and stood up fully before joining Ryou and Yugi underneath the tree.
Yugi sat down first, bracing his back against the trunk and motioning for the others to do the same. Malik settled on the boy's right and Ryou on his left, so each of them was on a different side of the tree and was staring off in a different direction. The smallest sniffed and wiped at his nose, trying to ignore the overwhelming feeling of loneliness that had suddenly washed over him.
They had all grown to be very close in the year after the Ceremonial Duel, the final match that had ended their battle and set everything to the way it should be. Malik had moved to Japan from Egypt with his sister and father since the tomb keepers' duties had been fulfilled. And they had grown even closer after Tea had found out they were all gay and left them without a backwards glance. Last they'd heard, she had moved to America to attend a dance academy there. Joey had been spending most of his time with his new boyfriend, Seto Kaiba, so he didn't hang out with them as much anymore. Tristan and Duke had been traveling the world together, promoting Dungeon Dice Monsters and finishing their schoolwork online. They weren't expected back any time soon.
The three friends trusted each other completely, and shared everything with each other, considering how much they had in common. Each was a hikari, one half of a soul that was filled with light. And they all had a yami, their other half, the ones that they had once been connected to. They had all been through so much together, having helped to save the world from total destruction countless times (even though two of the yamis might have been the cause of most of it). However, the yamis had been sent away to the afterlife, unreachable to those who wanted to see them most.
Ryou sighed and slumped against the tree, the ache in his chest that had been present since Bakura–'No, Akefia,' Ryou corrected himself–had left growing in size and pain. Yugi's shoulders started to shake in an obvious attempt to keep tears in, his hair bobbing with his head. The albino leaned around the tree to glance at Malik in shock, seeing a similar expression on his face. They were both surprised that Yugi would have started crying. He was supposed to be the leader, the one who stopped Malik or Joey from doing something stupid, who always had a happy smile to greet others with. Ryou bit his lip, starting to consider it a little unfair to think of Yugi like that, but that had been the assumed roles in their little posse. He was the smart, collected thinker, Malik and Joey were the muscles and trouble-makers, and Yugi was the strong-headed, stubborn leader that never lost heart.
Malik and Ryou quickly turned to kneel on either side of Yugi, wrapping their arms around him as sobs started to wrench themselves from his throat, everything that he had been holding back coming out in one huge torrent.
"I-I miss…I miss Ya-Atemu…." Yugi whispered once the sobbing had ebbed a little.
"We know," Ryou started to say softly, rubbing small circles into one of his best friend's back, holding back tears of his own which caused the occasional hiccup, "I-If it ma-kes a difference…I miss Ba-kur….Akefia to-o." He cursed himself for messing up the man's name again and brushed back a strand of hair from his eyes as tears started to slip out.
But Malik noticed both of the slip-ups with their names and Ryou watched the anger start to grow in the other's eyes. Furiously wiping at the tears that were on his own cheeks, Malik swore and punched the bark of the tree, his skin scraping and tearing against the rough wood. "Damn it! Why the hell would they leave! It's obvious how much they mean to you, you think they would have seen it!"
Ryou and Yugi noticed that Malik didn't include himself in that statement, each confused as to why, knowing what they did about how the blonde felt about his other half. They looked at each other, trying to figure it out. Ryou looked back over at Malik in pity as Yugi sniffed and wiped away the last of his tears. The albino frowned at Malik's fist, which had started to drip blood onto the ground. He stood up, brushing himself off and rubbing his eyes to get rid of the dried tears. "Come on, Malik, we need to clean your hand."
He glanced down and frowned at his knuckles as if just noticing the wound. "It's fine. I've dealt with worse."
"You still have to have it tended to!" He grabbed at Malik's hand to look at it. "It could need stitches…or it could get infected…then there's also the chance you have splinters…"
"Alright, Doctor Ryou." Malik says, rolling his eyes in the process, "Yugi? Your house?"
Yugi nodded and stood up to walk between two of his best friends. "I'm sure Grandpa won't mind at all."
It didn't take the three long to get to the Kame Game Shop, considering it was only a block away from the park. After a quick greeting to Yugi's grandpa, who was helping a customer make a decision on a purchase, the friends made their way up the back staircase to get to the apartment above the shop. Malik and Ryou went straight to Yugi's room and settled on the ground with their backs to the bed, shoulder to shoulder. Yugi entered after a quick stop to the bathroom, a first aid kit in hand. Ryou took the kit and opened it, starting to clean the scratches with disinfectant, earning a hiss from Malik.
"Easy on that, why don't you?" He winced as the other started to wrap a bandage around his hand. Yugi lay back on the bed, watching what was happening out of the corner of his eyes.
Ryou smiled sweetly as he finished and leaned down to place a kiss on the covered wound, giggling at the face Malik pulled. "There, all better. You're just lucky there weren't any splinters for me to pull out."
A slam of the door at the top of the staircase that led to the store marked the entrance of the fourth member of their group. Joey, a tall blonde with hazel eyes, stormed into the room and flopped down on the bed next to Yugi, which caused the lighter boy to bounce off the bed with a yelp and collide with Ryou and Malik.
Yugi sat up with a pout and crossed his arms at Joey, ignoring the fact that he was still sitting on two of his friends. Both yelled out complaints as they squirmed, "Breathe, Yugi!" "Can't breathe!"
Yugi shook his head at Joey before climbing back onto the bed. "Sorry, guys, wasn't my fault."
"I know…So how is Seto, Joey?" Ryou asked nonchalantly, trying to hide the small smirk that wanted to make itself known.
"Annoying, as always. Can you believe he kicked me out of his office because I was 'too loud'?" Joey put finger quotes around his words, his face erupting in an angry blush as he thought back to earlier, much to the other room occupants' amusement.
They all laughed, ignoring the annoyed yells coming from Joey. Yugi held a hand over his mouth, which did absolutely nothing to conceal the fact that he was smiling. "I'm sorry Joey, but we all find it hilarious that you fell in love with someone that you fight with all the time."
Joey just smiled and nodded his head knowingly. "Yeah, I feel that way sometimes too. It's weird, I wouldn't be able to explain it myself."
The four talked, catching up, before playing games that Yugi supplied. Ryou, Malik, and Joey grabbed the sleeping bags that were stowed under the bed, the same set-up that they had at all their houses. Suddenly, pillows from the closet in the hall were thrown at them by Yugi, each landing a perfect hit. This, of course, resulted in a pillow war, which is the only word to describe the complete and utter chaos that had engulfed Yugi's bedroom.
But they eventually collapsed on their respective beds, each one with a fit of laughter. Silence came over the room as they started to fall asleep, exhausted from a day of hanging out with good friends.
((((((LINE))))))
Three men sat around a column, in a similar position to what the hikaris had been in around the tree at the park.
"Do you think they ever think about us?" Crimson eyes looked to the ceiling as the one who had spoken crossed his arms over his chest. He had pitch-black hair tipped in crimson with blonde bangs shooting out in all directions. He was Yami.
A man with crazed platinum blonde hair and pupil-less lilac eyes scoffed, "Your two might, mine thinks I'm dead and gone, probably happily too." He smirked, but it came out more like a grimace. This one was known as Marik.
"I doubt Yadonushi misses me, after the whole 'kill your friends and take over the world' thing," said the final man, Bakura, who had dark brown eyes and tousled white hair, "so that leaves the runt. I bet he does think about you, Yami." The words were spit out, Bakura obviously not wanting to admit that.
Both Marik and Bakura had only been accepted into the afterlife on the condition that they caused no trouble. One slip-up and it would be straight to the Shadow Realm and the devouring of their souls by Ammit. The two, though it was frustratingly boring, had agreed, finding the afterlife a much more pleasant experience. After a while, the absolute anger that they had felt before calmed, turning into a stream of bitterness at what they could have done if they hadn't been so vengeful. Bakura and Marik had taken to hanging around the Pharaoh's palace, realizing that it was more amusing to annoy the priests there then to spend time in the desert doing next to nothing.
Time had passed and Yami, Bakura, and Marik started to talk, especially after seeing that they had all chosen to take on the appearances they had gained during their time in the present. Of course, when Yami had asked the others for their reasons, the two stated the same explanation that he had provided for himself. They all wanted back. The three wished to return to the living, something that wasn't all that uncommon in the world of the dead. However, they didn't want to go back to their own times, they wanted to return to the present-day world, to see the other halves of their souls once again.
"Atemu!" The one with crimson eyes looked up as his other name was called. The Priest Seth walked up to the group and narrowed his icy blue eyes at the man's company. He towered over the seated men, his brown hair hidden by the tall headdress he wore. "What are you doing here with them, my Pharaoh?" He shook his head, obviously not wanting to hear an answer. "Never mind, you are needed in the throne room. Counsel is about to start."
Yami stood up and brushed of his white tunic, smoothing out the strip of blue fabric that was held in place by the gold around his middle as he answered the question anyway. "I was merely talking. You have no need to fear them, Seth." The priest scoffed as Yami nodded to the two still sitting against the column. "Bakura. Marik."
"See ya, Yami." The lilac-eyed one smirked, watching Seth squirm at the future names, obviously uncomfortable with their use.
As soon as Yami had left with the priest, a silence fell over the remaining two. "We need to figure out a way to get back." Bakura finally stated, rolling his shoulders and neck to get any kinks out.
"Or in this case forward!" Marik cackled with a crazed look in his eyes.
Bakura scowled at the poor joke, standing up and stretching his hands over his head. "Whatever, let's go."
As the thief and tomb raider quickly and silently made their way to the throne room, Yami was approached by Isis, who bowed before him on his throne.
"Rise," he commanded, before his voice softened, "what brings you before me, Isis?"
"I have recently received a vision that it involves you, Akefia, and Mariku." Isis cut straight to the point, wasting no time, a trait Yami admired. "I believe that it will be necessary for you all to return to the realm of the living."
((((((LINE))))))
OK, so I think I'll leave off there…Please tell me if you enjoyed it, what you hated, anything! I just want to know!
Review?