A/N; I wrote this very small one-shot a couple of weeks back for one of my friends (Sierrasdarkness) after she responded to a meme. Please read and review, constructive criticism is welcomed, though flaming isn't. Enjoy!

Disclaimer; I do not own Yuugiou/Yu-gi-oh or any of the characters featured in this 'story'. The animé was created and belongs to Kazuki Takahashi, though the plot-line is my own.


Coward

Malik gazed out of the cave at the rain as it pummelled the sand and allowed himself a small sigh. The first time the desert had been 'blessed' with rain and he couldn't even go out to feel it, he needed to stay in the shadows where the guards couldn't see him. With a muffled whimper of pain, he brushed his hand against the wound in his shoulder. Excellent, just... Great. He knew that he hadn't lost too much blood, but if the spear-head stayed inside him for too long...

I do not own Yuugiou/Yu-gi-oh or any of the characters featured in this 'story'. The animé was created and belongs to Kazuki Takahashi, though the plot-line is my own.

Leaning back against the stone wall, he pulled the cloak off. Why the Thief had suddenly thrown it at him, he didn't know and told himself that he didn't care. It had clearly been a tactic to get the guards to chase after Malik rather than himself.

Coward.

He huffed to himself, dropping the now ruined garment on the floor. It'd teach him to try and work with anyone, especially thieves.

The sound of crunching sand alerted him to danger. The guards! How did he forget about them in such a shot period of time? With a yelp of pain, he scrambled further into the cave, hoping that the meat-headed buffoon outside didn't hear him. He crouched behind a rock and waited. It would only take one of them to spot him and alert the others. And in this state, Malik wouldn't be able to escape. Holding his breath, he waited.

The crunching stopped after a few moments. A small, thoughtful grunt followed and then another pause. There was a faint hissing of sand as the person scooped the cloak up, studied it and then started to move further into the cave. The blond bit down on his cheek as the pressure on his lungs increased. Oh crap, if he didn't do something...

"Ishtar, are you in here?"

His eyes immediately narrowed at the sound of the thief's voice, the colour returning to his face as he let out his breath slowly, trying to calm the rage that was building up inside him. That bastard had some nerve coming back after he'd abandoned him earlier! Well, Malik wasn't going to stand for it. He pushed himself away from the rock, stumbling slightly as he turned to face Bakura.

One of the thief's eyebrows disappeared under his soaking wet mop of hair, his eyes clearly moving to Malik's shoulder, "So, they got you?" He cackled as he advanced, the other male moving backwards slightly, "I'm not going to kill you, fool."

Malik growled and opened his mouth to curse Bakura, to tell him that he didn't want anymore to do with him and his cowardly ways. But his tongue glued to the top of his mouth. He felt heavy all of a sudden and moved back towards the rock, leaning against it. His body wasn't even allowing him to tell the thief where he should shove their deal. He just wanted to sleep.

"You've ruined my cloak, bastard! Pfeh. I guess it has served its purpose..."

"So you could get away?" Malik finally managed to get out, his lip twitching into a would-be sneer. "Coward..."

Bakura's eyes widened for a quick moment before he narrowed them, glaring down at Malik, "No, it was so I could see where you ran off to, idiot! They were after you t-" He suddenly stopped speaking as Malik started to drift in and out of consciousness, Bakura dragging one hand through his hair. "... Gah!" With a defeated sigh he scooped the other boy into his arms and started to walk towards the mouth of the cave.

Such a weakling.