New fic, yay! It's going to be a chaptered one again. This starts a bit slow but I promise it gets better XD also, I assure you it is a thiefshipping fic, even though it probably doesn't seem like it at first as this chapter is pretty Ryou-centric. There MIGHT (and that is a big might) be some deathshipping later, but that won't happen for quite a while. Anyway, I hope you enjoy! - Jem

Goodbye, home of my childhood.

Ryou gazed forlornly out of the back window of the car, twisting around in his seat and watching the small brown house disappear into the distance, ignoring the way the seatbelt dug into his shoulder. He still couldn't really believe what had happened. His brain refused to compute the facts that he knew were true – his mother and sister were gone for good, and his father wasn't coming back. He was on his own once again, abandoned once more; his stomach twisted at the thought, and he could almost feel the knife stabbing him in the back. He was alone.

Hearing the engine rev in the rickety old car, he realised that wasn't quite true. He twisted back around to face the front, looking to his right at the stony face of his older brother, who had his hands clenched on the steering wheel. Sensing Ryou's stare he shifted slightly in his seat. "Just forget about him. It's the best thing we can do now."

"You mean dad?" Ryou bit his lip and chose to look out at the trees flashing past the window as they headed to the airport. "Yeah, I know you're probably right..."

Bakura raised an eyebrow. "Sounds like there should be a 'but' at the end of that sentence."

"Well, yeah." Ryou briefly smiled. "...Moving on is a lot harder than it sounds. How are we supposed to forget our only living relative?"

Bakura's expression hardened. "We have no choice. That idiot didn't give us one."

Ryou heaved a shaky sigh. "Yeah, I know. I do. I just can't believe he wouldn't come back for us..."

"Forget him, Ryou." Bakura shot his brother a worried look. "He walked out of our lives two years ago. He's probably got a new family now. We're better off on our own."

Ryou bit his lip at the truth of his brother's words, but he forced a smile when he saw the worry in Bakura's eyes. "I know. I understand. Please, don't worry about me – you'll look after us, right?"

Bakura gave a small smile. "Haven't I always?"

Ryou snorted. "Oh, sure. Like when you almost got sent down for shoplifting. And ended up in hospital after challenging ten guys just because one of them bullied me once. Then there was the time..."

"Alright, alright!" Bakura waved him away with a smirk. "That was all years ago, anyway. Like I'd ever do any of that stuff now."

"You mean, like you'd ever get caught now."

"You know me so well."

Ryou grinned, leaning his head against the window. He had to admit, he was extremely glad Bakura was still with him. They had both lost everything, which had only served to deepen their already close bond - he knew he could trust his brother with everything. Focusing on the family he had left was the best thing to do now, and just forget the past month from hell.

"We're here." Bakura stopped the car and grabbed their cases from the boot as Ryou leaned against the car, sighing. He knew they had to leave England – Bakura was right, it would do them no good to stay here, where all their memories were – but he couldn't deny the wrench he felt. Bakura rested a hand on his shoulder as they walked into the airport. "I know, Ryou. I don't really want to leave either."

Ryou smiled at his brother. "Yeah, it isn't easy. But we have to. I don't think I could stay here anymore anyway, not without mum and..." he choked slightly. Bakura tightened his grip wordlessly as they checked in.

The flight to America was spent in happy conversation as both brothers tried to get excited about their futures and forget the lives they were leaving behind. "You know, you actually should be excited," Bakura said with a smirk, leaning back in his seat. "You still have a year of school to finish. What do they call it in America – senior year? I bet you'll have a crap load of work to do."

Ryou shoved him. "Ha. Funny. And if I do, I'll just make sure you help me with it." He raised his eyebrows slightly. "And anyway, won't you have to actually get a job now? Can't keep coasting anymore, not when you have to actually feed us now."

Bakura rolled his eyes. "Trust me, money will not be a problem."

"You...you're not going to steal everything, are you?"

Bakura shot him a look, crimson eyes blank. "...It's probably better for you not to ask that, brother."

Ryou glared at him. "If that's your only plan..."

"No, fine!" Bakura rolled his eyes. "If you're going to get pissy then I'll get a job. Just, don't be surprised if I have to use alternative methods as well."

Ryou huffed. "I'd rather you didn't."

"I'm sure. But I'd rather we ate."

Eventually, Ryou decided it would just be better not to ask.

They eventually landed in Domino and got a taxi to their new address – a comfortable (although admittedly small) flat on the third storey of a large building. Bakura wasted no time in flopping on the sofa and flicking on the TV as Ryou started unpacking, littering the rooms with all their possessions. As he put some photos on the mantelpiece he couldn't help but smile – already it was feeling more like home.

"You should probably go to bed."

Ryou leaped about ten feet in the air before whirling to glare at his brother. "Bakura!"

His brother smirked. "What?"

"Don't sneak up on me!"

"Oh come on, you should be used to it by now."

Ryou flicked white hair out of his eyes. "Whatever."

"Anyway," Bakura continued. "Go to bed. You're starting school tomorrow."

Ryou couldn't help feeling rather nervous at that. "Yeah..."

"Oh go on, you'll be fine." Bakura shooed him away. "Get lost. I want to watch TV."

Ryou waited nervously outside the classroom of his new form, waiting for the teacher to wave him in. This was what he was most worried about – his classmates. Back in England he hadn't had many friends – he was a lot shyer when he was younger, and though better now, he still struggled to socialise. He just prayed that he wouldn't stick out too much. Huh. I'm bound to, he thought huffily. I'm a new foreigner with no family. Talk about an easy target. But still, he only had one more year of school to get through. How much bad stuff could realistically happen in a year?

Catching the teacher waving him in, he hesitantly opened the door and stepped up to the front, looking out at a sea of bored-looking teenagers. He caught a few interested looks and turned pink despite himself, staring determinedly at the back wall and not making eye contact with anyone.

"Everyone, this is Ryou Travis, our new student." The teacher, a tall lady with smiling blue eyes, turned to him. "Would you mind telling us a little about yourself?"

"What is this, kindergarten?" muttered a voice from the back, and the class tittered. Ryou smiled slightly and turned to his class, daring to meet a few eyes.

"Well, yeah, it is a little silly...basically, I'm Ryou. I just moved from England. That enough information for now?"

The teacher smiled and nodded. "Sure. Why don't you sit down? There's an empty seat somewhere, I think..."

Ryou moved carefully to the single spare seat, which happened to be right at the back in the corner. His neighbour was a rather exotic looking teen who shot him a curious glance. As their teacher turned back to the board Ryou tried for a smile, which was returned with a grin, and a note was shoved on his desk. My name's Marik. Ryou doesn't sound like a very English name.

He smiled and scribbled back. It isn't. My mother was Japanese.

He saw his neighbour – Marik – read the note and frown. The reply, when it came, was short, but it still hurt. Was?

Ryou swallowed. He didn't think he could put it into writing. Marik shot him a sympathetic look and scribbled It's fine if you don't want to talk about it. Stick around at break, alright?

Ryou met the violet gaze of the tanned teen and nodded, managing another smile which was again returned.

Break came around and Marik immediately turned to Ryou. "Want to eat outside?" His voice was a little nasally but not unpleasantly so, and Ryou caught a hint of an accent.

"Sure," he smiled. "I don't know anywhere though..."

Marik waved him away. "Duh, you're new. Come on, I'll show you round a bit."

He followed the tanned teen out and round the halls of the school, taking in what he could, until they headed outside and sat opposite each other on a picnic bench. Marik spoke first. "So, England, huh?"

"Yeah..." Ryou looked down. "We didn't really want to move, but we didn't have a choice."

"We?"

Ryou met Marik's questioning glance with a smile. "Yeah, my brother and me."

"Oh," Marik sat back, crossing his arms. "He in school too?"

"No, he's two years older than me. He should be getting a job, hopefully."

"Hopefully?" Marik raised an eyebrow. "If it's just you two, shouldn't he already have one?"

Ryou snorted. "Yeah. Probably. But that's my brother for you."

Marik grinned. "Oh, he's like that, is he?"

Ryou shrugged. "He's fine. What about you? Where are you from? Do you have any family?"

"You can tell I'm not American, huh?"

"Well, you have a slight accent, and with your skin I just assumed...sorry..."

"Don't be silly." Marik waved him away. "You're just the first to directly ask like that. Yeah, I'm Egyptian, only moved here last year so I get what being the foreigner is like. And I have a sister and an adopted brother living with me – I'm the youngest too, like you."

Ryou started at that. "Oh, I'm not actually...well..." he bit his lip. I suppose I am the youngest now... he caught Marik's quizzical look and smiled, squaring his shoulders. "Doesn't matter. Look, I know this is probably very forward, but did you want to come over tonight for a bit? I don't know anyone here yet..."

Marik grinned widely. "Love too. I don't know many people either. Us foreigners should stick together, right?"

"Right!" Ryou was happy. At least one person understood his situation.

After school he met Marik by the gates and lead him to the flat he now shared with Bakura, showing Marik to the sofa whilst he went to the kitchen to get drinks. "Sorry we don't have much in...It's actually pretty much just tea, I guess Bakura hasn't got to a shop yet..."

"It's fine." Marik looked around happily – he'd never been invited to another house before, and it was nice to get away from his own for a while. "So is Bakura your brother?"

"Hm?" Ryou returned with a plate of biscuits and two cups of tea. "Yeah, yeah he is. He's all I've got left now."

"What do you mean?" Marik frowned at Ryou's pained expression. "That is, if you don't mind me asking..."

"No, you're alright." Ryou looked him straight in the eyes, and Marik winced slightly at the hidden pain in Ryou's brown gaze. "I recently lost my family. There was a car accident..."

Marik grimaced sympathetically. "Oh, I'm sorry...I didn't mean to bring up painful memories..."

"No, it's fine. I'm glad someone knows, to be honest. And I think I can trust you not to spread it around?"

"Of course. Not if you don't want me to."

Ryou smiled at him. "Thank you, really. That's why me and Bakura moved here, nothing was keeping us at home anymore and we wanted to start again."

"Makes sense. We kind of left Egypt for similar reasons..."

"Yeah?" Ryou was curious, but Marik didn't elaborate.

"Yeah...um, so how did you find school?"

"Oh, it was alright," Ryou grinned. "Actually, it could have gone a lot worse than it did. I was so scared people would just see a weird new kid..."

"What makes you think they didn't?"

Ryou blinked, mouth open, and Marik burst out laughing. "I'm just teasing you, I'm sorry. You're fine."

"Oh." Ryou grinned. "Good."

"You're pretty easy to tease," Marik shot him a smirk. "I think we'll get along fine."

Ryou smiled happily at that.

After a few hours Marik left, promising to stop by in the morning and walk with him to school. Ryou sat on the sofa after he left, looking blankly at the wall. He was glad he'd met Marik – someone he could talk to, and felt comfortable around, was a novelty outside of his family for him. Perhaps this move wouldn't be as difficult as he first thought.

"What are you staring at?"

Ryou jumped and turned to see Bakura leaning in the doorway with a smirk. "Oh, hi! When did you get back?"

"Just now. Why?"

"I had a friend round earlier, wondered if you'd seen him."

"A friend, huh?" Bakura sat beside him on the sofa, throwing his legs out. "Glad I missed him then, wouldn't want to scare him off."

Ryou scowled. "You could just try being nice, you know."

Bakura snorted. "Yeah. Sure. Because that's worked out so well for you."

"It has!"

"Then why is this the first time you've ever had a friend round?"

"Because...well...oh shut up!" Ryou glared at him. "Did you get anything for dinner?"

Bakura shrugged. "Eh, something, probably. I forget."

Ryou rolled his eyes. "Guess I'll make it then."

"You go ahead and do that." The sound of the TV flickered on in the background as Ryou headed into the kitchen, hunting for something to eat.

Marik hurried home from Ryou's in the dark, smiling as he thought of how shy the new kid had seemed. It hadn't taken much to get him to open up though. Noticing how dark it was Marik upped his pace – the last thing he needed now was his Father getting mad. Entering his house he went straight up the stairs, where Ishizu came out of her room to meet him.

"You alright Marik? Been with a friend?"

He smiled slightly. "Yeah, it was nice. Is dad in?"

She shook her head. "He went out about an hour ago. Something about a business meeting."

There was a snort from the bottom of the stairs behind them. "As if that's actually true."

Marik grinned widely. "You never know, Odion. Maybe he's changing his ways."

"And pigs could fly."

"Or maybe rainbows could turn purple."

Ishizu looked at them both, rolling her eyes. "You're both such children!" She turned on her heel and stalked back to her room.

Marik bounded down the stairs again, throwing his arms around his brother. "What are you doing round here anyway?"

He shrugged, returning the hug. "I heard your father was out – thought I'd come round and see you. But turns out you'd ditched me for someone else, right?"

Marik pulled back, laughing. "Oh, obviously. You ditched me when you moved out, after all."

Odion's smile dipped a bit, and Marik bit his lip. "Oh, crap, sorry. I know you didn't want to..."

Odion waved him away. "Think nothing of it. So who were you with?"

"A new kid from school, Ryou. He's from England."

Odion raised his eyebrows. "You? Being welcoming? You?"

Marik punched his arm. "Shut up! I can be!"

"Wow, those pigs really must be flying."

"Oh, shut the hell up!" The teen stalked back up the stairs to his room, laughing. "And get the hell out of here! It's late; I'm sleeping."

"Bye, Marik!"

"See you, Odion!" Marik flopped back on his bed, grin still firmly in place as he heard the front door shut. Ryou had been nice, and he knew his family would be glad that he was finally starting to widen his social circle – it had taken a long time to get out of his shell when they had moved over from Egypt. The move had brought him closer to his siblings, but they all felt rather isolated among modern society. From one look at them anyone could see they were different, so the most natural thing Marik felt was to withdraw into himself. It was easier to talk to Ryou though – he knew what it was like to be the new kid. Maybe Marik could help ease him into school in a way no one had for him when he first arrived.

So yeah, not the most thrilling chapter but it does get more interesting I assure you! This is my first AU so I'm straying from canon a little more than I'm used to. Bakura and Marik meet next chapter, yay! Haha, anyway I'm hoping to update tomorrow. Hope you enjoyed! - Jem