The next day was rather interesting.
Around 11:30 I went outside to see how the weather was. It was pretty good, so Marik came out as well, meanwhile Ishizu just stayed in the living room and read a book. Marik and I tossed a ball around for a while, about ten minutes after we started the ball suddenly exploded in midair. I stared at the shredded remains of the ball, then at Marik, who looked just as confused as I felt. A few feet to the right of us, somebody started laughing. I turned to see an unfamiliar face, a young boy with long, unruly white hair and a mean-looking smile. Marik recognized him on the spot. "BAKURA!" Marik shouted at the boy, who stopped laughing to look at him. "Why did you go and do that?!" Marik yelled. The one known as Bakura gave the slightly smaller boy a glare. "I couldn't stand to see you, of all people, having fun." He then looked at me. "Who's that?" He asked. Marik tromped up to the white haired boy and stood face-to-face with him. "He's a friend of mine, and he's pretty tough to, so stop messing with us." He said rather sharply. Bakura laughed at him. "I'm not scared of either of you, seeing as neither of you could take me on in a fight. In fact, how about we play a little game... Whoever can take me down won't get murdered today." I took a step forward. "You willing to test that?" I snapped. On the inside, I was actually kind of nervous. I had no idea who this boy was, and even less of an idea what his capabilities were. Bakura shoved Marik out of the way and walked towards me. "I'm ready when you are." He said, getting into some kind of combat stance.
Bakura stepped forward and immediately threw a punch, one that would have hit me full on in the face if I hadn't blocked it. He threw a relentless flurry of punches, every hit either missing or being stopped by me. He jabbed at me a few times, then came in with a punch that would have done some actual damage if I had let it touch me. I slid out of the way, his fist hitting nothing but air. I swung around and kicked, connecting with the back of his head and knocking him to the ground. He rolled away and tried to stand, only for his legs to give out from underneath him. He tried three more times, each time falling down on his face, until I finally helped him off the ground. "How did you beat me so easily?" He asked afterwards. "When you start throwing a lot of punches like you did, after a while you start to tire out and lose your coordination. When you tried to hit me with that hard punch, you were already kind of disoriented and weary, so I just had to move and attack for myself." I explained. He nodded. "I suppose you won then," He said. I nodded. "You put up a bit of a challenge though. If you want to really fight somebody, you'll need a bit more practice." He nodded again, then walked away. Everything was silent for a second. "That was cool." Marik said, smiling.
When we went in the house, I was immediately approached and dragged aside by Ishizu, who pulled be by the arm into the back room. "Do you know what you just did?" She hissed. "Somebody was bothering us, then he attacked me, so I fought back." I answered plainly. "That boy you were fighting, he's dangerous. He won't let that one slide, so he'll be back, and he'll have more people with him." She whispered. "I have no reason to be afraid of a little kid and his wannabe gang." I answered. We were both silent, then she sighed. "I'm just worried something's going to happen that we won't be able to stop." She looked at the floor. I was going to say something originally, but I started to feel that wouldn't be a good idea at this point. "If you're right... If something does happen, I promise I'll try my best to help you." I finally responded. She looked up for a moment, then wrapped her arms around me and sobbed. I didn't know why, but I decided just to go with it. I pat her back gently, and after a while she let go and looked straight into my eyes. "What happens probably won't be worth this amount of drama." She said. I smiled. "Maybe not."
Dinner went by silently as it usually did, then Marik and Odion went out to do some shopping. Marik went for the sole purpose of getting snacks, but nobody really cared at that point. Ishizu and I went into the living room to see if anything good was on television THIS time around, but this was a no, so she just sat on the sofa and read. I noticed she was rather tense at the moment. "Hey, you alright?" I asked. She glanced back at me. "I'm just kind of tired is all."
"Sit on the edge of the seat for a second."
Ishizu looked at me. "Why?" I scooted closer to her on the couch. "Just do it, ok?" She nodded and did as I said. I slid in behind her and pulled her into a hug. She looked back at me, eyes widened slightly. "H-Hey! What's this all about?" I didn't reply, instead I just put my hands on her shoulders and began gently massaging them. Almost immediately her muscles relaxed, and I found her to be asleep moments later. When she said tired, she meant tired... I picked her up bridal-style and stood, wobbling a bit, then proceeded to carry her out the door, and up the stairs. In the room, I set her down on the bed and then proceeded to pass out on the floor. Of course, I landed on a convenient stack of pillows.