(A/N: I think Marik might come off a bit too out-of-character- please note that almost everything his says is supposed to be in a sarcastic and/or mocking tone; not sure I made that clear enough... sorry!)

The first rays of the Kiyoshi morning sun began piercing through the dusty bedroom. The growing light made its way across the room, blinding a very irritated teen.

"Hnngh..." Ginjiro Bakura let out a rough grumble, and threw the twin comforter over his head.

There was a sound of footsteps, and an annoyingly familiar voice called out: "Hey, wake up already!"

"Grrrnn..."

Akefia Bakura couldn't hide the grin that stretched across his face. Aside from their contrasting skin tones, there were some very major differences between the two (half) siblings.

One of them being that Akefia was a morning person.

"Sorry, bro, but we've got a lot of work to get done- up and at 'em!" The elder brother grabbed the edges of the worn comforter, and promptly yanked it off the grump.

Bakura let out an even louder noise of displeasure, and instantly pulled his pillow down over his face.

...The younger Bakura, on the other hand, was not a morning person.

The amused adult could only smirk as his half-sibling tried to hide his face again.

"If you don't get up, I just might have to eat all the bacon~!" Akefia teased impishly.

Two reddish-brown eyes snapped open at that threat. "Don't you dare!"

The older sibling dropped the playful tone. "Let the pillow go and get your *ss up, then."

Grumbling, the younger of the duo got up and started his morning routine. His hazy thoughts slowly drifted back to the unusual 'jewelry' lying quietly on his nightstand.

'Was that a dream? No... it was too real to be a dream.'

Following a short breakfast, the distracted teen absconded back upstairs to his bedroom. No sooner had he put the rough cording around his neck, than he heard the same odd vocals as before.

'Hello? Bakura, is that you again?'

"Yeah, it's me." The pale teen nearly sighed. There was no denying the inner relief that Bakura felt upon hearing the same voice from last night. It was nice to know that he wasn't going soft-headed. "I thought up an idea for finding out who you were- do you know what 'Googling' is?"

The other youth let out an optimistic gasp and explained that yes, he was quite familiar with the internet. This gave both of the boys a vital clue as to when Ryou had actually been 'alive' (so to speak). Equipped with this helpful information, Bakura quickly typed out their query and hit 'search.'

Unfortunately, this was the only helpful information they actually gleamed from the idea. 'Ryou' turned out to be a very common given name for Japanese boys. In fact, Bakura's first search pulled up thousands of results for 'Domino City Ryou.'

Even adding their street name didn't narrow the results down much; as evidently a prominent ex-councilman lived just down the block. Doubly unfortunately, the politician had been involved in a large scandal a few years back, so most of the results revolved around the sixty-year-old 'Ryou Hatori' and his 'mysterious mistress.'

Bakura thought about teasing the spirit, but paused when he sensed how heavy the ring felt. He recognized the despondence, and remained considerately silent as he scrolled past the countless links.

Indeed, the spirit-like entity sounded crushed as he reassured his physical 'roommate' that he couldn't possibly read through all of the (somewhat sordid) results. 'Thank you anyway, though- it was kind of you to check.'

The older teen snorted. "Pfth, it took three seconds- besides, we're not out of options yet. My friend's father is head of 'The Domino Daily'."

'Wow, you mean the giant newspaper?!'

"Yeah, and he owes me a favor- ten to one he can help us dig up some dirt on who the hell you really are."

The jewelry gave another quiver, and Bakura wondered if the invisible nerd was put off by the swearing. But apparently Ryou was just very grateful.

'That would be fantastic- thank you!'

"Tch." The normally abrasive teen felt his face flush again. The spirit always acted like everything he did for him was some great achievement.

Bakura unplugged his cell and quickly scrolled to the right number. He waited as the connection was made, and-

"Hello, City Morgue!"

Two crimson eyes rolled in irritation. "Marik, cut the crap; it's me."

"BAKURA~!" The white-haired teen hissed as he yanked the phone away from his throbbing eardrum. He thought he heard a very faint giggle from the ring, but it was overpowered by the noises blasting from the phone. "Hey man! Long time no pummel! What's up? How'd the move go? You finally get the guts to tell your br-"

"Shut up! That's not important right now! Listen, something's come up, and I need your help!"

"Ooo, I don't know- my schedule's pretty full right now- why don't you ask my cousin? I know how much you two love spending time together~"

Bakura shuddered at the thought. "Marik, if you make me puke all over my new phone I swear I will rip out your spinal cord through your-"

"Kidding! I'm kidding, geez! I'd tell you to lighten up, but you're already paler than salt- you know you're screwed if you ever get lost in a blizzard, right?"

A smirk finally began making its way across the other teen's face. "Tch, and what if you got trapped in a sinkhole? Not that anyone would bother getting their hands muddy searching for you in the first place..."

To the average, demure citizens of Japan, these insults might seem a bit jarring. But from inside the ring, Ryou could overhear the pair. And he quickly recognized the casual, semi-caustic remarks as a form of playful banter between old friends.

It was rather amusing, really.

But the spirit felt his interests shift as he heard Bakura ask about Marik's father.

"Eh? Oh yeah, he's out of town right now- some big deal in Hong Kong, I think. Might net some big distributor deal or some crap... why?"

Bakura sighed before admitting the real reason behind the call. "I need help finding someone."

"No duh! You haven't been on a date in how long?! I swear, Yami and I were starting to take bets on whether you were a zombie or just completely clueless!"

This time Bakura was certain he heard a faint laugh from inside the necklace. He gritted his teeth and hissed into the phone. "NO, I mean I need to find out what happened to someone who used to live in this new house. I may have... found something of theirs."

There was a short pause on the other end of the line. "...You turning over a new leaf or something? Since when do you willingly return something to its actual owner?" There was an overly-dramatic gasp from the other end. Ryou nearly burst out laughing when Marik began speaking in a stern stage whisper. "Wait- who am I even talking to?! Oh gods, they did something to Bakura! You won't get away with this, you vile imposter!" Bakura's face fell flat as the louder teen paused for a brief moment. "...Although, honestly; I can't see why anyone would even try to impersonate you- you're an arrogant, broke a-hole who doesn't even know if he's-"

"Look, can you help us or not? Because honestly, I'm starting to miss the sound of everything that isn't your voice."

"Wait, us?" Bakura quickly facepalmed as he realized his mistake. "As in, you and someone else?!" Marik's voice soon gained a mockingly-sweet tone. "Aww, Bakura- you finally made a friend! That's so sweet! And you're helping them? Good for you! You get an extra gold star for today, mister!"

Ignoring the giggling from the ring, Bakura snapped back at Marik. "Shut up! It's not like that!"

"Suuuurrre... well, of course I'll help you both out- you want me to call when dad gets back in?"

The pale teen snarled into the receiver. "And not a millisecond sooner."

"Aw, miss you too, Baka-kura! Bye~!"

Slightly red-faced, Bakura angrily stabbed at the 'end call' button before giving an exhausted sigh. "Right, so I think it's fair to say he won't be of much help." The fazed teen looked down at the old pendant hanging from his neck. "...sorry about that."

But Bakura was surprised by the faint laughter that seemed to echo from the ring. 'No need- he's quite entertaining. In fact, I don't think I've laughed like that in long a while.'

The corporeal teen rolled his eyes. "Well, I'm glad you find him so amusing- he's usually just a crazy pain-in-the-*ss."

There was a pause from the ring before Ryou voiced a sensible question. 'If he really drives you up-the-wall, then why are you friends?'

Bakura let out a small huff with his reply. "We both grew up in the same small town. When you grow up in the sticks like that, you end up making friends with anyone who doesn't bore you half to death."

'Ah, I see. I don't really remember where I grew up... but, I hope I had friends.'

Bakura honestly had no idea how to respond to that statement, but thankfully he was saved the trouble. Both of the teens nearly jumped when a loud voice bellowed from somewhere on the first floor.

"Oy, quit yakking on the phone and get downstairs! You've still got a ton of cr*p in these boxes!"

The physical youth suppressed a groan and placed his hands on the rough cording. "I have to get going- I'm going to leave the pendant on the nightstand again. I'll put it back on later."

Ryou didn't seem nearly as put off this time- in fact, the voice sounded genuinely happy at the promise of being re-donned. 'Ok- thanks, Bakura! Good luck with your sorting!'

"Tch." Bakura carefully removed the aging medallion and left it resting on top of the small, wooden table. He then headed down the narrow staircase to the living room, where Akefia was already unpacking boxes.

The older sibling saw that his brother's face was unusually flushed, but decided not to comment as they both got to work.