Ryou Bakura staggered up the path to the entrance of the flats, panting slightly. Gripped in his hands were several books, the rucksack on his back full already. "Well, the teachers didn't want to hold up on homework this week!" Ryou spun wildly to the side, trying to walk backwards against the door to open it. It was made of glass and very slippery, so when the door opened in a rush Ryou crumpled onto the floor, books scattering. The residents sitting in the reception looked up in surprise at Ryou's clumsiness, and Ryou blushed, picking up the books as fast as he could. "S-sorry!" He called to the residents, who turned their heads away to avoid eye contact with the boy they found pretty hilarious. Ryou continued to stumble up to the desk, dumping the books down on the counter as he took a breather.

"H-hey, Marion," He panted as a rather tubby man came over dressed in a uniform that appeared to have faced a gale and lived.

"A'ternoon, Mister Bakura," Marion chuckled, tapping his forefinger on the books, "Got a'lot to do, I see. Teachers don't want you relaxing, do they?" Ryou looked up long enough to give Marion a smile.

"No hopes of getting the weekend off nowadays, Marion! Exams in a couple of weeks!" Ryou laughed, before standing up straight from his hunched position, "Could I pick up my key, please?"

Marion frowned, "Oh, one of your friends came by about two minutes ago, mister Bakura. Something about meeting you at your apartment. I asked them for the personal details about you to confirm that they are any suspicious hullabaloo. They got all the answers right, so they're up there now."

Ryou blinked, "Oh my. I wonder who-" Marion cut him off by chucking him the spare key, "Here, just in case something fishy happens. That guy was pretty fishy too, pretty tall for his age I must say."

Ryou nodded his head before taking the key and putting it in his pocket, "Thanks, Marion!" He picked up the books and staggered over to the lift, pressing two buttons in unison. Luckily the lift was already on the ground floor, and so Ryou just had to step in and he was rising up. As he waited, he thought on who had come to his apartment. A tall fellow? Couldn't be Yugi, he supposed, and apparently he's male, so he's not Téa or Mai. Could it be Joey or Tristan? Possibly. Ryou's thoughts we're cut off by the loud 'dong!' of the lift's arrival and he stepped out, walking down the long passageway to his apartment. He thought through how he would get into the apartment with the books. But, when he arrived, the door was already open. Ryou was relieved he wouldn't have to worry about the books but still curious to this figure's person. Who was it? Ryou placed the books and his rucksack on the counter by the door, where he kept his shoes. He gently closed the door behind him and stepped through, rounding the corner into the main living room. It was empty and amazingly hadn't been trashed. Well, it wasn't a burglar.

Ryou sighed, and turned to his room, his door was still closed. He was about to go inside but something stopped him. Looking up, he saw the sticky note he had put there just this morning. He slapped his forehead in realisation. "Oh, bugger, I forgot to get the shopping!" At the mention of shopping, which narrowed it down to food, his stomach woke up and growled angrily. Ryou sighed and turned to the kitchen, proceeding to walk into the room.

"Im sure I've got something in the fridge to tide me o-" Ryou was cut off with a gasp, his eyes laying on his 'friend'. They had their head stuck in the fridge, looking through it for something to eat. Many of the cupboards were open, all empty and full of boxes that had either been emptied or gone out of date. Ryou froze on the spot, counting to ten over and over in his mind. What should he do? His fingers stretched towards his phone quietly, his eyes flickering from the phone, to the intruder, to the phone again. Just as his fingers brushed on the phones sides, the intruder stood up, slamming the fridge door shut. Ryou, being a timid boy, snatched his hand back, trembling and holding his breath. On sight, the intruders person made Ryou breath out and calm himself.

"Marik? What are you doing he-" For the third time that day, Ryou was cut off from his sentence, his eyes laying on the taller mans face. No, it wasn't Marik, this was the Yami Marik. The one who gave Ryou nightmares and whom had tried to kill both him and Bakura. Ryou's hand reached out to support himself on the door frame, trembling harder.

"'Ain't got much food, 'ave ya?" Yami Marik frowned, stomping over to the next cupboard and pulling it open. Again, this cupboard was empty. Ryou, still feeling paralyzed with fear, narrowed his eyes at Yami Marik.

"For your information, I was going to go shopping."

"Why didn't you? You think I wouldn't be hungry?" The Egyptian demanded, stomping over to Ryou and glaring hard into his eyes, "And whats with the backchat? Want me to stab you in the eye socket and give your dissembled eye to replace Pegasus'?"

Ryou almost jumped back in horror at the threat, "N-no, Marik, I was just saying-"

"Oh, that's what they all say," Yami Marik interrupted, waving a hand dismissively at Ryou, "'Just saying. Just saying'. Well, if you were just saying then you need to handle your tone. And hear I thought you had manners." Yami Marik continued to hunt through the cupboards, ignoring Ryou completely as he tossed old cartons to the floor.

"Who are you to say that I have no manners when you barged in my apartment and demanded food?" Ryou was surprised he still had the guts to talk back, let alone have a voice, "If anyone needs a lecture on manners its you." Yami Marik stopped and turned back to face Ryou, his face slightly angered. Ryou immediately began to regret his actions, backing away slightly.

"Look here, mister optimist, Im only here on business. So help me or piss off back to your friends." Yami Marik's tongue slid out as he talked, making him resemble that of a cobra. It sent shivers down Ryou's spine.

"W-what help do you need?" He stuttered, rubbing his forehead as it began to sweat from panicking too much.

"Marik wont help me. I need to get to Bakura." Ryou blinked at that.

"Bakura? What for?" He asked, feeling nervous. He hadn't taken the Millennium Ring from its hiding place in a while because Bakura was keen on keeping the body 24/7, and Ryou had gotten several warnings from the school for non attendance.

"I need YOUR help to GET Bakura, mortal," Yami Marik growled, reaching a long arm and flicking Ryou's nose. Ryou squinted, rubbing the point of his nose as he spoke, "How can -I- help?"

Yami Marik placed a hand on the wall, proceeding to lean on it casually, "Well, you know what to do to get Bakura out. As soon as he appears, I'll gut him. You get rid of him, I get rid of him. Everyones happy."

Ryou jumped back slightly, eyes wide in horror, "Y-your going to kill him?"

Yami Marik threw his insanely crazy hairstyle backwards along with his head and laughed, a snarl of a laugh that would send many animals running for shelter. Ryou froze, his own hazel-brown eyes locked in terror on sight of this villain. Yami Marik's deep-violet eyes returned the stare as his laughter died down, "What do you think? It would return you a normal life, Hikari Bakura. You would be normal, like your friends. You wouldn't have to care about being possessed and committing evil deeds, you could go on with life as you wished. After all, isn't that what your parents would have wanted you to do?"

Those last words caught Ryou's attention, his eyes widening. His parents he had not seen since he was of a very young age, when they had died along with his sister in a car crash, so he had been told. His father had survived the accident but went missing shortly after returning from Egypt, rendering Ryou an orphan. Ryou bit his lip, feeling guilty to have allowed Bakura to disobey his parents. He knew Yami Marik was right, his parents wouldn't have wanted their son to be a criminal.

Yami Marik could see Ryou hesitating, and he grinned his fangs. Ryou was the fly, and he was now flying right into Yami Marik's web. Yami Marik, putting on his best attempt at an innocent face, held out his free hand towards Ryou's figure, "Come on, Ryou, you know its for the best."

Ryou eyed the hand held out to him warily, looking from it, to Yami Mariks face, and back again. He could tell Yami Marik was up to something, a quick way out of getting rid of Bakura, but there was a nagging feeling that he may be able to trust Marik's Yami. Ryou had never met the guy personally, only being told of 'what a fag' he was from Bakura. But he couldn't trust Bakura anymore than he could trust Yami Marik. Ryou looked up at Yami Marik, his eyes pleading, "Please, Marik, cant we settle this easier? I don't want to get any pain."

Yami Marik didn't move his hand, only smirked down at Ryou's face, "Hikari Bakura, its simple enough. Get Bakura out here and I'll drive my knife into his gullet. Then you'll be home free."

Ryou shuddered, "I don't want a body with a knife driven through it. You'll kill me too."

Yami Marik's eyes widened, "Oh no, no no no. I wouldn't, I swear. Cross my heart." If I had one, Yami Marik thought gleefully. He almost had Ryou trapped!

Ryou was still feeling timid. He knew Yami Marik was trying to fool him, but he knew that if he didn't, he would be stuck with Bakura for… for… about 5000 more years! Ryou closed his eyes in thought, several images of his family, friends and especially Bakura running through his mind. Eventually he opened them, looking directly at Yami Marik.

"We can do it if we can get Bakura out and gone without stabbing. Overtime progress."

Yami Marik sighed, "You really think that's going to work with him?"

"I know it will."

It was Yami Marik's turn to ponder, a look of distort crossing his facial expression. Ryou, as terrified as he was, put in a burst of courage and patted Yami Mariks hand that resided on the wall he was leaning on.

"You can trust me, Marik."

"Mhm," Yami Marik muttered, gritting his teeth, "Are you getting food or what, my stomach is set to eat anything and if we don't get food soon you'll be on the menu with all the trimmings."

As serious the situation and the tone in Yami Marik's voice, Ryou couldn't help but giggle as he picked up both sets of keys from the table, "It's a five minute walk to the local shop. I don't think I can trust you here, so your coming with me."

Yami Marik huffed, "What if I don't want to?"

Ryou could only turn and give Yami Marik a large beam, "Well, you'll go hungry."

Yami Mariks face dropped, making him look horrified at the prospect of going hungry. As intelligent as he was, he knew certain food was the key to his knowledge and Ryou would probably get… boiled vegetables. Soup in a can. Yami Marik shuddered, "Alright, alright. I'll come. Only because you'll buy food I hate," he snapped on the end suddenly, swirling his long cape behind him as he pushed past Ryou and out of the door. Ryou sighed before following him, turning to lock the door behind him.

The pair began walking towards the lift, Yami Marik looking like a giant compared to Ryou's small figure. From behind it looked like only Yami Marik was there - his long indigo cape seemed to cover Ryou from sight like someone had thrown a towel over his head. Yami Marik huffed as they stood waiting for the lift to return to their floor, "Do these things take ages?"

Ryou nodded, "Sometimes they take up to ten minutes to get here." He paused as he thought, "Marik, have you been in one of these before? Your looking rather… pale. And that's saying something," He added hastily, not wanting to hurt Yami Marik's feelings.

Yami Marik shook his head, "No, I've never been in one of these contraptions. They are a doomed fate and a trap for anyone who gets inside. They'll carry you to the shadow realm and leave you there."

Ryou laughed again, rubbing his eyelid. Yami Marik narrows his eyes at Ryou, "You find souls being dragged there comic, Hikari Bakura?"

Ryou shook his head vigorously, "No no! You've got it all wrong, Marik! The lift just carries you down to the ground, rather than up here! Its faster than taking the-" Ryou cut off, not wanting to laugh anymore at what he had realised, "You took the stairs, didn't you, Marik?"

Yami Marik growled, "Its better to trust your own legs than one of these things, you little brat. Now make this thing go faster or I'll push you down the stairs."

Ryou squealed a little, pressing the button frantically - knowing Yami Marik he would push him down the stairs. The lift, slow as it was, arrived a minute or so later, Ryou dashing in whereas Yami Marik wandered in not flinching. He did, however, grip the pole as Ryou pressed 'ground floor' and stood across from him, leaning on the bar tiredly.

The light came on and the doors slid open, now having arrived back at the lobby. Yami Marik sauntered across it, a rather small and timid Ryou following close behind. Marion and the other residents' jaws dropped at the sight of the two, how confident Yami Marik was and how vulnerable Ryou appeared to be. Even the giant of a man Marion behind the desk's usual smile drooped in horror and surprise. Yami Marik leaned his elbow across the counter, facing away from Marion and Ryou as he flexed his jaws at the residents, showing off his canines to them in entertainment of scaring them. Sure enough, they began to scatter, not wanting to gain eye contact from this monster of a man.

Ryou leaned across to Marion and muttered, "An old friend, ignore his… insanity."

Marion nodded and took the keys, "Going out somewhere, mister Bakura?"

Ryou smiled at him, "Just to get the shopping done, I'm dragging mister madness along with me too because he thinks im going to poison him. " Marion laughed hearily and hung the keys back up on hook marked RBK.

"Just make sure he doesn't scare off any of our residents, Mister Bakura."

Ryou shook his head, "He wont, he'll be in trouble if he does!" Ryou chuckled, reaching out and grabbing Yami Marik by the shoulder, "Come on, Marik, lets get you to the shops for your snacks." Ryou proceeded to try and drag Yami Marik out of the hotel, which was hard to do on the count of Yami Marik being the heavier man due to his muscles. Ryou ended up pushing Marik from behind rather than dragging him because it caused his arm to become bruised from pulling too hard. As soon as they got outside Ryou left him alone and they walked side by side.

Yami Marik huffed like a child, "You could have asked me to move! I was making friends," He whined.

"Friends by showing off your lovely teeth?" Ryou rolled his eyes in disgust, resisting the urge to shudder.

"You really think my teeth are lovely?" Yami Marik retorted, running his unusually long tongue over the teeth. Ryou looked away, eyes closed.

"Don't do that, Marik!"

"Do what?"

"Lick your teeth. Its foul!"

"Its only because I havent had a decent meal for about four hours!" Yami Marik pouted, swiping at Ryou's albino hair. It ruffled up and Ryou frowned, trying to smooth it back down. Yami Marik began roaring with laughter at Ryou's reaction, continuing to play with Ryou's hair until they reached the supermarket. Ryou was becoming frustrated with it by now.

"Oh for goodness sake, Marik, do leave my hair alone! Its no stranger than yours!" And for good measure Ryou pinched one of the towering spires of Yami Marik's hair and pulled lightly, before letting go and grabbing a shopping trolley. Yami Marik scattered out of sight, but from the noise Ryou could tell he wasn't far off, up to mischief as usual. Ryou sighed and rubbed his forehead before entering the first aisle. Frozen food. He wasn't sure what Yami Marik would like and left it to him to find the food -he- wanted. Meanwhile, Ryou would get his own food.

It was around five minutes later when Ryou went to fetch some pasta noodles that he noticed his trolley had disappeared. He blinked in surprise, looking for it, when he was interrupted by a loud 'Out of my way before I push you into the pits, Binky Boys!' on the other side of the aisle. Ryou gasped and dashed round the side, still holding the pasta noodles. What he saw he wasn't sure whether to laugh or grow angry.

Yami Marik had his feet planted on the small bar in between the back wheels and was pushing himself along every so often, racing down the aisles on the trolley with his cape billowing behind him. He was laughing like a maniac as several people scattered out of his way.

"Marik!" Ryou whined, dashing after him. He couldn't leave Yami Marik alone for even a second without chaos! Upon hearing Ryou, Yami Marik slid a foot down and the trolley jammed to a halt, inches from crashing into a display of cereal boxes.

"Your kind of shopping is so boring, Hikari Bakura!" Yami Marik moaned, dragging the trolley half-heartedly behind him as he returned to Ryou's side. Ryou narrowed his eyes at Yami Marik as he dropped the pasta noodles into the trolley.

"Marik, I thought you were supposed to be more intelligent than your other half. All I can see is a fully grown Egyptian acting like a four year old!"

Yami Marik scuffed his shoe on the floor, "Geez, just trying to get into a good mood for a change. Lets go do that crappy shopping so we can get back and we can get damn Bakura out."

Ryou bit his tongue, disgusted at Yami Mariks tone. They wandered the aisles in silence, both deep in their own thoughts. Ryou had finished his half of the shopping by now and was just following Yami Marik, who dropped several items into the trolley in each aisle. It wasn't until they got to the checkout that Ryou realised how much they had gotten.

"Im not sure if I can afford all of this, Marik," Ryou said through gritted teeth as they queued up.

"Relax, Creampuff," Yami Marik replied scornfully, slightly irritated at Ryou's negative mood, "I've got Marik's wallet with me, he forgot to take it out. You really need to earn more money if you want to be a good roommate to me."

Ryou stopped from fishing in his bag for his wallet, eyes wide in surprise. Roommates? "Since when are we roommates, Marik?" He was nervous of the reply he would get, pulling out the wallet and keeping his eyes locked on the conveyer belt in front of him which had all of the shopping on it.

Yami Marik swiped a hand at Ryou's fluffy mess of hair again, messing it up worse than earlier, "Oh come on, Hikari Bakura, You really expect me to live on a boat for the rest of my life?"

"Yes!" Ryou bit back, surprised at his own fury about having Yami Marik live with him, "You living with me wasn't part of the deal! I have barely enough money to pay for one apartment, let alone moving into another!"

Yami Marik stopped playing with Ryou's hair and stared hard at him, "No, I'll just sleep on the sofa."

Ryou ground his teeth together as they reached the paying point. The lady behind the counter had already packed the shopping for them as their conversation had gotten the best of them and had distracted them from doing it themselves. She rang up the till and gestured to the total price, which made Ryou's jaw drop.

"Marik, you're gonna have to lend me some money for this!" Ryou whined, turning to where Yami Marik was going about picking up as many bags as he could.

"Check my wallet," Yami Marik replied, reaching for the seventh bag. Ryou leaned over to Yami Marik and reached his hand to his pocket, slipping out the large wallet and opening it. Several money notes were inside along with a lot of dust. Sighing, Ryou took some out and handed the money over to the employee, who tilled it and nodded a farewell. By now Yami Marik had picked up all 8 bags of shopping in his hands, and so Ryou slipped Yami Marik's wallet into his own bag. The two stumbled down the road, Ryou desperate to make Yami Marik reconsider his choice of moving in.

"Please, Marik, I don't think I can cope if your in the apartment too. I have enough trouble on my own," Ryou begged, holding his bag strap with one hand. Yami Marik turned to face him, the veins on his face becoming more evident.

"Hikari Bakura, like I said earlier, show some manners. I need to stay by your place if this is going to work."

"As much as I would love to have you staying with me," Ryou replied, the sarcasm dripping from his voice, "I don't think my neighbours would appreciate a psychopath living with me and scaring everyone off with his death threats."

"Well, You cant back out now, you DID say you were going to help me and I'll need to hang around your apartment for a little while to make this work!" Yami Marik hissed, flouncing off down the lane. The shopping in his hands shook and swung but Yami Marik ignored it, leaving Ryou running behind him.