Woot! Here it is, chapter two!
Disclaimer: Black-Neko-Chan does not own Yu-Gi-Oh! Though she would very much love to. Anyone wanna buy it for her as a present? It would make her day and she would love you forever.
"Where is my sister and what have you done to her?" This evil, vile person could not be the nice, sweet, caring person he knew Isis to be. This was some kind of horrible creature in her stead, one with a mind more twisted and evil then that of his brother on his best days.
"Now Marik, that's not a very nice thing to say. I'm the same person I've always been, I'm just trying a different approach to your punishments, that's all," Isis smiled sweetly.
"'A different approach?'" Malik roared, "This isn't a 'different approach!' This is torture! You'll be the death of us woman!" Marik winced, knowing Isis hated it when Malik called her that. Surely now the screaming would start...
"All right. I'll just make it four weeks instead of three," Isis continued to smile. Marik and Malik gaped. It was with surprisingly fast fury that Marik turned on his twin, his own flesh and blood, the one more alike him than anyone else.
"You idiot!" He screamed, "You only made it worse!" Malik growled and snarled, baring his teeth in a way that made him look quite animalistic as he prepared to jump and then throttle his brother.
"Do you want me to make it five weeks?" Isis asked politely, interrupting Malik. He glanced at her with his arms still in the "Ready to Throttle Position" and then slowly lowered them, looking embarrassed that his sister could threaten him this much. Ah, if only Marik had a camera.
"That's what I thought," Isis continued when the two of them had calmed down and were facing her again. "So your punishment will last for four weeks. For the next four weeks neither Rishid nor I will be making you two food. You'll have to do that yourself. We will also not be giving you any money, so that means no going out to eat fast food. You will also be cleaning any and all messes in the house. Rishid and I will clean nothing. If the house isn't as clean as it usually is when we do it then I'll just add another week to your sentence."
"So basically you and Rishid will just be lying around the house like lazy pigs while we do everything," Malik snorted. Marik nudged him a warning to shut up in case Isis felt generous and tacked on another week. Instead, Isis smiled even more, looking happy and sweet. Oh how wrong it was for their tormentor to look like that.
"Basically," Isis agreed. Her smile faltered for a moment and she looked like she had just remembered something. "Also, you will both be allowed to leave the house on the grounds that if the two of you were stuck inside during these four weeks you would most likely ruin it. However, if either of you do anything bad or illegal I'll add two weeks for each offense. And if either of you want to get a job, you can use the money you make to buy food. Though I doubt you'll actually do that."
"Come on Isis! This is a horrible punishment! You know that neither of us can cook! I don't even think I know how to work the microwave... Can't you just ground us and send us to our rooms?" Marik pleaded. He grasped his sister's hands in his own and looked up at her with big, wide, innocent violet eyes. Behind him he could hear Malik snickering at how pathetic he was acting, reduced to begging like this, but he could really care less if it worked.
"Marik," Isis said. The harsh lines of her smile faded and softened and Marik knew that it was working. He's always thought that Isis had liked him the best. Malik might be better at bullying people to get his way but he was the manipulative one. Marik could control people easily as long as he said the right things and Isis was no exception. He had her, hook, line, and sinker. His mouth almost contorted into a smirk but he managed to refrain from taking that action while Isis was looking.
"I'm sorry Marik." No. "I can't take back your punishment." No! "I would like to just ground you both and send you to your rooms-" Then do it! "-but I can't. Every time Rishid or I do that once it's over nothing changes. Because neither of you care. So if we make you suffer, we're hoping something will change and you'll both act better. Again, I'm sorry but I'm adamant about this," Isis finished and Marik's hopes crashed.
She left before the twins could gang up on her again and try to change her mind. She left both still standing there, both quite thoroughly shocked that she really was going to go through with this punishment. Since both of their parents had died, Rishid and Isis had always been the parent figures to the twins. Even so, they'd always had a tendency to spoil them and let them get away with everything because they were the "babies" of the family. (It was most likely because of this that the two of them weren't exactly as good as they should have been.) So now that Isis had apparently grown a backbone it startled the two of them.
"Well this sucks," Marik said. Malik nodded, a little shocked that even Marik's puppy dog eyes (pathetic as it was, their sister was a stickler for it) hadn't worked. Yup, Marik's statement pretty much summed it up. Looks like this was going to be a crappy four weeks, if they even lived that long.
00000
Marik was starving. Well, maybe that was an overstatement, but it had been two days since he had last eaten a full, healthy meal. Only two days since their punishment had begun. And oh so many more stretching out in front of them.
The upside of all this was that Marik had learned to use the microwave, stove, and oven. It had only taken some time, effort, and a trip to the hospital as a result of a third-degree burn on his forearm where flesh had connected with the hot underside of the oven while trying to get something out of it. Malik was considerably luckier, only receiving a numerous amount of small burns on his fingers.
The downside of it was that neither of them had yet been able to actually produce something edible yet. Food in the oven and on the stove was quickly forgotten or not timed correctly and became not so much food as burned and charred messes stuck to the bottom of pots and pans that were a pain to clean up and left a horrid odor in the air. Nuking food in the microwave was the safest bet, but even that could turn into a mess if you were talented enough, which it appeared that Marik and Malik were.
And then Marik had discovered ramen.
He'd eaten ramen noodles before of course, but had never really realized how simple, how easy they were to cook. Even an idiot could make them, he bet. And ramen made a pretty good meal too. In short, they were his key to survival these next few weeks. Even though he had tried to be inconspicuous about eating and making them in front of his brother, Malik had soon found out about how easy it was to make ramen as well. That was why he was currently running away from his brother, holding as much of the coveted ramen as he could carry in one outstretched hand.
"I-sis!" Marik yelled as he ran into the living room, Malik hot on his tail, shouting for him to forfeit the ramen. Marik skidded to a halt as he almost crashed into his sister, panting heavily and grinning like an idiot.
"Isis, Malik is chasing me!" Marik explained quickly. Behind him Malik finally reached the living room as well.
"He's hogging the ramen all to himself!" Malik roared, glaring hard at his brother. Feeling childish, Marik stuck his tongue out at the other and scrambled to hide behind Isis when his brother made a lunge for him. Isis raised an eyebrow at the behavior of the two twins.
"Marik, why exactly are you keeping all the ramen to yourself and not giving any to your brother?" Isis inquired.
"Because these are a piece of cake to make! If I'm going to survive this punishment I can't afford to give him any. And I found them first," Marik said, holding the packages of ramen protectively to his chest.
"Well Malik, if Marik found them first then there's really nothing I can do about that. If he doesn't want to share then I suppose you'll have to find something else to eat," Isis explained calmly. Malik's face darkened for a moment, then morphed into that deranged grin he could pull off so well. It was rather unnerving.
"Fine, if that's the way we're going to play this, then so be it. Brother, I'd watch my back if I were you," Malik said calmly.
"Was that a threat?" Marik questioned.
"Of course not, my dear brother. Why would I ever threaten you?" Malik asked innocently. He even smiled to complete the look, though his eyes told a different story. He walked past Marik, who was still standing behind Isis.
"Just watch your back," He said softly as he moved closer to Marik. The last word in that sentence was whispered into his ear as one of Malik's hands ran down his back in an almost seductive manner. Marik shivered and froze under his brother's touch; he hated it when the other did this. It was so creepy and weird for two brothers to touch like this.
Malik breathed on his neck, causing him to shiver even more, and then clamped his teeth down on Marik's earlobe in a none-too-gentle nibble. That bolt of pain allowed Marik to move again, and he pulled away from his creepy brother.
"Ow!" He said. He raised a hand to his poor ear to make sure it wasn't bleeding and Malik grinned his psychotic grin.
"Isis, did you see what that freak did to me?" Marik cried indignantly to his sister, who, it appeared, hadn't seen anything because she was halfway across the room. Marik frowned as his question went unheard by Isis. She went to the living room and opened the door for Rishid, who evidently was home from work. He placed the two boxes of what were most likely products he hadn't managed to sell yet on the coffee table in front of the couch.
"I've gotten word that there's something for me to take care of in the next city," He said abruptly. Isis's face hardened at that and both twins turned to Rishid.
"I don't know how long it'll take, so I'll need some kind of excuse for my absence at work," He continued.
"Well, we can call the doctor. He owes us one. I'm sure he'll be able to come up with a convenient excuse. There's always some illness going around; we'll just say you caught whatever it was. I'll go give him a call right now," Isis said and left the living room. Both twins cornered Rishid expectantly. It had been a while since they'd last had a job, and Isis had never mentioned this in their punishment, so why not ask?
"So did you hear what kind of a job it was?" Malik inquired casually.
"Yeah, is it a nest or just a single one?" Marik asked enthusiastically.
"No. The two of you aren't going. It's just one so I'll be fine by myself," Rishid answered.
"Why not? It's a weekend, and even if it wasn't Malik and I still have two more days of suspension so we'll be back in time!" Marik persisted. Rishid sighed and shook his head.
"I understand that the two of you are good and could help a lot, but neither you nor your brother are even adults yet. You're both sixteen and still in high school. Your sister and I don't want to involve you in any unnecessary risks, and we'd rather have the two of you live different, normal lives instead of the ones Isis and I find ourselves caught up in," Rishid explained, smiling kindly at the two in an effort to have them understand. Marik pouted and Malik scoffed.
"I like the life I have now," Malik said. "I'd rather kill those bloodsuckers then have some dull normal life any day." He crossed his arms and leaned against a wall. Rishid sighed again and sat on the couch.
"One day when you're older and want to have a family that will change. But by then it'll be too late," He said quietly. Marik didn't respond and neither did Malik. Isis came back into the room.
"It's all settled. The doctor said he'll call your boss and tell him you've caught some kind of bug," She said.
"Don't you think we should go with Rishid, sister dearest?" Malik asked, turning his gaze on her now that he had decided asking Rishid wouldn't work.
"No. And you're still grounded," Isis replied immediately. Malik growled.
"Failed again Malik. Looks like there really is no getting out of this," Marik grimaced. Malik wouldn't give up this easily though, so while he argued with their older siblings Marik grabbed his forgotten ramen and headed stealthily up the stairs to hide them somewhere Malik would never look. Brother or not, he claimed these and by Ra was he going to keep them.
00000
It was a wonderful sunny day outside. The weekend had come and passed, school was over for the day, and kids were outside either playing in the case of the younger ones, or walking home from school. In the case of Marik and Malik, since the two of them still had one day of suspension left they weren't walking home from school but watching the others who were.
Neither of the two twins really wanted to be outside on this particular day but Isis was freaking out as home and neither really wanted to deal with that either. Today would be the third day that Rishid had been gone and Isis was worried that something may have happened to him. Both Marik and Malik would have also been concerned if they agreed with Isis's worries, but Rishid was arguably the best hunter of their family and was only going up against one vampire, so it was pretty safe to say that he was fine. That and Isis tended to worry whenever one of them was away for longer than a day. And boy was it annoying. When she thought one member of the family was in trouble she assumed everyone could easily be too and went into "Overly-Protective Sister Mode." The two of them had practically been forced into sneaking out of the house.
So now the two of them were out of their prison and on the streets making fun of the students who passed them. It wasn't what either of them wanted to be doing but at least it was funny and passed the time.
"Why did we move here again?" Malik questioned, bored out of his skull. This city was so dull! Making fun of the people passing them was amusing but that quickly lost its thrill when none of the passerby's felt insulted enough to start something. No, it seemed like no one wanted to get into any trouble. Maybe he was too intimidating. He probably shouldn't have worn his cape.
"Isis wanted us to 'get away from all the gangs of Egypt and start over somewhere new' or some kind of crap like that. She also said something about bad memories. And then she got the job at the museum too," Marik responded as he searched for another victim to fall prey to their game.
"Ah yes. We were really something back in Egypt as the heads of the Ghouls, weren't we? If we still carried that status here that albino freak you're always watching would never have dared to mess with us," Malik snarled. Marik nodded in agreement. The Ghouls had been the most powerful gang back home, and as the leaders of such a powerful group they had been respected and even feared. Yes, if they had still been back there Bakura would have never thought about punching him. It was that behavior however, that had pushed Isis to make the move. She had always been going on about the dangers of gangs.
"Heheh. If we were still back in Egypt you could have snapped your fingers and the thief would have been all over you. Too bad you don't still have that power, eh brother?" Malik cackled. Marik glared at his annoying brother and punched him in the arm, which only made his laughter increase.
"Idiot. I don't like him like that. I think he's interesting okay? And maybe I happened to notice that he's got some good looks, but that doesn't mean I 'want him all over me.' I like girls you moron," Marik deadpanned.
"If you're straight then I'm sane. There is no guy out there who notices that another guy is hot without being gay. And no offense, but you look it too. With all that jewelry you wear-"
"You wear it too!"
"-and your soft lilac eyes and perfect, flowing, platinum-blonde hair-"
"We look exactly the same!"
"-and that queer lavender midriff hoodie you always wear with those tight leather pants. That outfit just screams gay-ness brother."
"I like that hoodie. I look good in it. And my pants aren't that tight..." Marik pouted, feeling down now that his favorite outfit had been insulted -and Malik was probably right too. He'd often been told that he looked very pretty and more than once he'd had the sneaking suspicion that another guy was hitting on him. Did that mean that he really looked gay?
"See, the difference between you and me is that I know how to make the jewelry work. On you it just looks pretty or gay, but on me it looks hot. And while we do have the same eyes and hair, I spike my hair and wear dark colors to make my eyes seem darker instead of wearing some slutty lavender hoodie to make them stand out even more. Everything about you just labels you as gay, my dear brother. And you ogling that thief doesn't make that seem any less so," Malik shrugged nonchalantly. He places a comforting hand on Marik's shoulder only to have it shoved off.
"Well I'm not gay," Marik said. Malik just grinned, not wanting to argue anymore or just because he'd won that battle and knew it. Stupid bastard.
"Well if it isn't Gang Friendship this way come. This should be fun," Malik smirked. Even though he was still feeling a little down and his ego had deflated slightly from the insult to his manliness, Marik still grinned as he saw Yuugi and his friends. If he was thinking the same thing as Malik, then this would be fun. The two of them started walking to meet the other group.
"Hey losers," Marik said as they met in the middle of the sidewalk.
"Hello Marik, Malik. How have you been?" Yuugi greeted them cheerfully. Marik almost felt bad for the poor short boy. The kid obviously has no idea that they were here to torment him. He was all smiles, as if they had always been his best friends or something like that. Poor stupid, naive, optimistic Yuugi.
"C'mon Yug'. Don't waste your breath on these two," Jounouchi said. He placed a hand on Yuugi's shoulder and narrowed his eyes at the two twins.
"Yeah, they aren't worth it," Honda added.
"Let's just go," Anzu chimed it. The group of four moved to avoid them but Malik smirked and got in their way again.
"Aw, that hurts my feelings. That was pretty mean, don't you agree brother?" Malik asked, feigning a hurt expression.
"It was pretty mean. The blonde and pointy-haired idiots aren't very nice are they? I think they could stand to learn some manners," Marik agreed. He smiled at his brother, and must have looked fairly scary doing it because he could have sworn he saw the friendship girl shudder. Jounouchi and Honda, sensing their ill-intent, moved closer to the two and pushed Yuugi back by Anzu. Jounouchi punched the palm of his hand in a way that was meant to be threatening but wasn't at all. Malik sniggered beside him and Marik just kept smiling.
"Hey Yuugi!" The six of them turned as one to see who was interrupting their would-be fight.
"What do you know?" Malik murmured. Coming to meet with them were the two white-haired twins who had caused their suspension. The happier-looking one, Ryou Marik remembered his name was, was smiling a soft, almost cute, smile and dragging what looked like a pissed off and sulking Bakura behind him. Yuugi poked his tri-colored head out from between the blockade of Jounouchi and Honda and smiled the same cute soft smile back at Ryou. Behind him Marik thought he heard Bakura gag.
"Ryou! Bakura! What are you two doing here?" Yuugi chirped happily. Ryou reached them and deposited Bakura on the sidewalk.
"We had just gone to do a little shopping," Ryou explained. He continued to talk with Yuugi and the rest of Gang Friendship started in on the conversation as well. Malik glanced over at Marik, who shrugged. Neither of them was quite sure of what to do now that they weren't going to be having a fight anymore. They backed off a little, catching Bakura's attention as they did do.
"Wonderful. The Doublemint Twins are a part of Yuugi-tachi as well," Bakura commented dryly, rolling his eyes. Ryou had apparently been listening for he turned around at that comment.
"Marik! Malik! Fancy seeing you here! Sorry I didn't notice you before," Ryou smiled. He extended his hand in their direction. Both of them looked at the offered hand for a moment, contemplating, before Marik offered his own uncertainly. Malik left him hanging.
"Yeah well, we were just leaving," Malik growled and grabbed his brother. Marik's hand was wrenched from Ryou's as the one holding him stomped off and left the other teens behind. He allowed himself to be pulled out of sight before he ripped away from Malik's grip.
"What was that about?" He questioned.
"That kid was trying to be friendly. I hate that," Malik answered.
"So? Who cares if he was trying to be friends with us? Maybe he'd be a good one," Marik shrugged. Malik spun around, that stupid cape of his whipping out behind him. His face was harsh and cold, the same as his glaring eyes. Marik stared, surprised at how angry his twin was. He was always grinning and smirking and laughing, almost always cold but never before in the same way as he was now. He was furious, frighteningly furious, and at what Marik didn't know.
"Friends Marik? Friends? We don't have friends. We have minions and mindless fools to order around but not friends. We've never had friends. Because we don't need them. We're better than them Marik. They're below us, not worth our time. Dirt," Malik spat out, voice filled with venom Marik had never before heard coming from his twin.
"Malik? What's wrong?" He asked. The two of them had made a point out of not worrying over the other like girls, but right not Marik was willing to let that rule slide. Something was seriously bothering his brother.
"Nothing," Malik said. He bent his head so his sand-colored bangs covered his eyes. His fist clenched at his side for a moment as they stood there silently, air heavy with tension. Then the moment passed and Malik's fist uncurled and he raised his head. He shook his hair out of his eyes and frowned.
"Your wannabe boyfriend called us the Doublemint Twins. Next time I see him I'll have to punch him," He said. Marik rolled his eyes and tried to look angry but couldn't stop the tugging at his lips. He settled for a half-smile, half-smirk.
"He's not my boyfriend you dolt."
"Maybe not. But you want him. You want him to hold you, and to touch you, and to kiss you. And then you want him in your pants so he can fu-"
"Malik!" Both brothers looked at each other, one horrified and the other grinning maniacally. The crazy one started singing his newly created song again and the other charged after him. Both started running, cackling like a pair of madmen and scaring quite a few normal people just trying to mind their business as well.
00000
It was over. Not the punishment, no that was still one day shy of completing the first week, but the suspension. Marik and Malik were back in school. Oh yeah. And annoyingly enough, it was worse now than it had ever been.
Marik's first class was the same class the fight between Bakura and Malik had broken out in. And even though he hadn't really been in that fight nor said any insults specifically toward Bakura (that had all be Malik's doing) all the females and even some males as well were pissed at him. His first class was the worst, but all the other classes were bad too. All day he'd been on the receiving end of evil glares coming from Bakura admirers and had been pestered about how badly he had lost that fight. Obviously when the story was being spread the part where he really hadn't been doing any fighting had been excluded.
And of course there was also the problem of not knowing what was going on in any of his classes. Some kid had been designated to bring him and Malik their make-up work, but that hadn't happened. The kid said he had, but Marik knew for certain he lied. If Isis had known they had make-up work to do she would have made them do it. Unfortunately the teacher didn't believe him. Stupid. At least he hadn't gotten into trouble.
So now that that wonderful school day had passed Marik was about to head home today on his trusty motorcycle. Malik had to ride the bus, something he immensely hated. He wanted to ride on the motorcycle too, but since causing Marik to lose control of it and almost crash a while ago he wasn't allowed to anymore unless it was important. Malik was his brother but that motorcycle was his baby.
He was headed to the back of the school where he had locked up the bike when he stumbled upon two guys cornering another. Marik had been prepared to walk right past them and ignore the whole thing and be on his way. But then he noticed the guy in the corner had white hair. Upon closer inspection he found that it was Ryou.
Marik stopped. He had a problem now. He didn't think either of the guys had seen neither him, nor Ryou so he could sneak away right now and wait for whatever this was to end and then go get his bike. That seemed like the most reasonable course of action. Why should he try to help Ryou? He'd only seen him twice and had really only talked to him once. He didn't owe him anything. They weren't friends, as Malik had said.
He turned to leave and stopped again to look at Ryou. The boy looked so scared, so pathetic. So different from how Bakura would have looked if he were in this situation instead. Marik sighed heavily and shook his head. Was he really going to get into this and perhaps get himself into trouble again so soon after it had passed? By Ra he was. With a groan he turned again and headed to go rescue Ryou.
"Hey," He said. The two guys looked at him and glowered. Ryou looked relieved.
"Just keep walking kid. None of this concerns you," One of them said. Marik smirked.
"I actually think it does. See, that's my friend you have against the wall," He replied, cringing slightly at the word "friend." He couldn't help thinking about Gang Friendship when he said it. An image of Ryou offering him a handshake rose up in his mind. Friends huh?
"So what? You gonna do something about it?" The other one asked, also smirking.
"Sure. If you don't let him go I may have to," Marik said. The two thugs moved away from Ryou and closer to him, cracking their knuckles, chuckling together. The one of the left stuck first, heaving his fist out. Marik jumped slightly to the left and dodged the punch altogether. Now the other threw a punch aimed at his face, which he also dodged. Marik crouched and swung his leg out in front of them and flipped both onto their backs in the ground. He stepped over one of them and headed to Ryou.
"Th- Thank you Marik! I'm not sure what I would have done it you hadn't shown up," Ryou exclaimed. Marik waved off his thanks.
"It's fine. You really shouldn't be back here by yourself you know," He said.
"I know but- Marik look out!" Marik ducked as soon as he heard Ryou yell his name. A pipe came crashing down on where his head should have been. Marik turned and shot his leg out again, hitting the wielder of the pipe in the stomach. He reached out and grabbed it while the other was still looking at his winded partner.
"Fuck you man! This isn't over!" He yelled and hightailed it. The injured one ran as well, holding his stomach and wheezing. With a satisfied smirk Marik let the pipe go and returned to walking toward his bike.
"Come one," He said to Ryou. "You probably missed your bus so I'll take you home," Ryou nodded and followed. The two reached Marik's red motorcycle and climbed on it. After Ryou told him where his house was Marik sped off.
00000
"Where have you been?" Bakura demanded the instant Ryou walked into the door. It had been twenty minutes since Ryou should have been home. He better have a good excuse because Bakura was pissed off. He had been worried and he hating worrying. Whenever Ryou was by himself for too long it usually meant trouble. He was some sort of human -well not human- magnet for that kind of thing. After all these years he should have learned how to evade it by now but the younger of the two twins had obviously missed that little life-lesson.
"At school. I had a little trouble there," Ryou laughed sheepishly as he fiddled with his hair. It had been more than a little trouble then. Ryou only played with his hair like that when he was nervous. Bakura bristled at that comment, instantly knowing that it had most likely been those two assholes harassing him again. Oh, once he found out what they had done he was going to kill them. Ryou had told him to just leave them alone and he had -had only scared them a little as a warning- but now they had gone and done it again and he was pissed. He'd rip them limb from limb, he'd-
"I'm okay though! Marik helped me!" Ryou added quickly, seeing his brother seethe with anger. He was no doubt planning their deaths this very moment. Bakura tended to be just a tad bit overprotective.
Bakura stopped his rather evil thinking at that sentence and calmed just a little. Ryou opened the door to their house even more to reveal the tan-skinned boy who'd helped him.
"Yo," He greeted, sounding bored.
"Don't 'yo' me. Ryou, why did you bring him here?" Bakura questioned. He wasn't quite as angry anymore but was now irritated. He didn't care if this guy had helped Ryou or not, he didn't want him here.
"He helped me Bakura. Now stop blocking the doorway so we can get in," Ryou chided and pushed his way in. He grabbed Marik by his wrist and dragged him in as well.
"Can I get you something to eat? Maybe some tea?" Ryou inquired politely.
"Um... Sure. I'll eat anything as long as there's no meat, and tea's fine," Marik said. Ryou smiled and headed off into the kitchen. Soon the sounds of cheerful humming and clattering plates could be heard coming from the kitchen. Bakura rolled his eyes. His brother could be such a pansy sometimes.
Bakura headed to the couch and slumped down in it. His arm brushed against Marik's, who looked at him in a not-too-friendly gaze.
"What?" Bakura snapped, "It is my house you're in. And I wouldn't have to sit so close to you if Ryou had gotten a bigger couch." The last part of hat sentence was directed toward Ryou, who poked his head out from the kitchen.
"Bakura, stop being mean! And I didn't want to spend more money on a bigger couch," Ryou explained. He ducked back into the kitchen and the humming again commenced.
"It wasn't even our money! What does it matter how much the couch was?" Bakura asked, annoyed.
"Exactly! So why would I buy the bigger couch to reward you for stealing? If you get a job and earn some honest money I'll get the bigger couch. Until then you're stuck with this one," Ryou called out. Bakura grumbled. Damn him and his good nature. Things would be so much easier if Ryou was just as corrupt as he was.
"So you are a thief?" Bakura looked at Marik, who was now looking at him with interest.
"Yeah. And if you tell anyone and cause trouble for us I'll kill you," Bakura threatened. He reached inside of his pocket and pulled out his switchblade. He carefully unfolded it and held it out for the other to see. Instead of looking frightened, the blonde on his couch just started laughing. Figured he was just as insane as his brother.
"You don't need to threaten me. It's not like I haven't stolen anything myself you know," He smirked. He put a hand behind his back and pulled out some kind of gold rod with a sphere on the top of it. An open eye adorned the sphere and two wings extended from the side of it. Bakura eyed it greedily, absentmindedly wondering if there was any way he could steal it from the other teen's clutched. He might not like him, but Marik sure had good tastes.
"I took this from the museum my sister works at. It's called the Sennen Rod. There are six others similar to this one, all mine. They're all extremely old, extremely valuable Egyptian artifacts," Marik smiled. His hand went to the bottom of the Rod where he revealed there was a dagger under the sheath at the end of the hilt.
"It's not as impressive as your blade, but it can still cause quite a bit of harm," He continued. Bakura's hands reached out to touch the golden object but Marik withdrew it possessively and held it to his chest. Bakura frowned and the boy with the sun-kissed skin smirked.
"Whatever. I'm sure I could steal something much better anyway," Bakura sniffed, turning around again. He heard Marik chuckle beside him.
"Maybe we should make it a contest," He purred. Ryou entered the room just then carrying a mug of tea and a plate with a sandwich that he informed was peanut butter and jelly. Marik's face lit up as he spied the sandwich and grabbed it as soon as Ryou gave it to him. He wolfed it down in a matter of seconds. Both white-haired twins stared at him in amazement.
"Do you always eat like that?" Bakura questioned. Marik glared at him.
"No, but for the past week all I've been eating is ramen since my sister won't cook for me anymore as punishment for that fight with you, and I can't cook anything myself without ruining it or causing bodily harm to my person," He snarled.
"Well then maybe you should learn how to cook," Bakura retaliated.
"You can't cook yourself," Ryou pointed out.
"If you would let me into the kitchen I bet I could," Bakura scoffed. Ryou laughed and headed back into the kitchen, saying he would make Marik another sandwich or two. The two left in the room quietly looked at anything besides each other. Bakura soon grew bored of that activity however, seeing as how this was his house and he already knew what everything in it looked like. So he looked at his companion instead.
The first thing that caught Bakura's eye about the teen was the jewelry he wore. Shiny things had always held some sort of power over him. And Marik had on a lot of shiny things. Two gold earrings hung from his earlobes and several gold bands were clasped around his neck and arms. Most guys couldn't pull off wearing that much jewelry without looking gay, and while this kid couldn't either, at least it looked good on him. The jewelry and his silky platinum golden locks accented his bronze skin perfectly.
The second thing was his eyes. They were lilac. That was certainly a rarity. They reminded Bakura of amethysts. The third was his body. It was nice. Yup, this kid was definitely hot, even if he had told Ryou otherwise. If he had been any other guy Bakura would have been hitting on him. With the way he looked, Marik was like some kind of walking piece of very exquisite jewelry, and Bakura wanted him. The only thing that prevented him from taking what he wanted was that comment Ryou had said about him preferring Marik. After all, if Ryou found out that he'd been right Bakura would never hear the end of it from his pipsqueak brother.
Ryou entered the living room again with not two, but three more sandwiched and Bakura quickly turned around. He was fairly positive he hadn't been caught staring. Marik grabbed them and took a hug bite.
"What are you?" Bakura asked suddenly, turning once again to face Marik, who swallowed his food and frowned.
"Uh, I'm a human," He replied sarcastically before taking another bite.
"Don't be a smart ass. You're obviously not Japanese, so what are you?" Bakura asked.
"Egyptian," Marik answered.
"How cool! I've always thought Egypt was an interesting place!" Ryou exclaimed. He and Marik started talking animatedly about the country and the people and other things Bakura didn't care about. So he ignored them and looked at Marik instead. He was much more interesting anyways, and he was sure that those two wouldn't mind.
Maybe, he thought to himself, just maybe this kid wasn't so bad after all.
Okay, so there was the wonderful-ness of chapter two. Yay! So, before you review and tell me how awesome it was, I do have four things I want to mention first. First, does anyone think that this skips around too much? Like, I usually end up skipping the rest of the day and just writing a part where things are interesting. So does that bug anyone? Do I need to stop doing that, or cut back a little or something? Or am I just needlessly worrying?
Second, the Sennen Rod and other items will have absolutely nothing to do with this story at all. No, there shall not be any kind of crazy Egyptian magic flying around here. The only reason I put them in here at all was to sort of relate this to the anime. While this is an AU, I do want things to still be similar to the anime, that way it doesn't seem like I'm just pulling some story out of nowhere but decided to use anime characters because I couldn't think of any on my own.
Third, for a status update on how things are progressing with this story, like where I am in it, or if I'm having any troubles with anything, plus a date for when I plan on updating, and a little blurb about the next chapter, go to my profile. I've got a ton of crap there.
Fourth, chapter three is going to be very interesting. So you'll definitely want to read that. Okay, bye now! See you at the third chapter! Oh, and don't forget to tell me how my writing is! What's good, what isn't, and what needs work on. Thanks!
