Okay, so here it is, chapter three! Yay! I was going to put this up for another two days, but hey, I had it done so yay! Again! So like, happy Saturday or something! I don't know, just be happy for the early update.

Black-Neko-Chan's Magical Disclaimer!: I do not own Yu-Gi-Oh! All I own is this humble piece of fanfiction.


Surprisingly enough, it wasn't half bad talking to Ryou and Bakura. Marik had thought when Ryou had invited him into their house that he would be getting himself into awkward silences and meaningless discussions, but that hadn't been the case. After a while Bakura had retreated upstairs to his room, leaving Marik alone with Ryou, who he talked to for quite a while, and enjoyed himself as well. But now he had to leave and get back to his own house, which was proving to be problematic.

"Oh no. No, no, no, no, no. This cannot be happening." Marik couldn't find his keys. How this could have happened he had no idea. They must have fallen out of his pocket while he was sitting on the couch. But if that was it, why weren't they under the cushions like they should have been?

"What are you looking for Marik?" Ryou questioned politely.

"My keys. I lost them," He answered, once again looking underneath the couch.

"Bakura!" Ryou called, hands against his mouth to amplify his voice. Marik turned to catch a glance of the other white-haired teen as he slowly came down the stairs, scratching his head lazily. He looked like he had been sleeping, was even wearing baggy gray pajama pants and a black t-shirt to complete that look, Marik noted. He had turned back around before he could see Bakura raise an eyebrow at the sight of the Egyptian on his hands and knees poking around under their couch with his leather-clad butt in the air.

"What?" He asked, yawning. Marik glanced back at him again, and to his extreme surprise noticed that the other actually looked cute when he was dressed like this and sleepy.

"Marik lost his keys and needs help finding them again," Ryou explained.

"So?" Bakura asked. Any cuteness there may have been was gone. Marik got up off the ground now that his search had been futile and glared at him.

"So I lost the keys to my motorcycle and without them I can't drive it home. Which I need to be doing soon or my sister will freak out. It's already getting dark," Marik replied sarcastically, rolling his eyes for added effect. Why had he thought this guy was cool again?

"Walk home then. It's not my problem," Bakura shrugged. He turned and headed back to the stairs.

"Bakura wait!" Ryou said. He looked at Marik. "If you have to go home then you should probably go. We'll search for your keys. Bakura-," Ryou turned again to look at his brother, "I want you to walk him home."

"What? No! I'm already in my pajamas Ryou! I'm not going to go walk around town with him!" Bakura frowned.

"Oh don't complain Bakura! You'll just be walking him to his house! It's dangerous out there and I wouldn't want Marik to get into any trouble because we were too rude to make sure he was accompanied," Ryou exclaimed.

"Well then why don't you go? He's your friend isn't he?" Bakura complained.

"I would go," Ryou sniffed, "but I'm sure Marik will want to walk his motorcycle home as well, and I wouldn't be able to help much with that."

"And just what am I supposed to do on the way home?" Bakura huffed as he crossed his arms in agitation. "It's not like I'll have anyone to protect me from any dangers!"

"You'll be fine!" Ryou smiled.

"Come on Ryou! I'm your brother! Won't you be even a little worried about me?" Bakura questioned.

"You'll be fine Bakura," Ryou insisted, still smiling. Bakura frowned.

"How mean. It's like you don't even care," He mumbled. Ryou's smile fell and his nice brown eyes turned into a liquid chocolate color as he pouted in front of Bakura. He clasped Bakura's hands in his own and protruded his lower lip slightly as he gave Bakura better puppy dog eyes then Marik could ever hope to accomplish. Bakura's resistance crumbled.

"Fine! Fine Ryou, have it your way!" He sighed in exasperation. He threw his hands up in the air and Ryou's bright smile shone like it had never gone.

"Yay!" He cheered. Marik had been watching this whole interaction between the two twins with great interest and amusement, and now he began to laugh. The great Bakura had been taken down by his brother, and all it had taken were puppy dog eyes. Isis obviously wasn't the only one that that tactic would work on.

"You can just shut up," Bakura growled. He shot Marik a positively frightening glare that spoke of a lot of pain if he told anyone about what had transpired, and Marik quickly stopped his laughter. He couldn't however, control the smirk that still adorned his lips. Oh, maybe he wasn't being the smartest right now by provoking the beast, but at least he would have fun before he died.

"You. Come on," Bakura pointed.

"Aye aye captain," Marik mock-saluted, still smirking. Bakura only growled again and disappeared into a hallway. When he reappeared he was wearing a long black trench coat that would without a doubt make him look very intimidating if he hadn't been in pajamas. As it was, he was in pajamas, and so he just looked completely ridiculous, which only made Marik burst out into laughter again.

"Hmph. Laugh all you want now. 'Least I'll be warm," Bakura scoffed. The two left the house and Ryou waved goodbye as they walked down the road with the red motorcycle between them.

The sun was setting in the west and darkness was slowly covering the sky. It had become quite nippy outside and Marik couldn't help but shiver. He quickly sobered as a gust of wind blew down the street and caused him to shake. Well, Bakura definitely had the last laugh, it seemed. That trench coat had to be warm, even if it did look stupid on him at this moment.

It was much later then Marik had thought it would be. If he'd known he'd have been out this late he would have brought a hoodie, or at least something that covered him a little better. Along with coming home so late, Isis would also yell about how he should wear proper clothes when going out so he wouldn't get pneumonia. Not that he ever had, and he wore this outfit all the time.

"Told you you'd be cold. Maybe you shouldn't wear such slutty clothes," His companion stated, breaking the silence. By Ra, it was like the other could read his mind.

Marik stopped, and placed a hand on his hip. The lack of movement only made him all the colder but he'd already gotten enough crap about his favorite outfit from Malik, he wasn't about to stand by and let this guy make fun of it as well.

"This isn't slutty," He protested firmly.

"Oh please," Bakura scoffed, "Just look at it. If those pants were any lower on your hips you'd get fined for public exposure. And in case you haven't noticed, your shirt doesn't quite reach the waistline of your pants like it should."

"I happen to like this outfit! And if you've got it, why not flaunt it a bit?" Marik asked in a teasing manner. Bakura smirked and leaned over the motorbike, close enough to Marik so that he could feel his breath on his neck. Marik shiver, and this time it was not because of the cold. He felt his face heat up and remembered what Malik had said about him wanting the thief. That only caused his blush to deepen. He hoped Bakura couldn't see it in the dark. That would be embarrassing. Damn! Why did that have to pop into his head anyways? He did not want Bakura!

"Spoken like a true slut," Bakura whispered. Marik blinked for a moment. That wasn't what he'd been expecting the other to say. Then his moment of confusion was over and he retaliated by hitting Bakura on his head.

"I'm not a slut!" He yelled. Bakura laughed and moved off the motorbike and continued walking.

"You are such a slut. You just as well admitted it. You know you're hot so you show off your body and your looks so people will notice you and pay attention. You're a slut," Bakura smirked. Marik opened his mouth to say something in the form of a comeback but couldn't think of anything. Now that he thought about it, it was true. He did like attention. That didn't however, mean that he was a slut. Who didn't like being the center of attention?

"Well you're a jerk," Marik mumbled.

"That the best you could come up with? Tell me something I don't know Blondie," Bakura smirked.

"'Blondie?'" Marik questioned, quirking an eyebrow.

"Yup, that's you. A blonde high school slut. I bet you even do cheerleading in your spare time. You and the other Doublemint Twin," Bakura responded. Marik just rolled his eyes at the idiot he had to walk with and kept quiet.

His blush by now had thankfully faded. Why it had been there in the first place he didn't know. Malik did things like that to him (biting down on his ear, for example) all the time and he had never blushed. It had been awkward of course but that hadn't caused him to blush. But with Bakura now... All he had done was get close to him. Why would that be the cause of such an annoying blush? Regardless of what Malik said, he wasn't gay. He just thought Bakura was interesting. So why then...?

"Hey! Pat attention! I don't know where you live!"

"Sorry," Marik apologized absentmindedly.

"Hey umm... thanks for helping Ryou I guess," Bakura said quietly.

"Huh?" Marik asked, now fully brought out of his thoughts. Was he really being thanked? And was that gratitude he heard in the white-haired teen's voice?

"I said thanks," Bakura begrudgingly repeated, "for helping Ryou. You didn't need to." Marik had to cover his mouth to keep from laughing. Bakura was determined to keep his gaze on the road straight ahead of him and he voice sounded strained. Thanking people must be hard for him, Marik realized. He toyed with the idea of pretending like he still hadn't heard the other and making him repeat his thanks again but rejected the idea. As fun as it was sure to be, Marik didn't want to anger Bakura too much, at least not while his motorcycle was within reach. Couldn't let the merchandise get harmed.

"No problem. Your brother's nice. Now if it was you on the other hand, I would have just let you get you ass kicked," Marik smirked. Bakura looked at him and scoffed.

"Like I would have needed help from a pansy like you anyways," He smirked. The two of them continued to exchange insults with each other the rest of the way to Marik's house. By the time they had reached it their insults had become stupid comments that left the two of them laughing rather loudly and causing the odd neighbor to yell at them to shut up before they called the cops.

"Jeez. Why in the hell would you live all the way out here?" Bakura questioned.

"It was my sister's decision," Marik said simply. Bakura gave him a questioning look but he didn't continue.

The Ishtar residence was located closer to the outskirts of the big part of Domino city in one of the few-forested parts of the city. If you kept going, you would soon leave the city altogether and come to rural Domino. It could be a hassle to get places living so far away from everyone else (like school or work), but Isis had wanted them to be safe. Because of their other job they all tended to have quite a lot of enemies, and Isis had decided living in such an inconspicuous place would help protect them. And they could litter the ground with traps in case such an enemy did come calling. But of course Marik couldn't tell any of that to Bakura.

"Whatever then. Where should we put this?" Bakura asked. Marik got walking and helped Bakura wheel his motorcycle into the driveway. Seeing as how there was nothing else to be done, Bakura said he'd see him tomorrow and left. Marik couldn't help but smile when he said it, thinking that he just might have achieved his goal in becoming closer to Bakura. That smile disappeared quickly when he entered his house and his two homebound siblings cornered him against the door.

"Where have you been? Do you even know what time it is? And who was that you were with?" Isis demanded.

"That was his eye candy. Were you out on a date?" Malik sniggered. Isis looked horrified at that comment and Marik growled. Great. Now Isis would also think he was a queer.

"I'm not gay! And I don't like Bakura! When I was getting my motorcycle I ran into his brother Ryou and I helped him with some assholes that were bothering him. He invited me to his house and I must have lost track of time when I was there. Sorry Isis," Marik explained. He had to force himself to stay calm and not punch Malik for that date comment. Otherwise Isis would be all the more pissed. Might even add another week to their sentence.

"And that merited him walking you home?" Malik sniggered.

"I lost my keys somewhere at his house and Ryou wanted him to go with me to help with the bike and to make sure I got home okay," Marik said through gritted teeth.

"How thoughtful," Malik commented, now almost sneering.

"Just how do you know this Bakura person?" Isis questioned. Through Marik's explanation and Malik's teasing she had been slowly recovering from the shock Malik had given her with that eye candy remark. Now she felt like she was okay again, though she did have some questions of her own that she wouldn't have thought about asking before.

"They met at school. Bakura was the one whose fist was thrown into our dear brother's face and got the two of us into trouble. Charming isn't it? Like something out of a crappy romance movie, only violent. True love at first punch. Ah, it's almost poetic," Malik said before Marik could get a chance. Isis was frowning when he finished and right away Marik knew any chance he'd had of getting her to like Bakura was slim to none. Ra was his brother a bastard!

"I knew him before that! I had kind of been... well um... I guess you could just say that I knew him before that happened," Marik explained in an attempt to alleviate the situation. He really hadn't thought that one out. About halfway through his failed effort he'd realized telling Isis about how he'd been practically stalking the other teen by watching him because he'd thought he was interesting was not the way to make things better. And now Malik had more ammo.

It was because the gods hated him that Malik once again opened his big mouth, hair particularly spiky today and helping him look more like a deranged escapee from some mental institute then that wide scary grin of his already did, and so thoughtfully pointed out what Marik wished specifically to not be pointed out. "What he means by that is that for quite a while now our brother has been watching Bakura quite intently. Half the time he has no idea what's going on in that classroom. Notice how it's his worst subject? And he used to be so good at History too. Guess Bakura's more important. And did I mention that as well as being so good at grabbing my idiot twin's attention; Bakura is also rumored to be quite good at thievery. Isn't that a wonderful life skill sister dearest?" Malik grinned. Of course he'd had to elaborate on that little aspect of Bakura too. Now Marik really wanted to punch him. Moron was getting him into trouble and was loving every second of it. Punching him would have to wait however, as Marik had some damage control to attend to.

"I was only watching him because I thought he was interesting!" He responded quickly, wanting to skim over that as fast as he could. Especially since it was true that his History grade had dropped a little. "Bakura's really not that bad of a guy! He only punched me and got us into a fight because Malik started it in the first place anyways! And I know he seems like an asshole, and while I guess he sort of it, but at least he helped me with my bike and walked me home right?"

"Marik," Isis interrupted softly. Both twins looked at their sister. She seemed troubled and worried, and Marik slowly stopped talking. Sure Malik had made Bakura seem bad, but had it really been that bad? The last time he'd seen Isis look like this had been back in Egypt.

"Marik, do you know why I had us move away from Egypt? There were a lot of reasons, but one of them was because I wanted to get both of you away from the Ghouls and anyone like that. Things were so bad there, Marik. You won't think so but the trouble you and your brother got into and the things you did... I was always so worried and I felt like I couldn't help the two of you... I thought one day I'd get a call saying both of you had been killed! What would I have done then? What would Rishid and I have done without you two?" Isis cried out. Her large blue eyes were filled with tears, and Marik felt all his anger quickly fade at the sight. Even Malik lost his grin and stood awkwardly beside him.

"I wanted to get both of you away from all that. And now that I have it looks like you're meeting the same type of people again! I want to keep you safe Marik! And this boy is a thief? You haven't been stealing again, have you, Marik?" Isis questioned. Guilt shot through him and Marik turned his eyes downward to escape his sister's searching gaze. The Sennen Rod he had just earlier shown to Bakura that he had stolen from the very museum his sister worked at weighed heavily against his thigh where he'd concealed it. And then there were the other six stashed upstairs in his room along with the ramen he'd hidden from his brother.

"I know that Malik has a tendency to lie, especially when it gets someone in trouble, but this sounded like the truth Marik. Is this person, Bakura, really like this? Because he sounds like the same people you used to know back in Egypt," Isis continued. Marik looked back at her and shook his head.

"No. Bakura's not the same as they were. I promise Isis," He said. Isis smiled. It wasn't one of the normal carefree smiles that he saw on his sister's face, but it meant that she was going to trust him and his judgment. He wondered if he'd made the right decision. Bakura was just some person he had met, interesting and funny as he seemed. Isis was his sister and he didn't want to hurt her or make her worry.

"Then I'm happy you made a friend Marik," She said. Friend. There was that word again. It made him uneasy. Friends weren't something he was used to. Was Ryou his friend? Was Bakura his friend?

"You'll have to excuse me now boys. It is late and I wanted to go to sleep. I've got work early in the morning and you both have school," Isis said. She headed to her room and left. Marik looked at Malik, who'd been quiet since Isis had started talking. His twin's face was blank, unreadable. Before he could say anything to him Malik also left and headed upstairs. Marik stood alone in his hallway for a moment before following him. He dressed in pajamas and closed the door to his room before falling asleep in the dark.

00000

Marik woke up late the next day. His alarm for some suspicious reason had not gone off. Which was strange, because he remembered switching it on. And Malik was gone, so obviously his had gone off and he had just decided to not wake his brother. Which led Marik to believe that the reason his alarm had not gone off was because his evil twin had sabotaged it.

Normally he would have just ridden his bike to school, but the only problem with that was that he didn't have his keys. So that left walking to school. The problem with that was if Marik walked to school he would arrive late, and that would mean he'd get into trouble from his sister. So that meant running. Which he hated. With a passion.

Very fortunately for Marik however, he wasn't as late as he thought he was. While he ran to school he happened to come across other students standing and waiting for their bus to pick them up, so he just stood along and waited with them. After explaining the situation to the bus driver Marik was allowed on and off they went to school. Sucks for Malik.

"Blondie!" Bakura greeted as he entered the classroom. The other student waved him over and Marik happily complied. On his way to Bakura's desk he stuck his tongue out at Malik, who looked just as pissed as Marik knew he would that his scheme hadn't worked.

"Hello," Marik greeted as he slid into the seat beside Bakura. Malik stomped over to join them.

"Didn't you hear? This is a private party Porcupine," Bakura drawled lazily. Malik smirked and took a seat anyway.

"I'm only here to protect you. I would advise against being alone with my brother. He's been watching you for some time now. Now that he's finally talking to you he might jump you if you aren't careful," Malik said. Marik stared at his twin in horror. How could he say that? He knew his brother was an asshole but this was too much! Now the teen he had wanted to hang out with for so long would no doubt want nothing to do with him!

"Oh really?" Bakura asked, quirking an eyebrow and seeming way too amused by this whole conversation. "And you're here to protect me. Aw, that's sweet. You're almost like a condom." Quite a few ears turned at that and now Marik turned his horrified stare to Bakura. Malik's smirk lost some of its oomph.

"Too bad you weren't around yesterday to protect me," Bakura continued, oblivious to the looks he was getting from their classmates unfortunate enough to overhear their conversation.

"I would have needed it then." His voice was getting deeper, huskier, and more seductive.

"You should have seen the things your brother and I did." He looked at Malik through half-lidded brown eyes and leaned closer to Marik, whose face became a darker red then it had been when the conversation started and tensed up as Bakura's arm slithered suggestively around his waist.

"I should kill you," Malik hissed through gritted teeth. His purple eyes had become dark with fury and slitted dangerously. If looks could kill Bakura would have been very slowly stabbed to death, chopped into tiny pieces, burned, and finally any remains buried six feet under.

"Then try," Bakura replied, nonplussed.

"Okay class, get into your seats." The history teacher had arrived. With one last glare directed in Bakura's direction Malik left. Bakura moved his arm from Marik's waist thankfully, and broke out into a huge fanged grin.

"Well he sure is fun to mess with," He commented. And color Marik's blush had lost when Bakura had moved his arm was instantly regained when he turned to flash that grin at him.

"Umm... yeah. Yeah, that's Malik all right. Always a joy to be around," Marik replied, laughing nervously. Bakura shot him another grin before turning around to pay attention to the teacher. Marik sighed heavily. He felt like slumping down in his seat and resting his head on his desk. Would have too, if the action wouldn't have brought the attention of the teen sitting next to him to him, and that was something he definitely did not want to do.

He felt strange, like there were butterflies in his stomach, as the saying went. He understood why he had grown embarrassed when Bakura had said those things to his brother and when he'd put his arm around him, but this weird feeling he felt right now had only happened when the other teen had grinned at him. Why he didn't know. Or whether he liked it or not.

00000

The rest of the school day was uneventful, to say the least. The history teacher had to yell at Bakura and Marik several times for talking and not paying attention, and Marik found out that he had Ryou in one of his classes. The other, polite, white-haired twin was so quiet that Marik hadn't noticed him before. Even now the only reason he had was because Ryou had said hi. He sat with the other twin as well, and was surprised to see how much of a difference there was between the two. It was like they were the complete opposite.

After that he sat through the rest of his classes and rode home with tons of homework to do. Which he had been doing until his brother barged into his room.

"Haven't you ever heard of privacy?" Marik mumbled, jotting down an answer to his algebra homework.

"I have. I never quite caught the hang of it though. Care to explain?" Malik asked sweetly.

"What do you want?" Marik asked, completely ignoring the sarcasm in his look-alike's voice.

"When did you and that rabbit become so cozy?" Marik looked up from his homework. Malik's voice had changed from sarcastic to serious. His face was blank, unreadable, but that in itself was a good clue that something was wrong.

"I'm not. Bakura was just fooling around when he said that. Most of what I did at his house yesterday was talk to Ryou. He wanted to know about life in Egypt. You know that, right?" He asked.

"Of course I know that! But it doesn't change the fact that you sat with him today and not me," Malik snarled.

"Is that what this is about? Grow up Malik. I should be allowed to sit with someone else if I want to," Marik said. He shook his head at his brother and bent down to continue with his homework. If this was all his brother wanted then he wasn't going to bother wasting his time talking to him when he had more important things to do. Malik should know that it wasn't like he was going to replace him anyways.

"Look at me!" Malik shouted. He fist shot out and hit the wall. Marik's head shot up. Thankfully his wall was intact. He glared at the other, whose blank expression had disappeared and now wore one of fury. The fist not against the wall was clenched and shaking. Marik started -his brother looked the same as he had the day the two of them had met Ryou and Bakura on their stroll outside. Against his will he began to feel a little frightened of this version of his brother.

"What are you doing Marik?" Malik hissed. "What can you possibly gain from him? Friendship? Don't make me laugh."

"Maybe I do want to be friends with him. Maybe it would be a good thing," Marik replied, his own voice going cold as his eyes narrowed. He didn't know what was wrong with his brother but he did know that he wouldn't find out if he just let Malik win this little fight.

Malik advance toward him, slow, purposefully, frighteningly. Marik felt himself shiver, but stayed firmly still on his bed. Some instinct of his told him that perhaps he should leave and do his homework somewhere in the presence of Isis but he ignored it.

"Why?" Malik questioned quietly, somehow sounding all the more intimidating and frightening then if he had yelled it. He reached the bed and despite himself, Marik scooted away from him. Malik's arm lashed out and grabbed the front of Marik's shirt. He yanked Marik to him, faces mere inches apart.

Both their eyes flickered downward for a moment as Isis called Marik's name from the living room, then met. Icy cold, harsh dark purple and apprehensive soft lavender. Marik wanted to look away, felt an unexplainable urge to look away, but all he could see was a storm of purple. There was nowhere else he could look then at his brother. Malik yanked him again, tightening his grip on Marik's shirt and making it hard for him to breathe. He could feel his twin's hot breath on his face. Malik chuckled. Marik shivered again.

"Friends are useless my dear Marik. Friendship is a sad excuse for power. We don't need it. As long as we have each other, we will be powerful. We will never need anything more. These people are little non-important nothings. We are better than them Marik, and so we do not need them," He whispered softly. A hand lightly caressed his cheek, following the contours and curves.

"What if I want them?" Marik asked. His voice was quiet, almost a whisper, and strained. Weak. The hand on his cheek trailed downward. It stopped on his neck. Malik smiled.

"You don't need to be frightened Marik. I would never hurt you," He purred. Marik froze, eyes wide. Of course the other had seen his fear. It practically radiated off him. "You're my twin, my other half," Malik continued, still smiling a nice, half-smile.

"I'm not," Marik said, voice shaky and almost inaudible now. Malik's soft smile only widened into a hideous grin.

"Oh really? Your pulse says otherwise." He giggled dementedly, insanely. Mad. Completely mad.

Marik said nothing else. Couldn't say anything else. He felt paralyzed by fear, immobilized and unable to think or say anything. Those tiny purple eyes seemed to hypnotize him and take away everything except for that fear. Malik knew. Malik knew and he was enjoying it.

"I'm not interrupting anything am I?" Both twins froze but neither looked away from each other. A force held them together, keeping their eyes locked.

"Marik? Malik? What's going on?" It broke. The sound of Isis's worried voice made both pull away and look at the doorway. Isis stood there, one hand at her mouth in a show of concern. Bakura stood next to her. He looked smug and amused.

"Nothing," Marik said quickly. His voice still wavered and sounded hoarse. He hoped that neither Isis not Bakura could hear it.

Malik's insane grin slowly faded to become blank. He released Marik's shirt and slowly moved away.

"Malik? Is something wrong?" Isis asked.

"Nothing," He said. He left the room with the same blank face and it became quiet. Isis looked to Marik for an explanation. He didn't know what to say. He didn't know what was wrong with his brother. He couldn't tell Isis about what had transpired or she would worry or try to find out what the problem was. And with the mood Malik was in that would probably not be a good thing to have happen.

"Well, your friend is here Marik. So I'll just leave and let you two be," Isis said awkwardly. She smiled and left the room, closing the door behind her. Bakura smirked and made his way to Marik. He took a seat across from the bed at Marik's desk.

"What was that all about?" He questioned.

Marik sighed and shook his head. "I'm not sure," He admitted. "Malik had been acting strangely. I don't think he likes me hanging out with you. Or anyone for that matter. So why are you here anyways?" That certainly wasn't a very subtle change of subject but hopefully Bakura wouldn't pursue it. He didn't want to talk about Malik anymore, or even think about what had occurred.

"Ah, I'm hurt! Don't you want me to be here?" Bakura asked, feigning a hurt expression. Marik smirked at him.

"Well of course I want you to be here Ba-kun," He replied in a sickeningly sweet fashion. He bat his eyelashes and giggled to add to the effect.

"'Ba-kun' huh? Already at the nickname stage, are we?" Bakura asked.

"Well you've given me a nickname already and I didn't want you to feel left out," Marik said. The two of them looked at each other with completely straight face for as long as they could before their lips began to curl upward and they burst out laughing.

"So why are you really here?" Marik inquired when their laughter had died down. He was a little surprised at how easy it had been for him to cheer up. All it had taken was the two of them acting like idiots.

"To return your keys to you. Ryou found them inside the couch and forced me to return them since I knew where you lived. That's probably a good thing, since if I had made him go he would have gotten lost. I still almost did you know. Tell your sister to go live in the city like the rest of us," Bakura complained. Marik smirked.

"I'll try, but I don't think she'll listen," He said.

"Well whatever. I don't expect to be coming here often, so not like it matters to me. Ryou figures that your keys must have fallen through the cushions while you were over. Apparently that couch has been stealing our things since we got it. There was a ton of crap in there. I told Ryou we should have gotten the other one," Bakura replied. He took the keys out of his jean pocket and tossed them to Marik.

"Great! I've missed riding my baby," He said happily as he pocketed the keys. Bakura gave him an odd look.

"You refer to your bike as your baby?" He asked.

"Yeah. So what?" Marik asked defensively.

"I just thought you might have been normal, that's all," The other teen answered with a fanged smirk.

"More normal than you," Marik mumbled. The comment either went unheard by the white-haired teen or he just chose to ignore it. Both occupants of the room fell silent. Bakura looked around his room, and Marik watched him.

He suddenly became aware of how unnaturally pale Bakura was. The only people to have ever come into his room before were his family, and now that Bakura was in here he looked out of place.

"You need to get out into the sun," Marik pointed out suddenly.

"Huh?" Bakura asked, not quite paying attention and still not looking at him.

"You're really pale," Marik said.

"Well thank you for observing that Marik," Bakura replied with a smirk, turning to look at him now. Marik blinked and then flushed when he realized that he'd been caught looking.

"Yeah well, thought you might want to know," He said quickly.

"Oh yes, because I hadn't been aware of my own skin color before," Bakura said sarcastically, going back to look around the room. "Ryou and I don't tan very well. The sun hates us," He commented.

"Oh." Marik's blush faded but he still felt embarrassed for mentioning anything in the first place. And that annoying little smirk on Bakura's lips didn't help to ease that embarrassment.

"So what are you looking for?" He asked to break the silence and distract himself from again gazing at his companion.

"Wherever it is you must have stashed that rod thing you showed me," Bakura answered bluntly.

"The Sennen Rod?"

"That's the one." Marik contemplated whether to show his hiding place to Bakura or not for a moment. The other teen was a thief after all, and he had noticed the greedy way in which he'd looked at the Sennen Rod when he'd first shown it to him. He decided to go ahead and show him, since it wasn't like Bakura could try to steal anything from him while he was in the room. And weren't friends supposed to trust each other anyways? While Marik was still uncertain about the whole friend thing, he did know that he thought he could trust the other.

He moved away from his bed to the dresser against the corner of his room, grabbed both sides of it, and pulled it away from the wall. He could feel Bakura's eyes on his back and knew no doubt that the thief was watching his actions intently.

Next he bent down over the spot that had been previously covered by the dresser and pulled up a few of the wooden planks his floor was made up of. Then he dug around under the planks he couldn't pull up and one by one pulled out the seven golden items he had stolen from the museum Isis worked at.

"Nice. A much better hiding place than I would have thought you capable of Blondie," Bakura praised.

"Told you I was a thief," Marik said smugly. Bakura moved from the seat at the desk and joined Marik on the floor to look at the items. The white-haired thief ran his fingers softly over each item, picked them up one at a time to turn them over and look at each aspect of them carefully, much as the owner of a pawn shop would appraise a piece of jewelry to decided a good price on it.

As he looked at them Marik felt the same feeling of guilt Isis had awakened in him only last night wash over him. By keeping these things he had stolen he was betraying Isis's trust. Something like betraying a person's trust normally wouldn't bother him at all, but Isis was his sister. His family. It was much harder to do such a thing to her then he would have liked. And not only had he stolen these items, but he had stolen them from the very museum Isis worked at. He might as well have been spitting in her face.

"You can take them if you'd like," Marik said suddenly. Bakura gave him an odd look.

"Now why would you say that?" He questioned. Marik flushed slightly and shrugged, hoping to look nonchalant as to keep the other teen away from the conclusion that he was doing this for such a reason as his sister and not because he felt like it.

"No real reason. It's just a little dangerous keeping them here. I took them from the museum my sister works at, so there would be no way for me to lie about how I acquired them if she were to somehow find them," He explained.

"But it's that danger that's half the fun," Bakura smirked.

"True," Marik agreed. He could still remember the thrill he'd gotten when he'd committed the crime. He'd stolen the items from the museum the very day they had arrived. The museum Isis had worked at back in Egypt had closed not too long ago and Isis had been able to persuade the museum she currently worked at to buy many of the artifacts from the other one and open up an Egyptian exhibit. The Sennen items had arrived with many other artifacts and had all been placed inside a storage compartment until the exhibit had been opened. It had been easier to break into that and find what he'd been searching for than if they had been in an exhibit. Still, it had been a hard task to accomplish and Marik had felt extremely accomplished knowing that he had been able to do it.

"Well if you really don't care, then I'll take these two," Bakura said as he snatched two items from the pile on the floor. Marik recognized the two as the Sennen Eye and the Sennen Ring.

"You can take the others," Marik said.

"Nah, I only want these two. Besides, I couldn't take your Rod now could I? Or," Bakura said, pausing suggestively for a moment, "If what your brother said is true, then maybe I can." It took Marik a moment to figure out just what the teen was insinuating, but when he did his face turned a bright red.

"Wh-what? No no no! Malik was only joking around!" Marik exclaimed quickly.

"Really? Too bad then," Bakura said rather disinterestedly. His attention was on the Sennen Ring, which he was turning over carefully like he had done earlier. Marik's attention however, was pulled away from fretting over whether Bakura would now think he was gay or not and brought to the comment the teen had just said. The way he'd said it hadn't sounded like he cared one way or another, so maybe he was joking? Either way, that comment had sounded suspiciously like it was the other teen that was gay, and liked him no less.

"How does this look?" Bakura asked, interrupting Marik's thoughts. The pale teen had put the Sennen Ring on and it now rested against his chest.

"You aren't planning on wearing that, are you?" Marik questioned.

"Sure," He answered.

"It looks fine, just hide it when you're around my family. I don't want them to recognize it," Marik said. The Ring really did look good on him. The golden Ring accented his silver hair nicely, and drew attention to his chest, which was rather nice. There was definitely some muscle definition there.

Marik froze and backpedaled to that last thought. Had he really just made an observation about Bakura's chest? Great, now even his thoughts were sounding gay.

"Well, I think I'm going to be leaving now. If I stay any longer Ryou will assume I'm getting into some kind of trouble," Bakura commented as he got to his feet. He buttoned up the sky blue jacket he wore and successfully hid the Sennen Ring against his chest. Marik nodded and got to his feet to lead Bakura to his door. The pale teen left as the tanned one bid him goodbye. He watched him leave and headed to the living room where he joined Isis on the couch.

She had the television on to the news. Isis never really watched the news because there was never anything good happening. She usually only had it on to provide background noise.

"So was that Bakura?" She asked casually in an attempt to start a conversation.

"Yup," Marik answered.

"He seems nice," Isis said. Marik almost snorted at that. Bakura was definitely not a nice person. Even though this contradiction was quite funny, he didn't break the silence by saying anything more. Only the TV made noise.

"Marik... Earlier when we walked into your room, what was going on with you and Malik?" Isis asked hesitantly. At the mention of his brother the already uncomfortable silence grew only worse. Marik was silent. He didn't know what he could say.

"It really wasn't anything important Isis, so don't worry too much. Malik has just been... acting strangely, and I guess I did something to upset him. Other than that I don't know what his problem is," Marik answered after taking a moment to come up with a response. Half of it was a lie and the other half was just bullshit. No doubt Isis could tell that but she didn't question him anymore. Perhaps she was also able to identify how hard it had been for him to even come up with that.

The news sounded throughout the quiet living room, talking about some man who had killed and wounded several people at the park when he'd taken a gun there earlier to a brother and sister who were both too caught up in their own thoughts to notice. The third sibling sat up in his room, also able to hear the sounds of the television, thought he wasn't listening anymore than they other two. His purple eyes were black with fury and tiny inside his wide-eyed gaze. He gripped fistfuls of his dark blonde hair as small tremors ran through his body.

He was trying to calm himself. He wasn't always quite right in the head, but even he knew that it was insane to be this bothered. It was only something so simple as friends. What did it matter if he wanted them? It didn't. Not at all. But still... it made him so mad. Why did he need friends? What good were they?

"Marik... Do I have to kill your little friend?"

Marik was his. His brother. His twin. His other half. He couldn't allow him to be taken away.

"I've done it before, haven't I?"


Le gasp! What exactly is Malik planning? Could it be something bad? Who knows? I knows, heehee. And! Marik is starting to like Bakura! Even if he doesn't quite realize that, heheh.

So, just a few things to say, since I seem to like talking and making my end author notes really long. This chapter really made me love Malik. Like, he's really funny in it, and I think his character really shines in this one. Of course I love my other characters as well, but I don't know, there's just something about Malik that's really funny and makes me luvers him.

So I write out my chapters before I type them that way I can change things and make them better and stuff. When I first had this chapter planned out and written and whatnot, Malik never went psycho and the scene with Isis worrying over Marik's choice of friends wasn't as deep. So it's kind of funny, but these two alterations just made my story a lot more in-depth I think, and now I'm going to have to add in some things that I never would have had before. I think it's interesting.

Heheh, how do you all like Marik's nickname for Bakura? It seems most of what I read have have Marik calling him "Kura" and every so often there's a "Baku" thrown in there. So because I wanted to be a nonconformist or something I was all like "I know! I'll use Ba-kun!" I think it's cute.

And now one more thing before I finally stop talking that is completely random, has anyone ever read The Picture of Dorian Gray by Oscar Wilde? I'm reading it for a research paper in my English Honors class. No, I'm not asking for help or anything, I just really really like this book, so I was curious to know if anyone else has read it. And maybe I'd like to obsess over it with someone xD

So yup, there was chapter three in all it's gloriousness. Told you it'd be interesting didn't I? So review please! And remember to tell me any mistakes or constuctive criticism! Hey, anyone watch the Yu-Gi-Oh Abridged Series? Episode 33 ftw XDD