I don't have a lot to say about this chapter except "aaaaye bakura finally appears" If you like this story, please consider leaving a review! :)

Yet again a huge thanks to my bae xVampirexElegancex for proof reading this for me. Love ya hun!

Also remember how in chapter 1 I warned you not to put your hand over boiling water because you'd get steam burns? Well guess what I did at work yesterday!

An empty room. When Malik opened his eyes, he was greeted by the same empty room he'd closed his eyes to. There was no spirit floating above one of the leather chairs, no ghost impatiently tapping their foot by the fire place, and no apparition staring him down and screaming at him for keeping them waiting for six hours.

Malik was, understandably, surprised by this. Ghosts always appeared the second a medium accepted them, and Malik was so used to being greeted with unhappy screeching that not seeing his ghost now was…unsettling, in a way. It felt like he'd done something wrong, even though he'd spoken correctly and repeated the exact same process he'd used a hundred times over the course of his medium career. The ghost should have been there. He glanced around the room and over his shoulder, but didn't see any shimmering phantoms, and nothing seemed out of place. Odd… Where in the world could his ghost be?

Looking back down at the papers in his hand, he decided he might as well read up on their information while he waited for the spirit to arrive.

Case: #19-006-70

Name: Bakura Touzoku.

Alright, so it was a male ghost. He didn't know if he was annoyed or relieved he was getting a guy. There were pros and cons to dealing with any gender, but male ghosts always seemed to have the easiest requirements for passage.

Current status: Access denied.

Cause of death: Not specified.

It never was anymore. After having one too many nightmares as a teen about the way his ghosts died he'd prayed and prayed to whoever sent him his assignments to leave the cause of death section blank. Now-a-days he didn't have nightmares, but he still wanted it blank. He'd rather the ghost have a choice in telling him how they died. It was a sensitive topic, and it didn't feel right for him to know without the ghost's permission.

Requirement(s) for passage: Learning to love.

Saywhatnow.

Malik stared at his paperwork for a long moment, rereading the sentence over and over, trying to process the information. No way. There was absolutely no way this could be his real assignment. This had to be Amir playing a prank on him. His twin must have switched his real summons with this one, and that's why his ghost hadn't appeared yet. Or maybe he'd passed out at work and had hallucinated coming home, and this assignment was a figment of his imagination brought on by his sexually repressed subconscious. Even that made more sense than him actually having to teach a dead person how to love.

"Honestly," he grumbled under his breath, pinching the bridge of his nose. "Who the hell is held back from their afterlife for a stupid reason like this?"

With an exasperated sigh he read on.

Case #19-006-70: Bakura Touzoku; Denied entry to selected afterlife due to his inability to form a meaningful relationship with anyone or anything throughout his adolescence and into adulthood. While client experienced his fair share of physical bonding, the aforementioned actively refused to form a friendship with anyone/anything and/or allow himself to fall in love with his sexual partners. Requirement(s) to rectify this and allow client to cross over include, but are not limited to: forming a deep and emotional platonic bond with someone/something, or falling in romantic love with someone.

Malik scowled deeply, reading the paragraph again. He had to pinch himself to make sure he really wasn't hallucinating because this assignment was just…unbelievable. He seriously had to help this ghost either make a friend or fall in love? How was he even supposed to do that? It wasn't as if there were a lot of ghosts just floating around that Bakura could talk to and make friends with. And as for falling in love, how was Malik even going to begin to help Bakura do that if Malik had never fallen in love himself? Based on the mention of physical bonding, he assuming picking up people at the club didn't count.

Allotted time: Three months.

Well, at the very least he had enough time to think of some sort of strategy for this assignment. Malik didn't especially enjoy the thought of having to babysit a ghost for three whole months, but at least his arbitrary time frame wasn't short enough to fuck him over right from the get go. Three months was enough time for Bakura to make a friend, right? Hell, maybe Malik could just get him a puppy and be done with him within a few days. No one could resist the charm of a puppy.

Finished with the ghost's information, Malik set down the papers, still surprised to see Bakura still hadn't appeared to him. This was getting worrisome. The only thing that Malik could think of that might have happened was that Bakura got reassigned to another medium and Malik hadn't been notified, but that was highly unlikely. Ghosts usually weren't reassigned unless the medium abused them in some way, or the medium ran out of time and failed to let them pass. Since Malik hadn't even met Bakura yet, there was no way either of those things had happened.

"BOO!"

The sudden shout in his ear made him jump, an embarrassingly shrill cry emitting from his mouth. He spun around to face the source of the noise, startling again when he saw the shimmering form of a spirit standing right behind him. The ghost –who he had no doubt was Bakura- snorted at his reaction and doubled over with laughter, clutching his stomach.

"I can't believe that actually scared you!" Bakura gasped between bursts of laughter. Malik felt his face warm, but he was able to keep his temper in check –for the most part- and shrug off his embarrassment.

"Great. It's good to know I'll be babysitting a five year old for three months," he muttered halfway to himself, not caring if Bakura heard.

"Aw, lighten up Blondey. Where's your sense of humor?"

It died, just like you, Malik thought to himself, holding his tongue to keep from saying it out loud. Instead he dodged the question and eyed Bakura critically. "You must be Bakura. You're late."

Bakura nodded, eyes narrowing slightly as he studied Malik. "Mhm. And you must be my new knight in shining armor." He practically purred the words, eyes roaming over Malik, dissecting every detail he could find as if he was appraising an antique ring. Malik felt uncomfortable under the gaze, but he'd been leered at by more threatening people both alive and dead, so he was able to dismiss the feeling.

"If that's how you want to view me, I have no complaints. However don't expect me to address you as my princess," he returned, motioning for Bakura to take a seat.

"As if I wanted you to call me that," Bakura huffed, not sitting down.

Malik rolled his eyes at the behavior. As much as he enjoyed embarrassing Bakura right back, he just wanted to get down to business.

"Come on, Bakura. Why don't you have a seat to the best of your abilities." He motioned to the chair again.

This time Bakura complied, passing through the couch in order to get to the chair. He flopped down heavily into the seat, causing Malik to quirk an eyebrow in surprise. Most ghosts weren't able to touch inanimate objects unless they'd been naturally gifted in life, or had been in the middle long enough to practice. Malik doubted it was the former as he looked his ghost up and down. He didn't seem like the kind to be blessed with supernatural mental abilities… For now, Malik dismissed the thought and simply took in Bakura's appearance. He looked to be a few inches shorter than Malik was, with a thin frame hidden under a red hoodie and grey sweatpants. His hair was a sort of silvery-grey color up to the roots, cut roughly so it fell just above his shoulders. His skin was dark, and Malik could see several pale scars on his face, neck, and hands. Bakura's eyes, like all ghost's eyes, were black as an abyss, and his body shimmered with an otherworldly, silvery glow.

Malik had seen much more conventionally attractive spirits in the past, but this one, for whatever reason, took his breath away. It wasn't like he was incredibly attractive by most standards, but he definitely fit into Malik's type. Dyed hair, dark skin, and those scars gave him a sense of mystery that a chiseled face and rock hard abs just couldn't compete with in Malik's mind.

Great. Having a ghost he was actually attracted to was even worse than having a ghost that acted like a child. He rolled his eyes at his own foolishness, trying to get back into "business mode."

"So, Bakura. I assume you know why you're here," he began, folding his hands and resting chin on his fingers, elbows on his knees.

"Let me guess; is it because I'm dead and I need to fix something that was fucked up in my life before I get to be at peace?" Bakura's response was dripping with sarcasm.

"Correct. You don't get a point for that, by the way. The answer was pretty obvious."

Bakura snorted, but the sound wasn't humorous. "Look, medium," he began, kicking his feet up and onto the coffee table.

"Malik," Malik corrected him.

Bakura continued like he hadn't heard. "I know where you're going with this. I know this routine by now. You're going to ask me about my life so you can dissect it and figure out just what fucked me up so much in life, so you can fix it for me and make it all better in death. I didn't die so I could get free therapy."

"That's not how it works."

"Save it. I know you have a job to do, but I couldn't give less of a shit about that. I don't care how much you really truly want to help me, and I don't care how amazing you think my afterlife will be." Each word he emphasized was said in a sickly sweet voice, though his tone remained sardonic. "You can't help me, so you shouldn't even bother trying."

Malik pinched the bridge of his nose again, breathing deep so he didn't snap. By all means, he was used to confrontational spirits, but that didn't mean they weren't incredibly aggravating. Malik could feel his control over his temper slipping more each minute. "Well, good thing I already know what fucked you up, so you don't have to tell me your whole sob story if you're really that against it." He picked up the discarded paperwork with Bakura's information so Bakura could see them. "It's all right here. How you failed to love anything or anyone for the majority of your life, and how I'm the one who has to make your bitter heart feel again."

Bakura stared at him for a moment before cackling. Malik was taken aback by this reaction, not expecting a positive response.

"Props, medium. No one's talked to me like that since I was alive."

"Oh?" This too surprised Malik. To hide it he looked back at the papers in his hand, pretending to read them as he spoke. "Have you talked to a lot of people since you died?"

"Mm. A few idiots playing with Ouija boards here, a few mediums there-"

Malik's eyes shot back up at his, shock obvious in his expression. "Other mediums?"

Bakura scoffed. "What, you think you're the only family of mediums in the world?"

"Ugh, no. I know there are other mediums. I just didn't know you had been assigned to anyone else." He flipped through the papers again, knowing it wouldn't be there but still looking for some sort of notice that Bakura had been reassigned multiple times before him. "It's not mentioned anywhere in your paperwork…"

"Then maybe you should rely less on paperwork and just talk to me."

Malik rolled his eyes. "Right, because you'll answer every question I ask."

"I can't lie to you, medium."

"Doesn't mean you can't dodge the questions."

"True."

The two regarded each other for a long moment. Bakura was grinning, obviously amused, whereas Malik was scowling. Finally Malik sighed, leaning back against the couch and getting comfortable. "Alright, I'll bite. Let's talk, Bakura."

AN: in case you didn't notice, I nixed the whole "the pharaoh is the one who sends the summons" thing from the original. I mean, that's still how it is, technically, but the Ishtars don't know exactly who it is. It's actually Seth, since he was Atem's successor (and Atem might have been a teeny bit reincarnated? I want to use him later, but we'll see how we go lol) Anyway for this whole chapter I was imagining priest Seth in that blue and white suit Kaiba has, shuffling through ghostly paperwork all day and grumbling about problematic clients like Bakura. Seth's spent a thousand years perfecting this medium shit and then his rude ass ghost wants to fuck with that? How about no.

Another thing you might have noticed is that the chapters are shorter this time around. Yes, it's intentional. Long chapters are hard for me to write, and I want to make this story A) as stress free as possible and B) actually good. So the compromise was shorter chapters. But hey, that just means you guys get more updates sooner, right?