I'm going to start this chapter with some Vaseshipping. I didn't want to wake Amane up in the morning at the beginning, so instead of skipping, I'm going to show you how Atem and Mana work things out.
I don't own Yu-Gi-Oh.
The brunette pulled back from her lover's lips and gazed at him. They held onto each other, trying to even their breathing.
Mana leaned away, and moved her hand from his neck, to his cheek. The small smile she saw on his face made her smile too, as she continued to watch his calm face. He had closed his eyes, and leaned into her hand. Mana heard him let out a noise, perhaps he had said something, but she didn't quite get it.
His arms were still around her waist, keeping her close and in place, where she straddled his hips. Atem opened his eyes slightly. He moved one of his hands to her back, and pulled her closer once more. Mana's hand left his cheek. With a slight moan, he buried his face in her neck, kissing the skin where his lips could reach. His hand on her back found its way up, and he entwined his fingers with her hair.
Atem moved forward, leaving a trail of kisses on her neck up to her lips, the soft noises that Mana made encouraging him further. But before he could reach them, they were interrupted by a song that came from the coffee table.
Mana hesitantly leaned away a bit from Atem to turn around and look at the source of the voice. It was her phone ringing, and moving as it buzzed. She sighed and moved to her knees to get off of him. Atem groaned to make sure Mana knew that he wasn't expecting her to get up to her feet.
The girl smoothed down her skirt as she pinched his cheek. Then she put her hands over his, beckoning them to let her go. Atem lightened his grip on her, but being the tease he is, he slowly moved his hands down, over her thighs, before plopping them on the couch. He couldn't stop the smirk forming on his lips, after seeing her shudder.
Mana qiuckly got off of him, and picked up her phone that had stopped ringing a few seconds ago. After seeing Mahad's name on the screen, she called him back. The phone rang two times.
"Mana."
"I know, I was upstairs, sorry. Couldn't reach here in time." She sighed and sat next to Atem. This was the third time he had called today. "Why did you call this time?"
"To check up on you, what else? Are you alright? Is everything still intact?"
"Yes, I'm doing fine." She groaned and then chuckled. "This isn't the first time I'm spending the night home alone you know." Except I won't be alone. Mana put her hand on his knee. Atem didn't take his time to put his over hers.
"You can't blame a brother for worrying. Well, if eveything is alright then that's all. Just wanted to make sure. Let me know if you want anything from here."
"Will do. Bye..." Mana sighed and ended the call, tossing the phone. She leaned her head on Atem's shoulder. "He left just this morning. How much paranoid can he be?"
Atem chuckled and put his arm around her shoulders. "I am too. What if he bursts through the door and tells us that he actually never left and knew what was going on all along, what are we gonna do then?" He started to make a circular pattern on her forearm with his finger.
"What we always do."
"I'm not in the mood to start a fight." The breeze coming from an open window felt nice on his face. A growling from his stomach was heard, making him groan, and Mana giggle.
"Alright, dinner time!" she cheered and jumped off the couch, holding his hand. "Come on, we haven't eaten since lunch I'm starving." Her eyes sparkled as she thought of a romantic scene between the two. "We could cook together."
Atem got up too, not leaving her hand. "Can we order out? I really don't want to enter the kitchen with you."
"How dare you." Mana said, with a flat voice. Her eyes narrowed, and she pulled at his arm. She knew he didn't meant it though.
"Amane."
Bakura sat on the egde of the bed, and put her hands on the both sides of the sleeping form of his sister. She was stirring wake, because the lighting of the hallway coming in from the door was hurting her half opened eyes. Other than that her room was dark. How long have I been sleeping?
What time is it?" Her voice was weak but she was slowly getting to her senses.
"Nine o'clock. Come down and eat something."
Bakura's long hair fell in front of his face over his shoulder, and tickled Amane's nose. She scrunched up her face, and brushed it off.
"Is Marik still here?" Amane asked, followed with a yawn.
"Yes." He held her from her shoulders and forced her to sit up straight. His grip on her was tight, making her hiss with slight pain. Bakura often forgot how strong his movements were. Realizing he had hurt her, he released Amane. "Sorry."
"It's okay." She buried her face on his shoulder, about the fall asleep again in her uncomfortable position. "What's for dinner?"
"We ate junk food all night, but mom just came, she's preparing something." The older boy put his hand on her head. She was like a small kitten. "Go wash your face."
Amane opened her eyes and looked up at the ceiling until she was fully awake. She blinked a couple of times, and shook her head. "I should help mom."
Bakura got up on his feet, and helped Amane as well. They left the room, Bakura went back downstairs, after shoving Amane into the bathroom for her to wash her face and fix her cute bedhead.
She came back with wider eyes, and a small smile. Jumping around like a little girl, Amane entered the kitchen first. Her mother was sitting on the table, sipping tea. White hair pulled up into an updo, teal eyes scanning a page of the magazine in front of her. She looked up when she saw her little girl.
"Amane, you're awake." Her mother smiled. "The boys told me that you were feeling tired. I assumed you wouldn't wake up until tomorrow."
"Big brother woke me up."
"Well of course, he told me that you only had a sandwich for lunch. And you claim that you wake up full and leave without having breakfast... I swear one of these days you're going to fall ill. It's good that he woke you up."
Her mother stood up from the table and opened one of the cupboards, picked a clean plate for her and piled the food she had cooked. She made Amane sit down, and didn't let her leave until she finished it.
"Mom, that was not necessary. Nor fun." Amane wiped her mouth with a washcloth, and put the fork in her now empty plate.
Ignoring her comment, her mom waved her off. "You can go inside now. They've been waiting for you to wake up after all."
Amane stood, she picked the dirty plate and the utensils up and put them in the dishwasher. Then, after leaving a kiss on her mother's cheek, she walked off to greet the boys. She opened the door, and smiled at the three heads turning to her way. Closing the door behind her, Amane walked further in the room, and sat next to Ryou on the floor.
"Did you eat?" The older brother asked eyeing her.
"Yep." She looked on the coffee table. They had made a mess, bowls of chips, half empty glasses, chocolate bar packagings... Which Amane was shocked by, because her boys did not like to consume this much junk food.
"You missed all the fun Ami." Marik leaned further and grabbed the girl's head, sitting on the floor, in front of him. He started to mess with her hair.
Never liking it whenever someone messed with her newly done hair, Amane got a hold of his hands, and made him let go. She shuffled away so he couldn't reach her. "Yeah well, I've seen that movie before."
The sounds coming from the TV got louder as the commercials started, Ryou picked up the remote and muted it.
Marik looked at the watch on his wrist, and saw it was getting late. If he asked he could probably crash here, but he hadn't done that in years. The thought of giving uncomfort to Amane after his confession was holding him back. They've known each other for a long time maybe, but it was different ever since they started dating.
She knew him, what he would and wouldn't do, but he didn't want to risk anything.
"It's kinda late. Maybe I should..." Before he could finish his sentence, his phone rang and he picked it up. It was his sister telling him that he should come home soon.
He got up on his feet, and put his phone in his back pocket. "That was my sister." Without needing any further explanation, he picked up his jacket that was thrown over on the couch and headed to the door, with Amane following him.
"Wait, I'll see you out." She turned to her brothers. "Aren't you supposed to do that?"
Bakura shrugged his shoulders and continued to stare at the silent television. "He knows the way to the door, doesn't he?"
Amane shook her head, and they left the room. In the hall, Marik wore his shoes, then with Amane's help, his jacket. He stood in front of her, hands on his hips.
"So... Are you free tomorrow?" he asked, and tilted his head to the side. He was so gosh darn cute.
"No actually, I was invited somewhere. Maybe tomorrow evening?"
"I was here tonight, if I leave tomorrow night too Ishizu is going to nag. How about Sunday?"
Amane stopped and thought for a second. She was free that day. With a smile, she nodded. "Sunday works for me."
"Good. We'll talk." Before leaving the house, he quickly pulled her into a hug. "Good night Ami." he whispered in her ear, and kissed her temple. This small gesture has always melted her heart, but she gave a pat on his back so he would pull back before someone else sees.
"Good night." They parted and Marik left. After watching him leave and closing the door -and locking it of course- Amane returned to the living room. Ryou was sitting on the couch now, playing with the ends of his hair. The older brother was still looking at the screen, bored out of his mind. He gave a quick glance at her.
"You could've woken me up earlier you know." She looked at the clock on the wall. "It's nearly ten. I'm going to bed in thirty minutes."
"I woke you up so you could eat something. It's Saturday tomorrow, you can stay up late." He patted the couch he was sitting on, signaling Amane to sit next to him.
"No, I'll just go and lay down. I'm pretty sure I can fall asleep again." She walked in the room, and got closer to Bakura to give him a kiss on the cheek. "See you guys in the morning." Amane gave Ryou a kiss too, then left them to go upstairs, into her room. Not bothering to switch the lights on, she just went straight to her bed and crawled under the blanket. Her eyes were open, darting on the ceiling.
As expected, it would take time for her to sleep again, but this gave her time to think about things.
Ah, I wish I kissed him back. Am I hurting his feelings when I don't? I mean, we're past that part of a relationship. The awkward 'this is new to me, so we should start slow' months are far gone. So he would tell me if he was.
Amane closed her eyes and shielded them with her arm.
Why do I always hold back? He's my boyfriend! It makes sense if I want to show that I love him. It's been two years, and I feel like I'm just toying with him at this point. I do know he loves me, I don't have doubts about that. Otherwise he wouldn't have agreed to this.
Keeping their relationship a secret was what Amane wanted. She did like Marik, and seeing how would it go to be with him sounded good, but she was afraid of Bakura. It was certain that he would not agree of them being together. He would scold Amane, and get into a fight with Marik.
But she didn't want that. She didn't want to get on her big brother's bad side. Amane knew he would forgive her at some point, but gaining Bakura's trust was no easy task. And losing it when you already had it meant you had no chance of having it back.
And what about Marik? Bakura would fight with him, for courting his sister behind his back, and lying to him. They would both lose their best and most trusted friend.
He wouldn't let us see each other either. Her big brother would look at her phone and follow her everywhere. Bakura didn't know what boundaries were.
I wish it could be easier. Maybe if I talk to Ryou about it, he could help me out.
She quickly scratched that idea. If Bakura were to suspect something, the first person he would go to was Ryou. And the sweet boy couldn't keep a secret to save his life. It would probably go downhill from that point.
How did Mana and Atem last this long?
After Amane caught them in the act, they talked for a while. The couple had told her that this has been going on for a really long time.
I mean, congrats for the four year mark I guess, but seriously? Four years. Four years of secrecy, lies, tricks and plays.
Amane rolled to her side and pushed her head deeper in her pillow, as more thoughts dwelled in her mind.
Are we going to have to lie that long? Are we even going to last that long? I definitely want it to. I love Marik.
Her heart warmed even at the thought of him. She liked him when he was Bakura's friend. She liked him when he came to their house for Bakura, but still stayed with her when she told her that he was gone. She liked him when she would get into a silly argument with her big brother and Marik would always pick her side. Because he cared for her and made sure she knew it too.
Come to think of it, he did flirted with me for a long time, before we started dating.
Marik didn't care if Bakura was there to see it. He knew he saw it as something platonic, so wouldn't pay too much mind into it. And even if he did, Marik would still do whatever he wanted.
If I were to tell big brother, what would Marik do? Would he defend our relationship?
Amane sighed with a smile settling on her lips.
Yes, that sounds like him. He would claim me proudly. But if he gets that bold, big brother would get angry at him. Thus, making the way to a broken friendship.
Then something crossed Amane's mind. Something she didn't thought of before.
But wouldn't it be better if I dated someone he trusted other than some other guy? Someone he knew for years, and not a stranger?
Though I guess it's too late for that. It's been a long time since this started. Once big brother finds out we're going to lose his trust.
The thought of Bakura being distant to her made her stomach churn. She loved her brother. He was always there for her. He helped her through bad times and defended her when someone did her wrong. He cheered her up when she was down and he messed with her when she got clumsy. They were close, and Amane couldn't ask for more.
She sat up on the bed, pulling her legs closer to her body as she did.
It's no use. It always comes down to one thing. Big brother's trust.
She put her elbows on her knees and buried her face in her hands.
I can only hope that it will all turn out to be good in the end.
Finally done with this chapter. Procrastinating is a very serious issue.
I'm happy that I could finally write some Vaseshipping, now I can move onto Amane and Marik fluff. By the way, I don't know the shipping name for them, so if you do you could help your girl out.
Lots of love.