Ryou finished assuring the police that yes, they were okay, and that they wouldn't make such a scene again. Then he turned to Mariku, whose eyes, although dark, were shadowed by hurt from seeing his own brother do something that, in his eyes, was the same as abandoning him.

"Mariku…?" Ryou asked softly. The question might've been unspoken, but his tone spoke volumes. Mariku looked at him before giving a painful whine from the back of his throat. Ryou didn't think.

The much smaller albino pulled the both of them over to the benches before he reached out and pulled the tall Egyptian into his arms gently. His pale hand stroked the large spikes back. Mariku moaned weakly into the masses of white hair piled on top of Ryou's head.

"Why… did… everyone choose him… Wasn't I good enough?" Mariku mumbled.

Ryou smiled sadly, thinking of his own troublesome brother. "Sometimes there's no choosing involved. Like I don't have to choose or not choose you because of how good you are. I let both of you stay in my heart, because both of you are important to me. It doesn't matter if one is better than another."

Mariku growled in irritation. "But that's just pity. I hate pity."

Ryou shrugged. "If you want, I really be forced to choose. When Bakura ran off, I could've run after him and Malik. Obviously he doesn't deserve my pity."

Mariku snarled. Ryou patted his head gently again. Kind of like a dog. Men with tempers seemed to like it when they were treated more like a beast, Ryou made a note.

"That irritates me." He scowled. "I hate gentle shit. Why? If you're going to do something, then why tease? Why touch someone softly when you can show more care if you try and leave bruises so they don't forget you? Why bother saying gentle things if people can tell you care more if you scream out your feelings?"

"Because." The albino stroked the platinum blonde hair a little rougher this time. "Because if you care so much, then all you need is a light touch to display all your feelings. I have enough that just a simple touch can convey my message."

"But if you have more, then why don't you let it all out?" Mariku seemed pacified from the soft touches and the calm, and maybe if Ryou let himself admit it, loving words.

"You don't need to. You don't know how to express it all, there's so much. So a light touch, a small thing, a tiny decision. And they care too, so they notice." Ryou explained, it seemed so simple to him. Like it was just a second nature to him. To Mariku, it was like a complicated puzzle. Ryou hoped he was explaining it right. "And it means more to them because they realize the person is able to express much more, but doesn't need to."

"I don't understand." Mariku leaned back into Ryou's side.

Ryou chuckled, hands continuously fingering Mariku's platinum blonde spikes. He didn't notice the man in the suit, tall and handsome, who tilted his hat down farther to cover his eyes, who smirked, who had played the most key part in the situation.


Bakura was pissed. How DARE he? Bakura hadn't done anything wrong! He'd read those stupid books, those dumb magazines, watched those stupid self improvement shows. He hadn't done anything too out of protocol, did he? He wouldn't know.

No one ever had been his friend before. So one of his first friends turned against him. Who gave a damn. He didn't. Why should he care, he'd lived so long without such stupid things. Ryou had the answers, but of course Ryou stayed behind.

Ryou never did anything for him anyways.

Malik nibbled on his ear gently. A small reminder. Don't forget me. Bakura responded easily, he gave the attention hog what he wanted; more attention.

He gave him a gentle kiss before rubbing circles on Malik's cheek. Princess, Bakura thought, but he didn't mind too much to give his partner affection. It wasn't hard work. It might not be enjoyable, but he liked the touching. But just touching was boring. Bakura kissed him again, deeper and more passionate. Once they'd kissed and snuggled enough till Malik was feeling happily loved and Bakura was distracted from the pulsing anger in his veins, Bakura decided to try and speak.

"So where do we stand? What's with your jack ass brother?" Bakura murmured into Malik's hair. He could feel Malik stiffen up. No, Bakura thought. Bad question. He made a mental note, but he didn't really give a damn to follow up and try to be sociable at the moment. Screw Ryou and his friendly ideals.

"He's jealous of you. That's where we stand." Malik said, hesitating.

"That's not what I mean when I asked the first question." Bakura realized that he'd just snapped, and he didn't want to give off the impression he was angry at Malik. Because he wasn't, that was dumb. Your brother wasn't you.

Trying to amend his actions, Bakura leaned back into Malik's chest. They'd melded together outside on a bus bench in the parking lot. The loud noises drowned out their talk but it did prevent eavesdroppers.

Malik chewed on his bottom lip in frustration. "I don't know."

Bakura snorted. Weren't blondes the ones who were supposed to know relationship shit? And Malik seemed like a soap opera, cry on the sofa type of kid. Well, from what the albino knew, it was confusing, but Malik should've had a lot more relationship knowledge than he did. He should've had a better grasp of the situation.

Guess not.

"What comes before the dating part?" Bakura asked loudly, attracting a few looks from the crowd. Bakura smirked and reveled in the attention. Look, if they dared. But if they commented, then Bakura would carve their eyeballs out with spaghetti sticks, and curiosity kills the cat once again.

"The awkward crush part." Malik replied, pretty sure of himself. "That part sucks the worst."

"Ah. I guess that's where I stand, excluding your arsehole of a brother, and my obvious lack of knowledge on social situations. For all I know, you may be a whore, and I'm Jack the Ripper." The albino grinned slyly. Malik gave him a light bop on the head, happy and not embarrassed about it.

"I skipped that stage." Malik announced, and seemingly endlessly proud of it. Bakura raised an eyebrow in faked surprise.

"Skipped? Like you skipped a rock, or just that you excluded that step? And what did you skip to?" He asked. "If the next stage is dating, that is."

"I skipped like I excluded." Malik explained, irritated with Bakura's obvious joking. Bakura considered he might actually be serious, and he didn't like that implication.

"So you're dating someone?" Bakura inferred, irritated. Malik wasn't his, but still. Bakura wanted to keep all other competition out. Partners were partners, and Malik was his partner. In Bakura's world, all the sexy men and women of the world were single and available. Or soon would be.

"No, I skipped that step too."

For some reason, that short answer relieved most of Bakura's worries. And then the next thing popped into Bakura's mind, even more scandalous than Bakura usually would've thought of. The albino disapproved of this idea even more than the dating phrase. Death might become unavoidable for a certain select someone. "So what's after that? Marriage? Engagement? Are you married?"

"You're kind of cute when you act like a dumbass." Malik ruffled his hair. "No, the next step after that is love. Then commitment, then engagement, then marriage, ending with divorce or death."

"So you're on love now? Who do you love?" Bakura looked up into Malik's amethyst eyes, amused and relieved at the same time. The force of his mighty and incomparable ego was in fully display as he smirked, staring down Malik with the suggestion. "Me?"

Malik merely kissed him in response, shameless and sexy. Bakura could take that however he wanted, and he wanted to take it as a yes.


Bakura and Ryou didn't speak on the car ride home from the airport. Neither did they all through lunch, dinner, and breakfast. Only when it was time for Bakura's trial did they say a word. Ryou unlocked the car irritatedly.

"Get in." was the first thing he'd said all day.

Bakura couldn't drive half as well as Ryou, but Ryou could drive only one person around in a car at a time. Legally at least. Bakura still needed to get all his hours so he could do the same. The instructors were always slightly scared of him.

Especially when he drove without having his hands on the wheel. They didn't seem to count feet as a legal way to steer. Or knees. Or just his mind. Lamers.

"You look like shit. I can't believe you." Ryou finally hissed. Now Bakura wanted to punch his white fluff ball of a brother.

"WHAT THE HELL, RYOU? I can't believe YOU!" Bakura exploded, his anger radiating off him in waves of murderous intent. "You don't talk to me all the way home, not during lunch, and not during dinner while we were sitting NEXT to each other. And this morning you weren't ready to talk-"

"Because you have the nerve to be a whore and use Malik like that! Why do I just find out now, from Mariku, that you and Malik have been all lovey-dovey for the last few days, and I know that you aren't someone who does any sort of serious relationship! Every single girl that tries to go out with you-"

"NO ONE HAS TRIED TO GO OUT WITH ME! Akefia was the one! I'm NOT our big brother! No one talks to me! They were the first other than you!" Bakura was too angry to see how wrong his brother was acting, how completely out of character. He never even considered it.

"That's NOT TRUE!" He blindly protested. Bakura snarled.

"You don't even know what sort of person I am in that regard, you just think I'm like Akefia! I'm NOT AKEFIA! I KILLED HIM!" Bakura slammed his fist down hard on the dashboard, hard enough to dent it. Ryou opened and closed his mouth like a guppy.

"You… I hate you! I wish you'd died instead of Akefia!" Ryou screeched, his eyes wild and possessed. "Akefia always knew what to say when we first discovered my curse! But NO! YOU HAD TO GO AND RUIN IT! WHY DIDN'T YOU DIE INSTEAD?"

Bakura opened the car door and jumped straight out into the street. Fuck his trial, he'd go on the lamb if it meant he didn't have to deal with his bitchy little asshole brother who didn't know shit. First, he accused him falsely of things that he'd never even done, then he goes so far as to say Bakura should be dead instead.

Bakura knew what he'd done in the past was unforgivable, killing their brother, but he hadn't mean to hurt anyone. It was forever ago, he'd made a mistake, and Ryou blamed him for it like he'd meant to kill his own brother! If anything, Bakura thought disgruntledly and also a little madly, it was really Ryou's fault.

Their parents spent all of their time babying their poor whittle Ryou because of his dangerous curse. Bakura was forgotten. Akefia was always taking care of pathetic tiny Ryou. Bakura had no one, nothing. No one to realize that he needed help too, he couldn't control his powers and that they were dangerous.

"Well, congrats, I'm going to go to my trial the easy way instead of dealing with your shit!" Bakura sneered back at his brother who had begun driving after him, staring at him shocked.

Releasing all of his energy in a blast, Bakura felt the familiar surroundings of the court's bathroom appear. Might as well get this over with. Ryou could arrive on his own and deal with his own shit.


As Mokuba had arranged, Bakura was assigned to work at the local Kaiba Co. building. But according to Mokuba, he had to be careful since Kaiba had sniffed out their school and was coming to investigate by moving into it soon.

Mariku and Ryou hadn't said a word to him since the airport and courtroom incident. Malik had disappeared, not even a call or a text since that kiss, and so Bakura was stuck with a strange group of people that he didn't even tolerate on the best of days. Ryou's old friends, the ones he'd abandoned to hang off Mariku's arm.

Oh, shoot him. Bakura didn't know if he could stand to play along with anymore of this. This was physically painful.

"So Bakura… Where's Ryou?"

"Over there. Being a little slut with Mariku." Bakura grumbled, not bothering to hide his blatant hatred of her, as Tea asked the generic question of the day. They were wondering why Ryou, who'd been their loyal friend for quite some time, had literally left them in the dust. And why Yugi suddenly said Bakura could sit at their table, practically forcing him down into the cafeteria's table with many protests from all of them and Bakura.

Somehow sitting here had become ritual. At least they fed him and generally let him do whatever he wanted. If he tried to sit elsewhere, Yugi would crack down on him, treat him like a misbehaving pet, and force him to loose his control over the school.

"Well, at least he's happy with his boyfriend." Yugi chimed, picking apart his sandwich. He handed the ham to Bakura and the tomatoes to Yami, leaving himself with bread, mayo, turkey, and cheese.

Bakura ate the meat happily. Since Ryou made all the food, he'd been living off ham and whatever else nobody wanted at the table. The friendship gang had some useful qualities. Like mooch-ability. Ryou refused to let him into the kitchen, and Bakura didn't have a job. He had community service.

Yami placed the tomatoes elegantly onto his own sandwich. "I don't like that Melvin guy."

The whole table was silent. Until Bakura burst out laughing, the most amused he'd been since Malik had left without a word.

"It's Mariku! Not Melvin! But that's just epic! Ha ha ha ha! I'm going to call him Melvin from now on!" Bakura cackled.

Yugi patted the red-faced Yami on the shoulder as everyone else began to laugh as well. "It's pretty epic, you have to admit."

Yami just started grumbling.

"So Bakura… You're working at Kaiba Co. right?" Joey asked, throwing him the crust off his peanut butter and jelly. Bakura wasn't too picky about what scraps he got as his only meal, so he ate them too. The way this was going, he was going to be a stick by the end of the week. From three cooked meals a day to one barely full snack.

"I don't work there, it's community service." Bakura popped the last crust into his mouth.

"Oh yeah, you beat up Ryou. With a table." Tea frowned, disapproving of his actions. Like he gave a damn. The bitch could go fuck herself with a tampon.

"I stepped on the table and glass went everywhere. I ran out the door, left him there. So he calls 911 like a retard and says he was assaulted. By my stepping on our table. Yep. I was so beating him up with a table." Bakura rolled his eyes. See? Honesty to his friends. That was the story he told the court, at least.

"Ryou doesn't lie!" Tristan protested. Bakura flipped him off.

"You saying I do?" Bakura snorted. "Because I'm as truthful as a girl scout."

Tea gave him another disapproving look. Really, Bakura wondered why he was still allowed to sit here, let alone forced. Really. Tea was the most worthless person he'd ever seen. Giving her a good look down, he planned his payback.

Bakura made the closest broom smack her in her ass. The squeal made it worth it.

"Bakura! You little-!" She held her hands over her bubble butt securely. "Actually, that means you're getting better with your powers, right?"

Whoops. Maybe he hadn't been as secretive as he'd liked. He whistled innocently.

"No wonder those twins said you weren't trying your hardest! You have to go show the teachers what you can do! All of it!"

Bakura froze. Okay, so he hit her with a broom. He'd killed his own brother… Maybe he deserved this. But… "I think I'm good here. And even if you tried, you still wouldn't be able to get me in there."

"Ugh! Why do you make him sit here?" Tea turned on Yugi.

"Because his only friend is currently in Egypt getting a few things for the two of us. And his brother and his brother's boyfriend are shunning him." Yami answered for his boyfriend.

Bakura turned on them, a cuckoo bird in a robin's nest. "You know where Malik is? And you didn't say anything?"

It was Yami's turn to be shocked. "He didn't tell you he was leaving? He left my house in your direction last week right after you came back from New York and he said he had to go tell you he was leaving! I thought you knew and just were sulking!"

Bakura grabbed Yami and Yugi and dragged them off into a corner away from Tea and the rest of them. "Tell me everything." He demanded, a furious glint in his eyes.

Ryou watched Bakura with his old friends, Ryou's thoughts fuzzy with emotions. Ugh. They never really cared about him anyways, so he didn't feel bad when he left them to sit with Mariku. Mariku wanted him all to himself, and Ryou didn't mind being coddled one bit. He enjoyed being loved. Cared about.

Bakura never had loved him. Bakura was heartless and an asshole.

But what did bother him was that Bakura got stuck with those annoying twats. Bakura could stand them, could be their friends, meaning that all this time that Ryou had been working so hard to make Bakura a friend all Bakura had to do was talk to someone and they'd become the bestest of buddies? All his hard work just to find out that Bakura had been lying about never being able to make friends!

What kind of horrible person did that to their own brother? Bakura! Bakura had no right to have friends after what he put Ryou through all this time! Ryou had suffered through his curse, thinking that Bakura was helping! Like hell Bakura was helping him and suffering too!

Bakura was the worst! And yet there he was, with friends and an evil grin on his face.

"Hey bunny… do you still love him? Even though he broke my brother's heart? Even though he broke your heart?" Mariku pulled Ryou into his lap.

Ryou thought about it. Did he still love his brother? Bakura was a killer, someone who only hurt, only betrayed trust and lied instead of told the truth, who'd have the world underneath his thumb if he got his way… A super villain.

"He's family. You always love family. I just don't want to love from nearby. I want to love his memory rather than him. Bakura needs to go down. He's far too dangerous." Ryou mused.

"Of course he does, pet." Mariku pulled him away from watching. Both of them didn't realize that a tall student had watched both of them, smirking at a job well done, then leaving with his hair covering his eyes.


Bakura arrived to Kaiba Co. right on time. He knew that the place was strict, even on their janitors. On time, perfectly clean, etc. It was a place that Bakura didn't particularly like, even if Mokuba snuck down from the upper floors to talk to him about their plans. Mariku and Malik were the heads of the rebellion against them, but while Mariku was off doing whatever to Ryou and Malik was in Egypt, Bakura was now sort've in charge.

He had bought a little black notebook that he carried in his pocket, and if he overheard anything he found even slightly suspicious or noteworthy, he wrote it down and gave it to Mokuba. The pages were double sided, meaning if someone ever confiscated it, they would flip through and find it empty. But if they flipped it inside out and around twice then unlocked the flip flap, they'd find that it was full of notes. Good thing the side flap was voice activated. Yugi's stupid game shop was useful sometimes.

Bakura was actually proud of himself for buying the thing. He thought it was a great idea from such a dull person like Yugi. Mokuba agreed and wanted to mass order the things.

But Mokuba had more things on his hands. Like staying out from underneath his older brother's eye. Bakura had seen Seto in his first week as a janitor and he could see why Mokuba was such a basket case sometimes. Seto was a full out psycho.

Malik hadn't got in touch Yami yet, but Yami stopped by Kaiba Co. every so often to keep him updated. Tea and the rest of them didn't know what was between the two of them, but that was probably better because they were doubly annoying and had nothing to do with it. Yami had said he was neutral, not on the side of the rebellion or against, so whatever Malik was doing wasn't related to the rebellion in the slightest.

That made Bakura very curious, but he trusted Yami not to lie. Yami was too much of an annoying goodie two shoes to lie to anyone.

Bakura sighed, and slipped on his uniform, when he spotted a curious face. Joey Wheeler. That annoying guy shouldn't be here in Kaiba Co. The little black notebook was out. *Joey visited Kaiba Co. at 4.15.56 PM on February 2nd* He scratched out with his pencil. He watched the blonde stand around the front office waiting.

Bakura raised an eyebrow. Was Joey on the other side? Why would Joey Wheeler of all the annoying people work against the rebellion? He seemed a more likely candidate for the other side than the Kaiba take over. He'd have to ask Mokuba if Joey was part of the rebellion or Kaiba's side. Or neither and he really had business here to deal with.

Wait, Kaiba Co. didn't do anything useful except rid the world of annoying people. There was no business an annoying person would have here.

Bakura decided that since Joey already knew he worked here, he might as well continue with his job and clean up the front office. Right before Bakura stepped out from the hallway, Kaiba walked out. Bakura froze. Of course, Seto Kaiba never visited the front office, he was the CEO. He had the upper floors to deal with. Why was he down here?

"Glad to know you're late." Kaiba sneered. Bakura pulled out his black notebook and began recording the whole conversation. Idiots didn't talk to Kaiba without reason. Kaiba was a bastard, but he wasn't an idiot.

"I'm so sorry that I actually go to school. Unlike some stupid bastards who have more fun running a large company than get smart-"

"You know perfectly well why I don't attend your disgraceful school, mutt. If you know what's good for your sister, then you'll come with me."

Bakura's eye widened. A threat! Joey was being forced to work with Kaiba for the safety of his sister? That made a lot more sense than him being on the wrong side… Bakura had to find out more! This was way more interesting than sweeping floors! Wait, everything was more interesting than sweeping floors… bleh, still worth it.

Kaiba lead Joey into a private elevator. It opened on his voice. That must take them to Kaiba's private rooms… Bakura watched as it closed. He had to get inside that elevator! This was like a super sexy spy movie, where Kaiba was the evil guy, and Bakura was the spy… ew, Joey would be the damsel in distress. Bakura left that train of thought quickly.

Once he'd waited long enough, he swept across the front office over to the main elevators. He didn't know where that elevator came out, but he had enough knowledge to know that it had exits and entrances on every floor. Knowing Kaiba, they were heading to the penthouse floor at the top, where Kaiba lived these days.

He pressed the button to send them to floor 13. Kaiba wasn't suspicious, so there was a 13th floor and not like other buildings, who left their 13 floor for janitorial things and other necessities, and put the rest of their offices above that. Although in this building, floor 13 was said to be haunted by the ghost of an albino woman named Kisara who had once loved Kaiba and jumped out of this very floor, so it was usually empty.

Bakura didn't even have to sneak around.

He found the elevator shaft, and he pressed the button so the elevator would stop here next. The elevator should have already dropped off Joey and Kaiba, so Bakura wasn't worried. He was worried that if he couldn't pull off Kaiba's voice, then he'd set off some alarm.

And then he had an idea. He didn't have to talk like Kaiba. He just needed to play a recording of Kaiba's voice into the speaker. It wasn't that advanced, it was an elevator after all.

Bakura pulled out his phone and he found a youtube video of one of Kaiba's speeches. He smirked before pressing his speaker to it's receiver. Once the clip of "This is Seto Kaiba." had played, the door swung open and Bakura climbed in.

He looked at the buttons. Penthouse. Hm… but he shouldn't go there, not unless he wanted to be caught. He needed an excuse… Mokuba! Mokuba lived in the penthouse too. He must also use this elevator… if Bakura was caught, and it wasn't likely since he could control whether he was seen or not, he could just say that Mokuba had wanted him and had given him the emergency password to come up into the penthouse via stairs.

Bakura walked out silently to the main hallway, which was white and reminded him of a hospital. How charming. There were only pictures of Mokuba and they were the only things that added color to the whole place.

He heard Kaiba's voice coming from the living room. He snuck through the doorway and he hid in the shadows. He looked around. The room was a light green, one that reminded Bakura of Appletinis and Margaritas. It was classy, high fashion, and Joey was sitting awkwardly on the vibrant green velvet couch.

"Are you going to do it or not?" Joey muttered underneath his breath. Kaiba was in the kitchenette and he was making something.

"What I decide to do with my time is my choice. It's my precious seconds that I can waste at my leisure. You shouldn't go home anyways." Kaiba answered, stone cold.

Joey looked down before his eyebrow melted off his face. Kaiba watched without flinching as the rest of his face dripped off until it was a blank slate. Bakura shuddered. Curses were the most horrible things he'd seen, and Joey's seemed to strip him of not only his face, but also his personality. At least it returned after a while… But unlike Ryou's, it was completely random.

Thank genetics he got the good genes. Handsome devil, and super powerful too.

Kaiba sat down elegantly on the couch next to faceless Joey. His deep blue eyes held no concern. Bakura hated that bastard more than anything… if his face melted off he'd feel his soul crushed.

"Katsuya…" Kaiba muttered, running his fingers through Joey's hair. Bakura's eyes widened. Katsuya? Joey's native Japanese name?

Bakura watched as Kaiba kissed Joey's slowly reforming nose. So that's what this is about. Instead of being a normal person he used his power to force Joey into a relationship? Or was he only doing this because Joey was unconscious and unable to see it and there was more to their relationship.

"Seto. What do you need me to do this time? I don't want to wait here for a million years and have this happen again." Joey cut into the moment.

Kaiba smiled against his nose, pulling the teen in closer. "I want you to find out where your father stored his information."

Joey froze. "My father?"

"He worked for the original Kaiba Corporation as a janitor and he's one of the known survivors of the blast. It was convient that I already knew you and that Serenity is under my control. Your father is a useless piece of shit, I can see how you ended up how you are." Kaiba stroked Joey's head.

Joey was stiff and scared, while Kaiba seemed perfectly content. "What blast…?"

Yes, Kaiba, what blast? Bakura had his notebook poised to write down anything he was told.

"You're very stupid." Kaiba let his fingers rest on Joey's stomach. "Why do you think you were cursed? Why there are powers and curses and those without them? The blast is what really happened in Kaiba Corporation that one fateful day… A large explosion of our new material, not yet released to the public, spread into the air and hit a select few with radiation. It killed almost everyone in Japan, where the explosion happened, and hit the Chinese and California cost the worst."

"My family comes from Japan!" Joey exclaimed. "My dad was a janitor during the blast?"

"Didn't I just explain this? Yes, your father was one of the few survivors. If you haven't noticed, most of the people have curses or powers are Japanese or from the pacific. Europe was mostly unaffected. So was Africa and Australia. I'm Japanese myself."

Bakura was busy scratching down all the new information he'd gathered.

"So you do have a power." Joey accused.

"Yes, I do. I have the ultimate power, the strongest in the world." Seto smirked as Joey's mouth dropped open. Bakura's mouth mirrored his. SETO KAIBA HAD A POWER? But Seto wanted to kill all power and curse holders! That means he hates himself! Or just that he wants to eliminate competition…

"The ultimate power…? Mental-" Joey started. Kaiba pressed a finger to his lips.

"No, I've already made sure everyone with that power has been eliminated. Without them, I have the ultimate power."

Everyone! Bakura's eyes widened. But he had that power? He wasn't eliminated! He had to get out of here, he could just ask Mokuba what Kaiba's power was. He didn't want to die!

"So what's your power?" Joey asked, as Bakura snuck to the elevator. He had to get out now! This was far more dangerous than he thought before.

"I can control emotions. I can make you do anything I want you to, and you won't protest. Because you won't notice yourself doing it. You'll want it more than me… but that's probably why…" Kaiba frowned. "Which is probably why I don't have any of my own."

Bakura pressed the first floor button and he got out of there as quickly as possible.


Bakura watched Joey carefully at school. He seemed on edge. Bakura frowned. Had he missed something? Had Kaiba said something important?

"Bakura!" Ryou's voice bit into his back.

Mariku and Ryou were standing behind him, and Bakura whipped around and glared at the two of them. Mariku was holding Ryou to his side. Ryou's chocolate eyes were worn out. Bakura hadn't been going to their home, so Ryou had to have been dealing with his curse all by himself.

Whatever, it was Ryou's fault for being that way.

"What do you two losers want with the awesome me?" Bakura sniped.

"All I want is for you to leave my friends alone." Ryou spit back. Mariku held him tighter. Bakura was a little put off, what had happened to his sweet little brother? His little brother wouldn't have done any of this.

"Well you're certainly doing just that." He retorted. Hypocritical bastard. "I don't see why I can't hang with them, you're not." They're my only connection to Malik. I need my partner. I have no choice.

"You have no right to hurt them like you hurt me!" The white haired twin slammed his foot down.

"You have no right to ditch me like you ditched them! Why don't the abandoned hang together?" Bakura punched the nearby wall.

"You're a liar and a thief!" Mariku sneered.

"THIS ISN'T YOUR CONVERSATION!" Ryou slapped his boyfriend hard on the right side of his face. Bakura took a step back. What the hell. Ryou would never do this… Ryou was a sweet kid.

"What's wrong with you…? Ryou, you'd never do this!" Bakura protested, grabbing Ryou's wrist before he could hit Mariku again.

"YOU PUSHED ME TO THIS!" Ryou screamed, struggling against Bakura's strength. "You took something of mine, Mariku was meant to be my lover and friend! You hurt something of mine, Malik was always my friend not yours and you used him! You killed something of mine, Akefia was my brother more than you!"

"WHAT THE FUCK?" Bakura threw Ryou wrist as far away as he could. "I was friends with Mariku and Malik before you even talked to them! I didn't use him, what the hell makes you think that? If he was here, he'd tell you exactly what went on between us! You were born last, Akefia had been my brother longer and we always had the same family and parents! We're equally related to him!"

"Malik did tell us. He told me! That he wasn't with you willingly! You used him! You made him say everything!" Mariku spoke up.

"I didn't!" Bakura protested. His argument was weak, how could he prove he didn't do something when the only other person able to verify it was Malik? And if Malik had said that he had, then he had nothing he could say to convince the two of them.

Bakura hadn't. He wouldn't. He didn't control people, it wasn't his thing. He wouldn't control them to love him, he never would.

"You made him say everything! You can! I've seen you do it to me a million times!" Ryou cried out.

With Ryou's determination, Bakura felt something inside him break. He didn't… did he? Bakura knew when he used his own power for heaven's sake. He… could he have used his powers without knowing it?

He'd never done so before, even when he killed Akefia he knew he was using his powers. He just didn't know what he was doing with them… Bakura hated this. He was lost. Confused. Ryou was fucking victimizing him and he had nothing to say. Bakura couldn't hurt Ryou. Anyone else, he could hurt. But Ryou… He'd already done that many times before. He wasn't going to do it again if he had a chance.

Feeling the power inside him trying to explode out, Bakura pushed all of his strength into transforming it into something useful. Imagining the sights, he teleported out of the school straight to the park so no one could see him explode.


Bakura didn't expect that anyone would come looking for him. It was lunch time at school though, and before he knew it he was surrounded. Miho was sitting on the swing next to him, handing him a burrito she'd bought from the school lunch line. Yami and Yugi were building sand castles in the sand underneath the swings. Tristan was pouring everyone a serving of soup. Joey was grinning as he put sand in Serenity's hair. Even Tea, who hated him, was smiling and showing off her dance moves to Duke Devlin.

Bakura finally got the nerve to speak. "Why are you guys here? No offense, but you annoy me on every day other than Friday. And on Friday, you just piss me off."

"We're friends, aren't we? Yami overheard what that little traitor Ryou was saying to you and we knew that we had to go find you. And we… um… tracked your cell phone?" Tea chimed.

"Nice…" Bakura smirked. "Illegal activities now, Tea? I didn't think you needed a new hobby."

She gasped and smacked him hard on the top of the head. In the name of good humor, Bakura let it pass as she said, "It wasn't me!"

Yami and Yugi snickered. "It was us."

"Seriously? I'm the one who hacked into Kaiba Corporation's employee phone numbers and found Bakura's number in there!" Joey inserted. Of course Joey could do that. Bakura raised an eyebrow still. The fact they had all gone so far for him… And Bakura didn't even consider them friends.

Maybe he could deal with them. He would never say he liked them. But maybe he could tolerate them. At best.

"Don't forget me." Bakura heard a shockingly familiar voice add into the mix. Bakura looked straight up into amethyst eyes. Malik smirked down at him. "I flew in all the way from Egypt… to deliver a few packages."

Bakura grinned before jumping up and absolutely smothering the Egyptian in a bear hug. Yeah. And Bakura hated bear hugs with all of his heart. He missed his blond. A fuck lot.

His blond had a fuck lot of explaining to do.

"I can't breathe, Bakura." Malik poked him hard in the ear.

Bakura loosened up, but didn't let go. After that many weeks, he didn't want to. Oh hell no. Not yet.

To his great annoyance, Miho and Tea were cooing over how cute they were. Joey was smiling like a hyena taking pictures with his second hand cell phone and Yami and Yugi were laughing. Tristan politely looked away. Duke wolf whistled.

They were all bastards.

"Okay, seriously guys. We need to get down to business." Malik pushed Bakura all the way off and Bakura settled down in the swing that he'd had abandoned. "I have packages for Yami, Yugi, Joey, Tea, Tristan, Miho, and Duke. Bakura, I have one for you too but it's not of the same manner."

Everyone cheered. Malik calmed them with a hand.

"You do know that if you except these, you'll become a rare-hunter, right?"

Everyone nodded solemnly. Bakura raised an annoyed eyebrow. What was going on behind his back? Yami said he was entirely neutral! Well, apparently not anymore… and, obviously Malik worked in mysterious ways.

"Here ya go, then, everybody!" Malik started passing out golden items.

Bakura felt a necklace pressed into his palms. Malik gave him a brief smile before moving on to give someone else a 'present'. He turned the smooth gold over and over in his palms. Huh… Why did Malik give this to him and tell him it was for something else? Everyone else got some strange gold item, so why was his special?

He knew he was just more awesome in general, but that wasn't always the reason.

"Okay, now you're probably wondering, what the fuck is this?" Malik began explaining the items immediately. "Tristan, your items are linen gloves with gold flakes imbedded. They make your power bursts last longer. Anzu, you have the horus hourglass. It'll help with your time working. Joey, you have something special called the . It looks like makeup, and yeah, it basically is, but once your faces melts off, you can get someone replace it with any new one that you can think of and regain consciousness again and sneak around. It washes off and you get your old face back. Yami, you have the sennen puzzle, the real pyramid of the one you wear around your neck. Yugi, you have a set of three unbeatable game cards called the Egyptian God Cards. Everyone clear?"

"What's mine?" Bakura spoke up, holding up the ring.

"The millennium ring. You have something to protect. There are two souls inside. One of someone you care deeply for, and another of a monster corrupting them slowly…" Malik held the ring, his warm hands cupping gently over Bakura's.

Bakura looked down at the ring and back up to Malik. "Okay, so why did I get the shitty item?"

"You'll want it, trust me." Malik grinned. "And that's not all it does, either. It sends out laser beams from each one of the needles, and also it can detect any type of shadow magic, the power Kaiba Corp tapped into to create the powers."

Anzu jumped up. "Shadow magic? I've never heard of it! Tell me more."

Malik took a regal seat next to Bakura, kicking Miho out of her place. Beh, Bakura preferred him anyway. "Shadow magic goes by many names. Back in ancient Egypt, the pharaohs tapped into this power source to create fantastical items like these and also to have power plays between candidates. These were called Shadow Games. Or a shadow duel, depending on what was happening between them. Kaiba Co. found a source of Shadow magic in Japan, and began sucking out that power to use for a ultra weapon. Instead, it backfired. The weapon exploded, sending the power and the radiation all across the world."

"And a few years later, those with powers or curses were born from the parents who'd been hit with the shadow power or the shadow radiation." Bakura finished. "Those hit with the power ended up with a power, those hit with the radiation ended up with a curse. Those hit with both had some weird ass children."

Joey nodded mutely. "So that's why we have powers and curses."

"The shadow magic is powerful, and to erase those with the powers and curses, Kaiba will definitely try and tap into it again. That's why I collected the items most imbedded with Shadow Magic and gave them to you, so that you'll have some protection over the raw power." Malik smirked, swinging back and forth a bit. Bakura grappled for his hand, and missed. He tried again and grabbed it, feeling his spirit uplifted once again.

He was ready to kick some ass and take some names.


Kaiba stared into the determined chocolate eyes of the albino. He sneered. One of the pathetic cursed ones who didn't deserve to live, his great project. They were taking up space, abominations created by his stepfather's mistakes.

"You have no business being here." Kaiba said softly and slowly, making sure he was heard.

"You have no business telling me why I can't be here. We want to talk to you, Seto Kaiba. Because we want to join you. We want the same things here. People with curses and powers are dragging down the general populace, and my brother has the ultimate power. I have the ultimate curse. We both killed our brother from our mere existence." Ryou stated solemnly but still holding his head proud. Mariku grinned next to him, massaging his arm.

Well that was all going to plan, wait… Kaiba froze in shock. Another one with the ultimate power? He needed to rid the world of those now. Ryou's brother was that… that Bakura one. How had he hidden so well? Used his powers in secret?

"My brother is being stupid, I want to get him back over to our side. We both were treated as demons for having powers, not even worth being inside our family. But he sympathizes with other power holders, instead of wanted to help you find a way to eliminate powers and curses forever, preventing further sadness." Mariku added.

Kaiba nodded, deciding that the plan would still go on. "You want to help your brothers."

"We want to save the world." Ryou agreed. "My brother is a demon, he's a killer, a monster! He needs to die, be gone from the world. Then he will hurt no more."

"We want to save the world." Mariku echoed. "My brother is the leader of the rebellion. He needs to see the truth of the world."

Kaiba watched his two newest servants bow to him as expected, genuine smiles adorning their faces. "I accept. We will start our plans, then."


Weird chappie is weird. Next chapter will take a while, since I'm still writing it actually. Forgive! I know already that my updates are sporadic and random at best. Oh well. It'll always be this way, I'm just not fit to keep a professional schedule without someone else there to make sure it's enforced. Tell me what you think, I always appreciate that! Also, I do not own Yu-Gi-Oh. Obviously.

Thanks a trillion to those who have already faved and reviewed, I adore you all and I want to smother you with much love and many updates.