Chapter 4: The House

Bakura stood very stiffly and walked over to a stone block. He held his stomach and sat down on the block. "Marik, next time, let Anna drive."

"Actually, I can get that bad sometimes, too."

"Only sometimes, though. Marik drives like that consistently."

"All right, Marik, time to get off. I have to go park this thing. Oh, hey, Henry. One quick question: is this the new ride or is this just temporary? Really? Awesome! Thanks. Remind me to give you a raise." Anna hit the button in the front of the bike and it shuddered. Marik jumped off just before it started to fold back into it's normal size.

"How are we going to do that in public."

"We don't. Now come on, we have to hurry." She ran up to the door quickly, looked around, and unlocked the door. Marik quickly followed, then Bakura, still getting over his stiffness from the bike ride.

"Whoa." As Marik looked around, he wondered how Anna was on the run. "It's beautiful."

The main room was huge. A fiery red chandelier hung from the domed ceiling, casting a light orange shine over everything in the room. An intricate dragon pattern was carved into the ceiling, twisting over on itself as the tail wound from on side of the room to the other and back to the middle where the mouth was spewing fire that was the chandelier. The dragon was painted black, and the rest of the ceiling and the walls were painted a deep purple.

A large fireplace kindled ever so slightly across the room. On the mantle, trophies and prizes for charity work in other countries. A large, wooden table sat in the middle of the room. It was shaped like a griffin with the wings wings made of glass. They stuck straight into the air almost reaching the chandelier. The area between the area was also made of glass, forming a display case. Inside, floated the most beautifully crafted sword they had seen.

The hilt was made of a black metal and had a simple purple gem that matched the one in Anna's necklace. There were carvings in the hilt of the sword were very intricate and looked Elven. "That must be a very heavy sword," muttered Bakura, obviously jealous.

"I don't know. I've never picked it up."

"You must have touched it at least once. How else would you have put it in the display case?"

"Henry did it for me." Bakura sighed and rolled his eyes. "Anyway, the bedrooms and bathrooms are to the left, and the closets and kitchen are to the right."

"Closets? Plural?" asked Marik.

"Yeah..." Marik looked at Bakura and ran towards the hallway on the right. "Wait! There's more to it than that. Come on, Bakura." Anna walked towards the hallway on the right. "See, the problem is, the only male clothes I have are the ones that Henry has, and I don't think those will fit you guys."

"You've got to be kidding me," Bakura muttered.

"Unless you would rather go shopping."

"I'll deal. Besides, I thought we were supposed to be undercover."

"Who says we have to leave the house?" Anna smirked. Marik looked at Bakura with a pleading look. Bakura sighed and looked expectantly at Anna. "Come with me." She backtracked into the main room then went to the other hallway. She turned into the first door on the right and turned on a computer. She pulled up two chairs, and scribbled the password on a piece of paper, which she then handed to Marik.

"I'll be back in a little while. I have to wash all of this bloody hair dye out."

As soon as Anna turned the water off, she heard Bakura and Marik arguing: "I'm not wearing that!"

"I'm not subjecting myself to that!"

"Aw, Bakura, you're no fun!"

"Sod off, Marik!"

Anna shook her head and slipped on a simple gray dress. She dried and fluffed her hair a bit, happy that it was once again its natural white color. She opened the cabinet and grabbed a pair of gray slippers and gloves and put them on. Taking a deep breath, she walked out the door and down the hall to where she had left Bakura and Marik.

Bakura had thrown Marik on the floor and was now laying on top of him. Marik was pulling on Bakura's millennium ring, choking him. Bakura reached for Marik's pocket, trying to grab his millennium rod. Marik put his free hand on Bakura's chest, trying to push him off. Anna chuckled, "Am I interrupting something?"

Bakura jumped up and brushed his jacket off. Marik sat up and leaned back onto his arms. They both cleared their throats and glanced nervously around the room. "Hey, don't mind me. I can leave, if you want."

"No, we're done," Bakura said quietly, still looking at the floor. Anna raised her eyebrow and shook her head again.

"Anyway, how's the, uh, shopping going?"

Marik stood up and looked at Anna. "What the frig?" he shouted. "Why is your hair white?"

"The black was just hair dye. This is my natural hair color." Bakura snapped his head up and stared at her hair. It was the same color as his own. Marik kept looking back and forth between Bakura and Anna. The familiarity. The similarities. Her avoiding him. His sister.

"I thought you were dead."

"So did everyone else. I had a funeral, remember?"

"How did you survive? We buried you. Even if you were alive, you would have suffocated."

She moved closer and held out her hands to Bakura. He hesitantly took them. There were scars along her knuckles. "I dug myself out."

"Okay, that's all well and good, but you would have to have inhuman strength in order to do that."

"Why do I wear gloves, Bakura?" she said, as though talking to a small child. He looked puzzled for a minute, then his face lit up in understanding.

Marik moved a little closer. "If someone could clue me in here, I would really appreciate it." Anna took one of her gloves off and held her hand out to Marik. Where skin should have been, there was metal. Anna pressed down on the metal with her other hand it a door open to reveal wires. On the inside of the door, a symbol that resembled the one on all the millennium items was carved. "Is this-"

"Stolen from the pharaoh," she pointed at Bakura. "It doesn't actually have any special powers or anything, it just has the pharaoh's symbol on it."

"Oh, well, still. So, this thing gives you super strength?"

"Only in my hand. I have one on the other hand, too."

"Oh," Marik nodded, still slightly confused. Anna closed the hatch and slipped her glove back on.

"Anyway-"

"Anna, do you forgive me? Be honest."

Anna looked down at the ground, "Only a little." Her speech was barely audible.

"Don't feel bad," Bakura took a step towards her, causing her to flinch. "If I can make you, of all people flinch, I obviously don't even deserve that much."

"Yes, well, I do need to know if you guys have disguises yet."

"Not exactly," muttered Bakura.

Marik rolled his eyes and said, "We would if you would agree to what I picked out for you." Bakura and Marik continued arguing while Anna went over to see what was on the computer screen. She glanced at Bakura, then back at the screen and started laughing.

"Yeah, Bakura, I really can't imagine you in that. Here, I have a few ideas. Let me call Henry and tell him what we need. He'll bring it over in a little while," she glanced at her watch. "I know it's the middle of the day, but why don't you try and get some sleep. You'll need it." I'll get some food and various other supplies together."

Bakura and Marik glanced worriedly at each other. Anna laughed, "One of you can use the other room down the hall. It's smaller, but it has a bed in it. Marik let out a sigh of relief and went down the hall to the other room.

Anna shut off the computer and walked out, shutting the door behind her. She quickly walked down to Marik's room and saw that he was already in bed. She smiled and softly closed the door behind her. She walked out to the main room and checked the yard. She went outside and turned the motorcycle on. Checking again, she drove around to the back of the house and up a ramp into the built in garage. She walked back around to the front and locked the front door.

"Hey, Henry, is there any way to guarantee tonight? I know, but they're already tired and you know how long it takes to get the disguises and all that. Besides, it would be best to leave at night anyway. Alright. Speaking of disguises, I need you to get the new ones. Do we have our new tailor already? Okay-" she went on, describing the disguises for all of them.