Woo, here was are at chapter four! Yay! Before we get this show on the road, I would like to make a special shout out to melrocks622 because coincidentally it is her birthday today! Yay, good for you!
Disclaimer!: The series Yu-Gi-Oh is unowned by Black-Neko-Chan. Though Black-Neko-Chan does own many things, sadly enough Yu-Gi-Oh is not one of them, though she is thinking about asking for it when her own birthday come rolling around again. But she fully acknowledges that that shall not happen, so that is why she must make this piece of fanfiction. Now go read it. And love it.
"I'm back Ryou," Bakura said as he entered the house. Ryou was sitting on the couch with a book open on his lap, presumably doing homework.
"Did you have a good time at Marik's house?" He inquired.
"I only went over there to give him back his keys Ryou," Bakura said as he took a seat on the couch.
"So? That doesn't mean you couldn't have had a good time," Ryou replied. Bakura sighed. His brother was so nosy!
"I had an interesting time okay? When I walked into his room it looked like he and his brother were about to make out or something." Ryou made an odd, scrunched up face at that comment.
"You don't think they're like that, do you?" He asked, sounding perplexed. Bakura laughed.
"Nah, I don't think so. Although Porcupine does seems to be a little too interested in his brother for it to be healthy," He responded, then chuckled. "Guess that must suck for you. There'd be no chance of you getting with the crazier of the two Doublemint Twins then, ne Ryou?" Ryou's face instantly flushed and he looked indignant, which only made his brother's chuckles turn into full-blown laughter.
"I do not want to 'get with him!'" He insisted.
"Sure you do! You already admitted to having the hots for him, so why wouldn't you want to have a bit of fun?" Bakura teased, easily amused by watching his twin's flustered stuttering as he tried to deny this.
"Oh, you're a jerk!" Ryou exclaimed.
"This I have been told," Bakura agreed once his laughter had died down. Ryou's whole face was bright red and he looked him he was pouting, which only made his brother want to laugh even more, but he refrained from doing this. Fun as teasing Ryou even more would be, he knew his younger brother didn't like it, and he didn't want to upset the other.
Well I'm sure you wouldn't want Marik to be with Malik, would you?" Ryou asked.
"If I didn't know any better little brother, I would think you seem very eager to talk about Marik with me. You wouldn't be trying to play matchmaker, now would you?" Bakura questioned as he cocked an eyebrow. He expected Ryou to deny this accusation, but instead he did just the opposite.
"I want you to be happy Bakura," He said softly, now completely serious. Bakura was a little taken aback by the sudden mood change.
"I'm happy now Ryou," Bakura said lightly, trying to turn the whole subject into a joke. Ryou frowned and looked at him with big, sad mocha brown eyes and Bakura reluctantly became serious.
"But you don't have anyone with you. Aren't you lonely?" Ryou asked. He began to twirl a piece of his ivory-colored hair around one finger. Bakura frowned slightly and pulled Ryou against his chest and wrapped his arms around him in a sort of half-hug.
"I'm not lonely. I've got you here," Bakura said as he placed his chin atop his brother's shoulder. Ryou shifted slightly, no doubt from the ticklish feeling of his breath against his ear. Ryou leant back against Bakura's chest and sighed.
"Are you sure? I'm just one person," Ryou said. Bakura felt an urge to roll his eyes but controlled it. He hated it when Ryou acted like this. His brother went through these strange stages of self-doubt and became depressed. It had been such a long time since it had happened that Bakura had thought he might have grown out of them, or something, but now here he was doing it again. He wondered what it was that had brought this on.
"You're the only person I can stand to be around. Everyone else is a nuisance at best. I don't need some kind of deep relationship to make me happy," Bakura said.
"But if you found the right person I'm sure you would be," Ryou insisted.
"Ryou," Bakura called. Ryou turned his head sideways to look at him.
"I am fine," Bakura insisted, enunciating each word carefully so the other would understand. He took the hand Ryou was using to play with his hair in his own, and moved his chin from Ryou's shoulder to make sure he had the other's attention completely. Ryou turned his gaze away from his for a moment, and then looked back. The saddened look was gone from his face and replace with one of a hesitant determination. Bakura was again surprised by how fast he could change moods.
"Well will you at least give Marik a chance? Even if you don't think it would make you happy, could you at least try? For me?" Ryou asked hopefully. He looked up at him cutely, and Bakura fought the urge to smile and lost. He laughed softly, and pulled Ryou closer to him in a hug.
"If it's for you of course I could," He told him. Ryou smiled brightly at him, then snuggled into Bakura's embrace and relaxed. Bakura chuckled lightly.
"What is it?" Ryou inquired.
"Nothing," He answered. Once again it seemed that he had fallen pray to his brother's innocent charm. Ryou could get him to do whatever he wanted, it seemed. The two sat there quietly, happily.
00000
"Rishid is back," Malik informed. Marik looked up from his homework to see his twin standing in his doorway, face as expressionless ad if it had been carved from marble, exactly the way he;' known it would be.
"Okay," Marik said. He placed his book on the floor and left his bed to join Malik, but the other had already left. He stared at the spot where he'd been for a moment wistfully, then sighed and shook his head. He wished he knew what was wrong with his brother, he really did.
For the past two days now Malik had been like this. He locked himself up in his room as soon as they got home from school and only came out if it was required. When he did emerge his expression was always blank and unreadable, and he hardly spoke. When Isis had tried to talk to him he had ignored her completely and gone back into his room, which both she and Marik believed was ruined. More than once they had both heard Malik throwing things around in there. Malik would not allow them to enter it however, to see the extent of the damage he had caused.
Marik sighed again and headed down the stairs. Maybe Rishid would be able to talk to Malik now that he was back. Marik hoped he would be able to, but realistically he doubted it. Rishid would have no more luck with him than Isis. Most likely the only person that would be able to get Malik to talk was him. He had always been the closest to Malik. Maybe it was because they were twins or maybe it was for a completely different reason altogether, but Marik was able to understand him better than anyone else. He knew that he could get Malik to open up, though he was hesitant to try. He didn't want to admit it, but Malik had really scared him the last time they had been alone together.
Marik felt like he was betraying his brother somehow by admitting this, but it was the truth. He'd actually been scared of his own brother. And now because of that he was afraid to try and talk with him and help him. It was pathetic really. If Marik betrayed him, then who would Malik have left?
Rishid was sitting on the couch. He looked tired and worn out. Isis was tending to an ugly red wound that stretched up the length of his forearm. Malik sat across from him on the recliner, looking interested in the slightest, but other than that showing nothing. Marik sat down on the staircase so he could see Rishid and Isis, but stayed away from Malik. That action reminded him of how pathetic he was acting, and he felt disappointed in himself.
"How did things go Rishid?" He asked conversationally to disrupt the silence.
"My information was slightly incorrect. There were two more than I thought there would be, so things were more difficult than I'd envisioned. Perhaps I should have taken you two along with me like you'd suggested," Rishid replied jokingly.
"I guess so," Marik said. He smiled a fake smile and the silence continued. Rishid winced as Isis put a towel soaked with disinfectant on his wound.
"We'll have to be more careful in the future. If your information had been off anymore or if you weren't as good a hunter as you are you could have come back with worse injuries that just this," She murmured.
"That's unnecessary. The information was wrong, but what's happened has happened and I'm fine," Rishid soothed. Isis's blue eyes flashed angrily.
"This time you were okay. But what about the next? What happens if things don't turn out so nicely? You know how dangerous what we do is. There's no point in making it even more so by having faulty information," Isis lashed out. Rishid winced again as she moved the towel.
"How has school been? Have either of you gotten in trouble again?" Rishid questioned, changing the subject. Not that Marik blamed him. When Isis was determined to get her way there was no stopping her and no point in arguing with her.
"It's been fine," Marik answered. He looked at his twin to see if he would add anything to the conversation, but the other stayed quiet.
"Marik became friends with the boy he got in a fight with," Isis said. Malik's face darkened for a split-second, then it was back to normal as if nothing had happened. If Marik hadn't been looking at him he probably wouldn't have even noticed. Not that it helped him in any sort of way to figure out that was wrong. He'd already known of Malik's dislike for Bakura.
"He's not my friend. We just sit next to each other in class, that's all. Nothing more," Marik said. Malik turned slightly toward him at that, and Marik wondered whether the movement meant anything.
"Well you seem like friends to me," Isis amended. She had finished with the towel by now and was covering up the wound in gauze.
"Is he a good person?" Rishid inquired.
"Marik said he was. I met him briefly and he seemed nice," Isis said.
"Well then maybe you should become friends with him Marik. Might be a good thing," Rishid commented.
"Yeah, maybe," Marik agreed softly. Maybe becoming friends with Bakura would be a good thing? That was the advice he seemed to be receiving all pointed to that anyways. He was unsure though. Friends weren't something he was used to. If he did become friends with the thief he would have no clue what to do and how to act. And there was the question of how Malik would react to it. Marik was going to assume not well.
"How about you Malik? You haven't said one word since I got back. How are you?" Rishid questioned. Isis stopped her bandaging of Rishid's arm and diverted her attention to Malik, as did Marik.
"Fine," Malik responded. He said no more but instead got up, no doubt to go to his room. As he passed Marik on the stairway their eyes locked for a moment. It ended and Malik had left.
"Something has been bothering Malik lately. For the past two days now he's been so distant... I don't know what's wrong with him, he won't talk to me," Isis explained quietly. That caused Marik to again feel disappointment at himself. Now they were talking about Malik behind his back. And no matter how softly Isis spoke, he could no doubt still hear them.
"Do you think I should say something to him?" Rishid asked.
"I will," Marik said quietly. His siblings looked at him. Isis appeared like she was about to object, but thought better of it and decided not to. That was just as well, because if she had tried to talk him out of it she would end up succeeding. Marik really didn't want to confront his brother. Maybe it was selfish and babyish, but it was the truth. But he knew he had to. When his eyes had locked with Malik's on the staircase he had seen pain in those violet orbs, and he needed to sate his curiosity as to why.
He stood up abruptly and began to climb the stairs. He wondered if Malik could hear him. He wondered if he knew what he was planning. In movies whenever the character was headed somewhere they were uncertain about going to the hallway and their destination seemed to only get further and further away. For Marik this didn't happen, and he almost wished that it had. Instead he reached the door to Malik's room with frightening speed.
He stood at the door for a moment, wondering what exactly would happen when he knocked. Would Malik let him in? Would he even open the door for that matter? Marik shook his head and knocked.
"Hey Malik. It's me," He said hopefully. Marik heard the bed in Malik's room creak, and then heard footsteps pad across the room. They stopped at the door and opened it. Malik stood there, looking blank.
"Hi," Marik said uncertainly. His look-alike said nothing, but continued to stare at him blankly. He did however, raise one eyebrow pointedly. Marik felt his cheeks heat up.
"Stupid thing to say I guess," He mumbled, scratching his head for the sake of doing something. Malik seemed to silently agree with him. Marik fidgeted under his gaze, unsure of what to do or say next. He'd sort of been expecting the other to at least say something to him, and now that he wasn't it made things hard for him to continue. When, Mark wondered, had it ever been so hard for him to talk with his brother?
"So umm... can I come in?" Marik questioned. Malik stood there with the same expression on his face and Marik thought he'd been rejected. Then to his surprise Malik opened the door and allowed him in.
The very first thing he noticed was that Malik had indeed ruined his room. His was almost the mirror image of Marik's own, with the absence or change in a few posters of bands or other things because they had different tastes, but with the state it was in now one could hardly tell. Two posters had been ripped from the walls, one of which Marik recognized as being a Slipknot poster he had painstakingly got his brother as a present for his birthday two years ago. Malik had treasured that poster, and now to see it in pieces on his wall and on the floor shot through Marik and hurt him deeply. It made him aware of just how much he had angered and hurt his brother, and now he wished that he had come up here to talk with Malik sooner, instead of hiding in the living room like a coward.
The rest of the room was in a similar chaos. There were two holes in the wall that Marik could see of, and more than likely others where he couldn't. The wooden chair that used to sit in front of Malik's desk had been smashed to pieces, and the lamp on the desk was broken. Malik had evidently also taken his fury out on his pillow because it was ripped in half, and his clothes because they were strewn haphazardly across the floor. Marik didn't see the blanket belonging to Malik's bed anywhere, so he wondered what his twin could be doing at night without a pillow or blanket, what he was sleeping on, if he was even sleeping at all. Marik could picture a startling realistic vision of Malik just sitting on his bed wide-eyed all night in the dark. He again felt terrible for not coming up here sooner.
"What?" Malik asked blankly.
"I just came up here to talk," Marik answered. Malik closed the door to his room, in effect closing Marik in there with him. He couldn't run away now. Malik stood in front of him expectantly, and Marik didn't know what to say. He hadn't planned anything at all, and still wasn't even quite sure of what he should say.
"Well... we're all really worried about you," Marik began. He kept his eyes locked on Malik's face for any change in his composure. He could almost make out a phantom smirk, and knew that if this had been any other occasion and Malik had been acting normal he would have teased him for using such a corny line. Other than that, nothing.
"We can all tell that something is wrong, even Rishid and he just got back. So, could you tell me what's wrong? Maybe I can help," Marik continued. Malik was still silent. Figured he wouldn't give out his secrets this easily.
"Does Bakura have anything to do with this? Or Ryou?" His face showed nothing, but brief anger flashed in Malik's purple orbs at the mention of those two names and Marik knew he'd been right in asking about them.
"Okay," He continued, "So I already know that this has to do with them and that you don't like Bakura. I can understand that completely, but what I don't get is why you're so angry. I mean, you've disliked people I've hung out with before, but you've never acted like this." Marik fell into silence now, as he pondered the reason why this might be so. He got an idea and put it into action.
"Is it because of the friend thing?" Marik asked. That got the reaction he'd been looking for. Now Malik's whole face contorted into a sneer and he dropped the silent act.
"Of course it's because of that!" He lashed out. "I thought I was quite clear on that!"
"Yes, if anything, you were very clear on that," Marik bit back sarcastically. Now that he had achieved getting Malik to talk he was surprised to find that he was the one pissed off. He had known all along that Malik would be, but to hear that fury actually coming from him angered Marik as well. He felt that Malik's anger had no grounds while his was perfectly justified. This whole time he'd had to deal with his twin's strange mood swings, and now the other was going to act mad? Yeah right.
"What I need to know is why the idea of me having friends bothers you so much. Why does it bother you so much that you go fucking insane, huh?" Marik yelled, voice growing louder as he got angrier. Malik almost looked surprised for a moment, then he sneered.
"Why the hell do you even care Marik? Why don't you just go hang out some more with your little 'friends,'" He suggested angrily.
"I would rather be hanging out with Bakura than here with you!" Marik spat. Malik only grew madder at that comment, but hurt flashed in his eyes.
"Of course you would," He said lowly. "If we're all done now, what say you leave now Marik? I much rather preferred my own company than yours." Malik turned his back on him and Marik saw red. He grabbed his twin by his shoulders and spun him around so they were face to face.
"I'm not leaving until you tell me what the hell your problem is," He growled. Malik glared back at him.
"I don't want you to leave me," He said softly, and yanked himself out of Marik's grasp. Marik stood there, stunned and disbelieving of the strange tone he heard coming from his usually evil brother. Malik sounded hurt and sad, but at the same time fierce. It was a strange combination, and it left Marik speechless. He felt his anger drain as fast as it had come as he finally understood.
He and Malik had always been the only ones for each other. Since they'd been young, and especially the older they got they only grew even closer. Now that Marik was becoming closer to Bakura and even Ryou, Malik felt like he was getting left behind. And now that Marik thought about it, he really hadn't been spending much time with the other. It really wasn't much of a surprise that he would come up with an idea like that.
"Malik, I'm not going to leave," Marik said lightheartedly. Malik said nothing. He had his head at an angle so that his sand-colored bangs covered his eyes. Marik couldn't even begin to know what he was feeling or thinking.
"Come one Malik, you know me better than that!" Marik exclaimed. He still received no response and now he frowned. He moved closer to Malik's still figure but stopped when he didn't know how to continue. Other people might hug, but neither of them were the type to do such activities.
"I'm not going to leave Malik. Regardless of anything having to do with Bakura, you're my brother and the only one who knows who I truly am. It doesn't matter if I become friends with anyone, I'm not just going to start ignoring you," Marik said.
"Why should I believe that?" Malik questioned suddenly, sharply.
"Bakura's just some guy. Friends or not, there's not way he could come close to being your equal," Marik said truthfully. Both of them were silent. They'd both exposed too much of themselves in this show of emotions, and now they didn't know how to move on. Marik hoped that he'd been able to make Malik understand. If he had, then he promised he would pay more attention to Malik and do more activities with him. As long as he stopped acting so strange.
"Come on Malik. Please go back to normal?" Marik pleaded. He pouted slightly and looked at his younger brother hopefully. Malik silently contemplated this, facing him but giving away nothing in his expression. For a tense moment nothing happened at all. Then the corners of Malik's mouth slowly curled upward into a smirk and the moment had passed.
"How pathetic brother. Reduced to begging? I suppose I am more important to you than I'd thought," Malik said.
"Well of course," Marik smiled. "You know," He continued, "Our punishment requires us to clean the house, and for the past two days that you've been hiding up here the house hasn't gotten cleaned, and today is Sunday, so we need to hurry up and do that before the week ends and Isis gives us another week's worth of punishment time."
"Ah, I understand now why you came up here. You want my help with that," Malik smirked.
"Pretty much," Marik agreed. The two of them grinned at each other for a moment before leaving Malik's ruined room and descending down the stairs, talking as if nothing had ever happened between them. Isis was surprised at the change, Marik could see that, but she was happy as well. When they told her they were going to clean the house she just smiled and headed up the stairs, probably to so what remained of Malik's room after it had seen two days worth of him raging around in it.
Marik was happy that Malik was acting normal now, but some part of his conscious told him that it couldn't just be this easy. For now he had reassured Malik, but it wouldn't last. He hadn't solved the issue, after all, just merely put it off for a while. He would have to think of a way to solve this. But for now he would just hang out with his brother.
00000
A putrid smell lingered in the air with a thick, heavy fog of grayish black smoke emitted from the oven. The food that had come from the oven was also black and had been charred, didn't even look like food anymore. It looked brown in some parts, and it other's bubbled and popped, sending little sprays of brown, reddish goo on the pan the once edible food rested on. Why Marik had ever thought that he would be able to cook vegetable lasagna he would never know.
Malik hadn't even bothered to attempt to make food. Instead he just gazed at Marik's with disgust and scowled. Marik would have just made a ramen, but if he'd made it in front of Malik he would want some, and that was certainly not something he wanted to risk. Their punishment was only a week and a half over, and Marik was almost out of his stash.
"I don't think we can eat this," Marik mumbled.
"Come up with that all by yourself did you? I don't know why you even bother. It seems all we can produce is inedible even for rodents and insects," Malik drawled lazily from his spot against the counter as he gazed at the ruined food through half-lidded purple eyes.
"Well I had to try, unless I wanted to starve that is," Marik said, flicking a chunk of blonde hair over his shoulder with a shake of his head.
"You could have always made one of you ill-gotten ramen," Malik scoffed and Marik flushed.
"I'm running low on those," He mumbled.
"Well then," Malik grinned, a decidedly animalistic leer coming to his face, "Maybe we should do something else for dinner. I'm thinking fast food. How abut you, dear brother?"
"We can't get fast food without any money, and Isis is keeping our pockets empty. I think the hunger has gone to your head," Marik reminded.
"Among other things," Malik grinned, and grabbed Marik by the hand. He left the house with a quick "We're going out" to Isis and no mention of where they were headed. It was steadily growing dark outside, and by the time they had left the forested area around their house and were instead surrounded by big buildings and bustling passerby's the sun had gone down completely and the city of Domino was lit by artificial light.
The dark blanketing the city had a sort of appeal to Marik, who preferred night to day. Domino's night life also appealed to the sort of people Isis wouldn't like for the two of them to hang out with, for there were a lot of weirdos hanging out.
With a purposeful air about him, Malik bumped into one of those aforementioned weirdos. This guy had messy, greasy looking, dyed green hair that hung in front of his sunglass covered eyes in strands. He was covered in a big brown coat, and scowled at the two of them.
"Watch where you're goin'!" He called out.
"Why? You want to start something?" Malik asked excitedly. His pink tongue darted between his lips to moisten them and the guy fled rather quickly.
"I bet he thought you were a molester," Marik commented, rolling his eyes.
"So? At least I got this," Malik smirked, holding out a square, grubby leather item that was undoubtedly a wallet. Marik's eyes widened as he understood what Malik had just done.
"You pick-pocketed him? Why would you do that?" Marik cried, incredulous.
"Hmm? For the sake of fast food, my dear brother. All for the fast food," Malik responded. He opened the wallet and began to leaf through it, then frowned when he only discovered two hundred yen. "Guess we'll need a little more than this. Alright, you distract our next victim and I'll grab another wallet."
"No!" Marik protested.
"Why?" Malik asked, raising an eyebrow.
"You know what Isis said! She doesn't want us stealing anymore!" Marik hissed, grabbing his twin by the arm and leading him against the dies of a building and off the street, away from any potential eavesdroppers.
"So?"
"So she'll know!"
"How? Unless she has spies wandering around the streets of Domino, I doubt she'll be any wiser," Malik explained crossly, a little put off that Marik wasn't all for his ingenious plan. He was the one that did most of the stealing between the two of them after all. Malik had always been more in favor of forcing someone to part with their valuables up-front than sneaking around and stealing them like Marik.
"Isis has those weird 'Elder Sister Powers' or whatever. She'll know for sure," Marik said. Malik felt an uncontrollable urge to laugh at his brother's ridiculously immature antics. So he did. Marik pouted.
"It's true!" He insisted.
"Stupid. She only told us that when we were younger to keep us from behaving badly," Malik scolded.
"Yeah well, I don't know about you, but I know I was better behaved after Isis found out what we'd been planning on doing to the neighbor's cat," Marik pointed out. Malik stopped his raucous laughter for a moment.
"You are right about that one. I still don't know how she figured out about that plan," Malik mused, "But that's not the point. The point is that it's her fault anyways that we have to steal. If she hadn't put us under this idiotic punishment we would be able to eat and wouldn't have been reduced to pick pocketing. And besides, we haven't stolen anything else, so something this small is hardly betraying her trust compared to the things we used to do," He reasoned. Marik was silent. His brother could make sense sometimes. The only problem with that line of reasoning that Marik had stolen something bigger than a wallet.
"You haven't stolen anything, correct brother?" Malik questioned. Marik looked up at him in surprise. He didn't know did he? Not that Malik would care that much, but if he knew maybe Isis did too. Bakura, that moron, had worn the Sennen Ring around his neck at school the very next day after Marik had given it to him. Had Malik perhaps recognized it and figured it all out?
"No," Marik answered.
"Great. Then let's go," Malik said, an eerie grin gracing his already scary features. And Marik decided what the heck, they were only taking enough to get some food when they could be doing something much worse. Plus it could be fun.
"So I'm the distraction right?" Marik asked, grinning himself a little. He knew it was bad, but Malik's good mood was contagious, and besides, being bad was so much fun.
"If you think you can handle that," Malik teased gleefully, more than happy that his brother was playing along. Now he wouldn't have to force him.
"Oh, I can handle that alright," Marik shot back confidently. "Her." He nodded his head in the direction of a lone teenage girl walking on the street talking on her phone.
"Heh heh. Easy pray," Malik cackled. The two nodded at each other with identical smirks plastered on their similar faces and Marik sauntered over to the girl, who remained unbeknownst to this plot against her.
"Hello," Marik greeted as he stepped into the girl's path.
Her eyes widened and her jaw dropped slightly for a second before she regained her composure and smiled too eagerly. "I'll call you back later, okay Korin?" She said quickly, then shut her phone and had it stuffed into the depths of her purse before even waiting to hear a response from her friend. "Hi!" She greeted, gushing. "Is there anything you wanted?"
"Only to know your name. I saw you across the street and felt the strongest sensation overcome me. I just had to come here and find out your name. If it weren't for that I would have never acted so bold," Marik smiled. The girl giggled at him and Marik couldn't believe how easy this was. All he needed were his looks and some acting skills. Women were so... simple to fool.
"It's Tiro. And it's perfectly fine that you came over here. Actually, I'm really glad that you did," The girl giggled. Out of the corner of her eyes Marik saw his younger twin sneak closer to their victim.
"Really? I know if something like that happened to me I'd be creeped out by it," Marik laughed. The teen girl in front of him laughed also, a high-pitched, falsetto sound that made him want to grimace and cover his ears. Malik had almost reached the goal. His skillful hands were mere inches away from the girl's purse and their ticket to fast food.
"I'm sure I would have found it creepy too if it were anyone besides you," She smiled, just as Malik gave him a meaningful look and retreated back to the building the two of them had been talking by.
"Okay well that's good. Sorry but I've got to go now," Marik said quickly, leaving the girl standing on the sidewalk looking at bit confused at his sudden and rude departure. Oh well, not like he cared.
"We have achieved our goal. Let's go before the girl notices why I was so quick to leave," Marik said as he neared his twin and partner-in-crime. The two started briskly walking away from the scene of the crime and to the nearest fast food restaurant.
"You really did a number on her didn't you? She was completely enthralled with you. You get her name and number?" Malik teased.
"No luck with a number but I did get her name. Tory or something like that," Marik said absentmindedly. He could really care less about this stupid girl's name, he just wanted to eat! It was mean, and he did realize this, but he didn't care. Maybe later he would fret over the feelings of the poor girl whose name he couldn't even remember, but only after his stomach had been sated.
00000
"Marik! Get your ass out of bed!"
Marik groggily rolled over, still half asleep and with one foot in the realm of his dreams and one foot out. He had no recollection of what exactly his dream had been about, but he did remember white hair.
"Get up you lazy fool, or I'll leave without you!"
"Huh? What's going on Malik? What time is it?" Marik questioned, yawning as he sat up in his bed and saw his brother there.
"About 2:30," Malik dismissed, "Now hurry up and get dressed!"
"Why? I wanna go back to sleep. Come on, we've got school in the morning Malik," Marik whined.
"One of our traps went off Marik! There's a vampire!" Malik explained excitedly. Marik's eyes widened. Any lingering drowsiness was instantly gone. He was wide-awake now, and for the first time noted that Malik was fully dressed in black.
"Isis and Rishid already went on ahead to search for it. Now come on, before we miss all the fun!" Malik urged. Marik nodded and the other left the room while he quickly changed into black like his brother. Before he left the room he unlocked the bottom drawer of his desk and took out a machete, a stake, and a flask of holy water. He wasn't sure how useful the stake or holy water would be, but he did know that if they were going hunting, he was going to want a weapon.
He grabbed the three items and stuck the machete in its sheath at his side, then exited the room and descended the stairs with Malik and left the house. Without a word they silently split up and each went their separate way into the dark forest.
Marik could hear his heart thumping loudly in his ears as his adrenaline rushed through his body and he silently crept through the forest. He wanted to run through the woods in search of the vampire, body quivering and practically urging him to do so, but he forced himself to go quietly as to not make a sound. It was possible that their trap had missed the vampire, and if that was the case then if was crucial that he be careful. A wounded vampire could still be dangerous, but one that was merely pissed off was even worse.
Marik could understand completely why Malik was so excited. It had been a long time since the two of them had hunted anything. They had killed a nest of vampires not too long after moving to Japan and since then nothing. Isis and Rishid however, hunted all the time. The only reason they'd even let Marik and Malik help them out with the nest had been because the two of them had agreed that they would need it.
Even though both twins had been taught since they were young the skills required for them to hunt and had honed these skills through practice and experience, Isis didn't want the two of them to fight. She didn't want hunting to be their only life. The only reason they were out now was because this hunt was right at their doorstep. Isis would have had to wake the two of them in case they were attacked directly and had to be ready. And of course neither of them would have stayed in the house once they'd known what was going one.
Marik crept stealthily past trees and bushes, checking to see if any of their traps had gone off when he came to them. Malik, Isis, and Rishid would be doing the same. When they found the trap that had gone off if it had hit, the bloodsucker wouldn't be too far behind.
He hoped that no one had found it yet. He wanted that pleasure. Unconsciously Marik began to finger the machete that hung at his side.
He froze immediately when he heard a sound. Now Marik gripped the handle of the machete fully. He searched for whatever had made the noise. His heart pounded in his ears and was so loud that he marveled it did not alert his presence to whoever was there. He heard another noise and his eyes quickly went to the source of it. Some kind of small animal darted into a bush and Marik sighed in relief. He felt slightly foolish for being so startled by a rodent. Malik would have made fun of him mercilessly if he'd seen this.
Feeling jumpy but not any less excited, Marik continued on. He winced when he stepped on a branch and heard it crack underneath his feet and paused, making sure he hadn't given away his presence, then continued on.
Marik heard noise again and he froze. This time he knew for sure it wasn't just some animal trying to run for cover. He heard labored breathing and the faint sound of someone thrashing around. Marik took a big breath of air and closed his mouth in a thin, tight-lipped line, determined to not let any sound pass. He just knew that this was it. This was their vampire.
He advanced in the direction of the breathing in a painstakingly slow manner, all the while keeping his fingers busy with tracing up and down the handle of his weapon. Very slowly the bushes he recognized as being one of the areas where they'd hidden their traps came into view and the breathing got ever so louder.
Marik soon became close enough to see a figure lying on the ground as if dead. The only clue that pointed otherwise were the small tremors that ran through the figure's limbs that had created the thrashing noise he'd hear, and the breathing. He knew right away that this was not some stupid human that had accidentally found their way into a trap, but one of the creatures he and his family hunted.
Marik was so absorbed by the figure in front of him that he forgot to be careful of where he was walking. He stepped on a twig and the seemingly resounding snap caused the figure to sharply turn its head. Lavender met bloody red and Marik saw white hair.
Ooooh cliffhanger! Yay, don't you love them? So'z here's some stuff for me to say before you go:
I really don't like Tendershipping. Totally not a fan. Since I am a loyal Thiefshipper to the end, and it seems like Tendershipping has more fans than Thiefshipping, I consider it to be my rival. So now that I've cleared that all up, I've got no idea why I had that little fluffy Bakura and Ryou scene at the beginning there. ...But it's cute. And despite myself... I like it. However, since I'm not a Tendershipper, I'm sure it's not that good, so just excuse me if it sucked. Yup.
Oh, I totally figure Malik would listen to Slipknot. They just seem like a band he would be into. They're all crazy-like, and he's all crazy-like, so I figured they were meant for each other.
200 yen is equal to two dollars and three cents. Just in case you were wondering. Totally didn't know that myself, so I had to look it up, heehee. xP
I really don't like this chapter. I don't know what it is, but I just don't like it. Like, I feel that the whole suposed-to-be-intense-scene with Marik and Malik just... wasn't intense. I don't know. Maybe it's just me? Well anyways, this is just a temporary fix. Malik still has some issues, and let's not forget what he said at the end of the last chapter. So maybe when it comes time for me to resolve all that then it'll be intense. The only reason I half-resolved it now was because I didn't want Malik to be all emo-y-up-in-his-room-like. There is stuff he must do first! Meh, I'm sorry if I'm not making any sense. I tend to ramble a lot, and that whole not-making-sense thing tends to occur when I ramble. So whatevs, just leave a review and make me happy! X]