Chapter 6: Fascination.

It was a weird voice that had called to him, seconds before his body gave up and passed out. In the black depths of his mind he could still hear it calling to him. Strange how this happened. It was as if his own mind had enough spirit to fight and run but his body had given off a flat 'fuck you' and given up on him. Perhaps it had been too much to take in. How many times had this been, how many days had he been gone up until now?

Oi..

It was that same voice calling. It was low, with a deep rumble, a sign of adulthood. It sounded.. Impatient by now, scolding nearly. It'd had a humorous before, a slight pitch, amused had he been.. What had changed? Why did he even care about this voice? Interesting to say it was one of contradictions. Deep, manly, had a lull in it that suggested amusement.. Kidding around. Different, so different.

Wake up princess.

As if he was beckoned at the call, the blonde's eyes slowly started to open, gazing into the not unattractive face of a fellow Egyptian. The tan skin was common, yet it was the white hair that threw him off completely and made his body want to crawl away from the sight. He didn't care how friendly he had been sounding, the short wild hair spread like wildfire in his vision, entangling and messing with his view.

"Get away from me." He hissed before noticing that his back was against a rock already and having the man sit in front of him, certainly didn't give him much room to move.

"Is that how you treat the person who took you when you fainted like a coward?" His opponent, how he'd come to view him, snarled at him. "You scared the hell out of me when you collapsed like that, jeez I was just trying to joke!"

His behaviour startled Mariku. It was peculiar. When a piece of cyllestis was shoved his way, Mariku accepted the bread without thinking. It was not in his nature to thank the other, so instead he eyed him warily as he slowly began to chew on the piece of food. He began to slowly realize that in a physical match, healthy or not, he would be no match for the other. Toned muscles stretched alongside his arms and body, chiselled abs gracing his stomach whilst the man sat and watched him eat, his demeanour as challenging as his own.

"What's your name?" the question did not sound unfriendly but his face stated otherwise. It just confused the blonde more, though not a trace of his emotions was shown on his face. He had to tread carefully and his trust was not to be gained at all, let alone easily.

"None of your business."

"Friendly aren't we?" The other threw back at him. "I won't bother with my own then."

Minutes easily turned into hours as the blonde could not do much but sit around and eat, and the other was refusing to leave him alone. More than once he felt his gaze burning more heatedly than the sun that reigned on them, and though he couldn't care less about being viewed, it certainly made him wary. What had moved the other to take him with him, as he had proposed? The events of earlier were still fresh in his mind and he certainly had not forgotten his one rule.

Trust no one.

"You look pathetic." A nod of the head was the only indication that the man was, in fact, talking to him instead of about him only. "What happened?"

"I don't wish to repeat myself." Mariku had finally managed to finish the piece of bread, satisfied with his stomach slowly regaining the ability to digest food. "None of your business seemed an appropriate answer earlier."

"It's Touzouko by the way."

"What?"

"My name." A grin appeared almost instantly as he noticed the blonde's obvious confusion. "Nice to see an expression on your face for once."

The blonde growled at him and stood up from the ground, not grateful for this man picking him up, but scowling at his body's failure for letting such a moron pick him off the ground. Touzouko? What a pathetic name. Too long for a worthy remembrance and his attitude was downright pathetic. He was the one being pathetic? At least he wasn't grinning like his face was about to come off. It irritated him to no end that the man had seen a glimpse of weakness in him and it took quite a bit of self-control to contain that irritation. It easily led to anger.

If only his body hadn't been abused so much… He'd have been on the other in a second, throwing his physical disadvantages aside.. For now he could only lurk and hopefully get away from him soon. He wondered if the large male would let him. The feelings that radiated off him were certainly different than those of him. Instantly Mariku gritted his teeth, fists balled into the hot sands of Egypt as sand slipped beneath the cracks of his fingers.

The bastard would die for what he'd done to him.

Suddenly he started to laugh, a chilling laugh that spread all over the lowland. It seemed like he wouldn't stop, arms wrapping around his frame and a chortling laugh that rang over and over again, wheezing when he finally got out of breath. There was no humour in it, nor was there sadness. It was simply the mad dance of a psychopath that danced away and pulled his mind along on a string, the string where the dark thoughts followed.

"I'll kill him." The words followed a laugh that had been similar so long ago. Violet eyes quivered at him in terror, a weak hand gripping the skin of the other. "Mariku – Please.. Please don't." It wasn't a weak attempt at trying to stop him, because the other blonde knew that his brother made no empty threats. There was a lack of self-control ever since the time he'd received those marks.

No. That wasn't true. Mariku had always been crazy like this, always been resisting until the point where their father had beaten him until he could barely walk. But forevermore would that laugh echo through the empty corridors of their tomb.

Mariku only looked at his brother with a grin, well-aware how he thought of him. "Wouldn't you like it if he died?"

Blood had adorned the walls that same night, and Malik wouldn't ever doubt his words again. Rishid had died and there had been nothing he could've done about it. Mariku was out of control, hating everyone around him with such a passion that he needed to be constrained. This anger knew no limits and his cruelty was far worse than Malik could have anticipated. Their adoptive brother had died in vain and while there was not a single loose thread that Mariku hadn't tied up, the blonde knew that it was his own brother who had been responsible for his death.

They'd been thirteen years old.

When Touzouko walked over to attempt to snap him out of it, Mariku was on him like a wild thing. He tore into him with his teeth, threw punches wherever he could and he kept screaming as the laughter had died out. There was no laughter now, only the bottled up anger left, spurred on by memories that he would never forget despite attempting to lock them away. "I'LL MURDER – YOU!" His voice had reached a dramatic pitch where the vocal chords strained to let it out, the words ending in a horrid screech as they'd gone past their limit.

Touzouko, feeling the blood run down and bruises form, knew that these weren't words to take lightly. The intensity behind them showed that the blonde was serious and he wasn't one of the first to notice this. His response was quick and as he threw Mariku off of him, the boy laid instantly still in the hot sand, his breath ragged and his screaming voice slowly dying down.

"…Why.." This wasn't what Touzouko was used to and he looked on at the teen, expecting tears or remorse but finding none of these. In the blonde's eyes there was nothing but a genuine confusion, surprise maybe. The voice cracked with each syllable and the blonde could still feel the skin under his nails where they'd scratched it off, still feel the adrenaline pumping through his body that made him feel so good.

The why wasn't ever answered.

"It's you again."

He recognized the voice but he hadn't made a single move to turn around. In the end it proved to be unnecessary as the boy suddenly darted in front of him, nearly tumbling over into the water fountain that Malik had always found so enchanting.

"Same place hm?" He didn't sound accusing, his voice only held the soft lilt that was always strangely comforting. "Are you done with your duties?"

"What's it to you." Nor could Malik understand why he was being so hostile – No. Scratch that. He knew exactly why he was being so hostile. For days on end had the boy's complexion irritated him to no end and when he was confronted with him now, all the hatred he'd held for a counterpart returned fully. Would the boy betray him, hurt him like he was sure his double was hurting his own brother? Malik could only grin wryly. The world was full of mystery and, unfortunately, full of irony as well. It tasted bitter inside his mouth.

"Worried perhaps." The moon stood high in the sky, its light twisting the world below it and leaving most of the garden in blatant shadows, whereas Ryou was illuminated like a phantom nearly. Malik knew he couldn't accuse him of crimes he hadn't committed, it was unfair to lash out because he had been the coward to let Mariku go. But he couldn't care. The world was unfair, wasn't it? He tried to sneer, trying to push the other away from him and this place, but the boy's smile – It was sad somehow. It held an alluring presence that Malik could only describe to a wound that was deeper than the surface would show.

It was a pain that he was familiar with himself.

"Mind if I sit here?" The albino quietly whispered, "I get quite lonely by myself and.."

"It's fine."

Soon they were sitting there, silent, in the dark where no guards could see them and no people would stare at them all day. Both were used to different responses, both treated with disgust and admiration that could quickly turn into jealousy. It was the combination of skin and hair, eyes that met lips, which gave others the feeling that they needed to be guarded. Difference was something to be feared and –

"I know you miss your brother."

The question startled him so much that he fell back into the fountain behind him, spluttering when his hair draped around him and stared at Ryou wide-eyed. Had he been right after all? Was Ryou that demon that had taken his brother away! "Where is he?" Instantly he was by the boy's side, grabbing his arm and shaking him wildly with a desperate cry, "Where are you keeping him!" The desperation seeped through his voice like the water was slowly clogging his clothes. He wanted to cry, wanting to feel the tears stain his cheeks again, he felt like he was dying all over again.

He couldn't remember when he had started to run around the garden, screaming Mariku's name like mad, over and over again until he felt a hand around his mouth and someone dragging him into a dark corner of the garden.

"Who's the idiot who shouted?" Malik could feel the hairs in his neck starting to rise and a shiver being sent down his spine. He didn't care who was holding him captive at the moment – but the voice that was calling now was one of the head guard… Were he to find him here, he would be in over his head. Whip lashes would be nothing, he might get treated worse than he was already treated now. A crack of a whip made him jump on his feet but he felt the hand being clamped tighter around his mouth, to prevent him from screaming.

The footsteps sounded heavy around the garden, the ground scrunching beneath every step. Leaves rustled in the wind as he passed and the blonde started to tremble at the prospect of being found. Slaves weren't allowed to be out at night, much less spend time in an inner-garden that wasn't meant for them other than to get water. He felt his heart was racing a mile a minute, the fear making him weak enough to nearly sit down on the ground, scared his legs might no longer support him. Hearing the voice call out near him, he tried his best not to tremble too much.

"If I find you… I'm going to cut your arm off.."

Malik choked on a sob that he'd been trying to hold on the topic of Mariku.

He felt the hand drawing him back, taking him with to a gate that Malik wasn't aware of. He didn't know why but he felt like trusting the person behind him, hoping for the best as he lead him out the garden, through a passageway and they finally ended up in a room that held between a slave-quarter and a guestroom. Several silken sheets were draped along the floor and corners, comfortable pillows lying next to them and he swore he could make out the faint traces of a bed in the corner. The reason why it felt like a slave-quarter however, was because there were several barely clothed boys and girls lying around the room, breathing softly.

Had this been a guest room, these people wouldn't be as scantily clothed as they were now.

And then it was clear to him. This wasn't just any slave-quarter, the boy wrinkled his nose in both disgust and astonishment, it was the room where the prostitutes slept. Some moved restlessly in their sleep, quiet giggles heard under the sheets, while others laid perfectly still, groomed to be as silent as possible to accommodate their masters. It was a concept completely foreign to the boy and he couldn't help but feel disgusted in their presence. How could they give up their sense of self so easily? How could they go along with the whims of bratty masters and – Malik would rather kill himself.

"Don't wake them now." The same soft voice of earlier trailed even here as his captor now finally let go of him and appeared in front of him. It was still Ryou. The same sad smile worn on his pretty little face.

"You're a whore?" Malik could barely contain his disdain, glad to have found an opening and cruel enough to take advantage of it. He would show him, he would radamned show him how petty and low of a human being he was!

To his surprise Ryou only shrugged his shoulders helplessly and pressed a finger to Malik's lips, expression the same. "Don't call them that," The expression changed briefly, grew fiercer and for a second Malik was scared that he would morph into the demon that had been Bakura. "Like you, we're people too and like you.." A brief silence followed as Ryou looked upon the others with a look that resembled more of an old man, than what would fit his youthful face. "We had no choice in the matter."

The other didn't know what to say, his face partly illuminated by the flickering light of candles burning around the room. It expressed several things; pain, guilt, sadness. Ryou noticed this but before he could open his mouth to speak, Malik had already done so.

"How do you know about my brother?" His tone was accusatory, a hint of malice still laced through. He couldn't let his guard down, he couldn't trust him. The boy already looked far too much like the demon that had taken his brother captive, the one that had threatened to kill him, that there was no way that he'd hand out his trust so easily. The world was a cold and dark place and despite Malik's hopes for a change, it only grew darker as he got older. He couldn't bear to look at himself now. When he was young he still had Mariku, now he was sold into slavery by his own father and had absolutely no one.

"The people in this place…" There was nothing left of Ryou's previous stern words as he fidgeted with his robe uneasily. "..They talk."

"Oh." Such a simple response he hadn't expected.

"They told me.. About your brother.." Ryou's voice was a gentle one, one that didn't pry or accuse him of anything. Malik instantly regretted judging him for what he was here, everyone knew you had no choice here. "… Pardon my language but.. They talk of how they expected a god-sent boy coming here, and all they got stuck with was his useless brother."

Malik's face pulled into a grimace. He said nothing.

"I'm sorry about your brother… Was, I mean.." The boy's face grew even more uneasy, "Did he pass away?"

"No." Malik was resolute in his answer and he grit his teeth. "He isn't dead, but by now.. I'm starting to doubt that very theory."

Every day he had prayed, every day had he looked at the stars and cried his heart out, praying that someone out there might hear him. Praying that his brother, for all his faults and all his mistakes, would not be punished and still be alive. In the hands of that monster, what else could he be but dead? Fear gripped at his heart every single day that he did not see a sign of his life, separation was horrible, but Mariku's death would be devastating. It would ultimately destroy him.

A delicate hand touched his briefly but the blonde didn't jerk away from the touch. "What happened?" He sounded sincere, so sincere but.. How could he trust him? True that he hadn't caused Malik any trouble the previous time but what evidence did he have that he wouldn't this time?

"He – He was taken away from me."

"I see."

The boy's lack of response infuriated him. How dare he not care? How dare he pretend like it was a trivial matter! Furiously, the blonde turned, only to discover that Ryou's silence didn't come from a lack of interest. The eyes that looked straight-ahead seemed to be caught in their own lost memories and it was all Malik could do but touch Ryou's arm in turn. "Are you okay?"

"I'm fine Malik." The boy didn't shrug the hand off, as Malik hadn't turned him away previously. "It's just that.. I think I understand how that feels."

"You have a brother Ryou?" It wasn't surprising really. Most slaves here had siblings, parents they'd had to leave behind.. This was how much the Pharaoh cared about his citizens. Perhaps Mariku had been right. Maybe there really were no gods.

"I had to leave him." The boy's voice grew thick and he took Malik's hand to another corridor, a hallway where there were no slaves that pretended to be asleep and no dimmed lights to partly illuminate their faces. Here, on the muddy ground and under the dark sky, there was not the slightest illusion of paradise, a trick to comfort you into thinking you would be safe. It was here that Ryou could let his own tears fall. "I miss him greatly."

In the glistering of the moonlight Malik could tell the tears apart, bringing a hand up to Ryou's delicate face and carefully rub them away. It seemed like they stopped as soon as they'd come. The boy was so unlike him. Malik had cried his heart out, screaming, tearing at his hair and would not stop until the raw wound that had opened in his chest had started to sting less. Ryou was quietly crying, not even a wracked sob passing his lips, yet behind his tears lay the same agony and pain that Malik had experienced. Both knew what it was like to lose someone you held dear.

"What happened?"

"It's.. It isn't your concern Malik.." Like him he was reserved, afraid to get hurt. Again. As horrible as it was, Malik felt intrigued, wanted to know what had passed between him and his brother. Fate had brought them together, he was so sure of it… He didn't care about his own restrictions anymore. The boy's pain was as real as any.

"My brother was sold to a cruel man, into slavery." He told him, carefully whispering as he was still afraid an unsuspecting slave might hear them. "My father hated him so .. So he sold him. He threatened to kill me if I didn't step out of the way and.. Coward as I was…" A humourless laugh. "I let him slip away."

"Did your brother ask you to stay?" The words came out strangely strangled.

Malik was taken by surprise. "Y-Yes he did. He told me to stay if I valued my life.."

"Then he cared a great deal about you."

The words threw him off. Were they true? How could Ryou possibly know… He had never met Mariku, had never seen his cruelty or his haunting laugh and those psychotic eyes that followed you around. The same boy who hadn't cared when they might be taken away. He quickly wiped his eyes in a frustrated fashion, growing even angrier with himself that he found them wet. "Radammit!" He hated this. He hated the fact that he let his emotions run freely, hated that Mariku always made him feel useless, even when he wasn´t here.

"You want to know why Malik?" he said, staring off into space, "Because it's exactly what I told my brother."

"Did you want to leave him?" Malik looked at the other questionably, needing an answer to solve his own doubts and fears.

"Are you joking me?" Ryou laughed humourlessly, a cruel feature that a boy like him shouldn't possess. It was after, that a short pensive silence followed.

"Of course I didn't."

It was evening now and despite not knowing where the hell he was, Mariku found the depths of the cave comforting. On the hot sand had he been lying, laughing until he could laugh no more and giving up the fight when Touzouko had easily thrown him off of him. There was no honour gained in this, not like his pride would allow him to feel weak however. The blonde groaned as he sat up, alerting the thief who was lying not even 10 feet away, but who made no retort.

"Why did you take me here?" his voice hissed in the dark, bouncing off the walls of stone and granite, coming back to him in quiet whispers.

"Don't think I'm a good-hearted person myself," The other shifted position before he sat up himself, the shimmers of moonlight reflecting on his face as he grimaced. "I don't do this usually."

"Then what's changed?" Mariku's voice sounded especially haunting when you couldn't tell where he was.

"You fascinate me." Strangely enough it was an answer Mariku could work with. It hadn't been pity, which had enraged him in the first place, nor had it been an exchange of services like Bakura would have wanted from him. Fascination was strange, Mariku wouldn't be able to figure out why, but so long as it wasn't pity or a weak attraction of sorts.. He guessed he could live with it. That is, until morning would be there and he'd take off instantly.

"And why, pray tell, do I fascinate you?" He no longer felt quite as threatened now, started to laugh again in a haughty manner. It was pathetic how much this thief was bearing to him but he might as well pass time.

"Do I need to flatter you stranger?" Touzouko's voice came back to him in a teasing manner and the blonde growled. He didn't like to be played around with. It only drew a laugh from his strange companion. "Oh, did I make you mad now?"

"It would be wise not to get me mad, thief."

"Ah, you've figured out that much?"

"The cave is full of hidden gold and lost treasures thief, judging by the content I know you've raided tombs." A brief silence before he hissed, hateful, "I've spend enough time in a tomb to know."

"Hm. Then you'd be correct, stranger."

"Stop the stranger tactic, it's irritating the shit out of me."

"Then what should I call you, oh great one?"

He was obviously getting a kick out of this. The blonde grit his teeth and tried to ignore the faint grin he could make out beneath the shadows of this place.

"Mariku." He hated to admit that. Out of everything, that had been the thing he could've kept to himself. But it was irritating to admit that he hated the man's constant pet names more, than he hated to give out his own. He didn't care if he knew anymore, a name was just what it was. A name. It gave one neither control nor power over you, it just served a connection, as thin and fragile as it was. Touzouko had already given his and now that he was aware of his own, this bond had been established.

"Mariku huh?" The thief mused over it before he rolled onto his stomach to look at him. "I wouldn't say it's been pleasant to meet you… -"

"You'd be more of a fool than I've given you credit for, if so."

"But I guess it's been interesting to say in the least."

There was just something about the other. In the midst of the chaos of the city, Touzouko had seen everything. He'd noticed how close the white-haired male had kept him and had concluded immediately what Mariku's position had been. A mere slave. That's why at first he hadn't been interested as he'd watched the fight go down between the other men around him. But the longer he watched the blonde struggle endlessly for life, fight for what he claimed belonged to him – dignity, respect and life being the most important ones – Touzouko became enthralled by his being. It was something he had to steal, had to take with him, yet not touch it. It was far more challenging being granted permission to touch this crazed specimen, instead of taking it instantly.

'You're a fool for ever taking this.' Touzouko nodded to himself, the corners of his mouth curling into a lazy grin.

"Stop your fucking grinning, there's nothing to be happy about."

'Indeed I shall be the fool, for him I will.'

A knife was draped messily over the robes of the man he'd just killed him with, his lifeless eyes staring at him in fear and shock, mouth hanging open just a tad in an attempt to scream. It didn't matter now. It didn't matter to him that he'd known the man for the past 2 years. If you managed to screw up, you screwed up, and Bakura made no difference in how long he knew the guy. It simply didn't matter anymore.

Both the men he'd taken with him had been killed in the back alleyways of the city, tortured until their screams were starting to irritate him and he'd slit their throats to be done with it. Naturally he had been angry so their deaths had been rather messy but how else would he respond?

"Fucking… Tch." He barely made an attempt to cover the bodies, their useless corpses would be discovered in the morning and when the high-pitched screams would follow, he'd be long gone in the desert. His whole body still trembled with a rage storming through his veins but at least he'd managed to kill the two who'd let his slave escape. He should've fucking known better. With a snarl Bakura stepped into the shadows of the alleys, and made his way over to the foot of the city, where his horse was still carefully waiting.

Hadn't he known better previously? The blonde managed to surprise him every radamned time! He threw his knife angrily into the ground, the sand splitting as the tip hit it and startling one of the horses, which started to buck in fear. Animals could perhaps not only sense fear, but rage as well. He hated this, the feeling of being lost and not knowing what to do. The white-haired male kicked the sand in utter frustration as it flew everywhere, stomping down on it the next. "I'll kill him, when I find him – I will fucking kill him."

He'd said it, didn't he? If Mariku dared to escape, dared to tread only one fucking step into a different direction… No no, he wouldn't kill him. That would be far too easy. ... What he had planned for the blonde would be far more cruel than death.

"Don't worry Mariku…" The grin on his face was infinitely more terrifying than the previous rage. "I'll find you soon enough."

Author's Note: Wow this took me longer than I originally thought. Perhaps because I had planned something else previously and then Ryou and Malik came along and I hadto write about them as well. Don't worry about Ryou! His past will become clearer soon, as will Malik's, despite people basically knowing what he's been through. So! Here's to introducing Touzouko! I had a fun time trying to figure him out, but he's been the most difficult to write so far. Obviously he's a different character than Bakura in this fic, but I quite liked introducing him.

And so the plot thickens!

As always. I'd love to hear your comments and thoughts on it.

Oh! Since I've gotten a question on it - Touzouko is just Thief King Bakura. (Touzouko means Thief King anyway). He is also known as Akefia but considering that's the name the fandom's given him, and not the original one, I decided to go with "Touzouko". I hope that clears any questions!