Dlbn: Hey there everyone! Welcome to another update of Lollipops and Chainsaws!
Nbld: We start school back up on Wednesday, but we're still going to try and keep updates weekly.
Dlbn: If we're a day or so late, it's because of school. Though issues shouldn't come up until later in the semester. I mean, I only have three classes because financial aid screwed me over. But I digress.
Nbld: So let's get onto the Review Corner before my sister starts up with another random discussion. Thank you to AnonymousGuest, Pharaoh Silver, M169, Dynamite and Soup, VampirePrinssess, OtEpShAmAyA, and Annzy Bananzy for reviewing! Pocky for you all!
AnonymousGuest: It's about time, no? ;) Glad you're enjoying!
Pharaoh Silver: Glad you liked! Um…why was your mom so mad? O.o
M169: Glad you enjoyed! It's about time. They've known each other for at least two years, after all.
Dynamite and Soup: Glad you enjoyed! There's a surprise involving that later on in the story, actually ;) When other people aren't around, they seem to trust one another more.
VampirePrinssess: It won't be anything too bad. I don't want to go into much details in those scenes anyway ^^" Bakura doesn't like being called a thing. Bakura smash! XD Yaoi manga everywhere! :D Glad you enjoyed!
OtEpShAmAyA: Glad you liked ^^ Especially since she doesn't like Bakura. She doesn't want to get humiliated in front of him. Well, since they discuss something new every day, I figured I'd go day by day with them. :)
Annzy Bananzy: About time! :D I'm glad you enjoy it so far! I always like to have a bit of humor in my fics. (With the exception of one or two) It's not a trashed bedroom, no. XD I bet the Principal never thought this punishment would work, hm? ;) Haha I wanna beat him too, to be honest XD or at least get him arrested. I hate child abuse as well. They should all be locked up and never allowed to see the light of day Bakura was either confused, irritated at the explanation, or liked the idea of Marik having yaoi. I don't know which yet XD "Marik is…Marik" That had me laughing XD Bakura's definitely got a good side to him. He just hides it behind his delinquency. Glad you enjoy :D And aw, no need to apologize :3
Disclaimer: I do NOT own Bakura, Ryou, or the Ishtar family. They all belong to Kazuki Takahashi. I make NO money off of writing in this fandom. This disclaimer also goes with chapter 6, because I forgot to put it ^^"
Dedication: This chapter is dedicated to my friend Sean's 21st birthday! We went to a gay bar with his mom, two of our other friends, and his boyfriend. I had my first margarita. So much fun. Happy late birthday, buddy!
000
Apparently, something my father could throw at me would bring me down. He chucked a wine bottle at my head, making me duck down to avoid it. It seemed to anger him more, as he threw three or four more bottles at me. The last one had wine in it, which spilled on the wall of his study and left a stain.
"What in the world is wrong with you?" He screamed at me. "Getting into a fight with some punk kid?!"
My anger flared and I wanted to yell at him for talking about Bakura like that, though I knew he was right. I held my tongue instead, knowing my beating would be worse if I went against him.
"I'm sorry…" I tried to apologize and ease his anger, but all it got me was a dictionary thrown at my head.
"You're sorry?!" He scowled. "You should've thought about that before you attacked the kid!"
"He went after me first!" I argued.
"So you retaliate?" He wondered. "Stupid brat!" Another book was thrown at my head, an expensive pen following it. "Get the hell out of my office! You better hope I don't see you until this punishment thing from your principal is over, or we'll have a big problem!"
I didn't feel like arguing and getting beat worse, so I opened the door and sped out of the office. Odion was waiting for me in the living room, reading some book for his English class.
"Are you okay?" He wondered.
"Yeah, I'm good." I said, running a hand through my hair. I felt something liquid in it and pulled my hand away. Red wine stained my hand, and I groaned. "Just great." I complained.
Odion shook his head. "Fighting Bakura is the dumbest thing you've ever done." Odion scolded me. "Don't you like him? Why attack him?"
"He pulled a prank on me and left me stuck in a net hanging from trees until noon." I said. "I'm just luck Ryou uses the short path on the mile run."
"Stuck in a net…in trees…?" Odion wondered. "Never mind, I don't want to know."
I flushed. "Pervert. He doesn't even know that I like him."
Odion chuckled and put his book down. "Just be careful around him, alright?" He wondered. "I know you don't want to hear it, but he's dangerous…"
"I know, I heard it from Ishizu earlier." I rolled my eyes. "But he's really not that bad…we got along today…and…"
"That's today and at your house. Who knows what he's going to be like at his place, or in public this weekend." Odion shook his head, drawing his features into a scowl. "Don't be fooled by one day of you guys getting along to his real personality. I don't want you getting into any trouble outside of school because of him, alright? We don't need the cops coming here and finding out the truth, okay? Or it's Foster Care for you and Ishizu."
"I know." I responded, sighing. "I'm sure I'll be okay. I think he understands that I can't get in trouble with the law…I explained to him about us being under eighteen…"
My brother cocked an eyebrow. "How much did you tell him?"
"That we don't want to be split up…"
"Marik…"
"What?"
"Don't tell him too much, because he can use it against you later."
"He won't."
Odion shook his head. "You don't know that." He said. "You can only speculate."
I smirked. Bakura understood me a lot better then my brother understood him.
000
At school the next day, Ryou was the first person I spoke to. He was waiting for me on the stairs of the school when I arrived. He wiggled his fingers at me in a wave, ignoring the other teens jostling him around. I put up my arm and moved my wrist once in response, before joining him on the stairs.
"You survived!" He greeted, grinning.
"Heh, yeah, I did." I returned the greeting.
"So…how was it?"
"Fine." I shrugged. "Everything went fine…except for Ishizu coming home and yelling at us, then my father coming in and yelling at her, and then my father attacking me later for getting into trouble at school."
"I'm not surprised with that last part…" Ryou muttered. "He really went after her with Bakura around?"
"He grabbed and then shoved her, that's all…"
"Still…" Ryou paused. "He does realize that Bakura is a witness and could call the police on him at any time?"
"Two things. One, no cop is going to believe someone with a record like Bakura's. Two, I already talked to him about it, since he suggested I do so. He won't."
"I hope not." Ryou sighed looking out over the crowds for something. "Speak of the Devil, and he shall come."
I smirked and looked out to see Bakura, Thief, and Yami walking onto school grounds. Bakura was at the front, the other two trailing behind him. Thief and Yami were whispering to one another, but Bakura didn't seem to notice. With his long black trench coat on, Bakura had his hands shoved into the pockets. He didn't look up from his feet as he walked, though even I could tell that he was intently listening to his friends' whispering. He stopped and they almost crashed into him, not expecting it and not watching where they were going anyway. I watched him look over his shoulder at them and say something that had both of them stunned. He continued his path up towards the school, shoulders slumped forward a little bit.
"Hey." He greeted Ryou and I as he passed.
"Hi Bakura." I greeted.
"H-Hi…" Ryou trailed as he watched his 'evil twin' walk inside.
They weren't twins, I knew that much, but they did look alike.
"That was weird." Ryou told me.
"Maybe he's coming around…?" I offered.
Ryou gave me a look that clearly said I was out of my mind. I shrugged in response. "Anything's possible."
I wisely stopped talking as Thief and Yami ambled up the steps. Yami waved his wrist in greeting, but Thief ignored us as they passed. Ryou and I both wiggled our fingers at them to return the greeting, but it went ignored.
"Something weird is going on with those three…" A voice said to my right.
I turned to see Mai standing next to us, arms folded over her slightly exposed chest.
"Where's Ishizu?" I wondered.
Normally Mai picked her up from our place before school, but I had left early to go pick up a coffee. I was feeling really out of it for some reason. I'd had the drink finished by the time I got to school
Mai shrugged in response to my question. "She told me not to pick her up." She said. "I was concerned because we were supposed to go to my grandfather's to ask him for a job for her. She says she went there early this morning to ask, so I guess she's still there. Or maybe she's walking Rebecca to school."
Rebecca was still in elementary school, but she was very bright for a fifth grader. She was at the top of her class and, most likely, would be skipping sixth grade in the fall and going straight into seventh. Her parents were out on some expedition, so Rebecca lived with her grandfather. She and Mai were cousins on Mai's mother and Rebecca's father's side of the family.
"If you hear from her before lunch, tell her to contact me somehow, please." I told the blonde.
Mai shrugged and continued on into school. I turned back to Ryou.
"I hope my father didn't do something to her." I told him. "…Should I go home and see if she's there?"
"You'll only get both of you beat worse." Ryou responded. "If you don't find out anything about her by lunch, then use my cell and call her."
"She doesn't have a cell."
"Then call home and see if she answers."
"I could do that…" I sighed.
Even though she acted like we were complete strangers at school, which explained how Bakura wasn't aware that she was my sister until I told him so, I still worried. She was my sister, after all. I may not stand up to my father for her, but I still worried about her safety with him around. Her not being at school with Mai was troubling. She never missed school. None of did, because we didn't want to be home alone if our father decided to come home mid-day for lunch or just to make sure no one was there. It was part of the reason I hated weekends. Our father would be off all weekend, and therefore home until he deemed it the right time to go get drunk, and we had to tip-toe around him. He often had a hangover Saturday mornings, which meant that we should avoid him at all costs. He was more volatile then, if one could believe that. Luckily, I had a plan to keep Bakura out of my house on the weekend, though we had to stick together for five hours each day.
"If I try, your father might pick up and start cursing me out again." Mai said. 'I don't want that."
"I don't blame you." Ryou and I spoke at the same time.
We both burst into laughter at that. Mai rolled her eyes.
"Just hook up and get it over with." She ordered, winking at us, before going inside.
Ryou was cherry red when I looked at him.
"Oh, come on, Ryou. It's just Mai. Don't listen to her jokes…"
He smiled softly. "Y-Yeah, I guess you're right…"
The first bell rang and the two of us darted into the building, not wanting to be late.
000
Lunch that day was a surprise. Bakura and his friends were sitting at mine and Ryou's usual table when we got there with our food.
"Let's go somewhere else." Ryou offered.
"I think we're fine." I shrugged. "We'll just sit on the other end. No big deal." I plopped down at the end farthest from Bakura. I was on the opposite side of the table as him, so I could see him without arousing suspicions.
"What are you guys sitting down there for?" Bakura wondered. "We don't bite…hard."
I laughed nervously, as did Ryou, at his lame little joke. Yami waved his wrist.
"You can come sit down with us, you know." He stated.
I cocked an eyebrow at him. Not only was I surprised by his words, but I noticed something I never did before. He looked like me. Albeit, a little older, rougher, and he had wilder hair then I did. Strange. And Thief kind of looked like an older, tamer Bakura with shorter hair and a scar. There was no relation between any of us, that much I knew. But still, the resemblance was uncanny.
"What?" Thief asked.
"Huh?" I wondered.
Ryou leaned across the table and shut my jaw. I didn't realize it had been open the entire time and that I was staring at them like a moron.
"Sorry…" I muttered.
"You heard him." Bakura informed. "Come down here."
Ryou and I shared wary looks before sliding over to sit nearer to them. This was strange. They obviously had something up their sleeves. Though I trusted Bakura to a degree when it was just the two of us, I didn't trust him and his friends when they were together.
"Um…this isn't like you guys…socializing beyond the three of you…" I tried slowly.
Bakura shrugged. "Needed something to do." He told me.
"Um…okay…"
No one said anything for a minute then Yami spoke. "You guys wanna see a cool trick?" He wondered.
"No." Ryou squeaked nervously.
"Sure?" Yami wondered. "It's pretty simple." He looked at me. "Marik?"
"Uh…I guess…" I answered slowly, unsure of it.
"Alright, close your eyes."
Ryou and I shared a look, but we did so anyway.
"When I say three, I'm going to do the trick. Then I'll tell you when to open your eyes, okay?"
"Alright…" I sighed.
"One…" He counted. "Two…three!"
Before I could ask or he could say anything else, I felt something hit my face and then heard the three trouble makers laughing. Ugh, seriously, what did they do? I opened my eyes and saw mashed potatoes drip down from my nose.
"Are you shitting me?!" I snarled.
I grabbed a napkin and wiped my face off until I couldn't feel anything. When I was able to look again, they were leaving through the cafeteria's double doors. Ryou opened his eyes. They went wide as he saw.
"Marik…your hair…" He offered me another napkin. "Let's go to the bathroom, come on. Grab your stuff so they don't come back for it."
I groaned. What was in my hair? Hopefully something I could easily walk out. I moved the ends so I could see them and noticed that the ends were becoming brown from gravy. How much had they thrown at me? I sighed and followed Ryou to the bathroom, ignoring other students' giggling.