A/N: A lot of Malik in this chapter. I think he's a bit attracted to Bakura. Poor guy xD Not sure if they're in friendly terms or not 0.o I'm proud to announce that only a fraction of the things I planned on putting in this chapter actually ended up in to the chapter. Funny how these things work, no?

Shattered Crescent

Part Ten

The gray sky reflected off the huge glass windows of the buildings surrounding him. It was as if the tall constructions were put there just to block a passersby's view of any recognizable landmark. Malik realized that he wasn't sure where he was anymore. He hadn't been paying attention. Knowing that he looked like a tourist, he dug out a map.

Footsteps disturbed the gray quiet and Malik, seeing that he had no idea if the street even had a name, glanced over his map. As he spotted the figure moving closer, he thought he had ran into Bakura again. The person had his head bowed so Malik couldn't make out his features but the pose didn't scream the confidence he had learned to associate with his annoying acquaintance. But even though it was clear now that this person wasn't Bakura, Malik knew who he was. He had seen his pictures in the paper and on the news.

Bakura Ryou.

Malik smirked but made sure to fix it into a friendly smile as the other approached. "Hey, could you help me?"

Bakura Ryou looked up from the pavement and it was clear that his mind had been elsewhere. He slowed his pace, stopping more than an arm's length from Malik. He stared at Malik for a bit before his lips turned upwards into something fake, meant to be polite.

"Oh, um… Sure." His eyes trailed to the map. "Are you lost?"

Malik scratched the back of his head, an awkward gesture he believed. He wondered if he should be worried about the stare, about how long it had took for the smile to form. "Yes, actually… Can you show me where I am?" He held out the map. The gesture wasn't threatening but the other glanced between Malik and the map a few times before taking hold of one corner of the map.

The other's concentration on the map gave Malik a chance to study him. There had to be some reason why Bakura had put so much time and effort into getting this man's attention. Malik couldn't see what was so special about Bakura Ryou. From what he had seen so far, the slight male was rather meek, even boring.

"Ah yes. We're right here," he pointed at a spot and Malik leaned in to take a closer look. "The police station is over there," he gestured, "and if it weren't for those buildings, you'd see the KaibaCorp. building."

The map was handed back and Malik took his time studying it before fixing his eyes on the other, smiling. "Thank you, I don't know what I would have done of you hadn't come along. These streets get so confusing." He laughed, noticing how the smile he got back was a little strained, a bit tired.

"It was no problem."

They spent a moment keeping up their smiles.

Malik tucked away the map. His face muscles were starting to ache. "Well, thanks again." His focus on getting a way and past the other, Malik jumped at the hand on his arm. The soft touch left him before he could jerk away. He raised his eyebrow at the other, determined to keep his cool no matter what this was about.

"You're Malik Ishtar, aren't you?"

His mask came close to failing him when the careful question reached his ears. This time, Bakura Ryou's smile was sad.

"Your sister is looking for you. Don't leave her worrying for too long."

Malik frowned and opened his mouth to speak but by the time he figured out what to say, he was facing the other's retreating back. He stared at the direction the man had gone, unsure of what to think anymore. Had he been found out?

Questions of 'what' and 'why' stormed his mind. With a mention of his own name and sister, Malik had been brought to near panic. The situation was ridiculous. But if his sister was here and his disappearance was common knowledge, he didn't have much time. He wasn't a big fan of the rash and unplanned but he would have to speed things up if he wanted them done.

Too deep in thought to notice anything off, Malik was caught off guard by a soft whisper right beside his ear.

"Boo."

The whisper made the fine hairs in the nape of his neck stand. A hand landed on the shoulder that was connected to the arm of his knife hand and when he snapped his head to the side, his nose almost brushed Bakura's. This time, he knew it wasn't a case of mistook identity. Seeing the conceited smirk from such close proximity made his breath hitch.

"Fancy meeting you here, Malik. You met Ryou, I assume."

"Y-you," he cursed himself for stammering, "You were following him?"

The smirk showed a bit of teeth, and for a second, the gesture didn't look at all unattractive. "If I said I just happened to be heading to the same direction, would you believe me?"

Frustrated by his own reaction, Malik pulled himself free and put more distance between them. Bakura must have noticed: he wouldn't look as amused if he hadn't.

"Though, what I really want to know is if you have something to do with the people missing from Devil's Lair."

Malik snorted, forcing his mask into one of confidence, still conscious about his slip mere seconds ago. "If I said no, would you believe me?" he threw back a near copy of Bakura's earlier question but despite how it was indented to be mocking, bitterness leaked into his tone. Today was not his day. He needed to get back on top of things; a feat far easier to accomplish without Bakura.

"I think we need to have a small chat," the aforementioned man spoke. "Do you eat or drink, Ishtar?"

Ryou had used enough fake smiles not to mistake them for the real thing. However polite Malik Ishtar might be, his smile lacked warmth. Ryou wasn't sure what else was misplaced in the younger Ishtar.

He closed the door behind him, dropping his things on to the floor. Ishizu Ishtar's number lay somewhere on his living room coffee table, he remembered as he flopped on the couch, letting his eyes fall shut. He was too tired to call now, not finding a reason from his exhausted mind to do so. Malik Ishtar was an adult and looked fine enough. He should inform Miss Ishtar that her brother was alright, though. He had promised.

To his surprise, sleep hadn't taken over the second he closed his eyes. Why did Honda and Bakura have to make such a scene? Protectiveness he could understand and had come to accept, but Honda had overreacted. What Bakura and he did in private was their business.

Though, on the street wasn't private… Ryou smiled a little despite himself. He had enjoyed it, the "private" moment with Bakura. For that moment, he had been able to forget work and the memories it provoked and focus on the body heat of another human being. He hadn't felt anything like that in what seemed like forever. He hadn't even realized that he needed to.

Ryou cracked his eyes open before he could fall asleep on the couch. The coffee table was almost buried beneath all the paperwork and as much as he liked to keep his home tidy, he just couldn't find the energy to clear the table. The up coming weekend felt like the ideal time to do some cleaning, though.

He pushed himself off the backrest, leaning forward to search for the phone number. The number was printed on a slab of cardboard, not easy to find but he managed. He also found his sticky notes and his tired brain had the brilliant idea of writing a few notes. After a couple of "Sleep more" and "Buy more milk", the yellow notes ran out and he was forced to use pink ones.

On his way to the bedroom, because he did need to sleep more, he stuck a "Call I. Ishtar in the morning"-note on the doorframe. One of the notes that reminded him to make Honda worry less was clued on the bathroom mirror.

The bed wasn't made so he could just fall on it. The soft bed sheets felt cold and uncomfortable. As Ryou tried to drift to sleep, he found the idea of reading another chapter of his book more appealing. If he remembered right, the main character had just reached some crisis and was struggling to overcome it. One chapter turned into several; he didn't feel like sleeping anymore. Sleeping led to dreaming and dreaming led to nightmares.

When rain started to rattle against the window, he wrote down a quick reminder to invite Bakura over sometime.

"So, I take it that you also had something to do with the poor being near the train station?"

"Ah, that…" His drink needed more sugar. "Only indirectly." Done stirring the brown liquid, Malik faced Bakura again. "Some people just aren't as trustworthy as they first seem and if you are going to get rid of someone in this town…" he let the sentence die out. Despite the homey atmosphere in the café, or because of it, Malik felt on edge. Bakura had mentioned that he liked the place. There had to be something wrong with it.

Bakura snorted, unimpressed. "So you screwed up and needed to make things right. Amateur."

Malik laughed at the poor insult, hoping that his true feelings stayed out of sight. "Do you think Ryou will notice?" It was difficult to tell if he had hit or missed the target. Maybe he shouldn't have brought the investigator up at all… Only a fool antagonized a guy who killed on a whim.

"He already did," Bakura told, as if he was proud. "He has this strange way of knowing things…" The hint of a smirk that followed made the other's features look less twisted for once. "But you should know, Malik," Bakura continued, the twisted quality making a roaring comeback, "that I don't take kindly to anyone who upsets him."

Without noticing, Malik gripped his coffee cup tighter. He held up his superior front, smirking like he wasn't faced by the clear threat. "I'm guessing you don't 'upset' him with your killing spree, then."

Bakura waved the notion off. "I prefer the term 'supply hunt', and honestly, I think he's enjoying it."

Malik's eyebrow rose. "Really?" Even though he didn't know much about Bakura Ryou, he doubted he enjoyed death and chaos; few people did, so Malik was left wondering Bakura's reasoning, or lack there of. Either the man was plain crazy or he knew something about Bakura Ryou that Malik didn't.

"Of course, he'd never admit it, but he's a smart guy. Most people he has to deal with are stupid," Bakura spat the word out and from what Malik could gather, it was the worst kind of insult.

"Right…" The less he knew about the other's thought pattern, the better. He had his own mental and physical health to look after, and despite of what Bakura might want to believe, Malik couldn't be grouped with "the stupid". "The way I see it, these people are already scared and sick of lunatics running around, killing their neighbors, so unless they have to, they won't believe that there's more than one… lunatic." All worries of not choosing his words right disappeared when Bakura smirked, resting his head on his palm.

"Funny, he said something like that, too." It didn't take a rocket scientist to figure out who Bakura spoke of. "Regardless, I don't want the glory when you did such a sloppy job." The man leaned closer, and had Malik been someone else, he would have turned his eyes away and backed off. "You," Bakura poked Malik's nose with the finger of his free hand, "don't respect My art."

For a second, Malik almost believed that the other was coming on to him. One could hardly blame him for thinking so, given some of the actions that had led them to sit in a café together. The hateful part of him wanted to stab Bakura's invading hand onto the table. "Isn't copying the sincerest form of flattery?"

Much to his relief, Malik had managed to keep his voice steady and disinterested, and Bakura leaned back on his chair, withdrawing his hand. The smirk got more conceited, a gesture that made Malik angrier than it should have.

"Only when it's done well," Bakura pointed out and Malik had to agree.

"What are you going to do about it?"

Bakura took his sweet time answering. He drank some of his coffee and Malik realized that was the first time he touched it. "I don't need to do much. Kaiba knows about you and your dear sister has practically found you already." He focused on his drink again before meeting Malik's eyes. "She came to ask Me about you not so long ago." The smirk widened a fraction as Malik shifted on his seat. "Looks like you're neck deep in brown substance without My interference."

Malik doubted the man had just sat watching things unfold but he didn't need to be told he was in deep shit. He was wasting time sitting here entertaining Bakura. He had more important things to do and surely Bakura would rather be stalking his police sweetheart than sipping coffee. He wasn't running away from the uncomfortable situation he was just… in a hurry.

"I think we both have better things to do." Malik forced on a dry smile, "Always a pleasure dealing with you." He didn't mean a word of it. The truthful parting words were something along the lines of "I want to kill you until you're dead."

Bakura gave a slow nod. "Likewise."

Malik, well on his way to the door, turned before exiting. "You will take care of the check, won't you?"

Even though Ryou had decided to just close his eyes for a bit, he had soon dozed off, last night taking its toll. In his sleep against the hard surface of the desk, he could hear someone calling his name.

"Bakura? Hey, Bakura? Ryou!"

His eyes opened as he lifted his head enough to see what was going on. That hadn't been the voice of his dreams. The dream voice was always more desperate.

Ryou blinked at the blurry image of his friend. "Oh… Morning Honda…" The image sharpened as his brain woke up with the rest of his body. He could see that other shake his head.

"It's afternoon. You sure you should be here?"

As Ryou lifted his head, he realized he had a piece of paper stuck on his cheek. It was one of the pink sticky notes he had started using when the yellow ones had ran out.

"Yes, I-," he paused to peal the note off and stuck it on the desk instead. "I'm fine." The small, pink paper glared at him with almost as much intensity as Honda did. It read "Call I. Ishtar in the morning." He realized that he couldn't always answer with "I'm fine" without getting suspicious. Honda had started seeing right through it a long time ago.

"Look, if things are going down hill-"

Ryou stood up, interrupting the on-coming lecture. "I need to make a phone call." Next time, he would just say that he was feeling 'super'.

He waited for Miss Ishtar to pick up, standing outside the front doors to get some fresh air. The rain last night had cooled the wind so it now had more bite to it. Ryou was glad to be wearing his sweater when Miss Ishtar didn't pick up during the first four rings. He was just about to give up and call again later when the occasional 'beep' was replaced with the sound of a deep breath and a female voice.

"Did you meet Malik?"

The question threw him off. "Um, I…" It wasn't "Did you find Malik?" but "meet", like the woman didn't expect her brother to be returned. "Yes, I met him. I don't know where he's now but… He seemed to be alright," Ryou told. "I just wanted to let you know so you wouldn't have to worry so much." Worrying tended to wear people down fast. He could almost hear Honda's voice telling that so did stress and lack of sleep.

"Thank you. …Did you mention me?"

Ryou had to think back before answering. "I did. He…" Maybe he shouldn't mention anything further. The younger Ishtar had been surprised Ryou had recognized him but underneath it all, he had looked frightened, tense. As if his lifeline had become too thin to keep together.

"I don't expect him to be happy that I'm tailing him."

Miss Ishtar didn't beat around the bush, the statement formal and straight to the point. Ryou knew nothing about the circumstances of Malik Ishtar's disappearance but there was something, a lot of things, that didn't quite feel right. He paused to choose his words, deciding that it would be better if he didn't poke his nose into this one. "Miss Ishtar… Missing people aren't really my field. I deal with homicide so searching for your brother…"

"I understand. The dead are often easier to deal with than the living."

Ryou frowned, though aware that Miss Ishtar couldn't see it.

"But it's the living you should watch out for, Bakura Ryou, especially the ones you let close to your heart."

"Let close to my…?" The conversation was getting off topic. His emotional life had nothing to do with Malik Ishtar. The words sounded too much like a warning. He didn't like it.

"It pains me to sit by and watch but no one can change the path chosen for them."

This time, a white eyebrow rose, a sign of disbelief but also that he had been spending too much time with Bakura. The other was starting to sound like a religious fanatic. "Um, yes… I should get back to work now." He wasn't sure what he had been doing before he had fallen asleep. It could have been important…

"Of course. Give Mr. Mikazuki my best regards."

It took a while for the words to register. "Wha-?" He had gotten the impression that Miss Ishtar wasn't too fond of Bakura. "Sure… Bye then."

Ryou stared at the cell phone after hanging up. Was it just him or was Ishizu Ishtar a little bit scary?

I can't think of a discreet way to ask you to review…