Author's Notes: Not a HUGE fan of this chapter but here it is regardless. We get to see some more progression in deathshipping though! Yay! Not much else to say other than enjoy!

Unreal Truths

Chapter 12: Progression

Mokuba's POV

I stared at the documents in front of me with a blank gaze. I had stopped being able to focus almost an hour ago.

I had never felt so exhausted before in my entire life. No wonder Seto was such a stiff.

Yawning, I stretched my arms in the air and wearily closed my eyes. A few moments rest wouldn't hurt anything.

"Mokuba?"

I opened my eyes back up and saw Noah on my computer screen, "Oh hey Noah. You got those reports all taken care of?"

He nodded and leaned back in a virtual chair he made appear. "I got everything taken care of for the next week."

Did I mention there was a huge advantage to having an adoptive brother who lived in your computer?

"Wow thanks Noah, that lightens the load a ton." I rubbed my fingers through my hair and sighed deeply. "It's just too bad that you can't go to the meetings for me too."

Noah chuckled and I joined in, "Really though, it means a lot that you're helping me out."

"I just appreciate you asking." Noah just seemed to glow with an inner happiness that I had never seen before. I was just grateful that I got to be the one to bring it out in him.

"You should really go and take a rest Mokuba. You look completely drained."

"Yeah I think I might do that." I eased myself out of the desk chair and cracked my neck, "I trust you to hold down the fort for me Noah."

He gave a smirk and a mock salute. "Aye aye cap-i-tan."

I rolled my eyes and laughed, slowly making my way out of the home office and towards my bedroom.

I was interrupted from my journey when the doorbell rang.

Giving a weary sigh, I turned around and began heading to the front door. I had given Roland these few days off so I had to do all the mundane things by myself.

The doorbell rang again and I mumbled, "Coming coming!"

I dragged myself to the front door and opened it slowly and was surprised to see who was there to greet me, "Yugi-kun? What are you doing here?" I had been seeing Yugi a lot these past few days since Seto had been in the hospital, but he was the last person I expected to see at my door.

"Hey there Mokuba…Mind if I come in?" Yugi looked a little weary and drained, as if he hadn't gotten enough sleep.

"Oh sure! Come on in! You look tired Yugi-kun. Everything okay?"

He nodded and didn't waste any time in plopping down onto my couch. "Yeah I'm fine. I just wanted to check up on you and see how things were going. I know you have to run the company by yourself and I wanted to know if there was anything I could do to ease your burden."

I shook my head. Yugi was as stubborn as my brother when it came to making sure his friends were okay.

"It's really okay Yugi. I am managing rather well. You just caught me between meetings so I swear I look a lot worse than I feel."

He gave me a slightly disbelieving look but conceded anyways, "Alright. I know I am not computer genius or business entrepreneur, but if you need my help for anything just let me know.

"Thanks Yugi." I then had a thought, mulling it over in my head before deciding to speak on it. "To be truthful Yugi, I actually have someone who has helped me a great deal that you already know."

He gave me a questioning glance and I smiled in return, "Can you keep a secret?"

Ryou's POV

I awoke this morning to the sound of dishes breaking.

Groaning I slowly sat up and pushed myself out of bed and made my way out of the bedroom. I was still in a daze and my mind kept replaying the other night's events.

Mariku had actually kissed me.

It was hardly anything relatively close to loving and romantic, and it seemed more like he was doing it to bother me than anything else, but a small part of my brain had different ideas.

I grumbled and shoved that small nagging part back into my subconscious. Mariku was always looking for ways to piss me off and this was just his newest plan.

Although…

I sighed and stopped dead in my tracks as I saw the kitchen.

"What the bloody hell are you doing?"

Mariku was perched up on the counter and was pulling dishes one by one out of the cupboard and throwing them like Frisbee's across the room. He turned and saw me and got a scary grin on his face, "Fluffy! You're up! Catch!"

I yelped and ducked as a plate went soaring past my head and shattered against the wall.

Why me?

"Mariku! Stop it!" I squealed and rolled as another dish came soaring in my direction.

Mariku grinned and opened up another cupboard since he had already smashed all my plates, "Why should I stop when I am having so much fun?"

"Because I won't have anything to eat my food off of!" I dodged a tea cup, "Or drink my tea with…"

Mariku continued to raid my cupboards and toss my priceless china in my general direction as I raced around the kitchen, trying not to get impaled by the flying porcelain.

"Stop it!" I dove under the dining table for cover and gave a frustrated moan, "Out of all the things in the house to destroy, you had to choose to decimate my china collection!"

"You have no food in this retched place!"

I flinched as another teacup smashed inches from my face, "I just bought some bloody food!"

"I ate it all."

"…You ate all our food? I had enough to last us at least to the end of the week!" I squeaked as another cup landed several inches from my right hand.

"Well you're just going to have to buy more now won't you Fluffy?"

I peeked my head out from under the table once the assault of dishes ended to see Mariku looking around for anything else he could toss. Finding nothing he growled and slid off the counter and met my gaze with his own.

"Fluffy, I'm hungry."

I rolled my eyes, "You told me."

"Well then do something about it!"

I grumbled and gently worked my way from underneath the table. "Well we are going to have to go shopping then." I stood and brushed the dirt off my shirt and pants before putting my hands on my hips and fixing Mariku with a glare.

Mariku cocked his head and raised an eyebrow expectantly, "Well? We going to go get some food or you just going to stand there and undress me with your eyes?"

I felt my face erupt in a bright blush and I stuttered, "I…I am not undressing you with my eyes!"

Mariku gave a sly grin, "Oh you're doing more? Wow Fluffy you surprise me with your boldness."

"Shut up! Argh!" I stomped my foot and felt my face flush redder. "Do you want some food or not?"

Mariku licked his lips and made several advancing steps towards me, "Oh I want something to eat alright."

I felt my eyes widened and I took a few steps backwards, "W…well we can go buy some food."

Mariku's eyes glinted with an unreadable look and he approached me again, "Why buy some food when you're looking so edible yourself Ryou?"

Oh shit.

"Heh well I…I assure you I r…really don't taste too good." I squeaked as I bumped into the kitchen counter and Mariku closed the distance between us.

I took in a shaky breath as he leaned down so we were nose to nose again. I couldn't help it, I immediately thought of the kiss from the other day and I felt things low in my torso tighten.

Swallowing hard I looked him in the eyes and was surprised to see a curious and slightly lustful gaze, "Y….you're not really hungry are you?"

"No." He breathed against my neck and I felt myself shudder.

"W….what do you want from me?"

Mariku cocked his head and brushed his mouth against my neck, "To be honest I don't know."

I flinched slightly as Mariku put his arm around me and rested his hand on my lower back.

"I will tell you this much Fluffy; you intrigue me more than any other human I have ever met and I cannot figure out why."

I felt my heart skip a beat as Mariku pinned me against the counter with his hips, "I will figure you out. Of that I am sure. But for right now?" He brushed his lips across my collar bone and up to my ear. "I want… you….to…"

I gasped and gave a light moan.

"Get me FOOD!"

I squealed and lost my footing, ending up on the floor.

Mariku laughed and backed away from me, "Let's go! I could eat a fucking cow now that you've wasted so much time!"

If I hadn't known any better I would have sworn I just had a mini heart attack.

Shakily I got to my feet and walked over to where Mariku was waiting impatiently in the spare bathroom.

The Egyptian yami was not too keen on being recognized by anyone when we went out in public, so he had begun to make me fix and straighten his hair to look like Marik's.

If you looked closely enough, it was plain to see how much different Mariku looked from Marik, even though they could pass for twins to the untrained eye.

"Alright sit down." I sighed and grabbed a hairbrush and hair straightener as Mariku sat down on the bathroom stool.

Of all the things I imagined doing one day, using a hair straightener on a psychopathic Egyptian somehow never made the list. I sighed and began the tedious task of taming Mariku's wild hair.

"Fluffy?"

I rolled my eyes, "What?"

He paused, seemingly thinking about what he wanted to say. "Do you care for Omote?"

I blinked at the odd question and continued to fix his hair, "As a friend, yeah. I mean, Marik and I are really close now, we have a lot in common."

He chewed on his lip slightly, "Have you ever kissed him?"

I paused and gave him a shocked look, "W…what? No! No I've never kissed Marik!"

Mariku looked up at me, an unnerving look in his gaze, "I see."

"…Why do you ask…" I forced myself to continue working on his hair, it gave me something to do other than stare into Mariku's dark gaze.

"Are you a virgin?"

I nearly dropped the hair iron and had to fumble around so I didn't burn myself. "W…what?"

Mariku cocked his eyebrow and I glared in return, "I am not discussing my sex life with you!"

He chuckled and crossed his arms, "I figured you were. No wonder you and Omote are so uptight. You need to get laid."

"Sh…shut up! We are uptight because you two came barging into my apartment and took over our lives. You're running a dictatorship in my home and are trying to take over the world! That's why I am uptight!"

By the time I had finished my tirade, my face was red from embarrassment and anger. Of course nothing fazed Mariku.

"Whatever you say Fluffy. Now hurry up! I am hungry and I want some food! Preferably something meaty."

I took in a growling breath and continued my ministrations to his hair, "Maybe you're the one who needs to get laid. You and Bakura are the ones with the world domination complex. Maybe if you got some you guys wouldn't be so evil."

He laughed darkly, "Oh Fluffy I have gotten laid. Plenty of times actually, and with Bakura. So therefore I believe it is still you who needs some sexual stimulation."

I paused in my straightening and swallowed. I don't know why, but hearing that Mariku had sex with Bakura touched on something deep within me. I shakily began to finish up his hair. "You…had sex with Bakura?"

"Oh yes." He grinned at me in the mirror. "He is quite an animal in the bedroom, well in our case it was the shadow realm." He chuckled and his eyes turned lusty, "I do wonder if his hikari is just as animalistic."

I blushed madly and put the straightener on the counter by the sink. He was just trying to get a reaction out of me and I was not going to give him one, "I'm done." I swallowed and crossed my arms as Mariku rose fluidly to his feet.

I squealed in surprised when Mariku pinned me against the wall and put his mouth to my ear, "Perhaps one day I will know."

He laughed and moved away from me, leaving me slightly shaken.

"Come on Fluffy, let's go get some food." He grinned and walked out of the bathroom, leaving me staring after him in shock.

Clenching my fists I walked out after him, "You're infuriating! You do know that right?"

He just smirked at me and grabbed Marik's motorcycle keys off the table and walked outside.

"Hey!" I grabbed my coat and scurried to catch up to him. "Mariku wait!"

I raced outside and my heart beat just a bit faster at the sight of him.

He looked at me from his position on the motorcycle and gave a sly smirk. He had straddled the sleek machine and was leaning casually against the handle bars. I felt my heart leap up into my throat and other things in my body tighten. I took in a shaky breath and swallowed back the odd feelings before approaching Mariku and very carefully getting on the bike behind him.

"Do we really have to ride the bike to the store? It's not that far of a walk."

"We're going somewhere different today."

"W…what? Why?" I swallowed hard as Mariku started the bike and hit the kickstand back with the heel of his foot.

"Because I want to, and since you're my hostage, you have to do what I want to do."

I gave a frightened squeak as Mariku tore out of my driveway and onto the road, forcing me to wrap my arms tightly around his waist. "Where are we going?"

Mariku gave me a devious grin and weaved around a car, "Somewhere with lots of meaty food!"

I groaned and hugged him tighter, "We aren't wearing any helmets!"

"Who needs helmets?" He laughed crazily and accelerated hard, forcing me to increase my death grip on his torso.

"Mariku! We could crash and die!"

He gave a snort and weaved dangerously in and out of traffic, "I am a good driver!"

I closed my eyes tight and buried my face into Mariku's back, snuggling my head into the fabric of his cloak. I somehow seriously doubted the truth of his statement. I shivered and took in a deep breath, the musky smell of Mariku's cologne drifting through my nostrils and his hair flying back and mixing with mine.

I know I was living through my worst nightmare come true, but for some reason, for a brief moment, the smell of Mariku and the feel of his cloak and hair brushing against the exposed parts of my face made me feel just a bit better.

For the first time since the loss of my mother, I could honestly say I felt safe, sure and protected. And for the first time since Mariku arrived, I felt secure. It almost makes you believe that the world is good and nothing wrong can ever happen.

Who knows, maybe it won't. In my life experiences I have learned that a little hope can go a long way.