Blood Is Thicker

by Black-Neko-Chan

Two sets of twins; one set vampires and the other vampire hunters. Both go to the same school but don't know what the other is. Until a vampire hunter develops a crush on a vampire and a meeting throws them together.

12. Moving Things Forward

Hello there everyone! It's been a while XP Don't worry though, this chapter is very long, I think, my third longest? And there's smut! If you don't want to read that, don't worry. It'll be pretty easy to see when it's coming. Okay, so real quick. I've modified a few things in the previous chapters. Nothing content-wise, just cleaned them up a bit and made them easier on the eyes. I have also deleted Shaadi and Mahaado from the story. Why? Because I was going to do something with them in the original plan, but then I figured it was completely unimportant and unnecessary, so I just deleted them. Also, remember Isabelle from the previous chapter? Well, I've changed her name to Natalie. Why? Because I realized it was just a bit too similar to Bella from Twilight. And no offense to the people who like that, but I personally hate it XD So yeap, that was changed.

Disclaimer!: Black-Neko-Chan does not own Yu-Gi-Oh.

---

The moment Mai announced her presence to the Ishtars, all the tension that had been surrounding the family as a result of Gourou's impromptu visit hastily dissipated. The man who had brought with him the trouble and agitation left only a few moments after Mai's arrival, giving them all a cold look of displeasure before driving away in this car. Marik felt like trying to hail a taxi and follow the man, find out more about him, but for the moment Mai was more important. She'd been here for at least half an hour now, and Marik still had no idea what her objective was. She wouldn't have come without a reason.

His cool lavender gaze trailed over her figure as his ears paid enough attention to her speech to catch if she said anything important. Mai was the same as ever, it seemed. He'd seen her last a little over a year ago in Egypt. He didn't think anyone had told her that they were moving or to where, but apparently such things did not matter, as she was here anyways. She had a habit of showing up in places where no one expected her to be. And she still hadn't explained why she was here. Whenever Isis or Rishid made a hint at inquiring the reason, she just casually danced around the issue with laughter and moved onto a new topic of conversation. Yup, exactly the same as before. Dammit.

He really wished that they would get to the point already. The Ishtar family had known Mai for around seven years now, had even worked with her on several occasions. However, none of them could really call her a "friend." Mai was a self-proclaimed lone wolf, and had told them all in numerous instances that she worked better by herself. She strove to remain far away from others, and if she was forced to work with them, the minute the mission was over, she was gone. Malik absolutely hated her, though Marik felt that his brother also held some respect for the vicious and cold way in which the woman killed. Marik himself couldn't ever look at her without being reminded of unpleasant memories, though he did try to like her. He wasn't sure how Isis and Rishid felt, but he was certain they couldn't exactly make themselves like Mai either. She was difficult to deal with, that was for sure.

"…course I'm not just here for a friendly visit," Mai was saying. Marik pulled himself out of his slowly darkening thoughts and paid close attention to the conversation happening in front of him. It seemed like they were getting somewhere.

"Well then, why are you here, Mai?" Rishid questioned quietly, finally speaking the question everyone wanted to know.

"Well like I said," Mai began, smiling. She leaned back in her chair and adjusted her shirt, taking her sweet time in answering. Letting everyone know that she didn't need to be telling them anything. "I'm certainly not here for a visit. It's all business. I heard from a reliable source that there were a few strange things happening in this city here."

"We haven't heard anything to suggest that there are vampires here," Isis intercepted immediately, a frown marring her features.

"Maybe not," Mai continued, "But I never said anything about vampires. Just that I'd heard some strange things." Here Marik mirrored his sister's frown. Of course Mai hadn't specifically said anything about vampires, but they all knew that was what she was alluding to. Her denying it now was just her way of trying to make them look foolish, in the same way that implying they could have missed a vampire in their own city did. This superior attitude of hers was just one of the factors that made getting close to Mai impossible.

"However," Mai said, "If there were any vampires here, from what I hear, it would be somewhere from two to four. Certainly not that many. And there haven't been any bodies outside of the norm showing up, so it's possible that your own informer just didn't see anything as being wrong. Anyways, I'm just here to check a few things out. Since I'd heard you'd moved down here, I figured I'd stop by to say hello. You guys just up and moved without even telling me about it! Very cruel you know." Now Mai was pouting in her chair childishly, all seriousness long forgotten. Isis was still frowning though, and Marik's calculating gaze fluttered over to her.

"I'd like to know where you heard such things, but I doubt you'll tell me. However, if there is any suspicious activity going on in Domino, then we will take care of it. We're the ones that live here and have let these things escape out watch. We will be the ones to take care of it," Isis said. Mai laughed and shook her head.

"I don't think so. This is my info, my scoop, and my catch. I'll take care of it. I just stopped over to tell you all to let me know if you catch wind of anything."

"Well then I implore you let us help," Isis argued.

"No siree. You know I like to work alone. Having the four of you tag along is unnecessary and unneeded."

"It would be foolish to go by yourself though, especially if you are unaware of the exact number of enemies you may be facing," Rishid said from off to the side. Mai seemed to consider his words for all of five seconds before getting up and wandering to the stairway where Marik and Malik were sitting.

"All right. You, brat," She said, pointing. Marik gestured to himself, brows furrowed.

"Me?" He asked. Mai scoffed and shook her head.

"Not you-brat, the other one," She answered. The two twins glanced at one another briefly, and then Malik got up from his spot at the staircase and stood in front of Mai. He stuck his tongue out at her and smirked. If Mai was fazed at all by the crazed expression on his face, she certainly did not show it.

"Cute," She smirked. "So, you still hate me?"

"Of course," Malik responded eagerly.

"Good, then it's settled. I'll take him with me." Apparently Marik was not the only one surprised by this decision, as Isis got up from her seat and joined the two in the middle of the room, and even Rishid let a flicker of surprise cross his normally impassive face.

"I don't understand. Why would you take Malik with you? If you wanted someone to go with you, why not pick Marik? Or Rishid?" Isis questioned.

"Well they wouldn't be any help. No offense to the two of you, but you're both too soft." Mai explained.

"None taken," Marik responded, finding himself faintly amused, despite the situation. Sure, he didn't like hearing anyone call him "soft," but even if Mai had picked him, he probably wouldn't have gone. Their last mission had taught him that he couldn't exactly kill vampires anymore. Although, that was only half of the problem. The other half of course being the vampires themselves…

"Malik, if I were injured, what would you do? Help me escape and treat my wounds, or go after the vampires and kill them?" Mai asked, smiling slightly. Malik wasted no time in responding to that inquiry.

"Leave you, of course. If you get injured then you deserve to die," He spoke, grin widening. Mai seemed to take it all in stride.

"And that's exactly why I'm taking Malik with me. It's just as he said. As vampire hunters, it is our job to kill that scum and protect humans from then. If I fail in my job, then I deserve whatever punishment I am given. I need someone to go with me who will finish what I failed to do. If my partner decided to help me instead of killing the vampires, then they would get away and live to kill more humans. That loss of life is unacceptable. That's why I want Malik to come with me. Marik and Rishid, the two of you are too nice. I don't expect to get into any troubles, but if I did, you'd both definitely stop to help me. This brat on the other hand, he's got the right attitude. Perfect for the job," Mai explained. Malik seemed to accept the entire thing as a compliment, and when Isis began to argue with Mai against this idea, he joined in on Mai's behalf, despite his hatred for the woman.

Marik got up silently and headed up the stairs to his room. It was fairly obvious early on in the argument that Isis was going to lose, and he doubted that there was anything else for him to learn from further conversation. Mai was definitely here to look for vampires, but she herself wasn't even sure if there were any. Marik didn't know what to think of that. His thoughts were a mess, and he was starting to feel the beginnings of what was sure to be one hell of a migraine.

What he needed to know was the nature of the information Mai had been told. She had said early on in the conversation that nobodies outside of the norm had shown up… The appearance of bloodless bodies and missing persons was usually a good indicator that a vampire was in town, but in this scenario, Marik didn't know whether the absence of such bodies was good news or not. There were no bodies, but yet Mai was here anyways… She wouldn't have come all the way out here without a good reason, he knew that much. So whatever she'd heard must have been good information. But the lack of bodies was certainly troubling… The only vampires he knew of in the area were, of course, Bakura and Ryou. And they didn't drink human blood.

When he entered his room, Marik took off his bag and carefully took out the Sennen Ring. The precious artifact shone merrily in the sun, but only for a moment. Soon it was hidden with its similar, ill-gotten comrades from the museum. He would have to deal with that problem soon, but at the moment, he had a bigger one. What to do about his mess with Mai?

In all the years that he'd been a hunter, Marik didn't think that he'd ever encountered another vampire that did not drink human blood. Of course, never before had he actually gotten to know the vampire before killing it, so that wasn't to say that there hadn't been any. The only humane vampires he'd ever met were Bakura and Ryou. What were the chances of there being another one or two who also refrained from having human beings on their menu, living in the same area, no less? Whatever the odds, Marik didn't like them.

If Mai had somehow heard about Bakura and Ryou, then Marik had to tell them of course. And then they would leave… That was where Marik paused in his thoughts. They would have to leave. There was no way they could stay. If Mai found out that there were vampires, she would follow them until she was certain she had killed them. And to make matters worse, Malik was with her. Malik knew all about he and Bakura, even if Marik had never told him all the details. If Malik found out… The thought, even left unfinished as it was, made Marik shiver, and the temperature in the room seemed to drop several degrees. Malik could not find out. So then, he would have to tell them. Had to. But…

He knew that he should, but he didn't want to. If he told them there was another hunter in the area that was searching for any clues leading to vampires, they would leave, simple as that. And Marik didn't want that. He liked Ryou, considered him to be a friend even, and then there was Bakura. Bakura, who he had this weird… thing with. He didn't want Bakura to go. He didn't want Ryou to leave either, but more than that, he really didn't wand Bakura to go. He didn't want Bakura to die either, but at the moment leaving seemed like the worst option. After all, Mai wasn't even sure there were any vampires here. All she had was speculation. He knew that he needed to warn Bakura and Ryou, but did he really need to do so right away? Mai had the word of some person and that was it. She really didn't know anything. The only person who knew what the two white-haired teens were was him, and he wasn't going to tell anyone. Bakura and Ryou themselves had been alive for over six hundred years now. They knew how to blend in and act human. Marik could have probably never known if Bakura hadn't accidentally set off that trap in front of his house.

Marik headed over to his bed and lied down on it. It was as comfortable as always, but he could feel his head starting to hurt. He thought briefly about going down into the kitchen to get some aspirin, then decided the trip hardly seemed worth it. He thought that he would not tell the two vampires. Not yet. It was early on in the investigation and Mai wasn't sure of anything. There was no pressing matter to urge him to act just now. He could afford to wait a while and see if anything would turn up first. Once he knew that, then he would tell them if he needed to. He wouldn't let either of the twins die, he was certain of that. But there was also no need to freak them out and make them move unnecessarily. So for now he would wait and see what happened.

With that decided, Marik rolled over in his bed and brought his covers over him. The throbbing in his head was worsening, and he hoped that maybe a nap would calm it before it turned into a full-blown migraine.

00000

The next day, during his lunch period, Bakura took a seat right next to Marik, much to the blonde's displeasure. He and Marik had always had the same lunch period, but as Bakura didn't eat lunch like the rest of the student body, he usually wandered off and left. To where, Marik never figured out. He'd thought that Bakura would do the same today, so he hadn't been worried about trying to avoid the vampire. It wasn't that he didn't want to see the other teen so much as he figured it would be better not to. He had a lot of things on his mind, and seeing Bakura certainly wouldn't help to solve any.

"So, you still mad at me?" Bakura questioned as he sat down at the table—much too closely for Marik's tastes. He was acutely aware of their thighs touching. He fidgeted in his seat slightly to give Bakura the hint to move away, but instead the idiot only got closer. Marik himself would have moved, but as he was already sitting at the end of the table, there wasn't much open space to move to.

"No, I am not mad, just in a bad mood. I didn't get much sleep last night. And would you please move further away from me! I do not need the entire school assuming that I'm sleeping with you!" Marik snapped. Bakura smiled cheekily and practically situated himself on Marik's lap. He draped his pale arms around the other boy's neck and leaned in much closer to him than was acceptable.

"Well aren't we? I mean, we haven't slept together just yet of course, but I'm assuming it won't be much longer until that happens, especially since you're always so hot and bothered around me—"

"Bakura!" Marik shrieked, face beginning to turn red. There went any hope of at least pretending he was still straight. As if the bathroom fiasco hadn't been bad enough… So, trying to salvage what little was left of his pride, Marik did the only sensible thing to do in his situation and pushed Bakura off his lap and onto the floor.

"Ow!" Bakura complained. "You could have just asked nicely!" Marik neither responded nor offered to help Bakura off the floor, so eventually the teen picked himself up.

"Guess you are still mad then," He murmured. Marik glared daggers.

"Well look," Bakura continued, "you can go ahead and be as angry as you want. I'm leaving now anyways. Come to the apartment after you get out, got it?" And with that, he was gone. Marik watched him go for a few moments before turning back to his neglected food. He didn't know what Bakura wanted, but it was going to have to wait. He had more important things to find out. Today Malik had skipped school and gone with Mai to snoop around. He wanted to be at the house when Malik returned, and he was going to make sure to be the first person to talk to him about how it had gone. Malik wouldn't want to give the information up so easily of course, but Marik had his ways.

The next day when he wasn't in class, Marik spent his time looking out for Bakura and trying to keep out of his sight. Surprisingly, it wasn't that hard to do. Bakura didn't seem to even be bothering to search for him. Marik didn't put too much thought into this, just was thankful for small occurrences of good luck. Instead, his thoughts were occupied with other problems. Yesterday he had not been able to lure any information out of Malik. When his twin had arrived back at the house he had been smirking and animated, sure signs that he and Mai must have found something out. But what? He needed to find out, but if Malik wasn't telling him, then how was he supposed to? There was no way he could get the information out of Mai. The entire situation was infuriating enough to bring back his migraine from the other day.

As the day progressed his migraine only got worse, especially when he returned home on the bus and saw a shiny new motorcycle sitting in his driveway. The same motorcycle he had stolen with Bakura, the same motorcycle that should have been with Bakura, and nowhere near his sister.

"Oh, you asshole," Marik swore under his breath, then headed up the steps and into the house, prepared to face Isis.

"What is that?" Said sister demanded the instant he'd set his foot in the door.

"Umm, a motorcycle?" Marik said.

"Marik," Isis wanted. "I know that it's a motorcycle. What I don't know is how it got there."

"Well don't look at me! It's not like I know either! Maybe the guy who hit me found out who I was and decided to buy me a new one," He suggested. It wasn't a clever answer. It wasn't even a good answer. But when he said it, the anger left Isis's expression, and he noticed for the first time since entering the house just how tired she looked. There wasn't anything in her face to suggest it, more something that seemed to permeate from her. Her blue eyes might have been a little less lively than they normally were, but that was the only physical attribute that was affected. He wondered what could possibly have made his sister seem so tired, and immediately the answer came to him. Gourou. Isis had acted the same when he had shown up at their house the other day. It hadn't looked to Marik like anyone had been to the house, so he must have called her.

"Just promise me that's the truth Marik, and that you didn't have anything to do with it," Isis pleaded. Marik was taken aback for a moment by just how eager Isis looked. It reminded him of Egypt… Back then, Isis had been so eager to believe that he and Malik hadn't done anything wrong. She'd never wanted to hear the truth about just how horrible the two of them really were. The Isis of that time had wanted to pretend like her two baby brothers were still as innocent and cute as they had been as children.

"I promise, Isis," Marik lied softly. He felt a pang of guilt because of the lie, but he instantly buried it away and ignored it. He had to lie. The last time Isis had looked like this, she'd been crushed when she'd learnt otherwise. Both he and Malik had agreed to never put her through that again, and Marik wasn't about to go back on that, even if it meant lying now.

"You okay Isis? You look tired," Marik mentioned. He out an arm around her and lead her over to the couch. She did seem tired, and when she sat down on it she sighed and seemed to sink down into the cushion. A moment later through she smiled and waved the question off.

"Oh, I'm fine. Things are just a bit hectic at the museum right now, but that's it," She said.

"You sure? Gourou's not bothering you or anything, is he?" Marik questioned.

"No, of course not. I'll be glad when this mess is over and done with however," Isis laughed. "Thank you for your concern Marik, it was very nice. You don't have to worry about a thing though, so don't worry. Everything will resolve itself with time." She got off the couch with another smile and headed for the kitchen. "Well, I'm going to make a few calls and check out some things for Malik and Mai. Did you want a snack or anything?"

"No, that's fine. I was going to head over to Bakura's anyways." Of course Marik knew that Isis was lying, but if she didn't want to tell him the truth, then there really wasn't anything he could do about it. He really wished now that he didn't have to go see what was up with Bakura. He needed to try again to get something out of Malik, and he still had to deal with the problem of how to get those damn Sennen Items back to Gourou without getting Isis into any trouble. Which was going to be much more difficult than he'd originally thought. Bakura had better have a damn good reason for needing to see him. Of course, no doubt he wouldn't, but damn! Did he really have to bring the bike here to get his attention? He could have gotten in so much trouble if Isis had been in a bad mood.

Figuring that since the bike was here (and it would get him to Bakura's the fastest), Marik hoped on it. He was still very strongly of the opinion that Bakura was an idiot for bringing it here, but he certainly didn't mind getting to ride it. He'd always loved the freedom he felt while riding a motorcycle, and this one really was a great bike. It almost made him forget how frustrated he was at the stupid vampire and in general. Almost.

When he knocked on the door Bakura opened it was a smirk and a quip about how he'd known "the bike would get you to come."

"Yeah, it got me to come because of how utterly obtuse it was of you to bring it to my house. Do you even think before you do things?" Marik scowled irritably. "Now what do you want?"

"Nothing much. I figured that if you were still mad at me for the other day, as your boyfriend it is my to make you happy again, right?" Bakura questioned cheekily. Marik successfully managed to prevent himself from rolling his eyes and spouting off in a torrent of anger. Instead, he calmly turned around and headed for the door. Of course, he only got so far before Bakura had taken a hold of his arm and brought him over to sit next to him on the couch.

"Now why would you think I'd just let you leave after I finally got you here" Bakura purred. He leaned in for a kiss, but Marik moved his head and the other teen met with only air.

"Look, I'm not in a particularly good mood today Bakura, and I have things I need to do back at my house. I can't be wasting my time here," He said.

"Who said it's a waste of time?" Bakura questioned, leaning in much closer to Marik than necessary. Marik frowned and tried to get away once more, but this time Bakura was ready for it. He leaned over Marik and rested his arms on the couch arm on both sides of Marik's head, effectively trapping him in place. Their lips met, sending a small jolt down Marik's spine, though he did not participate. Bakura's lips moved against his own, trying fruitlessly to engage him in the kiss. Marik was tempted to respond, but he really did not have time for this, and the simplest of ways to get out of here was to show that to Bakura.

"Come on, do something, damn it," Bakura muttered against him. Marik didn't even bother to respond. He heard Bakura growl in the back of his throat, and then the other teen was nipping at his lips. He hadn't been expecting that in the least, and on impulse his mouth opened. Bakura took the opportunity to shove his own tongue inside Marik's mouth and forced their mouths to move together. Despite his attempts to not give in, Marik found himself becoming aroused by the savage kiss. It was completely different than the other ones they'd shared in the past. Even so, he was the one who broke it.

"I can't stay here, Bakura," He said, slightly out of breath.

"Yes, you can. If you're really in that bad of a mood, then it'll do you some good to relax. Turn around," Bakura commanded. Something about the way the vampire said the last order made Marik decide it was probably better to just remain here for an hour or so and then leave. Bakura was obviously intent on making him stay here for at least a little while. So decided that he's remain her for a bit before returning to his house to question Malik, Marik turned around and obeyed the peculiar command.

Bakura made him lean slightly against his own body, and then his hands went to Marik's shoulders. Marik stiffened for a moment when they began to press into his back.

"Relax, you dolt. That's the point of a backrub," Bakura scoffed. He leant in closer to Marik then, his lips brushing hotly against the skin of his neck. Marik shivered and despite himself, leant into the touch.

"Bet I could give you a getter one if you'd take the shirt off," The other teen breathed softly. A hand danced teasingly at the hem of Marik's shirt, cold fingers sipping under and skimming across the skin underneath. For a moment, he froze and his mind went blank but for an intense, irrational bout of fear. In another second Marik had buried that fear far back down in his mind and had wrenched away from Bakura's hands and spun around, back to the couch.

"No," He said raggedly. Bakura was gazing at him with a perplexed expression, and on some level he recognized that he was acting strangely and needed to stop before Bakura started to ask questions, but for now he just stared at the other teen across from him on the small couch. "No."

"No what? You don't want a backrub?" Bakura questioned. Marik's hand clenched the couch cushion under him hard, his eyes closed for a second. When he opened them again it was with a smirk on his face. He was fine. Perfectly fine. And Bakura had just given him a way out. Staring at Bakura from under half-lidded eyes, Marik brought his leg up in front of the other teen.

"No, I don't want you to rub my back," He said smoothly. Bakura's face lost the look of confusion that had been apparent on it before, and how his eyes flashed rubicund and became half-lidded like Marik's.

"You little bitch," He purred, taking a hold of the bronzed foot in front of him. His fingers pressed deeply into the sole of his foot, and Marik sighed heavily. His fingers moved back and forth over his foot, pressing her and there, relaxing Marik far more than he would have thought such a simple action could do. He moaned as Bakura pressed hard into the pads of his foot, relieving pains he hadn't even known had existed.

"You're quite skilled at that, aren't you?" Marik questioned slowly. Bakura gave him a slow, sensuous smirk that made Marik's body tingle warmly.

"Of course. I'm very good with my hands," He answered.

"The skill suits you," Marik murmured lowly. His eyes closed slowly as he sunk back into the couch, completely unwound now. Yes, this suited Bakura, for him to be down at his feet, taking care of his needs. He felt Bakura place the first foot down, tenderly, and pick up the other. Marik moaned again when clever fingers began to press against his skin, pressing deeply for one moment, then softly brushing the sensitive skin in the next. His hands massaged the heel of his foot, fingers pressing harder and harder into the flesh. Marik felt like it should hurt, but all he felt was warm and relaxed. His head rolled back to rest against the couch's arm and he exhaled. Whatever Bakura was doing, it was great.

He felt Bakura lift his foot up more, and his touches became lighter and lighter, but Marik paid no mind to this. His mind was, for the first time in the past two days, completely empty, and the migraine that had been plaguing him and keeping him up at night, gone. He felt a hot puff against the skin of his foot, and then an even hotter, moist something. It took Marik a moment to come back to himself, as he'd almost fallen asleep while Bakura had been rubbing him. He opened his dim lavender orbs lazily; wanting to see what Bakura was going now that felt so good.

The slow, groggy movements that had so characterized him just milliseconds ago were hastily shattered as Marik show a few inches into the air and stiffened, his eyes widening at the sight before him. There was Bakura, still holding his foot, but much closer to his mouth than it had been before. His tongue was on Marik's toes, curling around them, then taking them into his mouth and sucking. Marik shuddered heavily, suddenly feeling much too hot in his clothes. The sight before him should have been repulsive, but all it did was send a thick jolt of hot, hazy pleasure straight down to his groin.

Slowly he made himself sit back against the couch, trying to relax as he had before. The task was neigh impossible. Watching Bakura lick him in such a… suggestive way… was doing very strange things to both his mind and body. His hand twitched at his side, desiring to touch. He gripped the couch cushions to restrain himself from doing so and continued to watch. He wanted to touch; better yet, he wanted to partake in those same activities—but he also did not want to do anything that would threaten to interrupt the highly erotic scene unfolding right before him.

Bakura's eyes were half-lidded, burning red slits. He was staring directly at Marik as his tongue ran almost lazily back and forth over the pads of his foot, then dipping down to the sole. Every second their eyes remained connected, Marik felt his body becoming hotter and hotter. His skin burned against his clothes and he wanted them off, or at least for someone to open a window. It was stifling in the room, and the actions Bakura was taking weren't helping the heat to dissipate any quicker.

Bakura's eyes were closing slowly not, and Marik's breath caught in his throat. He stared deeply at the other male, watching as his mouth enclosed around his big toe. The expression on his face, with his eyes closed like that… Marik blushed heavily, and abruptly came to notice the hardness in his pants that had surely not been there before. His cheeks burned brighter as Bakura sucked on the toe, his tongue wrapping around it languidly. He released it from his mouth with a soft "pop," and then slowly licked the rest of Marik's foot. Marik shuddered visibly and clenched onto the couch even tighter. Bakura licked leisurely back down his foot, humming softly, right until he came to Marik's ankle. He stopped there, leaving his tongue on the patch of skin like a hot brand, and opened his eyes to look at him. Marik's heart thumped erratically in his chest and his mouth went dry. Bakura's eyes were a sultry, deep crimson red, staring directly at him and drenched in lust. His mouth was open, exposing his pink tongue, allowing a fine line of saliva to trail down his chin.

In an instant Marik's foot was pulled away from the vampire's mouth and he was licking up Bakura's chin, tracing the trail of saliva, and then that pink tongue was wrestling messily with his own. Marik was sitting on the other male's lap and his hands were fumbling to get Bakura's shirt off and over his head, suddenly feeling more like clumsy chucks of meat than hands with nimble fingers, and wanting nothing more right now than to touch and caress and to feel. Their lips broke apart for only a second as the shirt was yanked off and thrown somewhere to the floor. Their breath mingled together as both boys panted hard, looking at one another with equally hungry eyes. In a second their lips were smashed together with so much force that Marik could taste blood in his mouth, though whether his or Bakura's he knew not. He didn't care. There was a fire inside him telling him to continue and he wanted to so much. He'd always wanted to continue the other times when he'd been together with Bakura, but the desire hadn't ever been this intense. If someone interrupted them now… Marik would kill the person himself. Speaking of which…

"Where's Ryou?" Marik panted, pulling away reluctantly from Bakura's lips. The vampire's lips were a bright, bruised red and the color of them reflecting the color of his red, red eyes made him all the more a delectable sight. Marik absentmindedly licked his own lips, similarly bruised by the fierce kiss.

"Gone. Doing some club project. He'll be gone for another two hours," Bakura grinned. Marik mirrored it as he leaned down for another bruising kiss.

"You wouldn't have planned all of this, would you have?" Marik asked evilly. His cheeks were flushed and a small string of saliva connected both of their lips. Bakura leaned up and licked his lips, breaking the string. He smiled, showing off his fangs, and that was all the answer Marik needed. With a smirk of his own he pushed Bakura back down onto the couch. He spent a moment inspecting the shirtless body underneath him. Bakura was pale, unnaturally so, but instead of making his body look sickly, it seemed to enhance his beauty. The plane of flat skin offered before him was unmarked and untouched by any scars or blemishes, and, sensing a challenge, Marik's hands began to busy themselves with trying to find some unsightly mark to prove the vision of perfection incorrect. What he did find was that the flesh under his palms was cold, not freezing, but enough to send a shiver up his own spine and create an interesting contrast with his own heated flesh.

He leant down to Bakura's neck and blew a puff of hot air against it, felt the body beneath him shiver. Marik smirked to himself and then leant lower still and licked the skin offered beneath him. Bakura shivered again as his tongue trailed lower and lower down his neck and dipped into the crevice between his clavicle. He meant to go lower still, but a hand against his cheek lifted him back up to gaze at Bakura.

"What are you doing? I'm supposed to be the one relaxing you," Bakura scolded mischievously. He tried to sit back up, but Marik kept him down and grinned cheekily.

"No. I'm in a bad mood, remember? So you'll let me do whatever I want here," He insisted. And then he leant back down to Bakura's chest and took one of the coral pink nipples into his mouth ad sucked on it. He nipped it lightly and Bakura hissed up at him. He bucked his hips up at Marik impatiently, whether purposefully on not, Marik did not know. The intent behind the action hardly seemed to matter so much as the movement itself. Marik released the tortured nipple from his mouth as a moan tore through him when a certain hardness of Bakura's rubbed against his own erection. Bakura did it again and this time they both moaned.

"Clothes off. Now," Bakura demanded, panting. Marik shook his head as he ground his hips against Bakura's once more and bit his lip to keep from moaning again.

"The shirt stays on," He argued.

"Fine," Bakura agreed. He sat up as much as he could with Marik still situated atop his legs and began to fumble with the buttons to the Egyptian teen's pants. Marik watched him through half-lidded eyes, still concentrating on the throbbing pleasure created with each thrust of his hips against Bakura's. In the back of his mind he understood that this was the last chance he would get to refuse Bakura before this all led to sex. He'd had sex before. Not with a man, but the mechanisms behind it were familiar and unthreatening. Rather, he desired this more than he had with any of the females he'd been with. Bakura was much more magnificent than they had been, and the mother male excited him like no girl had been able to. He wanted this man, and he wanted him now.

With a sudden renewed intensity, Marik grabbed Bakura's hands and pushed him back against the couch before harshly crushing their mouths together again. He shoved his tongue into Bakura's mouth, rubbed it against the other man's in the same manner that he was still rubbing his lower half against the other. Bakura growled and tried to dominate the kiss, but Marik shoved his back against the couch arm and kept his hands held behind him. He knew that if he wanted to, with his superior strength, Bakura could easily break free from his grasp, but the fact that he didn't sent a thrill racing up Marik's spine. He was being allowed to dominate in this instance and that fueled his libido so much more.

When they broke apart, both panting, Bakura began to work on his pants once again. Marik was forced to part their hips when Bakura peeled both his pants and boxers away from his skin and tossed them to the floor. Marik hissed as cool air caressed his throbbing erection, and then even more when Bakura's hand closed around it and began to steadily pump. He thrust slowly into the hand encircling him, and his eyes became lidded, losing himself in the pleasure for a moment. When the soft touches ceased to excite him and left him longing for more, with a reluctant moan Marik pulled away.

His hands trailed down Bakura's chest, ghosting playfully over pointed nipples, tracing over the contours of lean muscle and taut skin to trail lower down lower, to the flat plane of his abdomen. From there he continued his journey to Bakura's pants and unzipped them. His fingers snuck down into the jeans and caressed the heated bulge they found there, earning him a moan from Bakura. He wasn't allowed to continue for much longer before the other man removed his hands and dug around in his pocket, producing a small bottle.

"You really did have this entire thing planned out, didn't you?" Marik asked cheekily.

"Just like to be prepared," Bakura responded. He handed over the bottle and Marik squeezed some of the contents onto his fingers. This he was a bit unfamiliar with, having never used lube in this way before, but he was not ignorant. He knew that he was meant to do. Making sure first that his fingers were thoroughly coated in the substance, Marik reached around behind him to his butt. He grimaced as he slid a finger into himself, not liking the feel of the intrusion. It didn't hurt—yet—but it wasn't a feeling he could ever see himself getting used to.

He felt eyes on him and looked up to see Bakura openly staring at him, licking his lips hungrily. Marik blushed despite himself, not used to receiving such an intense stare from anyone, and certainly not while in the midst of such an intimate act. He found himself becoming aroused by it, his cock throbbing painfully; despite the discomfort he was experiencing now with two fingers stretching his insides.

Suddenly he found himself lying flat on his back, Bakura hovering above him, eyes burning brightly.

"Bah-Bakura?" Marik questioned, startled.

"I want to bite you," Bakura muttered somberly.

"Wha—?"

"I want to bite you. I want to mark you. I want to let everyone know that you are mine."

"Bakura, I don't know what you're—Mmpfh!" He was cut off abruptly as Bakura kissed him hard, not even so much a kiss as the clashing of teeth and mashing of lips. Marik tasted blood in his mouth again. This time he was certain that it had come from him. Bakura's fangs—which he noted with a jolt were much longer than they had been minutes prior—had accidentally cut open the inside of his cheek.

Just as soon as their mouths had met, Bakura was pulling away, lips and breath now ghosting across Marik's neck. He shuddered under Bakura and fidgeted a bit (he was lying quite painfully on his right arm), but the vampire did not budge. Instead, he captured his face and forced Marik to look straight into his eyes, then leaned down and connected their lips again. This kiss was nothing like the one before, seemingly nothing like any of the ones they'd shared before. Bakura dominated his mouth, arduously exploring the hot cavern, mapping every insignificant niche. Marik's body trembled; he doubted that he could have kept himself upright had be been standing. He could feel the passion pouring from Bakura, the fire and heat and desire of it all and the pure, unadulterated carnal want, primal and instinctual and overpowering. He could feel Bakura like he'd never felt him before. His senses were aflame with all that was Bakura and he could smell him and feel him and taste him (oh yes he could taste him) and every touch was like being jolted back to life and back to Bakura, Bakura…

When he pulled away from his lips, Marik's mind was still dazed, for he could still feel Bakura just as intimately as he had before, but the sense of Bakura was quickly fading back to Marik, leaving him disjointed. He felt like he'd just had an out-of-body experience, like he'd somehow, just for a brief second, become one with Bakura. He didn't know what it was or what had actually happened, but it had left him painfully aroused, so much that he couldn't help a whimper from escaping his lips when Bakura carelessly shuffled around and their bare erections touched.

"I want to bite you, Marik. I'll mark you, and then everyone who sees will know that you are mine. No one will ever touch you. The will all know that you belong only to me," Bakura was murmuring again, still not making much more sense now than he had when he'd said the same words before. He looked at Marik carefully.

"I want to bite you," He stated, and Marik understood now that this was a roundabout question and he was required to give answer. His head still felt strange, as if he were not yet all himself, but he found himself nodding, understanding on some indeterminate level that this was important, even if he did not understand what Bakura was saying.

"Not where everyone can see," He mumbled, knowing at least that if he were to be "marked" in some way, it needed to be hidden from his siblings. Bakura nodded seriously and slowly began to travel down the length of his body. He felt Bakura's breath soft and warm against the pumping artery in his neck, felt a brief wetness touch the skin, and then the warmth was gone as he continued downward, blocked from meeting flesh by his shirt. He mourned the loss of it, feeling somehow less like himself without it. He was tethered to this time and space by his senses, existing only when he could feel and caress and know that he was alive because he could do these things. He was tied to Bakura; their existence was the same. With Bakura he had definition, he had substance; he knew what he was because he could identify what he was not. All at once he could feel Bakura and be Bakura, but he could also tell the exact moment where Bakura ended and he began. The loss of that breath against his skin was disorienting—it felt like he had lost Bakura and also a piece of himself, amputated some significance about his identity.

Bakura returned to him when the hem of the shirt ended. He could feel warmth fanning out against his hips and his erection, and then he could feel those teeth, those long, pointed teeth, grazing sharp against his skin and against his mind. He opened his mouth—to say what, exactly?—but all that escaped it was a scream, torn from his vocal cords as Bakura plunged those teeth into a patch of skin near his hipbone and began to suck and nip.

Fire was coursing through his veins and it burnt like liquid stardust and it hurt and it hurt but somewhere down the line he'd began to like the burn and the screams that left his throat were of pleasure like passion and power and he screamed and screamed and writhed on the couch. He felt connected to Bakura again, much more than during the kiss, so that he could feel his blood, his life, leaving him and entering Bakura to become his blood and his life. It was an addicting feel to be so close to the one you loved—loved?—and he wanted it to go on and on but almost as soon as it had began Bakura pulled away and left him confused and disoriented and oh-so puzzled but what had just occurred—because what had just occurred?—and with the only thing that he was quite sure of being that he was very, very aroused.

His blood was staining Bakura's lips redder than normal, and he kissed it all away ferociously, pushing Bakura to lie back down on the couch. He was still not quite yet himself after whatever it was that had occurred, but his groin throbbed painfully, and before he thought about any of it he knew that he needed release. So he grabbed a hold of the bottle of lube and squeezed more of it onto his hand and slathered it all over Bakura's erection. The man under him hissed at the contact. His fangs shone and glinted in the light and the sight made Marik shudder needily. He pumped his hands a few times; making sure the other was thoroughly coated, and then lifted himself up and positioned his hips so that the head of the other teen's length was pressed up right against him.

He paused for a moment. Thought about it. Did he really want to have sex with a vampire—and a male one at that—of all things? If anyone in his family ever found out… Marik's body screamed at him to get on with it, but for the first time since their clothes had rapidly started to disappear, Marik felt like he was thinking clearly. He gazed down at the man underneath him. Took in his features. Vampire or not, he was beautiful. He saw the way Bakura's cerise gaze searched his face, almost as if he could sense the thoughts Marik was having, and he noticed the way the hands on his own hips stilled, allowing him the time to think. With that action Marik decided, just as he had before with Bakura aside the outcropping of rock, that he truly did want this. He wanted all of it.

He lowered himself slowly onto the man underneath him, feeling the pressure of Bakura's clawed hands on his hips helping to push him down. The claws left little indents and small scratches that bled and added to the pain and discomfort Marik was already beginning to feel. When Bakura was fully sheathed inside him, he shifted and leant his head against Bakura's chest to lesson the pain.

"Relax," Bakura ordered.

"You relax!" Marik snapped back. "You're not the one with the giant thing up your ass!"

"I thank you for the compliment," Bakura smirked, and then he jerked his hips upward, causing Marik to yelp and sit back in an upright position. He glared at the man underneath him and purposefully clenched his muscles as he lifted himself upward. The discomfort that flitted across Bakura's face over his "innocent" smirk made the pain he was feeling all worth it. Bakura's hands pushed him sharply back down and he audibly gasped at the stab of pain, gritting his teeth to keep more noises from escaping him.

"I can give back every bit as good at I get," Bakura warned. "If it's kinky sex you're looking for, I'll hurt you as much as you'd like later. For right now though, stop being a bitch and relax." Marik opened his mouth to protest, but Bakura quickly shut him up with another quick thrust that jolted him into silence. Still glaring, Marik closed his eyes and forced his body to relax. He did want this, but he was worked up all the same, and that wasn't making anything easier. The pain didn't make things better, but he could deal with that. He'd felt worse. This wasn't even that bad.

He felt Bakura shift above him and then arms wrapped around his body and pulled him to warm lips. He felt a tongue on his bottom lip, and he let it into his mouth without a fight, thankful for the distraction. This kiss was not anything like the ones that had come before it. It was not ferocious and hard and needy, nor was it disconcerting and filled him with that strange sense of awareness. It was hard and damp and warm, sparking a fire in Marik's veins as their mouth moved, tongues rubbing against one another and fighting. And then he felt Bakura pull out of his body almost completely. He'd been engrossed in the kiss, hardly noticing that Bakura had lied him down on the couch and was now above him.

He felt lips trail down from his mouth to his chin, kissing and licking along the edge of it, slowly leaving warm, wet paths down to his bare neck. He panicked for a moment, thought Bakura might bite him here as well, but when he felt teeth they were only nibbles. The lips moved everywhere, caressed every inch of skin, tending to the fire in Marik's stomach, making it burn all the hotter, consuming him more and more. He moaned softly, relishing every movement as his neck was ravished.

And then suddenly Bakura was moving inside, making shallow thrusts. He could feel the tip of the other's member inside him, yet nothing more ever entered him with each slow thrust. The pain was still there, but it was shoved to the back of his mind, only vaguely remembered when he thought about it. He had better things to concentrate on, like the tongue that was lapping at his lips.

"You can… go in more," Marik said softly, feeling more than slightly embarrassed by his statement. But that hardly seemed to matter in a moment as he felt his body stretched to accommodate more of Bakura's invading size. With each slow thrust, one inch after another was eased into him gradually, and only when he was ready. The tenderness of the situation surprised Marik. Every other time he'd had something close to a sexual encounter with Bakura, the man had been eager and solely focused on getting what he wanted out of the act. This gentle side of Bakura was something he'd never seen before, and it fascinated him greatly.

When he was all the way in, Bakura paused, letting Marik adjust. The feeling was strange, foreign, and not altogether unpleasant. It felt much better this time around going in slow, rather than the fast entry they had done earlier. Marik breathed deeply, and shifted on the cramped couch, signaling to Bakura to start movement again. He felt the other man pull out nearly all the way, and then push back in, a bit faster than before, but still gentle enough to forgo the pain. The movement was repeated again and again, hurting less and less with each entry becoming something familiar. And then Bakura began to shift around above him, positioning his hips in a different alignment with each new push.

Marik screamed as Bakura evidently found what he searched for. Bakura pressed against his prostrate again, and Marik moaned, back arching just slightly. As Bakura smirked above him and ground his hips into his, eliciting another wanton moan, Marik flushed. He tried to cover his face with his hands, but the moment he made the movement Bakura withdrew and pressed in sharply, earning himself a gasp. His hands paused mid-way to his face, and immediately went back to the couch, gripping the cushion tightly.

"Such a cute face you've got there," Bakura grinned.

"Shut the hell up!" Marik hissed violently, face lighting up with surprise as another particularly hard thrust entered him. He stifled another gasp by bolting upright and grabbing onto Bakura. He buried his face into the man's neck and gripped tightly onto his arms, hard enough to bruise, but Bakura didn't seem to mind. Instead, he started to pound into him faster and harder, angling just so he could grind against Marik's prostrate with each entry.

From this angle he could feel that Bakura was not entering him as deeply as before, but it hardly seemed to matter as the vampire more than made up for the lost depth with the marks he was leaving on his neck. He would have a lot of explaining to do to his siblings when he finally returned home. He had still not yet removed his face from Bakura's neck, despite the clammy flesh he could feel against his own damp forehead. He could not see the extent of the damage Bakura was doing to his neck, but he could feel lips all over him, hot breath, and nibbling teeth. Those pointed teeth never broke his flesh, but the knowledge that they could at any moment sent dark bolts of pleasure straight down to his groin. The idea of being with a vampire like this was dark and thrilling.

"You're not letting me see your face… You embarrassed or something?" Bakura murmured against his neck.

"No!" Marik shouted hotly. He felt Bakura's lips move against his neck, and then they were kissing deeply, hotly, and he was moaning into the other man's mouth with each thrust. Bakura began to shuffle on the couch underneath him, and Marik got the hint. He too began to try and maneuver his body into a new position, all while staying connected together. The task was damn near impossible without falling off the small sofa. He whined with some dissatisfaction when he felt Bakura leave him, somewhat struck by how wrong the loss of him felt.

"I swear," Marik huffed, following a sharp gasp as Bakura entered him again. "When I see Ryou next, I'm telling him to—aahhh! …get a damn bigger couch."

"Be my guest," Bakura remarked. He flung one of Marik's legs over his shoulder and kissed the inside of his thigh. He took no small amount of pleasure in the amazing murmur that produced. "I've been… trying to convince him of—ah… of that for… ages now." Marik's free leg hooked itself around the paler teen's waist, bringing their bodies closer together.

"No more talk now," He grinned, leaning up briefly for a kiss. Bakura obeyed, taking the order to heart as they continued pressing against each other. The only sounds that passed through the lips of both were moans and gasps and growls. Marik pressed eagerly against the length inside him, moving his own hips in rhythm with Bakura's pistoning ones, allowing for deeper penetration and more pleasure to rush through his body. His hands gripped tightly onto the couch cushion, probably tight enough to tear the damn thing, but he didn't care. At the moment it felt like the only thing keeping his sanity in check. He was getting close now, he could feel it, and it was going to be better than anything he had felt before, that he was sure of.

Bakura reached down, ghosting over his nipples through the fabric of his shirt, making them stand on end. Down past his chest and his abdomen and the end of the shirt, and right away Marik knew where he was headed. His cock throbbed painfully, aching for release, throbbing to be touched. When a hand finally did wrap around it, he almost came right there on the spot. Somehow, he managed to keep the urge under check.

Bakura's hand moved painfully slow, but his frenzied thrusts were hard and deep, and the differing speeds were much more arousing than Marik thought was possible. He was almost screaming now, could hear the wanton noises passing through his lips, but couldn't find it in him to actually even notice. At any other time it might have been mortifying, but not now. Now he concentrated only on the feel of being pushed into so mercilessly, strove to reach his high. He felt Bakura stiffen up above him, and stopped moving as he came with a cry. The sudden flood of warmth attacked all of Marik's senses and sent him overboard as he too came.

They lied together for some time on the couch before Bakura pulled out of him. Marik was still awake enough to hear Bakura suggest they move to his bedroom, but he swatted the white-haired pest and lay back down on the couch and slept.

00000

Marik returned back to a house that was thankfully empty but for his brother. He would rather everyone be gone, but at least this was something. As he'd suspected, his neck was full of bruises and hickeys, and he had a very visible limp to his step as well. It had been worse when he'd woken up, so much so that Bakura had cheekily offered to accompany him back to his house. Marik had, of course, refused that offer. He'd stopped his motorcycle at the turn that led to his house, then had walked it back and used the time to get his limp somewhat under control. Maybe he could pass it off to the untrained eye as an ankle injury. Of course, anyone who caught a glimpse at his neck would assume otherwise, but maybe if he could cover that up…

He had thought Marik would say something about his neck when he saw it, but instead he only glanced at the bruises and then crossed his arms and glared.

"Where were you?" He demanded. He was in a bad mood, Marik noted.

"Where I was is none of your business," Marik replied, his own eyes narrowing.

"It is. Were you aware of the fact that that Gourou bastard called Isis today?"

"I thought he might have. When I got home earlier she seemed kind of freaked out. I asked about Gourou, but she didn't want to tell me anything." Marik said.

"You get anything like this?" Malik tossed a plain envelope over to him. Marik turned it over. It was blank on both sides. He frowned and opened it up. The first thing he saw was a copy of a police report. He glanced over it briefly, already more than well aware of what he would find on its pages. Behind it was a sheet of paper with the typed message, "To Malik Ishtar." The rest of it was empty.

"It was I my bag when I got back. After school I was with Mai the entire time, so it couldn't have been slipped in then. It must have happened during class. If you didn't get one today, then you most likely will tomorrow," Malik said, carelessly taking the letter back. Marik frowned and quickly searched through his own bag. He didn't see anything in it that didn't belong there.

"What does he want?" He asked.

"He's threatening us," Malik grinned. His tongue slid across his lips, and his eyes took on a strange gleam that Marik has seen a handful of times in the past. Most recently the encounter where Marik had tried to choke him. He was glad that he was not on the receiving end of it this time.

"He thinks that by dredging up things from our past, he's going to force us to give him back his silly trinkets. He's probably threatening Isis with the same thing. We both know that our dear sister made quite the deal with the judge to keep us out of any serious trouble. Look at the report. He's telling us that if we don't do what he wants, he's going to make sure we get the punishment we should have gotten before," Malik explained. Marik scoffed and moved away from his brother.

"We can't let that happen. We have to do something," He said. He felt hands on his shoulders, and then his twin had spun him around, and they were face-to-face. Malik was still grinning that ear-to-ear grin, but it had lost some of its amusement. It was looking decidedly threatening at this point.

"Then give him back his things, Marik. I knew the minute Isis mentioned they were gone that you stole them. Out of the two of us, you were the one with the sticky hands, and you've always had a penchant for gold. You want him to stop, then give him what he wants," Malik hissed, his hot breath sending shivers down Marik's spine. His tongue flicked out to wet his lips, and Marik felt it graze his overly sensitive neck for a moment. Only an hour earlier Bakura had done the exact same thing to him.

"I'm trying to!" Marik hissed hotly. "Old habits die hard, right? Taking the damn things was stupid, and I don't need them for anything. I'm working on getting them back to the museum, but I can't let Gourou have any proof that I did it. He can suspect all he wants, but the moment he had any hardcore evidence that I stole those damn artifacts of his, he'll press charges. I'm sure of it. And I can't let that happen. Isis already doesn't seem very well. She can't find out that I've been stealing things again." Malik moved in front of him, stared at him. Marik held his gaze. Their bodies were so close he could feel the other's body heat permeating off him. Then, Malik smiled and released him. It would have been relieving if the expression didn't look so wrong on his face.

"You're right. Isis can't know. After all, we made a promise, didn't we? We said that we wouldn't let her get hurt again," Malik said. The fact that he'd mentioned it surprised Marik. It wasn't that his brother didn't care, just that he usually wasn't one to talk about familial obligations. Needless to say, his next statement only surprised Marik even further.

"Guess we'll just have to kick his ass together then, huh?"

00000

It was there in his bag the next day during class, just as Malik had said it would be. A plain white envelope with no addressee, sticking out from between his books. It hadn't been there just moments ago, and he had only left the classroom for a few minutes. Marik looked around the classroom suspiciously, seeing only the same students who had sat here every day of the year. No one screamed out to him that they had done it, although he was sure that it had been one of them.

Although he already knew what was waiting for him in the envelope, he opened it anyways. A police report, identical to Malik's although adorned with his own name instead of his twin's. He knew the words on it well enough that he could dictate them himself, yet he let his eyes wander over the page, remembering just how this thing had come to happen. It had been a mistake. It wasn't supposed to have gone down the way it had, but things had happened, and that man…

"What do you have there? Some kind of love letter from a secret admirer?"

Faster than he'd even thought was possible, Marik had stuffed the police report back into its envelope and had shoved that into his bag. After it was out of sight, he turned around and glared at Bakura.

"It's nothing," He muttered shortly.

"Oh really? Nothing? You sure about that?" Bakura asked, leaning in closer. Marik brought his bag closer to his body, subconsciously trying to block it from sight. It wasn't just that he didn't want Bakura to see it. He didn't want anyone to see it. Even he didn't want to see it. He never thought that he would have again, but yet, here it was.

"Yeah, I'm sure. Nothing," Marik glared.

"Well that's funny. Because it really doesn't seem like nothing to me. I can smell your fear, hear your pulse… Neither of those things happen all the time. So if it's something that had actually got you nervous, I'd like to know about it," Bakura said, frowning.

"Well it's—" Marik started.

"'Nothing?'" Bakura interrupted.

"I was going to say none of your business, but that too."

"Marik," Bakura said. He sat down in the seat in front of Marik's own and leaned over, face close to Marik's. His eyes were still brown, but Marik was startled anyways. He could see concern in them, and it made him pause long enough for the other teen to continue talking. "I'm your boyfriend, right? That means that I'm entitled to know certain things. It means that I'm entitled to help you. And if whatever is in that envelope is what's put you in a bad mood these past few days, then I more than deserve to know. When we started this… thing… I said that I would try, correct? That means you have to as well." Marik stared, knowing he'd been bested. Bakura was completely correct. The only problem was that he didn't want to try. If Gourou were trying to bring up things from the past, then he and Malik would deal with it. He didn't want to have to tell anyone.

"Come on Marik." But…

"First of all, it is not a problem. Malik and I can handle this all by ourselves," Marik started, giving in with a sigh. He ran a hand through his golden locks and shifted his gaze to the front of the classroom as Bakura began to look more interested. "It's just… the things I have, the Sennen Items. I stole them from the museum my sister works for, right? Well, they were sort of being leant to the museum by this Gourou person, and now he wants them back, and he's sure that one of us has them. He's been bothering my sister a lot lately. The envelope is just a friendly reminder that he wants them back."

"So, you need to get them back into the museum then, right?" Bakura asked, catching on quickly.

"Right. Once I get them back, he'll have no reason to keep bothering us, and no way of knowing that I was the one who had them. Malik and I are already working on it," Marik explained.

"Let us help," Bakura stated.

"'Us?'" Marik repeated. He'd known the offer would be coming, had expected it really, but the use of the plural was surprising. He hadn't been expecting Bakura to include Ryou like that. Bakura was overprotective of Ryou, much more than should be necessary for an immortal being. Yet here he was, including him in a potentially dangerous and very illegal activity.

"I'm a natural at these kinds of things, much more than you. I've had a hell of a lot more time to hone my skills. And Ryou won't be too thrilled at breaking the law, but he'll also want to help. He's worried about you too, you know. And I'm sure he'll jump at the chance to see your brother again, even if it's during a less than ideal romantic outing. He's still trying to woo him," Bakura chuckled good-naturedly. Some time during Bakura's comments, Marik had found himself looking at the other teen again, and now he felt an unknown emotion possess him. Was this what it was like to have friends? In the past, he'd only had minions and mind-slaves that followed orders. None of those people would have ever offered their help unless he'd ordered it. Bakura was practically demanding that both he and Ryou be allowed to help.

"Bakura…" Marik drifted off, at a loss for words. Bakura grinned at him cheekily.

"So we in then? You'll be happy to have me there when it's time to break you in, you know," He said. Marik felt an answering grin of his own spread to his lips, and his grip on the bag loosened.

"Yeah, I guess I will be, Mr. Thief King," Marik chuckled lightly. Bakura stuck his tongue out at him. Marik, after carefully looking around the classroom, in response to that action, darted forward and planted a small kiss on the other's lips.

"I'll see both you and Ryou at my house later today, okay?" We'll have to tell Malik about the changes and convince him to not kill any of us," He said.

"Got it," Bakura winked. He made a big show of gathering Marik's hand in his own and kissing it. That action caught the attention of a few others in the class, but for the moment, Marik did not care. The damn tricky vampire. Twice now he'd brought him out of his rotten mood. He was getting better at it, too. This time he hadn't even needed to remove his clothing. Which was unfortunate, but Marik didn't think his neck could take any more bruising. He couldn't keep the satisfied smirk off his face at the memory of yesterday, and soon, as if he'd read his mind, Bakura was making the same stupid grin.

True to his word, about an hour after Marik and Malik had returned to their house after classes, there was a knock at the door. Marik opened it to see Bakura and Ryou.

"Yo," Bakura greeted, "We allowed in?"

"But of course," Marik greeted amiably, opening the door wide. Ryou immediately took his shoes off, while Bakura strolled in without a thought, only removing them when Ryou coughed and gave him a look. Marik figured they would immediately begin discussing what to do, but instead Ryou looked around the house to check that it was empty before throwing his arms around Marik in an awkward hug of sorts.

"Welcome to the family!" He smiled warmly.

"Huh?" It was the only clever thing Marik could think to say.

"Bakura bit you, didn't he? I can smell it," Ryou said once he had released Marik. He looked at Bakura, who appeared decidedly uncomfortable. Confusion turned to enlightenment, and Ryou swatted his brother over the head.

"Oh, you cad! You didn't tell him, did you?" He questioned.

"Tell me what?" Marik asked.

"When we bite a human, we inject a venom into them. It… makes the experience a bit more tolerable, so to say. It dulls the pain receptors by releasing endorphins into the bloodstream. Normally the victim of the bite dies, so nothing really happens as a result, but when the human is kept alive, it's referred to as 'marking.' The bite will scar over and remain visible on your body, and the venom in your bloodstream will slightly alter your natural scent to resemble that of the vampire that bit you. It's a way used to tell others that you have someone who is watching over you," Ryou explained. Marik frowned and looked at the other brother for confirmation. Bakura just shrugged, and Marik sighed.

"Well, I don't have a problem with it, but you could have told me first. He just kind of sprung it on me," He told Ryou.

"He was probably too busy enjoying himself to think about it," Ryou smiled. Marik froze for a second, and then managed a shaky smile of his own. He really hoped that Ryou wasn't aware of just how busy the two of them had been on that tiny couch. From the look on Bakura's face, it seemed he was hoping the same thing.

"Yeah well, I think I'm going to get Malik now. He's up in his room. So uh, you just wait right there and I'll be down in a minute," Marik said. Both brothers nodded, and he made his escape up the stairs. Malik's door was closed, so he knocked briefly and then let himself in. Malik was situated at his desk with his laptop open. When Marik entered, he hurriedly shut it. Marik raised an eyebrow at the strange behavior, but decided not to question it. Maybe he was looking up something for Mai. He still needed to learn what was going on with their search, but that would have to be at a later time. Right now Gourou was more important, and he already had all the people necessary to deal with him assembled. He would come first. Then, whatever information Mai and Marik had found on any potential vampires.

"What do you want?" Malik questioned.

"Mmm, what a hospitable greeting," Marik scoffed. He wandered over to his twin's desk and hopped on top of it. "Got an envelop in my bag today. Just like you figured I would. Bakura happened to be nearby when I opened it. He didn't see the contents, but I had to tell him about Gourou. He and Ryou are here now. They want to help."

"No," Malik said, now turning his full attention to Marik.

"That's what I told him. But he and Ryou both won't listen. They want to help. They're worried, I guess." Marik shrugged.

"No. This is our problem to deal with. He's trying to provoke us, so we'll deal with him. We don't need any 'help,'" Malik spat. His irises were narrowing as he grew angrier and angrier, which was not good. Marik didn't really want any help with this either, but he'd already told Bakura and Ryou that they could help. And both genuinely wanted to. Both were here of their own wishes, and no one else's. He couldn't turn them down like that. And the extra help would be useful.

"Malik," He said, placing a hand carefully on the shoulder of his twin. He looked up and seemed to come back to himself, though his lips were still thin and his eyes still hard. "I don't really want them to help either, Malik. I want to take care of this all by myself, and just hide all of this shit and forget about it. It's over and done with and doesn't need to be brought up again. I don't want anyone to know about it. So I'd rather just deal with Gourou alone as well, but that's not an option anymore. They want to help. Bakura and I are… whatever… and Ryou sees both of us as friends. He's really here for you, I think. He really wants to be your friend. He just wants to help. So let's let them help, okay?"

"You're different. You don't act the way you used to," Malik said finally, after a stretch of silence.

"You think? Is that a good thing?" Marik asked.

"I don't know. I don't think so. I don't understand what you're thinking anymore," Malik said. Marik held his gaze for a few minutes, contemplating the words in his head. He broke away when he came to some answer, and mentioned that they should head downstairs. Malik and followed without any further argument.

When they reached the stairs, Marik realized that he could hear voices coming from downstairs. He thought that it must have been Bakura and Ryou talking, but then he realized that it was a female voice he was listening to. Not Isis, and certainly not Mai either. It was unfamiliar. Bakura seemed to be the only one talking to her. When he and Malik descended the stairs, he saw that Bakura was talking with some blonde girl in the center of the room, while Ryou was standing uncomfortably off to the side. When she heard them walk into the living room, the girl spun around and ran to Malik, yelling, "Namu!" Marik finally recognized her as the girl they'd rescued from the vampires about a month ago when he saw her face.

"Natalie?" He asked incredulously, not quite believing that he was actually seeing the girl here. But yet, there she was, arms thrown around Malik and snuggling up to his chest as it she were more than welcome there.

"Oh hello! You're… Odion, correct? Namu's brother!" She greeted cheerfully.

"Uh… yeah…"Marik greeted dumbly. He wasn't sure of what else to say. By the look on Malik's face, he was just as unsure. His brother appeared positively murderous, but he hadn't thrown the girl off just yet. Marik supposed that was a good thing. He would have laughed at the situation they found themselves in if he's even been able to produce a sentence. Luckily, Bakura solved that problem for them.

"Natalie? Who the fuck is she? And what the fuck is she doing, clinging to him like that? Marik!" He shouted. Marik turned to face the other two in the room, and found that he still had no idea what to say. Bakura was glaring irately at the girl, but just as he was about to ask why, he figured out the answer for himself. Ryou was staring at Malik and Natalie with wide, sad eyes, and Marik actually flinched. He looked like a kicked puppy with the way he was staring. He immediately began to think of how he could explain the situation, but before he could even begin to produce words, Natalie opened her mouth and took it upon herself to make matters worse.

"I came here to see Namu! He saved me a while ago, and I've wanted to thank him properly for that. I only finally got the chance now though. My mother was worried about letting me go, and then it took a long, long time to find you. But I did! And here I am!" She explained, beaming like a miniature sun in the room. "Oh, and who is Marik?"

"It's umm… my last name," Marik finished lamely.

"Odion Marik? Sounds strange. Hmm, Namu Marik. Oh, what about Natalie Marik? Ha ha, I sort of like it!" The girl cheerfully exclaimed. With that sentence, Ryou's kicked puppy look became one of terrified horror. He really needed to get this girl out of here, but it was proving to be extremely difficult. She was so cheerful, and nice… It felt like he'd be doing something wrong by getting rid of her.

"Umm… Sorry to interrupt, but maybe we should be leaving. Bakura…" Ryou spoke up. All eyes turned to him, and the boy seemed to shrink into himself. A hand traveled up to his hair, and twirled the white locks nervously around his fingers. Bakura growled, and grabbed his twin by the hand, then marched up to Marik.

"We'll leave, but you have some explaining to do, Odion," Bakura growled angrily, poking Marik in the chest. "If he had a girlfriend, you should have said something!"

"Don't get all angry at me! I didn't know any of this was going to happen!" Marik argued, swatting Bakura's hand away. The other opened his mouth to say something more, but Natalie effectively shut them both up with a hand on their shoulders.

"Oh, don't start fighting!" She said. "No one has to leave. Everyone is already here, so why don't we all sit down and chat? If you let me have access to your kitchen, I'm sure I could make sandwiches, or perhaps something else. It'll be wonderful, I promise! So let's all sit down and behave, all right? Excuse me, but what's your name?" One second she was near the two fighting teens, and then in the next she was standing right next to Ryou. The pale boy looked a bit startled at being addressed so abruptly, but he offered the girl a shaky smile regardless.

"It's Ryou," He replied politely.

"What a lovely name. Ryou, what kind of sandwich—"

"No."

It was Malik who had spoken now, and Malik whom everyone turned to. The murderous look on his face had considerably darkened, to the point where even Marik felt afraid. And with good reason, too. He'd already stirred up Malik's anger earlier in his room. He hadn't yelled or anything then, but he certainly hadn't calmed down any. Natalie wouldn't have known better, but Malik did not like people touching him, and especially not clinging off him. Even if Marik were unable to get her out of the house due to her charm, his brother would have no problem being the complete asshole that he usually was. And it looked like everyone was now going to get the chance to see that, firsthand. Marik braced himself.

"You are not making sandwiches, and you are not remaining here," He growled, impervious to Natalie's look of growing dismay. "And furthermore, I am not some thing for you to hang off of. I wouldn't want you to even if I were. I'm not some shining knight for you to all in love with especially not when you don't even know the first thing about me." Malik was moving now, growing closer to Natalie with each step, whom was herself backing away. The smile hadn't left her face just yet, but it was faltering fast the more Malik got into his tirade. Soon he'd cornered the girl against a wall.

"Do you even realize how insignificant you are to me? I don't give a damn about you, your mother, or however the two of you view me after that incident. If things hadn't worked out the way they did, I would never have bothered to save you. I don't care about you. You're pathetic and weak. Why would I? The only reason you're still alive to be as dimwitted as you are it because you happened to have run into my brother here. If I'd been the one to find you, I would have left you to rot," Malik hissed.

"Th-that's not true! You… you saved me! You led me away from all of them!" Natalie insisted, despite the tears now rolling down her cheeks. Malik grinned and leant in closer to her. He licked up her cheek, and she gasped. Marik took a step forward. From the angle he was at, he could not see Malik's eyes or expression. He trusted that his twin would not let things get too out of hand, but just in case they didn't, he needed to be ready.

"You want to know why I did that? Not because I wanted to, or felt the need to protect you and keep you alive. You ran into my dear brother first. He saw that you were alive and well, and that you ran off again in my direction. He called me to keep an eye out for you in case passed by. He knew that you would run past me, and that I would see you. If I had just left you, he would have been very upset, wouldn't you, Marik?" The tight-lipped smile that was sent his way was reminiscent of the anger Malik had shown earlier in his room. And right away, Marik knew that he was insinuating. The old Marik would have felt much the same on this matter as Malik did. Leave the girl. She was useless and would hinder any progress. Marik wanted to refute the claim, but it was the truth, and they both knew it.

"Even with that unfortunate piece of luck, if you had gotten in my way, I still would have left you there to die. I'm the more important person, in the end. Or, if the opportunity had arisen, I would have used you as bait. You'd have worked wonderfully," Malik purred. He stood right up against Natalie not, fingers tracing up and down her arms, and his lips pressed up to her cheek as he spoke. The poor girl was unmoving, shock written across her fearful face.

"So what it boils down to is that everything I've told you is a lie. If you thought I was rescuing you, I wasn't. If you thought that I cared about you or anything your mother had to say, I didn't. If you thought that I cared about you, I most certainly did not. My name is not Namu, but Malik Ishtar. Just like he is not Odion, but Marik. Neither of us cared anything at all about your little 'story,' and we weren't trying to find support for you or your mother. We didn't care. We just came because we had a job to do. Now you know. So leave!" Malik hissed. And leave Natalie did. The moment Malik uttered the command, with one huge sob, her whole body shook, and she broke free of her paralysis. Natalie left the house crying and slammed the door behind her. Malik glared at it for a bit, and then he too chose to leave and stomped back up into his room.

"So. What are we doing now?" Bakura questioned snidely.

"Shut the hell up," Marik snarled.

"I'm just asking a perfectly—"

"I don't really give a damn! Just shut—"

"Excuse me… Shouldn't we probably try to find her?" Ryou interrupted. Both Marik and Bakura closed their mouths and looked at the third teen that had spoken up. All Marik really wanted to do right now was get the two albino twins out of here and lay down on his bed. Maybe later he'd go talk to his own twin and try to convince him that this working together was still a good idea. But Ryou had a point. Of course he'd rather just let Natalie go cry, or whatever, but he was still sort of responsible for her in some way, right? He wasn't sure how, and didn't feel like bothering to figure it out either. He'd just so find the girl, calm her down, and then be right back. Sounded easy enough.

"All right. Okay. I'll go look for her. The two of you, just leave. Come back tomorrow or something. I'll talk to Malik," Marik sighed. Bakura looked like he was planning on saying more, but Ryou pushed him along. As they put on their shoes and left, Marik got his helmet and a jacket. Since the motorcycle was here, he would use it. It would be the fastest way of searching for Natalie.

Normally, Marik loved to ride his motorcycle and feel the wind rushing past him. Right now though, it just seemed like a hassle. He could vaguely remember the car that had been in the driveway of Mrs. Matawari's house, and it was that car that he searched for now. Without much success. Natalie would have gotten at most a ten-minute head start before Marik left. He was switching back and forth between different lanes now, searching for the car, so far he hadn't seen any sign of it. Marik cursed under his breath. He didn't have time for this! Why had she even come here? Had she seriously thought that Malik would want to see her? Stupid girl!

Someone honked their car horn at him as he cut them off. He swore again and flipped the man his finger. This task seemed more and more foolish by the second. Why the hell had he decided to listen to Ryou? Who cared if the girl was heartbroken or whatever? She wouldn't be the first Malik had made cry, women or man. She would just do back to her mother and get over it. It was foolish to go out here and actually search for her! Even if he did find Natalie, what would he tell her?

Marik scowled and decided to just call it quits. Not his problem anyways. Of course, the moment he pulled in a driveway with the intent of turning around, he caught sight of the car. The bike engine idled beneath him as Marik waited. He started at the quickly diminishing form of the blue car, then cursed and headed after it, telling himself over and over that it was dumb. Malik was certainly right when he'd said he was different. When had he grown a conscious?

Marik stayed a close distance behind the car, muttering all the while that he should go back. Natalie was still driving, even though it had been a good twenty minutes that he'd been trailing her now. He had considered that she was just returning back to her house, but the idea didn't make too much sense. If she'd come here hoping to woo Malik, she'd need to be here longer than one day. And anyways, she was going the wrong way. He truly was tempted to just head back, but he knew that he wouldn't. He had no idea where Natalie was headed to, and the long drive was starting to feel suspicious. How so, he wasn't sure, but the hairs on the nape of his neck were tingling.

Marik smelled the ocean before he grew close enough to see it. He had followed Natalie to the docks. The blue car drove into a secluded warehouse. Marik came to a halt a few yards away and turned the bike off. He got off and leant it against the kickstand. Then he began to walk toward the warehouse. He was positive that something was wrong now, but he also knew that he had to keep going. He was sure that had been Natalie's car. So the real question became, who was driving it? He doubted that it was the girl. This didn't seem like the type of a place a girl like her would like to hang out. So if the driver wasn't Natalie, where was she?

Marik walked slowly up to the warehouse. He didn't think he was in any trouble, but he wished he had some kind of weapon here. He'd checked around the warehouse for something, but there hadn't even been a plank of wood. He'd have to go in empty-handed. He couldn't see much of the inside of the warehouse from where he was. It was completely dark on the inside. With an intake of air, Marik headed inside.

Nothing happened at first. Marik just kept walking forward. Then, when he got in far enough, the metal door behind him slammed shut, and the entire inside of the warehouse was drenched in black. A second later, a dim light came on, illuminating the warehouse enough for Marik to see, albeit not well. It was enough to make out the figures in front of him. The one he recognized was Natalie, bound and gagged and crying, bordered on either side by two men. One was holding a knife to her neck. Both were pale and looked nervous.

"Stop right there!" The one with the knife ordered. "Get rid of any weapons you have and raise your hands in the air!"

"Hey, calm down, all right? Why don't you put the knife down and take it easy, okay?" Marik questioned, taking a step forward. The man with the knife jabbed the weapon closer to the girl's neck, and Marik stopped.

"He said stay where you are! And get your hands up! Slowly!" The second one yelled. Marik did just that. He noted with some relief that the first man's grip on the weapon loosened, though Natalie continued to so as if it hadn't. Marik looked from one man to the other. He didn't recognize either. Both were young, but older than him. They didn't seem to have much of an idea as to what they were doing here, either. The one with the knife kept looking around uncertainly, and the one beside him was even more jittery. He would have to be careful here, and not push them too far. He wasn't sure what they wanted. Or what they would do.

"You want the girl back, right?" The first asked. "Right?"

"Yes, preferably uninjured," Marik answered.

"Then leave us the hell alone! That's all you gotta do. Just get outta here and promise you'll leave us alone, and we'll let the girl go, no problem," The first explained. Marik's eyes narrowed.

"I don't quite get what you mean here," He said.

"Don't fuck with us!" The second yelled. "We know you've been sneaking around here! You and that other chick! Don't play dumb not and act like you don't know what we mean! Just leave us the hell alone! We haven't done anything wrong, and you know it! We're just trying to live!"

"Look, I really don't have any clue what you're talking about here. Why don't you just drop the knife and let the girl go? Then we can leave, just like you want," Marik suggested. He took another step forward. Bad move. The man with the knife shoved it hard against Natalie's neck once more. He could hear her sob through the gag in her mouth.

"Do you think I won't kill her? You think I won't? Because if you keep playing games like you are, I will! Now, just leave us alone already!" The first man screamed.

Before Marik could even think of what to say in response to that, the man with the knife fell backwards to the floor. The knife fell to the ground with a clatter. The second man's jaw dropped open, and he turned to run. He too was brought to the ground, blood spraying out behind him. High heels clacked behind Marik on the concrete floor, and as Mai came into sight holding a specialized gun, he finally got a clue as to what was going on here.

The second man was trying to crawl away. Mai marched right up to him and kicked him over onto his back. She stood above him and raised the gun in front of her, then shot, sending the bullet straight through the man's heart. Through her gag, Natalie screamed.

---

Woot woot, new chapter! Okay, first of all, sorry for the sex scene. I know it was kind of really strange. Like, in one of my classes we read about Hegel, and all of a sudden he's been popping up in like, everything I write. The entire course was on transcendence as well, so there's a bit of that thrown in there. Aside from that, it also seemed to go in three stages. There was the Hegelian stuff, then the hot description, and then it suddenly degraded into sappy romance. Also, the thing with the feet... I hate feet. Really hate them. So it was awful trying to write that bit there, but I got through it!

Okay, one more thing. For those of you who read my baby Deadly Ambivalence, I've decided to put it on hiatus until this fanfic is done. It's about halfway finished now, and if I really try to spend more time updating, then I should be able to finish this one faster. Also, I kind of realized that I'm not quite one hundred percent sure of what I'm doing with it... This has been decided because of the poll I had on my profile. Since I didn't really advertise it anywhere, it was more or less voted upon by the people who happened upon my profile, which I'm sure isn't the best way to do it, but anyways... The majority of people seemed to like Blood better than DA, (even though I like Deadly Ambivalence better myself...) so I thought that I would concentrate on getting this one here finished before working on that. That will also give me some more time to think things through, because DA is going to require quite a bit of thinking to go into the plot. But yeah, I believe that is it now! So, I will hopefully see you all soon! Oh, and big big thank you for the one hundred reviews! You guys all rock! I love all my readers, but I especially adore all of the ones that leave reviews X3 This is the first one hundred reviews I've ever gotten, so I'm very happy! Let's see if we can reach two hundred, haha! See you guys all soon! Hope you like the chapter, and please review! Thank you!