Chapter 21: As The Dust Settles
Bakura was pretty disappointed in himself. After the night when Malik had hogged the sofa bed (which was forever branded onto his mind as 'drunk Malik night'), and the aching neck he'd suffered the next morning, he'd sworn never to fall asleep in any kind of uncomfortable sitting position again. But it seemed he'd gone and done just that.
It was probably highly insignificant in the grand scheme of things, but it worried him slightly. After all, he mused as he stood up and tried to get his body to move the way it was meant to without jarring like a rusty hinge, he was usually good at learning from his mistakes. When it came to his own comfort and self-preservation, anyway. As Thief King, he'd had to learn fast or die. So, yes, it disturbed him just a little that he'd gone and done something so stupid twice in the space of about a month.
But then again, he grudgingly acknowledged, he had been doing quite a few un-Thief-King-ish things over the past few weeks.
The still-dozing blond on the sofa was testament to this. Last night, after they'd finished talking at great length about him and Ryou and Mariku and even the damn Pharaoh and his light, and Malik had finished jumping to all sorts of crazy conclusions about the connections they shared (the fact that these conclusions were probably correct didn't make them any less crazy), there had been none of the customary 'lights out and time for bed' routine. The two of them had just sat there for the longest time – sometimes talking, sometimes running out of things to say. The TV had been switched on, off and back on again. There had been an odd tension in the air, and in Malik's movements and the way his eyes kept flicking towards the door and windows.
Bakura had wondered why Malik wasn't going to bed, and then the answer had occurred to him so suddenly, so naturally, that it had quite shocked his dried-up husk of a soul.
Malik was scared. Malik didn't want to be alone. Especially not in the dark.
In the greyish light of this drizzling Sunday morning, Bakura snorted to himself. What a genius he was becoming. Pretty soon he'd be so good at this feelings shit that he'd fit right in with the Pharaoh's band of cheerleaders, and hell, maybe it would even warm Ryou's granite little heart-
Anyway.
After having his awe-inspiring epiphany, Bakura had found himself just as ill-at-ease as he'd been when Malik had been locked in the bathroom saying goodbye to his lunch. Just because he was getting marginally better at interpreting people's (well, Malik's) thoughts and actions didn't mean that he had any idea what he was supposed to do with the knowledge. And so, he hadn't said anything. And Malik had followed the same course of action. Thus, in the end, when the stresses of the day finally took their toll on them, they had both simply fallen asleep where they were on the sofa.
It was nothing if not awkward.
Bakura's one saving grace, in his opinion, was that he had at least fallen asleep after and woken up before Malik. He still found the idea of someone seeing him sleeping highly undignified.
He had a vague, distant awareness that when he woke up some mornings, Malik had already left for college, which suggested that the blond had indeed seen him asleep (and, more disturbingly, had managed to move around and then leave the apartment without waking him), but he generally chose not to think about this.
Rather like on the morning following 'drunk Malik night', he went to take a shower in the hopes that it would convince some of his muscles to unknot themselves. He took his time, but when he was done and fully clothed once again, he found that Malik was still fast asleep, half-lying with his head leaning against the arm-rest. Bakura shook his head. The previous day's events must have really taken it out of him.
The blond didn't stir as Bakura moved quietly around the apartment, finding himself something to eat and shoving yesterday's clothes into his make-shift laundry bag. However, his sleep was rather rudely interrupted when Bakura's cell phone suddenly started blasting out some inane, cheery tune. The yami stared at the device blankly, wondering if he'd somehow broken it without even touching it.
The sound was short-lived and died after only a few heart-attack-inducing seconds, but it was enough. Malik's eyes fluttered open reluctantly.
"The hell was that...?" he mumbled with a deep frown, scrunching his eyes shut again.
"My phone went nuts," Bakura said dubiously, still looking at the gadget as if worried it might explode next.
At his voice Malik seemed to snap fully awake. He shot into a bolt-upright sitting position and looked at his surroundings bewilderedly. After a moment or two, realisation crept into his expression as the night before came back to him.
"Did we seriously both sleep here all night?" he questioned with an awkward laugh.
"Yeah," Bakura confirmed dryly. "And I don't care how weird it is; next time you feel like a slumber party, we're folding the damn bed down. I am not sleeping on it in sofa-form ever again."
"Sorry," Malik mumbled.
"...It's fine."
"So what did you do to your phone this time?" Malik asked in an obvious but welcome attempt to swerve the conversation away from the fact that the two of them had slept in uncomfortably close proximity, which really put something of a damper on Bakura's bad-ass image.
"I didn't do anything, it just started going crazy!" Bakura said defensively, throwing the thing (which he was starting to consider an enemy) to the blond, who glanced at the screen and laughed.
"You got a text message," he said. "Ooh, scary."
"I got a what?" Bakura said uncomprehendingly.
"Text message," Malik repeated patiently. He hadn't so far laughed at Bakura's ineptitude with modern technology, and the Thief sincerely hoped he wouldn't start anytime soon. He'd really hate to have to kill Malik. "Y'know, it's just a short message that gets sent to your phone. Look."
He pushed a button and held the cell up for Bakura to see – leaning down to peer at it, he saw the words 'YOU BETTER BE BACK AT WORK TODAY OR RYOU MIGHT CRY' on the screen. He found that the words 'From: Aso' above the message didn't really surprise him.
"I hate that idiot," he said dully.
"Friend of yours?" Malik chuckled, closing the text and starting to press buttons with an ease that Bakura was distantly envious of. Looking over the blond's shoulder, he saw that he was changing the volume settings so that it wouldn't be such an event if Kazuma decided to send him more stupid messages.
"Hardly," Bakura said irritably. "I think he was Ryou's 'bodyguard' before I showed up. Now he's just an annoying presence that never shuts up."
"Oh yeah, he's the one with the kid, right?" Malik questioned with a nod. "That little girl."
"Mio," Bakura confirmed. "The one person in the world Ryou still likes. Well, apart from you, maybe."
They both jumped when the cell phone buzzed again, though it was much quieter this time. It was (predictably) another message from Kazuma, this one reading 'Don't tell Ryou I said that. He'll kill us both.' Malik laughed while Bakura rolled his eyes.
"Are you going to go today?" Malik asked. "Work, I mean. Gods, it feels weird calling it 'work'. Makes you sound so normal."
"...Thanks?" Bakura said with a bemused blink. "I don't know. Depends on your plans."
"What do you mean?" Malik questioned, looking puzzled.
"I mean I can think of about a billion reasons not to leave you sitting alone in here today," Bakura said flatly, turning away slightly and folding his arms. Had that sounded mushy? He hoped not. It was hard to express the particular sentiment he was feeling without sounding mushy. He really didn't like the idea of leaving his new landlord on his own, though, and he really could think of a lot of reasons why. If Mariku had finally got bored of lurking in the shadows, there was no reason he wouldn't show up here today, and something trivial like a locked door was unlikely to stop him if he decided he wanted in. Bakura had already failed once to protect Malik from the psychopath – he wasn't about to do it again. And even if Mariku kept his distance, Bakura knew exactly what Malik would do if left in an empty apartment for hours on end. He'd start thinking. Malik did way too much thinking. He'd stress himself out and scare himself silly and think himself into a damn corner.
"I'll be alright," the blond said with a smile that was too bright to be convincing. "My ankle still hurts like hell, anyway, so I won't be going anywhere."
Bakura had forgotten about his ankle. Glancing down at it, he saw that it was definitely still swollen and starting to turn a decidedly unattractive shade of purple in places.
"...Shouldn't you get that looked at?" he asked.
"It's not broken," Malik replied simply, as if nothing apart from a snapped bone merited medical attention.
Just then, the house phone started ringing. Bakura wondered why they were so damn popular this morning. Both of them sat in silence and just let it ring out. When it finally went to voicemail, Bakura felt his eye twitch as a familiar (and loud) voice blasted from the speaker.
"Ignoring the phone, Malik? Is that the next stage of your evil plan? Man, you're a monster!" Jounouchi jeered. His voice, even in electronic form, seemed to echo off the walls. "I know you're there, Yuugi told me what went down yesterday, so I figure you're gonna be holing yourself up in your apartment for at least a few days to come. ...Ok, ok, don't pick up, then, see if I care! Just thought I'd let you know that me and Yuugi'll be over soon. Nothing you can do about it. You better tell your house-guest to be on his best behaviour! See ya!"
There was a small 'blip' sound as he hung up.
"...Well, that settles it," Bakura said bluntly. "I'm not sticking around if that moron is coming. And with the damn Pharaoh's light, no less..."
Malik just laughed, albeit weakly. Bakura figured he was probably relieved that he wasn't going to have to spend the day alone, but also somewhat apprehensive about the prospect of someone as tactless and boisterous as Jounouchi questioning him about the events of yesterday.
"If you're meant to be doing your usual shift at that place, you better hurry up," Malik said suddenly. "Didn't you notice we overslept?"
"Don't say 'we' and 'slept' in the same sentence, for God's sake," Bakura muttered, glancing at the time. "I should go, then. Think you'll survive until your idiot friends get here?"
"I'm pretty sure I'll manage," Malik said dryly.
Bakura didn't quite believe him, but he really was running late. He didn't want Ryou to get his hopes up and start thinking he might not show up again. He grabbed his coat and left the apartment – though he only started to make his way towards Angels' Lot once he'd ascertained that Mariku was nowhere in the vicinity.
Almost immediately after he left, Malik's phone rang again. The blond, who wasn't in nearly as good a mood as he'd tried to appear, gave a small groan and buried his face in his hands, wondering why people were suddenly unable to leave him alone whenever he just wanted a moment to himself. He hadn't been alone for one second since Bakura had come to his rescue yesterday (which he was thankful for) but now he just needed a minute to collect himself, to try and think this through, plan his next move...
Voicemail again.
"Malik. I know very well that you're there, and I need you to pick up the phone right now."
He winced. Isis. He was so not in the mood.
"I'm waiting, Malik."
He bit down on his lower lip. Maybe he could just ignore it, tell her he'd still been asleep when she called...
"Yuugi called me. It seems you've been keeping some things from me and Rishid."
Malik felt his heart freeze in his chest. Oh, that wasn't good.
What had Yuugi told her? How much?
He sighed. It looked like his sit-tight-and-ignore-it plan just wasn't going to cut it.
"Hi, Isis," he said dully as he picked up the phone. "Well done on remembering about the time difference."
"Oh thank the Gods, I was starting to worry," Isis replied, sounding genuinely relieved to hear his voice. "Malik, are you alright? Yuugi said you saw...him..."
"...Yeah," Malik said, his throat suddenly feeling very dry. "Yeah, he...he came to the shop. But I'm ok. I'm fine."
"He didn't hurt you?"
"No," he said, opting not to mention his ankle. It seemed a little bit lame compared to what they all knew his darkness was capable of. "I don't know why he came. But he's gone again. I don't know where he is now."
"I don't like this," Isis said fretfully. "If he's going to start sneaking up on you like that...and who's to say it won't be worse next time...and with you living alone...!"
Malik bit back the urge to tell her to stop making him nervous.
"I'm...scared," he said instead. He needed to say it. Admitting it was shameful but also made it a little more bearable. "I don't know what to do..."
"I told you before, Rishid and I will come to you," Isis said. "We could leave Egypt tonight if we can find a flight..."
"And what will you do once you're here?" Malik asked bleakly. "What can you do? You can't just make him disappear. You can't kill him or get him locked up or...anything. What difference will it really make if you're here?"
"We can keep you safe," Isis said almost fiercely.
"...That's ok," Malik said with a small smile. "Someone else has that covered."
"The Pharaoh?" Isis asked
"...Yeah, sure," Malik answered even as his lip curled slightly.
"You're lying. Why are you lying to me?" Isis demanded, starting to sound cross.
"What?"
"You've been keeping things from us," Isis said accusingly. "Yuugi also told me that you've been having some...problems with the Pharaoh. He's taken a dislike to you."
Malik narrowed his eyes slightly. Ok. It was bad enough that Yuugi had called his siblings and alerted them to the trauma of yesterday, but this? This was a betrayal.
"Were you planning on ever telling us about this?" Isis went on.
"No, I don't think so," Malik said flatly.
"And why not?"
"Well," Malik said slowly. "Don't you want to know why Atemu doesn't like me?"
"Of course I want to know!" Isis replied almost shrilly. It really was most unlike her. "I want you to tell me everything so that I can help you resolve it! Isn't that what I'm supposed to do?"
"I don't think this can be resolved," Malik said simply.
"Why not? What on earth have you done?"
Malik's grip on the phone tightened until his knuckles turned white. Wow, it had started already. What have you done? What have you been up to this time?
"...Malik? Please, talk to me. Listen, it's ok, Yuugi told me it isn't your fault. Did I sound like I was blaming you? I did, didn't I? I'm sorry, I just want to know what happened, I feel so cut off out here..."
Malik blinked a few times as his sister babbled on anxiously.
"Wait," he said hesitantly. "You believe it's not my fault?"
"Of course I believe it," Isis said indignantly. "Yuugi wouldn't tell me exactly what's going on between you and the Pharaoh, but he said you weren't to blame. Why wouldn't I believe that?"
"I dunno," Malik mumbled. "Because it's me? Crazy me? Could-regress-at-any-time me?"
"Malik," Isis exclaimed, sounding aghast. "You really think we don't trust you? Honestly?"
"Um," he said, not sure whether he should feel guilty. "I...sometimes..."
"We worry about you. That's all," Isis informed him sharply. "And if you have an argument or disagreement with someone, even if it is the Pharaoh, I shouldn't have to hear about it from Yuugi. I should hear about it from my stupid little brother."
Malik felt his mouth quirk into a smile – a real smile. He'd never been so happy to be called stupid.
"So tell me, what did you do to make the Pharaoh angry?"
"Oh...that..." Malik said uneasily. "Well..."
"Malik..." his sister said threateningly.
"Another thing I didn't tell you is that Bakura is back too," he said finally in a rush. There was a pause.
"...Bakura? You mean the Thief King?"
"Yeah, if you want to give him his proper title."
"Why does that affect you?"
Malik tried not to laugh – there had been few ways in which Bakura's return to the world hadn't affected him.
"I know where he is," he said carefully. "I've talked to him. And Pharaoh wants to find him. I'm not sure why, but I doubt it's so he can try and strike up a friendship. He asked me where Bakura is, and I wouldn't tell him. So now he...I don't know. Thinks we're in cahoots or something."
"I see," Isis said, sounding surprised. "But why would you want to protect the Thief King?"
"...Basically, I don't think he's evil," Malik said.
"...Oh." Isis sounded as if she wasn't sure whether he was joking or not. "Are you...sure?"
"Isis, can you think of anyone who'd be a better judge than me?" Malik pointed out wryly. "After spending time on both sides of the divide, I think I have a pretty good idea..."
"Don't say that," Isis scolded. "Just...be careful. There's a difference between being 'not evil' and being trustworthy. And with your own darkness creeping around, the last thing you need is to start having trouble with someone else's..."
Malik couldn't help but snort.
"I wouldn't say he was causing me too much trouble," he said lightly. "I wasn't lying when I said someone has...keeping me safe covered."
There was a lengthy silence on the line.
"It sounds like things have got a little crazy over there," Isis said finally with a weak laugh.
"Sure have," Malik agreed. "It's not all bad, though."
"But about the Pharaoh...what are you going to do?"
"Aw, I don't know," Malik groaned, raking a hand through his hair. "I'm not going back to the Game Shop, anyway. I quit. That might keep him happy for a while."
"You quit your job?" Isis said in shock. "It's that bad?"
"He...doesn't like having me around."
"That's...hm," his sister said with obvious disapproval – though what exactly she disapproved of, Malik wasn't sure. "That's unfortunate."
"I'll find another job as quickly as I can," he assured her.
"Do your best," she told him. "But don't worry, we can send you a bit more money in the meantime. That's no trouble."
"Are you sure?" Malik said with a blink.
"Of course. After all, it sounds as if it isn't your fault that you're now unemployed."
"I just...don't want to go back there," he muttered. "The way he looks at me, Isis, it's like...no, sorry," he cut himself off and shook his head. No point in bitching about it. That just made him sound bitter and petty.
"...Listen," Isis said after a pause. "I know we were 'lucky' enough not to have to face the trials and tribulations of school when we were younger, but everyone I know got the same piece of advice from their parents when they were having problems with other children."
"And...what's that?" Malik asked, somewhat perplexed.
"Don't pick fights with other kids," Isis said sagely. "But if another kid hits you, you're allowed to hit back."
Malik almost laughed out loud.
"I'll keep that in mind," he said.
Things were marginally more tense than usual at the Lot. Both Ryou and Bakura were getting a strong 'I know something you don't know' vibe from each other, but neither of them was willing to give way and suggest they compare notes on the events of the previous day.
"It's weird," Bakura spoke up finally with faux-lightness that he knew would instantly raise Ryou's suspicions. "You haven't asked about what happened yesterday."
"...That's because I'm going to ask Malik later," Ryou said, peering over at him with narrowed eyes, clearly suspecting he was being led into some kind of trap.
"No, it's because you already know," Bakura said pleasantly. That was actually something of a stab in the dark, but when Ryou's glare intensified he knew it was true.
"Hm. And how do you know, I wonder...?" he muttered, already having a fair idea.
"I phoned Malik," Ryou said shortly.
"...No, you didn't," Bakura said, a smirk tugging at his mouth. Since Malik hadn't left his side for over twelve hours, he knew he hadn't received any phone-calls.
"You really think you know everything, don't you?" Ryou sneered, turning away from him and putting an impressive amount of concentration into frying some bacon.
"Not everything," Bakura said with a shrug. "But I know there are only two ways you could know what happened yesterday."
"That so?"
"Uh-huh. One: you went to that Game Shop."
Ryou said nothing, but Bakura didn't miss the way he pressed his lips into a thin line, as if fighting back distaste.
"But since you and Pharaoh aren't exactly loved-up at the moment, I don't think that's it," Bakura went on. "So let's go with option number two. You talked to Mariku."
"...So what if I did?" Ryou said with an off-hand snort, as if he were trying to make it sound like it was no big deal. But the sudden stiffening of his shoulders betrayed the fact that he knew it really was something of a big deal.
He squeaked in fright when a spatula smacked the wall just to the left of his head before falling into the frying pan. He whipped around to glare at his darkness.
"Did you really just throw a spatula at me?" he asked, seeming torn between disbelief and plain outrage.
"You're lucky it wasn't that steak knife you're so fond of," Bakura sneered back, folding his arms. The spatula had been the first non-lethal implement to hand, though he was already inwardly lamenting his lame choice of weapon. "I've asked this before, but why were you talking to him?"
"Why shouldn't I?" Ryou snapped, gingerly rescuing the spatula from the crackling bacon grease. "Anyway, it's not like I went looking for him."
"...He went to you."
"Yes."
"Shit..." Bakura muttered, briefly clapping a hand over his eyes. "You know I can't be in two places at once, right? You and Malik are going to have to move in together if he's after both of you now..."
"What are you talking about now?" Ryou said, rolling his eyes. "He's not a threat to anyone."
Bakura stared at him with half-lidded eyes, trying his utmost to transmit his message of 'You're an idiot you don't know anything just shut the fuck up' through their link. Somehow. He suspected spirit-links didn't work that way but that didn't stop him trying.
"Don't you get it?" he said as calmly as he could. "He's...messing with you. He's lying. If he seems harmless, it's because he wants you to think he's harmless, he wants you to trust him because that'll make it that much easier for him to get to Malik-"
"Oh, shut up!" Ryou cried out. "It sounds like you're the one trying to mess with me. Trying to stop me from trusting anyone."
"You can trust whoever you like, just as long as it's not him -!"
"And why not?"
"Gods..." Bakura growled, patience officially spent. "What part of 'He tried to kill your best friend' just isn't getting through to you?"
"And there you go again," Ryou said waspishly. "Talking like you're so much better. Don't you think I should be mad at Malik for taking you in? After everything you did? If it's ok for Malik to be around you, then it should be fine for me to-"
"I'm not going to hurt Malik," Bakura interjected. "That's the difference."
Ryou's forehead twitched into a questioning frown.
"...Mariku might hurt you," Bakura said with a gruff, awkward shrug. "That's his...thing. That's all I'm saying."
Ryou's frown deepened and he turned back to the sizzling pan. Bakura could practically see his thought process as he tried to come up with some selfish motive that he might have for not wanting Mariku to hurt him. It was frustrating to watch – especially since he knew Ryou's crazy little mind would be able to come up with something. Because the simplest conclusion – that he, Bakura Touzoku, former Stealer of Souls and partial Lord of All Darkness, did not want him to get hurt – was unacceptable.
"...Whatever you think of Mariku," Ryou muttered suddenly. "He sure seems to have got a weird impression of you. He...thinks you care about Malik."
Bakura blinked. He and Mariku had only crossed paths that one time – had he really given such a big display of protectiveness? He supposed he had told him to back off and stay away. It seemed to go deeper than that, though, if the way Ryou was peering at him suspiciously from the corner of his eye was any indication.
"So why couldn't you make it here yesterday?" the teen asked finally. "The real reason."
"Malik didn't take too kindly to Mariku sneaking up on him," Bakura said dryly. "He needed some help."
To hell with it. He wasn't going to lie. Ryou wouldn't believe anything he said, anyway.
"And he asked you?"
"There was no one else."
Hurt flashed across Ryou's face, then anger.
"And you...helped him."
"Yeah, I guess I did."
"Why?"
That one word, thrown out in the fluorescent-buzzing air of the kitchen, came out more of a harsh bark than a simple question.
Bakura let his gaze drift thoughtfully to the ceiling as he turned all the possible reasons over in his head – real reasons that his back-in-business humanity would admit to; reasons that he would have laughed and sneered at as little as a few weeks ago.
Why? Because I said I'd protect him. Because I owe him. Because Malik's the first person to treat me like a fellow human being in over five millennia. Because he doesn't deserve to be scared. Because I didn't want him to be scared. Because he needed me.
I helped him because I wanted to help him. Weird but true.
Because I like Malik. Because, yeah, I care about Malik.
Bakura gave a small, rueful smirk. None of those reasons would be good enough for his light.
"Answer me," he heard Ryou say darkly.
"No," he replied shortly.
He fixed his eyes on Ryou, saw the surprise flit across his face before it was quickly replaced by a glower.
"Why not?" he demanded.
"Because," Bakura said levelly, turning away from him, "You wouldn't believe me anyway. You ask me questions like that just so you can shoot my answer down in flames. You pick apart everything I say and twist it so that I stay the bad guy. That's...your thing."
He stopped and took a deep breath. He knew that had probably hit Ryou like a two-ton anvil. After all, Malik might be getting used to hearing him talk like that, but it was likely that his light now thought his mind had been taken over by aliens.
He kept his back turned, so he didn't see Ryou staring at him for a good few minutes, occasionally opening and closing his mouth as he thought of replies that he apparently rejected before actually giving them voice.
When he finally looked back to the frying pan, the bacon was burnt.
Jounouchi was surprised by Malik's stony expression when he answered the door. Yuugi wasn't.
"You called my sister," the young Egyptian said accusingly, frowning at the diminutive teen.
"Yeah, I did," Yuugi agreed with a nod.
"Why?"
"Because I knew you wouldn't," Yuugi said simply with a rueful smile.
"Am I missing something here?" Jounouchi questioned, looking between the two of them with a raised eyebrow.
"Not really," Yuugi said with a shrug. His smile lost its melancholy edge. "I've just been rallying Malik's allies."
"Yeah!" Jounouchi cheered as they went inside the apartment. "It's time for the ultimate battle of good and evil! Except we don't really know who's which anymore."
"Does Pharaoh know you're here?" Malik asked, ignoring Jou's excitable babbling.
"Of course he does," Yuugi replied. "Come on, Malik, we're friends. I'm not going to start sneaking out to visit you just because Atemu doesn't like it."
"We could totally mess with him, though," Jounouchi put in with a grin. "Let's call him and say Malik's taken us hostage."
No one laughed.
"...Alright, my serious face is on," Jou grumbled. "Can't blame a guy for trying to lighten the mood."
Bakura had been planning to make, at the very least, a cursory search for Mariku once his shift at the Lot ended. As it happened, he didn't have to look far.
Ryou had ducked outside before him, not even waiting for him to finish donning his coat. Bakura merely rolled his eyes at this, knowing he could easily catch up to his light in a minute, but he felt a stab of panic when he heard a startled cry from beyond the open door. Dashing out in full battle-mode, he found Ryou standing with his arms folded and an annoyed frown on his face.
"You scared me!" he exclaimed. "You need to stop popping up like that!"
"Sorry," Mariku replied (rather insincerely) with a snigger. "At least you didn't fall over."
"Yeah, lucky for-"
Ryou cut himself off with a yelp when Bakura seized his arm and hauled him back to stand behind him, glaring at Malik's darkness all the while.
"Oh. The Thief is here today," Mariku remarked, as if only just noticing Bakura's presence.
"Sure is," Ryou said irritably, rubbing at his arm even though Bakura knew full well he hadn't grabbed him hard enough to really hurt him.
"What do you want?" Bakura snarled. As convenient as this was, he still didn't like being in the presence of the king of the criminally insane.
"Nothing from you," Mariku said mildly.
"Will you give it a rest?" Ryou said, rolling his eyes.
"Be quiet," Bakura snapped at him before turning back to the blond spirit. "What the hell were you playing at yesterday?"
"I wasn't playing anything," Mariku said with a small frown.
"Yeah? You took about twenty years off Malik's life," Bakura growled. "After all that bullshit about how you were going to stay away from him! And now you've got him," he paused to jab a finger in Ryou's direction, "actually believing that you're some nice guy that everyone just fucking misjudged. I don't buy it. So come on, show your real face. Who are you planning to kill first? Him or Malik?"
Mariku flinched slightly at the word 'kill', but Bakura didn't stop.
"What if I just killed you now?" he said darkly. "That might save a lot of trouble..."
"Stop talking about killing," Mariku said unhappily.
Bakura felt his anger and frustration reach melting point – those feelings had been building up ever since Malik had called him with his plea for help the day before and now he needed to vent, he wanted Mariku to react, to show some of that inherent violence and bloodlust, and give him an excuse to just cut loose. He growled and started forward, fists clenched, but stopped with a startled blink when Ryou stepped in front of him with a frown on his face and a hand on his shoulder. It was the hand that caught Bakura's attention, mostly. Something pretty serious had to be up for Ryou to make actual physical contact with him of his own accord.
"Stop it," the teen said firmly.
Bakura stared blankly at him for a moment. Gods. Mariku must have really laid it on thick for Ryou to think he had to defend him.
The fury was still burning in him. He didn't have to stop. It would be easy to shove his light aside and just finish what he'd started and either beat Malik's darkness until he got the damn message or just make good on his word and kill him.
Ryou was still looking at him defiantly. He wouldn't move aside without a fight.
Bakura felt his anger slowly fizzle away and be replaced by a doomed sense of helplessness. He couldn't do it. Mariku had messed with Ryou's head to a horrific extent. To attack Mariku would be an act of villainy. Another thing that would just cement Ryou's hatred for him.
He lowered his head and let his hands uncurl. No matter what he might say, further worsening his light's opinion of him was not something he wanted to do.
Seeing that he was neutralised for the time being, Ryou immediately drew his hand back.
"...Stay away from Malik," Bakura said at length, glaring heatedly at Mariku over his light's shoulder. "Go near him again and I will hurt you. You don't have the Rod anymore, you've got nothing. You're powerless. And I won't hold back if you dare to go near Malik ever again-"
"You're not so above this, Thief," Mariku said lowly. His violet eyes were slightly narrowed, and he looked to be on the verge of anger for the first time since his return to the world. "Look at you. You're no better. Always with your light, even when you know he doesn't want you there. Even though he just spits hate at you. Because you know it's what you have to do. You know that if you do as he wants and stay away, it won't get any better. You'll never be able to fix it that way."
"Shut up," Bakura snarled, extremely conscious of Ryou standing between them and listening to every word.
"If I told you to stay away from him, you wouldn't do it. Would you?" Mariku said.
"Don't talk as if we're on the same 'level'," Bakura growled. "It's completely different-"
"It's not different," Mariku said plainly with a small shrug. "You and I, the things we did were unforgiveable. And unforgiveable is unforgiveable, it doesn't even matter exactly what you did when it gets that bad. The only thing that's different now is the feelings left behind."
"You're not even trying to make sense," Bakura snapped, folding his arms.
"It's not so hard," Mariku said indolently. "Your light is angry. He hates. Omote is scared."
"I'm standing right here..." Ryou muttered. He was ignored.
"Great observation," Bakura remarked acidly.
"It's ok for you to always be with your light, because hate likes to be fed," Mariku said, eyes narrowing further. "Hate screams and complains and lashes out but it doesn't really want to be left alone. It wants proof of why it exists, it wants more and more bad things to pile on top of it because that makes it stronger-"
"You'd know about that," Bakura sneered.
"Standing. Right. Here," Ryou said through gritted teeth.
"Fear is different," Mariku concluded in a much softer voice. "Fear hides. Fear doesn't want anyone to look at it."
"Don't talk about him like that!" Bakura found himself thundering. "Don't make him sound so pathetic, you know why he's scared, you know it's all your fault-!"
"And what about the hate, Thief?" Mariku challenged quietly. "Whose fault is that?"
Bakura opened his mouth to retort but words failed him. The urge to maim returned, stronger than before. Bastard! Not fair not fair not fair don't make me say that out loud-!
"You and I..." Mariku said slowly. "We're just the same, Thief."
"No, you're really not," Ryou put in with a slight grimace. It irked Bakura more than he'd like to admit that his light really thought he was worse than Malik's darkness. It was one complication he'd never seen coming.
Mariku chuckled to himself.
"You two really are two halves of a whole," he remarked. "You're both so stupid."
Neither Ryou nor Bakura would ever admit or acknowledge it, but the glares they sent the blond yami at that moment were almost identical.
"...I'm warning you one last time," Bakura ground out finally, deciding to just ignore that last comment. "Stay away from Malik."
"It would be easier to stay away if you two did a better job of looking after him," Mariku replied. His tone implied neither anger nor blame; it was just a fact. And maybe they both knew it.
Bakura was about to throw out a reply but whatever he had been planning to say vanished from his mind when Ryou suddenly spun on his heel and started to march briskly away from them, his head down and his hands jammed in his pockets.
"Where are you going?" Bakura called after him in irritation (and some amount of bewilderment). His light didn't reply. If anything, he just quickened his pace.
"...You'd better go after him," Mariku said after a moment. "Don't let him go into the dark alone."
"What?" Bakura growled, wondering if that had been some kind of veiled threat. Mariku just stared back at him benignly.
"You better stay away from both of them. Malik and Ryou," Bakura ground out at length. "If you hurt either of them, I'll...I swear I'll..."
"You're doing it again," Mariku said with the faintest hint of annoyance. "It's ok for you to be with omote, but it's not ok for me to be near your light...?"
"Yes! Because I'm not like you!" Bakura roared, all semblance of self-control officially spent, especially now that Ryou wasn't here to see him lose it. He could hit Mariku now, he realised dimly. There was no one here to stop him now.
"Hm," Malik's darkness said plainly, looking thoughtful. "Wrong. But I know what you mean."
"You're fucking insane. Even worse than before," Bakura hissed. He still wanted to hit him (to punish him for reducing Malik to the wreck he'd been yesterday) but his feet were already carrying him down the street before he'd finished speaking. Because he had to go after Ryou. Because Ryou was alone in the dark and that was bad. He shot one more stormy look back at Malik's darkness but left it at that – no point in picking a fight with a potential threat to Ryou's safety when he might be walking into a more current threat at that very moment.
Bakura broke into a light run (not a full-out sprint, that was hardly necessary) and caught up to his light after a few streets. Fortunately, Ryou did not appear to have been accosted in any way during their brief separation.
"What'd you run off for?" Bakura muttered as he fell into step with him, slightly out of breath. Ryou didn't even look up to acknowledge his arrival.
"You're idiots," he mumbled, eyes fixed on the sidewalk. "Both of you. You both say such stupid things."
Bakura's forehead creased into a faint frown as he wondered exactly what he and Mariku had said that Ryou had taken such an aversion to. He knew he wasn't likely to work it out, though. He didn't get Ryou these days.
"Well, he is a complete psycho," he offered instead.
"What's your excuse?" Ryou returned bitingly.
Bakura snorted dryly and gave up, letting that hideous silence swallow them up as usual.
"...I know you won't tell me what the deal is, because you're being difficult," Ryou spoke up finally, glancing up at his darkness with mixed suspicion and annoyance. "But you seem...protective of Malik."
Bakura gave a non-committal shrug. He was not getting into a discussion about that with Ryou. He wasn't going to let Ryou chew him up and spit him out over something like that, which he wasn't even entirely comfortable with himself yet.
"I find it hard to believe. But I guess you owe him," Ryou said flatly, returning his gaze to the ground in front of his feet. "So I'm just saying. I think Pharaoh is more of a threat to him than Mariku."
"...I wouldn't say he's more of a threat," Bakura replied with a grimace. "But he is a problem."
"So what are you going to do about it?" Ryou asked primly.
"Gee, I dunno, maybe I'll challenge him to a duel," Bakura said sarcastically. "It should be less of a problem from now on, anyway. Malik quit his job."
"He what?" Ryou all but squawked, whipping around to face him with an expression overflowing with alarm.
"You heard," Bakura said gruffly, wondering if his light was going to find a way to make this his fault too. "Said he didn't want to go back to that shop."
"Oh, this just gets worse and worse," Ryou seethed, apparently to himself. His look was so murderous by this point that even Bakura was mildly unnerved by it. "I might kill him, I really might..."
"Holy shit," Bakura said with slight amusement. "Why are you asking me what I'm going to do about it? You seem to have it covered. Go at the Pharaoh with that face and he might just die on the spot."
Ryou peered up at him, seeming unsure whether that had been an insult or not.
"Besides, one of the reasons he's giving Malik shit is because he expects me to pick a fight with him," Bakura went on. "It might have more...impact coming from you."
"I can only hope so," Ryou muttered. "That bastard. And Malik will never retaliate, he'll just sit there and take it without a word and...bastard."
Bakura couldn't help but give a small smirk. It was nice to know that he and his light really did agree on something.
On his way back to Malik's apartment, Bakura had completely forgotten that the blond had been expecting visitors when he'd left earlier in the day. Even if he had remembered, he wouldn't have thought anything of it; he didn't know how long friends could sit and talk about nothing. Therefore, when he reached the apartment block, he was gripped by the sudden urge to put his fist through the nearby wall when the Pharaoh's light emerged from the building just as he was approaching it.
No. I've dealt with Ryou today, and I've dealt with Mariku. Do not make me deal with you too, I may just kill myself. Or you. Are you feeling lucky?
"Oh," Yuugi said with a surprised blink upon noticing him. Bakura cursed himself for being so slow. If he'd been quicker, he could have hidden behind a ...street-lamp, or something.
"Uh...hi," Yuugi said with an attempt at a smile. Bakura regarded him with a half-lidded glower, hoping that he'd get the message and just leave. No such luck. "You timed that pretty well, huh? I hope you haven't been waiting out here."
"Don't be stupid," Bakura snapped before he could stop himself. Yuugi looked faintly triumphant at managing to elicit a response. The yami scowled darkly.
"Malik told me what the deal is with you and him," Yuugi went on lightly. "I don't think he was planning to, but Jou kind of blabbed a few major details, so...yeah. It's fine, by the way. If Malik trusts you then I guess I can sleep easy."
"What about your delightful other half?" Bakura sneered, subconsciously casting a glance up at Malik's window, as if Atemu might have been standing there watching him. "Did you bring him round to hear the story too?"
"Of course not," Yuugi said coolly. "And I won't be telling him, so you can just calm down. It's not like I'm happy that he's decided to pick on Malik."
"Wow. I didn't know you two were capable of disagreeing," Bakura said dully, doing his best to hide his surprise at this revelation.
"Yeah? I didn't know you were capable of being the hero," Yuugi said with a small smile. "But you seemed to do a pretty good job yesterday."
Bakura felt his left eye twitch.
"Is that what Malik told you?" he said with his best derisive sneer, hoping to discredit anything remotely complimentary that might have been said about him.
"No, he didn't mention it," Yuugi replied, looking amused. "But that phone booth is real close to the Game Shop, you know. And I have eyes."
His knowing smile told Bakura everything he needed to know. He glared at his arch-enemy's light resentfully.
"Relax, I won't tell anyone," Yuugi said with a laugh, finally starting to walk in the direction of his home. Once he'd gone a few paces, he paused and looked back over his shoulder. "Take care of Malik, ok?"
Bakura stared, dumbfounded, at his retreating back for a few moments before grumbling to himself and entering the apartment block, all the while wondering why no one around here was scared of him anymore.
He was highly relieved to find Malik alone in the apartment – after the evening he'd just had, Jounouchi might have been the final straw that would have set him off on a murderous rampage.
"Hey," Malik said with his usual smile as he shut the door behind him. "You timed that well."
"Yeah, that's what your friend said, too," Bakura said irritably, hanging up his coat. Malik visibly winced.
"You two met?" he asked, though it was fairly obvious.
"It was a lovely reunion," Bakura said, rolling his eyes. "I mean, I haven't seen him since...the Memory World? And what fun we had there."
Malik snickered.
"Well, I have something that might cheer you up," he said, holding up a large brown envelope. His teasing smile alerted Bakura to the possibility that the envelope's contents might not actually cheer him up at all.
"What is it...?" he asked suspiciously.
"Have a look," Malik said with a grin, handing him the envelope. Opening the flap and reaching inside, Bakura extracted a small pile of documents of varying sizes. His brow furrowed in mild confusion as he flicked through them.
"Congratulations," Malik said brightly. "You exist!"
"No kidding," Bakura said, his mouth twitching into a grudging smirk. "Gods. I can't believe your moron friend actually talked Kaiba into this."
"I'm sure Jou can be very persuasive," Malik said with a sly glint in his eyes. "They really thought of everything, too. You've even got school reports in there. You really sucked at Math, by the way."
"What?" Bakura scowled when he found one of the fabricated reports. Most of the grades were very average (almost average enough to arouse suspicion in anyone who already doubted the document's authenticity) but, as Malik said, Kaiba had decided to make it look like he was numerically illiterate. Probably a petty act of revenge for all those times he'd used Mokuba as part of his plans.
"And you had...discipline problems..." Malik went on, clearly struggling to suppress laughter. "It's kind of funny, because I get a feeling that, if you had gone to school, your reports would have looked a lot like that."
"Sure," Bakura said dryly, pulling out the fake passport and flipping it open. "What the hell is with this picture? It doesn't even look like me."
"That's because it's not you. It's computer-generated," Malik sniggered. "Apparently just asking for a photo of you was too humbling for Kaiba. But no one really looks like their passport photo. I'm sure it'll be fine."
"Great," Bakura said flatly, flopping unceremoniously onto the sofa. "Hn. It's weird, having stuff like this. It all looks so...legal."
"And yet, it's very, very illegal," Malik pointed out. "So that should suit you."
Bakura snorted before sneaking a glance at the young Egyptian. He seemed to be in a good mood, but he was slowly beginning to learn that that counted for very little with Malik. If he wanted to seem like he was in a good mood, he could give a performance to make movie-critics cry.
"You alright?" Bakura asked, hoping the unexpected question would be enough to shock Malik into honesty.
The blond blinked at him in surprise, but his expression remained bright. Bakura could see tiredness and stress lingering around his eyes, but they were secondary. He seemed ok. Maybe he felt safe.
It still bewildered Bakura to no end that Malik could feel safe because he was there.
"Yeah, I'm good," Malik replied with a smile. A real smile. Not a please-don't-worry-about-me smile.
Bakura nodded.
He had been planning to tell Malik that he'd seen Mariku and warned him off, but in the end he didn't. After all, he knew the mere mention of Mariku's name would be enough to shatter Malik's well-deserved contentment. And he really didn't want to be the one to wipe that smile off his face.
Lol at the first scene...I think I just unintentionally fanned the flames of potential thiefshipping. SORRY.
Thank you so much to Junki, Teddy syn, ArielPark, Bokmal14, bbb136, SheepAteMyFanBoys, ani, VampirePrinssess, IceDragon1095, Stevie-Kai, Wolfwhispers, crazyhikari, schoolkid, SHADOWoftheFOX, Affy-Bakura, Hotaru Layla, Lady Blackwell, EgyptianSoul 88, FluffyGewitter, chibi heishi, pride1289, Darksouled Saiyanphoenix, Schizo-of-Destiny, Yosenity, sunokofairytale, melisse, safa'at keruth, MissPessimist, ACE329, earthluva, ShizukaLawliet13, Seto K4iba1, Empresss Spiral, Tender Loving Care, bansheegrrl, ch-ch-ch-ch-cherry bomb, GoodAndPl3nty, TexasDreamer01, xXMekkzyFwuffzXx, Obnoxious Celtic guard, PreTENDER, scrawling purple ink, Chibi Kafka, I Dance The Tango, Aesop's Julie, BlueSpiritFire1, haku fan1, Airyballoon, Neko, ankellysaurus, kathrine, Hikari-Kira1, Callette, Innocent Demon, Jade Cade, echochaos, MimeGirl69, Manana and Calm Envy. I'm telling Santa to give you all extra presents :)
And extra thanks to Lady Blackwell for beta-ing :) I'd bake you a cake if you weren't...y'know. So far away.
Ok, a lot of people called me out on Mariku's 'dirty things' comment. Yes, it's true, he wouldn't know much about that. I just thought it was too funny to pass up :P Please see my livejournal for my pitiful attempt to explain it away in PICTURE FORM. Link is in my profile.
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