If you would like to request that a ship goes early, please check the RQing rules on the intro page before you leave your review with the request.

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Deathshipping (Yami Marik X Ryo) – requested to go early, by HikariJinx.

Named because – wait for it, this is hilarious – 'if Ryo Bakura were to get into a relationship with Yami Marik, it would likely result in his death'.
This should say it all, but let's keep going…

Flaws of the shipping: AND MARIK AND BAKURA GO FROLICKING OFF INTO THE SUNSET, HAPPY ENDINGS ALL ROUND.

…Oh, wait. Didn't account for those flipsides. Eh, they can be in love. They've already kissed. At least, their bodies have already done that. Their minds haven't… oh man, this is confusing. Let's just ship them, and call it quits.

Yes, that's right: In case you didn't pick that up, the number one place to find Deathshipping is in a story that also features Thiefshipping. It's very much a case of "This is going to be very, very awkward if Ryo and Dark Marik realize that their other sides have been kissing/worse with each other." Now, I'm sure that not all stories are like that – but the majority of Deathshipping in fanfiction seems to be due to people who write Thiefshipping, and don't want Ryo or Yami Marik to object to everyone's favourite evil Abridged bishies cavorting off with each other.

Baack to the flaws – when you think about it, it's actually a very flawed pairing, that's quite hard to write for with everyone IC (most Yami Marik pairings are this, but that's besides the point). First up, Ryo never did lay eyes on Yami Marik (unless my canon's fudged, correct me if I'm wrong there, but I'm pretty sure he didn't wake up or anything during the Yami Yugi vs Yami Marik fight), and Yami Marik never saw actual Ryo in canon. It's possible that he's been looking out from inside Marik all along, in which case all he sees of Ryo is a weak mind, someone who can't stand up to either Ra or the Rod… and certainly not Yami Marik himself.

Now, if you've been reading any of my other rants concerning Yami Marik pairings, you'll have heard this before, if not then keep reading. This is the core flaw with a Yami Marik pairing – for it to have any hope of working, the other person must be able to stand up to him, and constantly be on their guard lest he attempt to massacre them. And there are very, very few characters who can fit that bill – Ryo is definitely not one of those people. If he can't stand up to Yami Bakura, he has buckleese chance of standing up to Bully Numero One. Yami Marik would probably enjoy flaying Ryo alive, even if it's just for Yami Bakura's insolence…

Oh, and one last thing: Yami Marik is hate itself. Unless he's raping, or doing things just to be spiteful to Marik, or simply killing/torturing in a very kinky way (and he arguably did that to Mai in canon), how can he love?

Warnings: Yami Marik shipping ahoy! Carries a hint of Thiefshipping, a little bit of violence, and some fairly suggestive stuff. Whilst not explicit, it may be one of the dirtiest things I've written in a while – you've been warned.

Time Period: After Battle City, but before the Final Duel.

Names: Yami Marik/Mariku = Yami Marik
Ryo Bakura/Bakura Ryo = Ryo Bakura

Amethyst eyes blinked, blurred visions echoing in the young man's mind. It had been a long time since he had last been let out, controlling instead of simply watching – but Marik had somehow become emotional enough for his other side to finally break free. The one known to most as Yami Marik growled psychotically to himself as he stared at the fabric ceiling of the tent, quietly wondering who to kill first; how best to ruin the other side's life for what he'd done. This was an absolute outrage, an atrocity!

Politely putting it, he did not believe that the 'skimpy cat–girl' was a very flattering look.

Feeling came back to his limbs rather slowly – it was only on stretching that he realized that there was something draped over his lower half, weighing down his legs. Sitting up allowed him to see that the something was white all over. Mostly a smooth sort of white, but as it stirred, fluffy white bangs brushed the Egyptian's tanned leg, rough cord slid over the man's bright pink miniskirt, and something cold and metallic clattered onto the plastic sheet Yami Marik was lying on. As he watched, the thing drew itself up into a form he better recognized – a human being holding its rabbit–eared head in rather furry hands, deathly pale. Besides the paw–like gloves and the ears, it also appeared to be wearing paw–like footwear, and blue boxer shorts – but not very much else.

Ah. So this is the weak host, Ryo…

The psychotic grin returned, even wider now. Once upon a nightmare, Ryo's other side had dared to challenge Yami Marik – and he had not quite paid for his own impertinence. Besides, the Egyptian knew full well what Marik and Bakura did in the tent – he'd watched it, naturally. It was sickening, to be honest – and very undignified, too.

If there was one thing Yami Marik couldn't take, it was being undignified. He preferred having people kneel before him in terror to having them rolling around on the floor laughing.

"Marik and Bakura were 'just having fun', it seems. 'Just having fun'… Without us. At our expense." The young man made no attempt whatsoever to conceal his disgust, his hatred for the duo. With a snarl, the Egyptian removed the pink cat ears he'd been wearing up to this point, and flung them out of the tent. Ryo blinked sleepily – his first mistake.

"Y–you're… Not Marik?"

Yami Marik thought about this question for a moment, fluffing out his hair into the usual spikes. "I'm not the Marik you'd know. But I am Marik. Other Marik doesn't exist without me, after all." He yawned, touching Ryo's wrist ever so gently – the fact that his hand was allowed to hover just over the wrist area and go unnoticed was Ryo's second mistake. "Come now, they must have told you about me."

The young man didn't think it possible for the pale boy to go any paler, but Ryo managed it. "Y–y…"

"Yami Marik, at your service." There was a somewhat mocking bow of the head, tanned hand now locking hard around the teen's fragile wrist, moving it in a rather painful direction. The Egyptian giggled, grinning cashier–style for a moment. "How can I hurt you?"

With a cry of horror, Ryo attempted to get up – mistake number three. A wild yell of joy accompanied Yami Marik's pounce, and the two of them went down in a muffled series of shouts, thuds, and words that hadn't seen the light of day since old Pharaoh Frogbungler shut his cursing mouth. The struggle ended quickly – the pale boy was fast, but he was already on his back at this point, and so found it hard to get away from the Egyptian. Yami Marik came up triumphant – he stood hunched over his prize, purring as Ryo brought his knees up to his chest.

"You didn't think you'd get away, did you? We're going to have such fun together!" He traced a line along the other's jawline, then pulled out his Millennium Rod. "I'm going to show you and your silly other half exactly why you don't ever put me in an costume like this."

A slight, nervous smirk. "One thing… You know that outfit?"

Yami Marik went to smirk, but then stopped; his eyes widening as he realized what position Ryo was in. The two of them met each other's gaze for a single second – and then the pale boy performed the only option left to him: He kicked upwards with both legs, straight up his captor's miniskirt.

As it turns out, the claws on a fursuit's footpaws are quite hard; and these seemed to have been sharpened into points. In a word, ouch.

Somewhere in the back of Yami Marik's head, Marik and Bakura exchanged evil looks… and hi–fives. With a barking laugh, Bakura held his hand out for the money, and Marik reluctantly passed over a few bills.

"Told you he'd win."

Notes:
1. What colour are Ryo's eyes? In fact, this isn't as easy a question to answer as you might think – in the manga alone, Ryo's have been shown as blue and brown, and even amethyst on one occasion. That's not all, either – Joey's have been shown as blue, dark brown, and honey brown, Yami's have been everything from deep purple to deep crimson to both of them at once to green (have a look at the covers of Duelist vol1 and Original vol7 if you don't believe me on that last one), and the arguments regarding the 'true' colour of Kaiba's hair still rage on to this day. Well… They don't really rage on, but they could. I personally believe that both his brown hair and green hair look are simply dyes – and in reality, he's a blonde. It's just like how Ryo accidentally put bleach instead of shampoo in his hair this one time. |D

*cue flamewar*