FINISH REVIEW CORNER
Dlbn: I'm BACK! *laughs evilly* Hot damn it's been forever!
Nbld: Long story short, the laptop screen got cracked badly and we can't see much of the screen (including where I set up the internet).
Dlbn: So I've been working on writing, just had no way to update it. Been so busy with the move and all. Just glad I have this little inch and a half sliver long of working screen to use (going height-wise, I can only see the top half of the taskbar up to the top of the screen. So yeah, not much room to work with.
Nbld: Plus, the parents got rid of the internet since I no longer live there and they don't use it, so I can't go to their place and automatically connect to it or anything. Time to make use of a flash drive and the library!
Dlbn: But enough rambling! It's been a crazy month with work screwing me over on top of everything else, but it's all settled. So now it's time to relax and update!
Nbld: AFTER the Review Corner! Thank you to Cardgamesonmotorcycles, VampirePrinssess, animegirl516, 13579Marik, Marquis Amon, The ThiefShipper, and seastar529 for reviewing! Cake shaped like Marik and Bakura for you all!
Cardgamesonmotorcycles: Things are definitely on the right track, finally ^^ Of course she wouldn't. Delusional XD Of course he did something. He's Bakura! XD
VampirePrinssess: Aw glad you liked :3 Of course he did something haha XD
Animelgirl516: Try not to lose too much sleep! Yay for rereading! I do it all the time XD
13579Marik: :3 Yeah, fanfic seems pretty dead this time of year :/ Thank you!
Marquis Amon: Glad you enjoy! I'm not going to abandon it, but updates will be scarcer until I get my laptop fixed. ^^"
The Thiefshipper: Glad you enjoy!
Seastar529: No, they're not connected. Bakura's just teasing him ^^ Marik probably won't count him out on it, honestly. To him, it's like Yami claling him "fruitcake". They don't get enough love. I'll try and incorporate them more ^^ It's okay, no worries. Rambling is always a good thing :D
Disclaimer: I do NOT own YuGiOh or any related characters or other canon stuff from it. All rights go to Kazuki Takahashi. I DO own the Social Worker and Tsuki. I make NO money off of writing this fiction.
Author note: You'll see this same author note if you ready any of my other stories, so it will look familiar to some ^^
000
It didn't take much effort to convince mine and Bakura's group to get together after school the next day to go see the social worker. Odion had had early release, so he had left and went to see her earlier, taking Ishizu with him and sending her back once her seventh and eight period study halls were over. Thankfully, that just left the five of us to go once school let out. Bakura and I rode over on my motorcycle, while Thief drove the others behind us, to follow us there. Thankfully, there were no screaming children in the waiting room this time. Bakura signed us in with the registration desk and the secretary called his worker to let her know he was there. He sat next to me and wrapped his arm around my shoulders.
Yami and Ryou shared a seat and Thief was busy checking out a young woman that was filling out paperwork at the reception window once Bakura left it.
"I thought you had a girlfriend, Thief." I joked.
He smirked. "I do." He confirmed. "But that doesn't mean I can't enjoy the view and bountiful fruits around me."
An older lady reading a book across from us snorted. "If you do have a girlfriend, honey, I don't think she'd appreciate you ogling the fresh meat." She stated.
"He doesn't have a girlfriend." Bakura interjected. "He just wants us to think he does."
"I'm not…ugh." Thief folded his arms over his chest. "Whatever."
Yami laughed. "You don't put much time into defending it, Thief." He elbowed his pouting friend. "So just fess up."
"There's nothing to fess up to." Thief muttered, shoving Yami away from him.
Ryou got off his boyfriend's lap and took a seat next to me. "I don't want to end up on the floor." He muttered.
Bakura laughed as Yami flushed and shoved Thief back.
"Alright, alright, that's enough." Bakura told them after they'd spent another five minutes or so shoving one another around. "Knock it off."
The door to his worker's office opened up and she stepped out, smiling. "Welcome back, trouble makers." She greeted. "And company. Please, come in." She bowed.
"This is the only adult in the world Bakura respects enough to shut up and stop being a pain in the ass?" Thief whispered to me. "She's quite the looker. Afraid of a little competition?" He elbowed me good naturedly and I shoved him.
"You know damn well that he doesn't enjoy the fruits of the fairer sex." I laughed, mocking him.
Thief rolled his eyes and shoved me after Bakura. The others followed into the office silently. We each took a seat in a chair in front of the desk. She had prepared well for us, and had brought in an extra seat and a stool if we needed them. There were five of us, after all, and she'd only had four chairs last time I was here. The stool must have been foresight in case we found anyone else willing to testify. The social worker sat down behind her desk and smiled.
"Now, then Marik, your siblings were here earlier." She stated. "They gave sworn statements about everything they could recall correctly and report to me. I have signatures and all the necessary paperwork from them. Now, all I need is the same form you boys."
"So what do we have to do?" Ryou wondered.
The woman pulled out five packets of papers. "Just fill these out for me to start, and I'll get back to work at filing what your siblings gave me into my computer. Those packets are basic information; your names, addresses, how to contact you, policy statements…all that stuff." She said. "It's basic paperwork but I need it so we can move onto the second part." She handed us a pile of pens to choose from and turned to her computer, typing in information that she was reading off of a packet at her side.
The others and I each grabbed a pen and got to work. The paperwork was easy enough as she had said, and included information about our relevance to the case. I had a feeling mine was a little different then theirs because I was a victim and they were just witnesses. I snuck a peek at Bakura's packet and caught some differences in the questions. I went back to my packet and filled out the rest of the information. Since I didn't have a cell phone, my easiest contact was through school and my friends' numbers. I wondered what my siblings had put. Once finished, I handed the woman my packet and she smiled at me.
"I'll wait until you're all finished so I can explain everything all at once." She informed.
"Sounds logical." I nodded.
"So how have things been, Marik?" She wondered, going back to her typing.
"Fine, I guess." I stated. "Nothing really to report."
"And your father? any new incidents?"
"He got into a shouting match with a buddy on the phone and trashed his office." I replied. "But that's about it."
"Nothing against yourself or your siblings?"
"Nothing at all." I shook my head. 'I was kind of surprised, but he wore himself out trashing his office, so he passed out. I wasn't really surprised anymore once I saw him slouched over the desk."
"I see." She nodded. "And who cleaned up?"
"Odion was going to do it after school. If we do it while dad's unconscious in there and he wakes up, it will be hell to pay for all of us."
"And what about Ishizu? Is she going to help him?"
"She's going to Mai's after school to work on a project."
She nodded.
I sat back and picked at my fingernails until Ryou slapped my hands apart to tell me to stop it. I glared at him, but he smiled at me good naturedly and handed the woman his packet. It took about ten minutes more for the others to hand over their packets. The woman smiled, tapped them on the desk so they were even, and slid them under my siblings' reports.
"Alright." She grabbed several more papers. "Now that all that is out of the way, let's get onto the juicy bits, hm?" She giggled and handed each of us some papers, giving me some more then the others. "What I need you all to do, is write down any incidents that you remember or had involvement in. I need the names of the people involved, where it happened, and when it happened, if possible. If you can't remember exact, that's fine. Just give me a basic day of the week, time of day-morning, afternoon, or night-and that's all I need for that section."
It took me longer then the others to fill it out. It wasn't really a surprise when all they had to write about was when my father broke my nose and kicked me out, and the attempted rape of my sister and then myself. Ryou knew more so he could give some vague details, and Bakura knew some stuff from when he was at my place and the incident with Tsuki at the mall. Thief and Yami were done fairly quickly, followed by Bakura, Ryou, and then myself. That whole process took about forty-five minutes from start to finish. The worker tapped the papers on her desk again and put them on the bottom of a separate pile. She pulled out more papers and I inwardly groaned. This was more of a nightmare then it was worth, but I knew it would be all worth a lot more in the end.
"So for this next part, I just need some signatures from you all, and that should be it." She stated. "I'll double check to make sure everything has been filled out."
We took the packets she gave us to look through and sign. Most of them were confidentiality statements and statements that everything we have reported is truthful to the best of our knowledge and not forced upon us by anyone else. It didn't take long. I wasn't sure the others read even a piece of the information on the sheets, but I wasn't going to argue. The worker took the papers and put them in a third pile.
"It looks like everything is in order. I can have this report compiled completely in three days, and I'll contact all of you if there's anything else I need. As for everything else, only the Ishtars and Bakura really need to be involved."
"Since Bakura's orchestrating this whole thing." Thief laughed.
I cleared my throat. "Um…about what I told you the other day…?" I asked her.
"Yes? Has anything else come up?" She chewed on her bottom lip, seeming nervous.
"No, not really. I just wanted to make sure that got included in the reports. I don't want anyone getting hurt because of me."
"Why would we get hurt?" Thief wondered. "Something you're not telling us?"
"Well…"
"You can tell them if you want or not, hon, it's your choice. I'll step out if you like."
"No, it's fine." Bakura stated. "I know what he's talking about." He sighed. "His father threatened to go after me for my involvement. Marik just doesn't' want his father to find out about you guys and go after you too or something. Right, Marik?"
"Y-Yeah…"
"Wait, he threatened you?" Yami laughed. "Does he realize who he's dealing with? You took that Tsuki guy down twice without a problem. Does he really think he or his goons can do any damage?"
"Tsuki on his own is one thing. Da don his own is one thing. Them together is one thing. But all of his buddies, drunk off their asses, and enraged that one of their own was attacked twice and taken down twice by a teenager?" I shook my head. "That's another thing entirely. They pack a lot of man power and a lot of legal power to back it up."
The worker slipped me a card. "If you hear anything else concerning this, give me a call, stop by, or get a hold of me some other way as soon as you can, alright? a threat is a serious thing. I know you don't want police involved if possible, but on a threat like the one your father made? It may be inevitable that we have to get them involved at least on that matter."
I nodded. "Will do." I stuck the card in my back pocket; hoping my father wouldn't find it before I got the chance to hide it in one of my textbooks. Luckily, I was going over to Bakura's after to continue the 'punishment' Principal Gozoboro had dumped on us. How much longer did we have for that thing? Two days? Three? It felt like Principal Gozoboro had forgotten about it, but I knew he hadn't. I wasn't really counting the days, myself, but I knew the Monday that ended it would come rather quickly and we'd have to fake it that we didn't have anything to do with one another until we could sneak off to be together. That probably meant more good natured pranks against me and Ryou by Bakura and his friends that were intended to look mean and harsh so others wouldn't be suspicious of anything. It pained me to think about, but I knew it had to come at some point. Unless we were going to keep up the idea that the punishment had led us to being able to tolerate one another and not cause so much trouble at school. I liked that option better, but I'd have to talk to Bakura about it first before I got my hopes up.
"So I think that's about it for today unless any of you have something you want to add?"
As a group, we all either shook our heads or gave some form of verbal denial.
"Alright, then. I'll let you all go. I'm sure you all have busy lives to attend to."
"Sex, sex, and pretending he has a girlfriend." Yami chided, motioning to myself and Bakura, himself and Ryou, and finally Thief.
"I told you, I'm not pretending!" Thief snapped.
"Then let us meet the chick." Bakura stated.
The Social Worker shook her head and laughed at us. "Alright, boys, you can settle that argument elsewhere." She fixed Yami with a level gaze. "And I don't want to hear about the sex lives of my cases and their friends, alright?" She winked.
That got us all laughing before we each said our goodbyes and walked out into the waiting room. The lady from earlier was still reading her book, and she gave us a knowing smirk over the top of her book as we left; apparently remembering our earlier conversation. None of us granted her any kind of response as we left the office.
"I can see why you get along with her, Bakura." Thief stated. "She's a little firecracker."
"Yeah, whatever." Bakura shoved him away, removing his arm from his shoulders first. "She's just…she's the only person that's ever really given a shit and done anything to help me. That's it."
I wondered if his like for her stemmed from the fact that she gave him more time and attention then his parents ever did. As I had seen, they cared for Bakura, but only acknowledged him much in passing. His father seemed to be interested I his life but Bakura didn't seem to want to give him the time of day anyway. I wondered if there was a bigger problem between them then just them not remembering him when they were working or throwing themselves into work once their biological daughter died.
"So where to now?" Yami wondered, stretching. "I'm starved."
"Marik and I have our 'punishment' to finish." Bakura winked at me and I felt my face go red.
For all that our group talked about sex, the topic still embarrassed me. Yami smirked. "You two have fun then. Ryou? Thief? Food?"
"Reduced to one-word sentences?" Ryou giggled.
"I have a date." Thief denied. I'll walk and take the bus. You two go…do whatever you have to do to each other."
"I'll drop you off."
"Around the block."
"You know he won't go where he says he's going, right?" Bakura informed, lazily putting an arm around my shoulders and smirking like a fool.
"So I bring him home and let him go wherever." Yami stated. "We'll figure it out."
"You'll just stalk me." Thief argued. "Get lost."
"Oh, how trusting." Yami laughed.
Thief shoved him and the two of them ended up wrestling to the ground. Ryou sidled up next to me.
"I don't need to get involved in this…I wish your bike could hold three people." He stated.
"Sorry." I replied.
"I wish I had a hose." Bakura informed.
Suddenly, a pile of water dumped on the two wrestling psychos and they both pulled away from one another, sputtering.
"W-What the hell?" Thief cursed, brushing silvery hair from his eyes and looking for the source. A girl with long white hair stood near them in a white dress with sandals. Her eyes were such a light blue that they were almost white. She had silver bangles on her arms, and one was extended out with a bottle of water open and tipped upside down. It was still dripping onto the top of Thief's head. Yami glared at the girl. "What was that about?" He wondered. His hair was down and flat and I shuddered at the slight resemblance to myself that he had.
"Oh. Kisara." Thief greeted sheepishly, grinning softly. "What…uh…what are you doing down here?"
She didn't reply and instead pointed at a restaurant a little ways down the road. Thief's eyes followed to where he pointed.
"Oh…yeah…I forgot it was over there…"
"Wait a minute here." Bakura ordered. "This is your girlfriend?"
"Too early to say that." Kisara whispered, her voice light.
Thief stood. "Yeah, avoid the labels, man. But yeah, this is her. Happy now?"
She smiled gently. "You didn't tell them?"
"I kept my promise." He kissed her left knuckles.
She blushed a light shade of pink.
"Later." Thief smirked, triumphant, as he led her off.
I noticed the slight bounce in her step. She was the complete opposite of our group. No wonder he agreed to keep their relationship a secret. She really wouldn't fit in with us. But it would be nice to have someone more carefree in our group, honestly. Instead of the sex-addicts we all secretly were deep down.
"That was unexpected." Yami was tussling his own hair to get the water out and get it back to its original messy hairstyle.
"She's cute." Ryou stated, messing with his own hair subconsciously.
I slapped his hand like he'd done to me when I was picking at my fingernails.
"Not the kind of girl I thought he'd go for." Bakura stated. "I pictured…"
"A skank?" Yami offered.
"Yeah, that."
"People can surprise you, I guess." I stated.
"Not people you've known your whole life." Yami snorted.
"Or as long as I've lived here, at least." Bakura shrugged. "I'm not a childhood friend, remember?"
Yami flushed and shrugged one shoulder. He'd clearly forgotten.
"Anyway, awkwardness aside," I stated, "didn't we all have plans?"
"Someone's horny." Yami chuckled.
"You mean you?" Ryou stated, looking him over.
I couldn't help but laugh.
"Alright, let's get out of here. We look like stalkers." Bakura stated.
We all watched as Thief flipped us off as he went into the restaurant.
"Jackass." Yami snorted. "We should crash his date."
"He'd kick our asses."
"She seems like a nice girl. I wouldn't want to shake her up too badly." I argued.
"Fine, then we separate and meet up later or something."
"Sounds good." Bakura stated. "A lot longer, if that's alright." He chuckled and I blushed.
"Someone else is horny then, too." Yami chuckled. "Later." He pulled Ryou with him to his car.
"Bye!" Ryou waved happily before turning and leaning onto Yami's arm, attaching himself to it.
"Shall we, then?" Bakura wondered.
"You got it."
We both donned helmets as I started up my bike. Wasting no time, we both got onto the bike and I sped off into traffic.