Odion was staggering down the hall in shock, trying to get to his bedroom while his sanity was still more or less intact. This was the hallway where the front door was located. From the front door, there was an open entrance into the dining room, which was connected to the living room.

"Hey Odion," somebody called from the living room as he passed, "what happened?"

Odion turned to his addresser (it happened to be Tea, who was chewing her lower lip in consternation). "I was kicked out of the bathroom by Marik," he said in a dazed voice. "The… the dark Marik."

Everybody started talking at once. Their voices merged in Odion's head, creating a discordant mixtry. The full impact of what had just happened fell over him. He was starting to feel dizzy.

It was lucky that most of the people in the room recognized that Odion was about to faint; it gave Yugi and Yami time to dive at Tea, knocking her over and covering her eyes, and for Yugi's mother to skedaddle out of the room with a bright red face before Odion actually fell over, dropping his towel in the process.

"Whoa," Ryou said quietly in awe, "I'm jealous."

Malik punched him in the arm.

"Of please, I was just kidding. He's about average."

"Stop talking about it!!" someone else whined, coming from Yugi and Yami's general direction.

Meanwhile, a small voice was heard: "Uh, Seto, a moment ago you were dragging me down this hall. Why are we turning back?"

A ripple of laughter tore through the room. Tea wriggled. "Hey! Will you two get your hands off my face?!"

Yugi petulantly started rubbing his hands over her eyelids. "Ohhh, your make-up's gonna smear…"

"Yugi! Don't be an asshole!"

"Gasp! She said a swear!"

"And don't quote Family Guy, either!"

"I like Stewie…" Yugi grinned.

" 'Wouldn't it be marvelous if I turned out to be a homosexual?' " Yami quoted. Yugi eyed him and scooted away. Others gave him odd looks as well; he could've chosen a better scene to quote.

"What's going on?" Tea barked. "I wanna see!"

Yugi grin grew more prominent. "Nooo, you don't."

"Yes I do."

"You're such a pervert, Tea," Ryou chimed in, and Yugi and Ryou laughed. Tea turned hot under her friends' hands.

"WHAT!?"

Yami blushed and laughed along with Yugi and Ryou. The idea of Tea being a colossal pervert like Joey was… well… actually he could see that. :P Ew. It just wasn't very likely.

Meanwhile, Tea continued to struggle. "Don't make me do something I'll regret," Yugi warned in a tepid voice. Tea stuck her tongue out. Yugi leaned down and licked her ear.

"Ewwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwww!" Tea's scream could be heard in Boston, most of Texas, a few scattered parts of Canada including Calgary, where one of my great-aunts lives, over the river, and through the woods.

- - -

"Seto, let go of me!" Mokuba kicked at his brother's chest. "Stupid freakin' gay. Why'd you have to be my brother."

Seto's veins stuck out on his head of brown hair. "That's enough!" he roared. He pushed Mokuba roughly against the wall. Mokuba's eyes likened to the size of saucers.

"Look," he assibilated, hissing like a snake. "I'm your brother. You're going to like me, whether I'm gay or straight or Martha Stewart." Mokuba blinked. "And god damn it, I'm still going to be here whether you like me or not, so you might as well just like me anyway. Now, Yami Marik's in the shower, so let's just get the hell over to where everyone else is after Odion's covered himself and—HEY!"

Mokuba had spat in his brother's eye. "Let go OF ME!" he managed to scream louder than the fury of Hell itself. He kicked at his brother's arms, but his place against the wall was intransigent.

"Mokuba—"

"Are you about to rape your brother?"

"WHAT!?!"

Seto and Mokuba's heads snapped in unison toward the source of the voice, both intending to give a sound scolding to wherever was so sick in the head as to suggest… bleh. A bemused, caped character fleered at them.

"Hello," said Yami Marik.

"No, just Hell," Mokuba replied with a gulp.

"Stop swearing," Seto whispered, although his eyes never strayed from Yami Marik's amethyst ones.

"I couldn't help but notice you were shouting," said the dark one. "I was going to try to get Malik's CD player to play me a little Disturbed while I was in the shower. And I got it to work, however, you're inconsiderate screaming has overpowered the noise in there, and I'm going to have to ask you to go away."

One, slender finger pointed down the hallway.

"The others are that way," the blonde told them.

He was stared at.

"Get going!" he snapped, and he stepped irately back into the bathroom and shut the door.

"What's 'Disturbed'?" Seto asked.

"Let's just go…"

- - -

"…Should we hide?" Solomon suggested. "And Mr. Odion, please denude yourself."

"I'm already naked," Odion pointed out.

"I meant put on clothes."

"Denude means to make bare."

Solomon had a teensy bit of steam coming out of his ears. Yugi's mother said "uh-oh" from the kitchen and Yugi looked at him pleadingly. "Calm down, Grandpa," Yugi begged. "It's not your fault that the word denude just looks like it would mean the opposite of what it means…"

"GET SOME FACKIN' CLOTHES ON!"

"Fack?" Seto asked wearily as he carried Mokuba in. "Oh for God's sake!" he cried at the sight of Odion. "Put some clothes on."

Mokuba shut his eyes tightly. "Oh wow ooh black cow, oh ow I need a cigarette now," he murmured.

"…What?" Seto looked at Mokuba oddly.

"Oh, I'm so facking hot," Ryou giggled. "And your so facking hot."

"…What the hell are you doing?" Kaiba demanded. Malik looked slightly TOed as well.

"Singin'," Ryou answered. "'Fack'. It's a song by a popular American artist. Mokuba, you like American artists don't you?"

Mokuba nodded. "Let go of me, gay boy," he said, and he thrust himself out of his brother's armlock. Seto growled.

The Seto Kaiba hated to be humiliated by anyone. It just wasn't a situation he allowed himself to get into. Ever, if he could help it. So if someone did happen to humiliate him, he'd chase them across the world to get back at them. Like he had with Yugi/Yami. Like he had with Alister, and Pegasus. But this time it was his own kin scorning him.

Man, his life sucked lately. At least Yami was there. Seto glanced at him. He was still leaning over Tea, trying along with Yugi to assure her that she did not want to open her eyes.

Finally Odion managed to get up and de-denude himself. Yugi and Yami released Tea, who looked up, saw Odion's towel and his sheepish grin, and turned to Yugi and breathed a thanks.

"Noooo problem," Yugi said, looking at the wall next to Odion. Right now Yami Marik was taking a shower, while purportedly enjoying lyrics by Disturbed.

I wonder which song he's listening to, Yugi wondered. Down with the Sickness? I love the sounds the guy makes in that song… Geez, I never thought I would share something in common with a guy like that.

What am I saying! I don't have anything in common with that psychopathic numbskull! And we're going to send him to the Shadow Realm!

"Um… Who wants to help me with dinner?" Ishizu asked nervously. Nobody answered. Everybody stared at the pathway Yami Marik would be taking when he entered the room. Odion scurried down the hall to get some clothes, in the opposite direction of the bathroom where Yami Marik was.

"Anyone?"

Nobody answered, or it seemed to Mokuba that no one talked for a long, long, time. …Which, to Mokuba, was about twenty minutes. "Isn't he finished showering already?" he demanded.

"For such a homophobe, you sure seem interested in Marik showering," Yami offered. Mokuba gave him a death glare, and Seto shook his head at him in a way to clearly said that Yami had not said the right thing.

"…Sorry," he apologized lamely.

Tea squeezed Yugi's shoulder. Yugi had been very aware that since sitting up her hand had been on his shoulder the whole time, peering over his shoulder ever so often to see how everyone was doing. It made him feel self-conscious, even about the hair by his ears.

"So… I guess we're done studying, huh?" she said shyly. Yugi nodded. Tea gritted her teeth, and pressed her tongue against the roof of her mouth and slid it back, making a clucking sound. She squeezed Yugi's shoulder again.

"Ow," Yugi said dully. Malik glanced over. He gave Tea a dirty look. She slid her hand off of Yugi's shoulder slowly. Malik nodded, giving her a Yeah, that's right, you BETTER let go of him kind of look before he turned away and whispered something to Ryou.

Tea glared at Malik. He could've come over and talked to her. He did know he was frightened, right?

"Poor Malik," Yugi murmured.

"Yeah," Yami agreed. "This has got to be the hardest on him."

"The prospect of being taken over again, right?"

"Yeah."

Tea blinked. "Of course…" She poked Yugi in the back.

"Hm?" He turned his neck so that he was looking at her over his shoulder. "What's up, Tea?"

Tea parted her lips, but no sound came out. What did she have to say? "…This is bad," she whispered.

Yugi nodded. "Yeah."

"Understatement," said Yami.

"Duh," Tea added, feeling stupid.

On the other side of the room, Malik and Ryou were both looking pensive. "…Are we all just going to stand out here and wait for him?" Ryou whispered loudly. He whispered because it seemed like the only tone that was appropriate, but he tried to make sure everybody could hear him.

"I guess so," Seto said contemptuously. "Unless you geeks want to try to figure out what to do when he actually comes out here."

"Shadow Game?" Yami raised an eyebrow.

"So soon?" Yugi looked upset. "What if he's got something to tell us? Something important?"

"You think that Yami Marik is going to try to warn us about something important, Yugi?" Yami's raised eyebrow rose even higher.

"I… uhm…"

"At least we'll find out how he got here," Odion said. He was hulking a few feet behind Tea. Tea wondered if he was staring at her butt, then felt stupid. There were more important things to worry about, and here she was trying to divert her attention by wondering if somebody was staring at her butt. Was somebody staring at her butt? She turned around. No, she realized tensely. Of course not. I just don't want to think about what's going on right now…

"Seto…" Mokuba inched closer to his brother. "Wait…" He blinked. "Maybe I'd be safer with…" He looked around. "Yami! You do realize that Yami Marik's probably going to target you, right?"

"What is this business with calling me 'Marik,' anyway?" Everyone's gazes swept towards the violet-clad figure. Marik grinned, his hair damp. "I mean, my former vessel's name is Malik, right? Where'd you get the r from, then? Some weird Japanese pronunciation?"

Nobody had an answer right away.

"…I challenge you to a duel!" Yami declared loudly, pointing vigorously.

"So do I!" Malik claimed. Ryou looked at his boyfriend with wide eyes.

"Noyoudon't," he blurted, grabbing Malik's shirt by the shoulder and pulling them closer to the wall.

Malik grinned smugly at Ryou, displaying two pointy canines. Tea put both her hands on Yugi's shoulders and leaned into him, totally freaked out now.

"I don't want to duel the Pharaoh," he said, gesturing specifically towards Ryou and making eye contact. He completely ignored everyone else in the room.

Ryou blanched—making him even paler. "Now—now look here! You barge in here totally unexpected and scare the living daylights out of us—you… you gave us a hell of a fright, and then you shove Odion out of the bathroom and make us all wait in here with baited breath for your grand arrival! What's… what's going on!?"

Bakura silently applauded Ryou for even speaking. Bakura was in the corner of the room by the kitchen. Nobody had even noticed yet. Ishizu had nodded to him on her way into the kitchen, but had taken him for Ryou. He wasn't planning on speaking yet, anyway. He had just wanted to see this.

Marik had made one hell of an entrance. Pretty cool. This could either be good for Bakura, or bad.

Marik grinned at Ryou, and only Ryou. "Well, I was just dying to get out of that place," he said, faking wistfulness, even pretending to wrench his hands.

"What place?" someone asked.

"And I saw… MY CHANCE!" His eyes widened; he looked like a maniac. He pointed suddenly at Yugi with drama, flare. "Little Yugi brought the Millennium Rod into your house, and with Malik near it, I was able to escape through it!"

"You were gone," Malik breathed. Marik ignored him completely and utterly.

"You see Ryou, I've always been in the back of Malik's mind, just biding my time into the Millennium Rod came close enough to him so that I could make use of it. I'm connected to it, you see."

So he wasn't in charge of my weird dreams, Yugi fretted. He was inside Malik's mind the whole time…

"Now… when is dinner? Ohhh, Ishizu! I'm back." Marik made his way towards the kitchen.

I didn't realize I hadn't update this is so long! I thought I'd updated it in 2006. I guess I was wrong. Anyway, I'm posting this up so you know that I DO plan to finish this! I thought I'd written this pretty well compared to some of my other stories, but reading back over it, I found a LOT of inconsistencies that I should've corrected. Like, in the last chapter, I said that Odion was watching the George Carlin special and then… BAM! Odion was somehow in the bathroom. Stuff like that. And if you see something that doesn't make sense in the chapters, please tell me!

So… REVIEW!