Disclaimer: I do not own YuGiOh.

Summary: When Marik begins stalking Téa and ruining her life, Ryou Bakura offers up his home. He wants her safe at any cost, but Ryou is continuously plagued with illnesses. Téa finds herself left with only Yami Bakura for protection, but the tomb robber is far from anyone's savior. As Marik's attacks grow worse, Téa finds that not everything is as it seems...

Sanctuary

By: Chi Yagami

Where was Yami when she actually needed him? Téa did not need this happening right now! Why had she ever ditched Yami? He was WAY better than this freak! Well, pretty much anyone was better than Marik…

He was staring at her with that creepy possessive look again. It completely unnerved her, and she forced her shoulders to stop trembling.

"Were you following me?" she asked harshly. Marik shot her a fake, innocent look. Then he approached her. Téa backed away instinctively. This guy was psychotic! Not to mention he had the hots for her!

"Why would you think a thing like that?" he questioned, a hint of lust in voice.

Téa had to get out of here! She looked around, but there were not many places to choose from. She quickly dashed into the next closest store, which happened to be a designer depot. She raced to the escalator and immediately climbed, not waiting to be lifted to the next floor. She sprinted past the perfumes, past the high-end brand purses, and over to the customer service. She leapt into the women's bathroom, rushed into a stall, and closed the door. She sagged against the stall, breathing hard; she was safe, for now. She would have to come out eventually though. Yami and Yugi would worry about her, and she was still hungry. She would bet that Marik was standing outside the bathroom, a smirk on his face because he knew that he had her trapped. She was going to lose no matter what. Of all the days to forget her cell phone at home!

"My dear, I know you're in here."

Didn't he know that this was the GIRLS' bathroom?! Then again, he likely didn't care.

"Go away, Marik!"

"I need your help," he said, voice abruptly and oddly urgent. Of course he's urgent, she thought, he doesn't want to get caught. There was no way she was leaving this stall.

"Either you come out, or I'm coming in."

Well crap. Sighing in defeat, Téa opened the damn door and glared tiredly. He gave her a half-smile before taking her hand and leading her out of the restroom. Where they were going, she didn't know. His grip on her hand was awfully tight; clearly he didn't want her escaping, but did he have to squeeze that hard? Téa assumed the worst he could do was rape her and kill her. No wait, she would take that back: the worst he could do would be to rape her and not kill her. Marik suddenly halted, causing her to run straight into him. They were still in the same store, but not in any particular section. In fact, it looked as if they were in a secluded corner... Her panic increased tenfold.

"What are we doing here?"

"I told you I need your help." The harsh urgency of his voice made her finally look at his face, and she was surprised to find that Marik almost seemed... manic? But not in his usual, creepy way.

"With what…?" she inquired, highly suspicious.

"I am..." But suddenly the tension left his body, and his grip on her hand relaxed. He looked around, almost as if confused. What the hell? "I have to buy a birthday present for Ishizu," he finally answered.

Téa all but fell over. "Are you being serious!"

"Yes. I'm not a woman; I have no idea what my sister would like. I need a girl's opinion. So go pick out something girly," he told her. "And you may as well just do it before I take over your mind."

Something strange was going on, but Téa couldn't figure out what. She was almost sure he had meant to say something else, but then at the last second he'd changed topics. Mindful of his Millennium Rod, she kept her thoughts to herself as she browsed around until she finally saw something Ishizu might like. She guessed on a size and returned to the Egyptian holding a decent, light-weather sweater.

"She'd like that?" he asked, eyeing her.

"What's wrong with it? It's how you say… spring-ish! And it's April, a perfect fit," she informed him.

Marik shrugged. "If you say so."

She huffed; did he even care what she had picked out? He barely had glanced at it! He took the sweater to the counter, and, without even checking the price, he told the cashier to ring it up. Good thing she had picked out something cheap! Not that Téa cared how much money he spent…

And now she was back in the food court, sitting with Marik. She had demanded that Marik feed her after blackmailing her into helping him, and surprisingly he had agreed. Téa was munching away on a tasty salad, while Marik amused himself by watching other people. Then she spotted Yugi and Yami across the court. Apparently so had Marik.

"Well, it seems our time together has been cut short."

Téa choked. He was willingly going to leave?!

Marik grinned. "But you have to do something for me."

She knew it. "I already helped you buy something for Ishizu!"

"I want to see you again. I'll pick you up tomorrow night at eight."

And before she could say anything, he was gone.

A date! A date with Marik Ishtar! She hadn't agree to anything! She was not going anywhere in public with him!

"Téa, you could have told us you were hungry," Yugi said apologetically as the two boys joined her.

"Ah, Téa, so glad we've caught up with each other," Yami purred, taking her hand. "We were apart for way too long."

He meant NOT ENOUGH! Téa snatched her hand back, smiling with a cringe. And for the rest of the day, she, Yugi, and Yami walked around the mall, entering various stores and the like. Something to be expected when one went to a mall.

She didn't give Yami a chance to be alone with her, sticking closely to Yugi as they shopped. She hardly paid any attention to what they were buying, nodding absentmindedly at the conversation. Her thoughts were focused elsewhere.

. . .

Well, it was the night when her life was going to end. In under an hour, the devil himself would ring her doorbell and everything would come to an end. Although she had never revealed to him where she lived, Téa figured that Marik was resourceful enough to have found out, and so it was too much to hope that he wouldn't show. She really wished there was someone she could talk to about this. She desperately wanted to tell Ryou, but she knew what would happen: he would try to protect her and undoubtedly stand up to Marik. Then Ryou would be in the hospital again, with several broken ribs. And Marik would continue to pursue her. Perhaps if she went on this date, he'd realize he didn't like her and leave her alone... she snorted and scorned her own preposterous wishful thinking. But there was no way she could tell anyone else. Yami would go ballistic and never let her out of his sight… although it wasn't as if she was not already in that scenario. Yugi would be really worried, and she didn't want to do that to her childhood friend; his head was already filled with enough stress over her as it was regarding the locker incident. Tristan and Joey would get their bats, and Serenity would get dragged in somehow. And Kaiba would—

Had she just thought about what Kaiba would do if he knew she was going out with Marik? Yes, yes she had. And what would he do? Absolutely nothing. Téa highly doubted that Mr. CEO would give a flip if she died or not.

But then why had he talked to her in the park the other day? DAMN IT! She still couldn't get that sexy image out of her mind! It was SETO FREAKING KAIBA for crying out loud! God what was wrong with her? Was she developing a crush on the snobbiest man in town? Did she have feelings beyond those of friendship for him? Was it possible that she might be in love? She blushed. No, no, no. This was Kaiba she was talking about. Maybe he was like one of those hot surfer guys on television beach dramas that the main girl always thought was really hot but never dated because he's a total jerk. Yeah, that was about right. Except Téa was pretty sure Kaiba didn't surf.

As for Bakura, well, actually she wasn't sure what he would do. Probably start a row with the other Egyptian. He had been acting really weird lately. Apologizing one minute and throwing plates the next. He should really learn a thing or two about manners from Ryou.

Twenty minutes until Marik arrived. Téa was currently pacing the living room, nervously running a hand through her conditioned hair. She had to say, she put a lot of effort into looking nice for this psychopath. She wasn't exactly sure why… maybe something to do with his power over her…

Wait, power over her? HAH. There was no way Marik influenced her thoughts and actions. Unless… What if he was somehow controlling her mind with his Millennium Rod! It was very possible that he was manipulating her slowly, breaking down her defenses, so that eventually she would fetch the Puzzle for him. Maybe she should alert Yami…

Ten minutes. For the first time, Téa was wearing sneakers on a date. Usually she wore platforms, but, well, who knew when she might need to run… She was also wearing a nice shirt and jeans. She had thought about wearing a skirt but decided against it after she remembered Mai talking about that "easy access" factor. Téa had no desire to make it easier for Marik to rape her. Hmm… maybe she should tell him that she was sick…

¡DING DONG!

Fuck. He was here already. Stalling for time, she pretended to be upstairs. Téa could just picture him on her porch, standing there all impatient, tapping his foot on the wooden boards. He might grow tired of waiting and break the swing. She had better open the door.

"Hi, Marik!" she said, a little too cheery. He looked at her, slightly confused. But it didn't last for long. He was Marik, and Marik never let his mask down for long. Once again he had on that trademark smirk, and he was rambling about going to dinner and then maybe to the park.

"Whatever," she mumbled.

Death Glare. EEP. Téa hated it when people looked at her like that. It scared the shit out of her. Marik grabbed her hand and led her out of the house and down the street. They walked several blocks and took several turns. Oh no. Téa had a bad feeling about where they were going...

Yep. Unfortunately, she was right.

They were going to eat at Burger World. At least she had managed to quit last year, otherwise someone here might know her… oh… Miho was still working here… great. Perhaps she and Marik could get a table in the back. Maybe the purple-haired girl was not working today…

"Hi! And welcome to Burger World!" Miho greeted, a big smile plastered on her face. "Téa! Hey, what are you doing here? Who's this guy?"

"He's uhh… he's uhh…" She didn't know what to say. Thankfully Miho had never met Marik and didn't know what he looked like. On the other hand, Téa was certain that Miho had heard stories from Tristan about "the evil Marik Ishtar and his Rare Hunters" so Téa couldn't very well go and call him by his name.

"I'm Namu," Marik finally introduced, shaking the waitress's hand.

What the hell was he thinking, using that name? Even if Miho didn't recognize it, she would likely mention this at school and one of her friends was bound to remember 'Namu'.

"Actually his name is David Namun," she hastily interrupted. "He just goes by Namu as a nickname, right David?"

"Right, babe."

Ewww. Marik had just called her 'babe'. It was really scary to think that she was on a date with this guy. This guy who wanted to murder her friends, this guy who had inhabited her body and controlled her mind, this guy who had sacrificed his own body to fuse himself with a Duel Monsters card!

"Téa, are you feeling well?" he asked, peering at her from over a menu.

"Oh, umm, yes."

"Well, what would you two like this evening?" Miho asked, ready to take down their orders.

"I'll take a cheeseburger and fries. Téa?"

"I'm not very hungry right now…"

Marik put his arm around Téa as Miho left to put in the order. What was this feeling? Why did she get shivers every time Marik touched her? This was getting really creepy. Could she possibly be... attracted to him? Admitting that she might have a crush on Marik Ishtar was like admitting that she wanted to sleep with an ax murderer. Téa wouldn't admit it.

"What the hell is wrong with me," she said aloud as she slammed her fist down on the table.

"What's wrong?" Marik asked, sounding mildly concerned. He grabbed her wrist to prevent her from smacking it again and making a scene. But Téa really didn't care at this point if she made a scene or not; she couldn't have Marik anywhere near her. She didn't want to find out if she was developing any sort of feelings for this whackjob. It wasn't right. She couldn't develop feelings for her stalker! But Téa knew it was possible. She wasn't exactly drawn to 'bad boys' but she did have a thing for stronger personalities, she'd noticed. Yugi had been her best friend for years, but she had fallen for the mysterious Yami. She had shown slight interest in Kaiba the other day. What if she ended up liking Marik too? Slight tears were welling up in her eyes, but she brushed them away so Marik wouldn't notice.

"Let's go, Téa," he commanded, tugging on her arm. He marched her outside and over to a giant tree. Placing an arm on each of her shoulders, Marik lowered his face until their noses were inches apart. Téa felt her breathing slow.

"Now, what is the matter with you! I told you we had a deal! I'm not letting you run away from this one!" Marik chided.

She hadn't been trying to run away, although she really should... It was just that… when she was around him, Téa felt like she was needed... as though Marik needed her, deep down. He could be a good person under all of this, he just needed her help to see it. And Téa had been so lonely lately, with only Ryou around. Marik was trying to shower her with affection, so could she help it if she wanted a little bit of that?

But Marik was an enemy of her friends, and he was also a bit creepy.

"I… I'm not running away… I'm just," she choked, tears welling up, "I'm just not ready for this! I can't like you, Marik!"

Téa could not take it anymore; she buried her face in her hands and cried. She felt a small bit of relief from crying. Only a small bit. How had this happened so fast? Was it possible to wake up one day and realize she could like someone she had hated the night before?

"Do you understand that? I can't like you… My friends are your enemies, and vise versa. It would never work… but I don't know! I know you want me to love you too—"

"Whoa there, hold on," Marik interrupted, holding up his hands. "Stop right there."

And her heart did stop for a millisecond. Why was he telling her to stop? What had she said wrong? Téa thought he would be happy to hear that she might be considering... something.

"Téa," he explained, slightly laughing, "when did you get it in your little head that I'm in love with you?"

WHAT?

"Sure, I think you're hot and sexy, and I'd like to get you in my bed, but there's nothing more. It's not like I think you're my soul mate or something like that." The smirk crept back onto his face. "Did you think I was in love with you?"

This was not happening! This was NOT happening! Téa didn't know how to deal with this. She had to get away before she did something stupid… So she ran.

"Téa! Get back here!" Marik yelled. She couldn't tell if Marik was chasing after her, but she didn't want to look behind to find out. She hoped Mind Control couldn't travel long distances.

Her pace quickened, and she continued to run back towards her house. On second thought, he would likely go there anyway, knowing she would have to return home at some point. She ran away from the park, heading towards the only other sanctuary she knew of.

How could he do that to her? Marik had dragged her into this mess, and then he had gone and changed his mind! Why was she so stupid to think she should care for him? Téa really should have known better. She should have pulled her head out of the clouds and realized this was MARIK and not some lovestruck boy from the novels she liked to read.

Why did her life have to be so complicated? She finally felt like something right was happening, like maybe for once the world had decided to take pity on her. Hadn't she been completely off… Téa felt so hurt. She never wanted to trust anyone that much ever again. She knew it was a stupid thing to think, because people who always said they'd never love again eventually meet someone knew who breaks down their walls. It happened in about half the romance novels she owned. But she didn't care. Téa hated her feelings right now. They had betrayed her into the hands of someone dangerous. She was probably right about Marik and Bakura collecting the Items. That was all he wanted her for. She snorted. Oh, and her body. Disgusting freak.

Pounding on the door, Téa's heart rate increased. Far behind her, she could almost hear Marik's voice calling out for her. She prayed it was only in her mind. Come on, open up! Tears began to fall again. She was so moody lately. She hated letting people see her cry, but right now she couldn't help it. Just as she was about to break through the wood with her fist, the door opened.

"Oh, it's you," Bakura sneered, ready to close the door. "What do you—?"

She pushed him out of the way and ran deep into the house, shouting, "CLOSE THE FUCKING DOOR!" Téa heard it slam and could only pray that Marik never saw what house she had disappeared into. She threw open the door to the guest room and dashed under the bed. Pulling her legs close to her chest, the tears falling freely, Téa closed her eyes and wished that she would never have to see that bastard again for as long as she lived.

She heard footsteps, and a second later the bed-skirt was lifted, revealing a very pissed, slightly confused Bakura.

"What… was that all about?" he asked gruffly.

"It's none of your business," Téa snapped. Bakura's eyebrow twitched, but he didn't lash out at her. She was still crying, but silently.

"You know… it's not good to hide. Whatever it is you're running from will keep coming back." Was he trying to give her advice? Téa looked over to find that the tomb robber was laying on his back, staring at the ceiling. He looked so out of place there, lying on the floor.

"You don't understand," she informed him. "It's not something where I have to face an obstacle… It's… well, it's more like I trusted someone and they stabbed me in the back. And I should've known they would; they're that type of person. But I let my feelings get the best of me. And now…"

"Now you're hiding under the bed in my house." Was that statement supposed to be funny?

"Was it the Pharaoh's fault?"

What? Oh, well... she supposed that to someone like Bakura, she and Yami did appear to be very close, and it would seem that if Yami had hurt her, Téa would be devastated.

"No."

"Well, come along then. Let's get you back on your feet."

Huh? Bakura wanted to help her? Was this really the same guy who had been throwing plates at her the other day? Bakura left the room, and she barely heard him muttering about the kitchen.

Téa slowly crawled out from under the bed. Glancing in a mirror, she saw that she was a mess: uneven hair, puffy eyes, and tear-stricken cheeks adorned her face. She trudged into the kitchen looking for Bakura, but her eyes instead found Ryou.

"Hey, Ryou… I didn't know you were here…" she greeted awkwardly.

"Téa! Are you okay! What happened? Bakura, what did you do to her!" he said, rushing over to her and checking for injuries.

"What? Don't point your little finger at me," came the reply from somewhere in the pantry.

She sighed and hugged Ryou. Then she walked with him to the couch and began to slowly tell him about what had happened, beginning with the mall. Of course, Téa left out the part about her confused feelings for Marik. She edited her story, only mentioning the part where she was blackmailed into seeing him, and that he only wanted her for sex and Millennium Items (and actually, that part was PROBABLY TRUE!).

As Ryou comforted her, Téa began to feel uneasy. She couldn't explain why; maybe it was just the stress of this entire day. But when Ryou hugged her, she could feel his heart beating twice as fast as normal.

to be continued...