*parties relentlessly* Yeesssss! They've put the new season of Yugioh in! Otogi is so hot and Yuugi looks excellent in the vest outfit! ^_______^ The only problem I've got is...HIS NAME IS DUKE DEVLIN! AAARRRRGGGGHHHHH! I don't even think the dubbing is bad compared to the name! Oh, and I believe the channel is going to be showing two new episodes every Mon-Thurs, so they might even surpass KidsWB! Yay!

Otogi: *cries* That cheat's whooping my ass!

Yuugi: ^^ But Yami 'n' I have already beaten you in Japan's original version. In fact, we've almost beaten Malik...I think...

Otogi: *left eye twitch* *through clenched teeth* Don't remind me, you five foot high little freak.

Yami: DON'T INSULT MY AIBOU! DUNGEON DICE ROLL! *whips dice at Otogi, which hit his forehead and make him pass out*

Noah: n_n Why do I get the dirty work...? *drags Otogi's body offscreen*

***********

There is Hope

By: Bishiehuggler

Chapter 6: Sharp Teeth Are Very Useful

***********Malik, Bakura&Ryou***********

"Itai..." the bleached blond vampire groaned and cracked open his violet eyes. The dark room he had been placed in was quite small and very bare, with only the bed he was lying on and an old, wooden nightstand equipped with a lamp to furnish it. Malik heaved his shoulders and to shake the dull soreness in his arms, only to find he was bound to the bed and was unable to move.

"Konbawa, Ishtar-san." A high-pitched, feminine voice reached his ears, making him growl in annoyance. "Iie, you shouldn't be so grouchy." He could even hear the pout.

"Nani?! I have every right to be grouchy!" the bloodsucker attempted to identify the strange source, but couldn't. "I'm the one being tied to a bedlike an animal!"

"Even animals have more rights than you," another very similar-abeit deeper-feminine voice replied. "You're just a worthless piece of shi-"

"Bakura-kun!" the higher scolded, "You know I hate that language!"

The other growled ferally. "Gomen ne."

"Excuse me, but what does that have to do with me being tied up?" Malik was uncharacteristically calm, which startled everyone in the room, including himself. He would've expected to fly into a rage and lash out, but he didn't feel as angry as he should of. In fact, he only felt slightly upset. The lights were flipped on and the vampire hissed when his eyes were assailed with its brightness. He blinked a few times, adjusting his sight, willing his pupils to become smaller so he wouldn't become entirely blind. The two lookalikes from the night before stood in front of him, one with a glare set on his face, making him look wrinkled and old, the other with a bright, welcoming smile. He immediately smelt the werewolf impurities on the first, making his nose wrinkle in disgust. The werewitch seemed to sense what Malik was thinking, and narrowed his eyes even further. He looked at the more trustworthy one, finding the large, doe-like brown eyes set upon him in a worried expression, wondering if he was alright. "That's a little better, but I still want to be able to move..."

'Bakura-kun,' as the boy called him, sneered slightly and interjected. "If you are able to move, then you'd probably just rip our guts out in gratitude."

Malik smiled playfully and winked at the other, smaller boy. "I wouldn't do that to someone as cute as him..." The teen's face went beet red as he hid behind the elder, who growled again and grabbed Malik's hair, hoisting his head up, making the vampires skin cut open in spots from the pressure of the rough cord used to bind him. He whimpered and Bakura smirked, slamming his head back down into the headboard. He then grabbed the other's arm gently and dragged him out the door, shutting off the lights and leaving Malik in the lonely darkness once more.

************Yami&Yuugi*************

"Yugioh-kun! I said stay out of there!" the said vampire chuckled low in his throat as the smaller boy grabbed the tub of chocolate ice cream from him. "Any more and you're gonna get so fat you won't be able to fit in your leather!" Yugioh gasped and feigned shock as Yuugi struggled to place the large bucket back on the top shelf of his freezer. He grabbed a chair and stepped up to the shelf when Yugioh grabbed it and set it for him. The Interrogator pouted. "You could've done that for me _before_ I got the chair." The ancient vampire smirked, not saying anything. Yuugi sighed in frustration and pushed him out the kitchen threshold and to the second bedroom of the apartment. "Go. Bed. Now." the boy instructed, turned on his heel and sleepily staggered to his own bedroom.

'We need a bigger apartment.' the King of Games thought as he took the two strides to the head of his bed. 'I do not get how the Little One could possibly live here, even by himself.' He kicked off his red, dragon slippers and hopped under the blue comforter. As his head hit the pillow, he rolled onto his back to stare at the painted, chalk green ceiling, which was so low that Jounouchi had to slouch over to get his 5'10'' frame through the door. 'Speaking of Yuugi...' He envisioned the small boy's joyful, violet eyes and his huge smile; followed by his chubby face, the blond bangs and his untamed, black and red crown of hair. He shook his head and blushed slightly.

His crimson eyes wandered, out the open door, across the hallway, to the right, were the boy's room was. A loud snort cut him off, making him chuckle again as he heard Jounouchi punch his pillow saying what sounded like: "I'm gonna kick yur ass, Kaiba..." Poor guy never got a break from the brunette's taunting, even in his dreams.

It had been about two weeks when they had started living with Yuugi. At Blue Eyes, the scientists poked and prodded at them, asking too many questions and basically making the two bloodsuckers feel uncomfortable. Their accomodations there as 'test subjects' were a sterile white room and an operating table with a few thin sheets to sleep on. Yuugi had been designated to studying the humane vampires, along with a dozen others. Yugioh and Jounouchi didn't mind being scrutinized by the little Interrogator, because he always ended up making the examining sessions bareable, with his positive attitude and outgoing cheerfullness. Unfortunately, the other scientists, especially Kaiba, who was self-appointed for the job, made their lives miserable with their stoic attitudes, believing that this was their job and the vampires were just...vampires.

So when they bluntly refused to take any tests in the unfriendly environment, Yuugi fully understood and moved them from the Catacombs to his apartment, enfuriating many for not asking their permission and nearly giving the whole operation away. Through discussions with Kaiba, Yuugi struck a deal to study the vampires while allowing them to live with him. Kaiba then presented the theory that 'it would be easier to study them in a more natural environment' to his own superiors. When Jounouchi questioned him further, he said it was so he could get rid of the annoying dog more than anything else. Yugioh and Yuugi, having seen the blush tint his cheeks, decided that the superior wasn't being entirely truthful.

*********** [AN: ^__^ *points above* I'm just too lazy to write a few chapters on all that info! Back to Bakura, Ryou and Malik!]*********

"Psst." The sharp hissing was easy to pick up out of the thick blanket of silence that had hung over Malik's room for the past week or so. Now, instead of being tied to the bed, Bakura had cast a spell on him that only allowed certain privelages granted, like going outside or talking to Ryou for extensive lengths of time. The werewitch had made it his job to shun the young vampire, getting jealous of Malik when Ryou kept him company for hours and not telling of what the conversations between them were about. "Suimasen!" The voice yelled slightly louder, making the Egyptian growl in annoyance. The whitewashed door creaked slowly open to reveal Ryou, holding a moderatly thick, hardcover book and a mug. "Here," the lean boy said, "Drink this." Malik took a sip of the contents of the cup, smiling with delight at the warmth and sweetness of the hot chocolate. Ryou always did small things like this for him, making the vampire feel more comfortable with the witch than any friend he had when he was alive.

"I was thinking of lifting the spell on you."

Ryou blushed and figeted in embarassment as Malik nearly choked on the hot chocolate. "Honto ne?!" He was extremely excited. Getting his freedom back was what he had been dreaming about from the start of this whole ordeal...and the prospect of getting laid, but he daren't tell his white haired companion about that... "When? How?"

"Now, with this." Ryou pulled the book out from under his arm and plunked himself down on the carpeted floor, cross-legged. He pulled the pages apart where a bookmark held the place, and began to roughly translate the Greek spell for his friend, explaining that he only needed the vampire to comsume a single ingredient to harness the power of the incantation at the source and get it to proform ten-fold better.

"Well, when do I eat this thing?"

"You just did." the white-haired witch pointed casually at the now empty mug of hot chocolate. Malik eyed the cup suspiciously.

"What was in there?"

"Milkweed." Malik gagged.

"You're lucky I'm already dead." He stopped talking when Ryou strung some foriegn words together at unnatural speed, bringing his hand up and slowly pointing all his fingers at the Egyptian. A soft, green glow emitted from the witch's hand and Malik's form and when it died down, Malik could no longer fell the constrictions binding him from parts of the house. Malik then dove on top of Ryou, glomping him, for one of the rules was that he was unable to lay a hand on the white-haired boy. Ryou blushed unnoticeably, but all contact came to a halt when they heard a distant, but loud slam of a door. "What was that?"

"It's the full moon tonight, so Bakura-kun's going to chain himself up in the cellar."

Malik smirked and stroked Ryou's cheek in a taunting fashion. He lowered his voice to a mock-sultry one and said as dramatic as he could, "We have the whole house to ourselves..." The witch giggled and pushed Malik away, standing up and walking towards the door. He motioned to Malik 'suggestively' with his hand to follow him. "Ooh...I'm gonna enjoy this-" A loud bang was heard in the distance, making Ryou and Malik both jump. "What was that?" the vampire inquired and the witch shrugged in reply. They both ran down the stairs and outside, to check on Bakura. "Oh, fuck..." was all Malik could whisper as he saw the splintered cellar door that had been rammed repeatedly until it fully came off its hinges. Specks of blood and tufts of fur littered the area, where Bakura obviously tried to bite and claw away any debris in his way.

A low growl came from the rose bushes and Ryou turned to see blood red eyes peering at the two. "Bakura..." he whispered, then screamed out a Latin phrase, erecting a shield, making the lunging werewolf bounce off back into the bushes. He grabbed Malik's arm roughly, who was in a fighting stance and ready to take on anything, and pulled him back into the house, slamming the door and bolting it behind them.

"Fuck, fuck, fuck!" the vampire screamed as he stomped around. "The door's not going to hold him for long!" he pointed to the already shattering white door as it shuddered and creaked under Bakura's constant attacks. "We hafta figure a way to stop him before he hurts anyone, namely us!"

"I don't get it..." Ryou whispered, making Malik groan in annoyance. Why was he trying to play philosipher now? "He wasn't this strong, why would-" he cut himself off and ran to the kitchen. Throwing open the fridge door he found a glass full of the sickly orange brew that was what the werewitch drank to keep his mutated form under control. The blond ran in, grabbing Ryou from behind and throwing him over his shoulder as, with one final smack, Bakura burst through the door. They escaped out the back way.

Ryou hugged onto Malik's waist as they jumped from rooftop to rooftop, watching the mindless wolf chase after them on foot. The bloodsucker came up to an apartment building, hopping from one balcony to the other until they finally reached the roof. He gently set his precious cargo down and panted "I have a plan." He dropped onto the ground, which Ryou mimicked, to catch his breath. He leaned against his white-haired friend, exhausted from overexerting his cold, and not to mention dead, muscles. A heavy, warm weight swung into his back and crushing him onto his stomach as Ryou screamed and the assailant barked. Barked? 'Oh, shit! How the fuck did Bakura get up here?!' The wolf ripped into the back of his neck, on animal instinct, trying to break it and paralize him. The vampire pushed up and rolled over a bit as a water-elemented attack, courtesy of Ryou, blasted the wolf off.

It skidded to a halt at the guardrail, whimpered and shakily stood, putting less pressure on his right forepaw. He crouched down and lunged again. Malik jumped successfully to the side, but Ryou was frozen in fear. The vampire circled around with his speed and grabbed Bakura, tackling him to the ground, the wolf's wounded leg buckling under him. The Egyptian's fangs extended and Malik ferally ripped into Bakura's neck, making the wolf buck and writhe under the attack. He slowly weakened but jerked his head to the side viciously as a last, ditch effort and on reflex Malik gagged, spilling the litres of blood that the vampire was refraining from swallowing.

Bakura fell to the side, panting hard as Malik collapsed on top of him. Ryou ran over to the fallen pair and gathered the blond up into his arms, shaking him gently and got a smile and a hug in response. The white-haired witch then stroked his unconcious lover's matted fur, once a glossy silver, now a dull grey. He turned to his friend "C'mon. I bet Bakura'd be surprised that you saved my life."

Malik shook his head weakly. "It'd be better if he'd not know of this. What do you think it'd do to his self-esteem?" He glanced at the panting wolf and his eyes glazed over, as if remembering. "He'd probably go commit suicide."

"Should we just put him back in the cellar?"

Malik licked under Bakura's fur, healing the bite marks he gave the werewitch. "Aa. We won't tell a thing, ne?"

"Hai, not a thing."

*********

Done! AAAUUUGGGHHH! I STARTED TYPING THIS THURSDAY! I have no sense of time management!

Noah: Got dat right.

*cries* Uuuuunnnn!

Yami: *pigging out on chocolate ice cream* Mfftt! How cahme ah cahn eaht chocolahte ish creahm when ah drink blood?

^_______~ That I'll tell later! R&R and no flamies!

Suimasen: Excuse me

Honto ne: Really

Gomen ne: Sorry

Un/Aa: Yes