Faerie Ring
By OtakuChild
DISCLAIMER:No own. Kapeesh?
Chapter four! Weeehoo! Okay, on Tuesday I'll be leaving for Hawaii for a bit, so no updates, but that's getting to be normal, right? Ya. Thought so. So, I'm trying to get the chapters up quick as I can! grins
Guardian Faerie Key:
Kuna = Bakura
Rayana = Ryou
Lavender = Malik
Tika = Tea
Maku = Marik(Yami Malik)
Yukachi = Yugi
Tagan = Tristan
Yoriko = Yami
Joki = Joey
Seth = Seto Kaiba
Isadel = Isis
Mokichi = Mokuba
Shadel = Shadi
Chapter Four: Realization

"LAVENDER!!"
Kuno had flown through every room of the house, searching for her, but he had yet to find her.
"LAVENDER!!" He had cloaked himself and his voice, so only the other fae could hear him, and the sleeping humans would not be disturbed.
He was worried. He had checked everywhere in the house, and could not find her. He let out a sigh, and fought back more tears.
Then he heard it.
A soft sobbing noise was coming from directly above his head. "The attic!" Kuno realized. He flew off to find his friend.

Malik couldn't sleep. He had drifted in and out of restless nightmares of the bath salt incident, waking up in a cold sweat every time. He looked over at Ryou, who was out peacefully. "Damn you, and your ability to sleep like the dead," he hissed. Then he smiled, and placed a soft kiss on Ryou's forehead. He got out of bed and walked down the hall to clear his head. On the way to the living room he tripped on something in the hallway and went flying. He jerked his head up, and cushioned the fall to his side, and landed with a thump.
"Ouch!" He screeched. He got up, wondering how something could have gotten into the middle of the hallway. He never left anything in the hall, and neither did Ryou. He looked to see what had tripped him...
...and found nothing there.

"HURRY!" Tagan hissed. He and Mokichi pushed the box out of the hall and into their hideout in the closet. The watched as Malik searched and felt all the carpet in the hallway and found nothing, lavender eyes growing wide with paranoia. The two fae pranksters collapsed in a fit of giggles, which Malik happened to hear.
The tanned Egyptian whirled around upon hearing the small noise, platinum strands whooshing around his face. He crept towards the source of the noise, and yanked open to the door of the closet. "Aha!" he hissed.
But he found nothing, once again, that could giggle. Instead, he found a black shoe box containing various shiny objects, including glitter, bits of glass, a meditiation crystal he swore was in the music cabinet before he went to bed, and a small baggie of...purple bath salt.
Malik screamed, and backed away from the closet. He crawled backwards until he collided with something warm. He shot up and back about three feet, shaking, and realized it was Ryou.
"R-ryou! D-d-d-don't d-d that!" he said.
"You screamed, love." Ryou's voice was sleepy, and tufts of silvery white hair stuck every-which-way. His pajama shirt was unbuttoned, and his pajama pants hung low on his hips. Malik suddenly felt modest, clad in only a pair of deep purple boxers. It wasn't a nice feeling, Malik couldn't even remember ever feeling shy or modest. He sat down cross-legged on the floor.
"Ryou...I'm losing my mind."
Ryou looked at him through sleepy brown eyes. "I thought you said you never had it to begin with."
Malik shook his head. "No no no," he said. "I mean, I think I'm going insane."
"But you said you already are."
"NO! I mean...I'm wicky in the wackywoo." He let out a sigh.
"But that's why I fell in love with you."
Malik got a deranged look on his face. "NO! Dammit Ryou, that's not what I mean!"
"Then what do you mean?" Ryou sat down, facing his boyfriend.
"Okay..." Malik took a deep breath. "I am going...mentally unstable-"
"But you already are-"
"I'M SEEING THINGS!"
Ryou quited a bit. "Sorry," he said in a tiny voice.
Malik's eyes went wide. "Oh Ra! I didn't mean to...I'm sorry Ryou..." He pulled Ryou close and placed a chaste kiss on his lips.
"Mmm..." Ryou said. "You're forgiven." He crawled into Malik's lap and snuggled into his chest.
"Okay," Malik said. "You know about the coffee footprints, and the paper towel thing...but now the crystal in my CD cabinet is gone, and I looked, and found it in a shoebox, so I put it back, and now it's gone again!"
"Maybe Marik or Bakura moved it?" Ryou asked.
"I thought that at first," Malik continued. "But then I started hearing stuff, like giggling, and fluttering, and squeals, but I go to look, and there's nothing there. And then I got up to go to the bathroom during that party, and I found a small hole in your bath salt..."
"MY bath salt?" Ryou screeched. Ryou was generally mild-mannered, but when it came to personal belongings, he demanor was not unlike a protective tiger watching over her cubs.
"Yes, your bath salt," Malik hissed. There was a hole, and so I looked, and again, nothing was there, so I go to wash my hands, and then all this purple bath salt comes raining down on me, and It scares the shit out of me, and I jerk around to see where it came from-"
"The purple bath salt!" Ryou screeched even louder, and his face was tinted flushed now.
"Yeah, the purple bath salt." Malik let out a sigh, and cradled Ryou. "Then I look up, and this container is FLOATING in the air, tilting back and forth, like it's hanging there, and then it just drops! On my head! I haven't cleaned the bathroom yet, it's all still there..." He rested his head in the crook of Ryou's neck.
"Hmm....let's go see!" Ryou chirped.

In the bathroom, several faeries were picking up grains of bath salt, and putting them back into the bag with quick and hurried energy.
"Hurry!" Rayana shrieked.
"I got the last piece!" Joki said proudly, and plopped it back into the bag.
"They're coming!" Yoriko announced. "Let's get out of here!"
As the bathroom door flew open, all the faeries flew out.

"The salt is all over the sink and..." Malik looked around, stopped, and went pale. "It's...gone..."
"Malik...I'm worried..." Ryou said.
"Ryou! I shit you not! I swear everything that happened is true! Look around! Look at the bag!"
Ryou inspected the bag. "There's a hole in the bag!" He exclaimed.
"Yes! Yes there is!" Ryou looked on the back of the toilet. "Look.."
"Huh?"
"Grains of purple salt." Malik looked at the grains, and backed out of the bathroom.

The cupboard was dark. Very dark. Only a sliver of light from the small crack between door and wall gave any illumination.
Seth stepped from the shadows, his angry expression sharpened by the way that small crack of light hit it.
"What were you thinking, both of you?" He said in a low, evil voice.
"We..." Mokichi trailed off.
"We just wanted to have a little fun," Tagan added, voice shaky.
"Fun?" Seth roared. "YOU CALL THAT FUN!! THAT WAS SICKENING!! THE HUMAN IS PARANOID NOW BECAUSE OF YOUR 'FUN!' WE MAY HAVE TO MOVE!" He walked closer. "Do you know how freaked out he is right now?"
"A little?" Mokichi asked.
"A LITTLE! A LITTLE? HE THINKS HE NEEDS PROZAC!!!" Seth bellowed. "You're going to be punished dearly for this. I'm sending you to Shadel, first thing in the morning."
"NOOO!" The both screamed. "NOT SHADEL!!"
"It'll do you lots of good. You'll go first thing in the morning...or it's King duty for you."
Mokichi fainted. "We'll go to Shadel! We promise!" Tagan said, before picking up Mokichi and flying out of the hole at the back of the cupboard.
Seth just stood and glared after them.

Kuna flew into the attic, and feverishly looked around, and heard soft sobs. He flew silently over to Lavender, and put his arms around Lavender. She stiffened, and started thrashing.
"Let me GO!" she shrieked.
"Not 'till you hear me out! Lavender I'm sorry!" He tightened his grip.
"LET ME GO!! I DON'T-"
"WHY WON'T YOU LET ME GET CLOSE?" Kuna yelled, pleading.
Lavender froze, and fell into the embrace.
Kuna hugged her gently. "Lavender...why are you always so tense, and anti-people? Why do you push everyone away?" Silent tears flowed down his cheeks. "Lavender, talk to me..."
"My family..." she said, then trailed off.
"Lavender, I don't want or care about your money! We have no economy here. We steal food from that Malik human! And I don't want to steal Yoriko's throne!"
"But...Kuna...I just can't trust anyone...I'm sorry. And where did you find that out?" She turned on Kuna.
"Maku..."
"That's none of his business!" She snapped.
"YES IT IS! He's your brother, and he's worried about you! Lavender...just hear me out, please?"
Lavender paused.
"If you hear me out I promise I will never bother you or talk to you again." Kuna felt a painful stab, but it was the only way to get her to open up.
Lavender leaned her head back to listen.
"Why don't you trust me?" Kuna asked. "I mean, we've known each other since we were little kids. And all this time, you've been so rigid. I just want to know why you hate me...I mean, all this time, and I know what you've been through, and I've never, ever tried to get money or power by association with you. Why, Lavender, that's all I ask."
Lavender looked up at Kuna. "I..."
Kuna didn't answer, he just looked at her.
She mumbled something unintelligible.
"What? I didn't hear..."
Lavender repeated the words, a bit louder.
"I'm scared."

Shadel was the quiet fae of the group. His living area was sparce, and only held the those items crucial to survival. A small matchbox bookshelf held several metaphysical and spiritual books, and several binders, full of notes and teachings, and spiritual training. A thimble next to the shelf sat as a wastebasket. In a corner was simple washcloth and cotton bedding, several small sheets of paper, and several small pens which he had made himself. He was quietly sitting on a small poofy white cushion, meditiating on some philosophy of life. He had dedicated most of his life to the study of spirituality of all sorts, the rest of his free time was spent with Isadel. He was a tanned faery, with long, black, wavy hair(1), which was usually kept in a turban. He wore white baggy pants, and a white vest, and had blue eyes. His wings were white. He wore a gold crescent moon necklace that Isadel had given him, and a gold anklet.
His quiet meditation ended when Seth stormed rather loudly into the room.
"Mokichi and Tagan have pulled their last prank!" He snapped.
Shadel opened one eye. "Are they having a retirement party?" He asked.
"NO!" Seth roared.
"You're aura is black, and angry. You need to calm yourself. Take a vacation..."
"I am not stressed!" Seth hissed. "I came to inform you that Mokichi and Tagan will be spending the day with you tomorrow, as punishment for their actions."
"Ah, yes, the Bath Salt prank," Shadel recalled fondly. "Sheer genius, I tell you. So, what do you want me to do with them?"
"Whatever it is you do to knock some character into them," Seth replied.
"You know," Shadel added, "A little roll in the hay with Yoriko could be just the tension reliver-"
"I DON'T LIKE YORIKO!" Seth screeched. "Just take care of those two damned pranksters and stay out of my personal life."
"Very well." Shadel closed the eye again, and Seth left the spiritual faerie's humble abode.

"We have to find some way out of this."
Tagan was pacing Malik's pillow. Horrid images of Shadel and his chanting were flashing through his mind.
"Tagan, I'd rather see Shadel than be Yoriko's servant all day." Images of Mokichi having to spoon-feed their leader made him shudder. "We should just resign ourselves to this. Besides," Mokichi stuck out his toungue, "It'll get Seth to shut up!"
They both grinned. "Maybe," Tagan said, "We can get this to work in our favor."
Oh, the suspense! What do Mokichi and Tagan have planned? Will Malik indeed need Prozac!
Malik: screams THE SHEER HORROR! I REFUSE!
whomps Malik I'M NOT DONE YET!!! ahem Will Lavender and Kuno make amends? And will Seth indeed bang Yoriko? All this and more will be answered in the next chapter!! YEEE!!!
WHEEE!! Anywho, WE STILL HAVE CONTEST STUFF TO TAKE CARE OF!!! See 'Sicky' for details on the ongoing contest, and we need Cluck Cluck, our winner of the Imzadi contest, to come forward! We need to know Cluck Cluck's fav character so I can write the poem!
(1) I realize that in the Manga, Shadi is bald. oO In a lot of fanart he is drawn with the long, black, wavy hair, and I like it like that. Poor Shadi. He needs hair.
Chapter Five will come along, hopefully it'll actually get done in a week or to. I do apologize for the delay. Ja ne!
-OtakuChild