Chapter Five:
Family Affair
By time the Ishtar siblings had stumbled into Ishizu's apartment, they were cold, wet, and in Malik's case, coated in blood. Acting completely ignorant of those facts, they crumbled onto the sofa bonelessly.
"Is that you, Ishizu?" a baritone voice called out.
"Yeah. I'm in the living room," she replied. Her cerulean eyes roamed over to meet Malik's lilac ones. "I'd tell you to hide, but you don't look like you could," She sneezed, "lift a finger."
"And you look like undead shit," Malik replied half-heartedly, trying to ward of an impending shiver. And just to prove his sister wrong, he lifted his hand before letting gravity drag it back to the cushions. "So there."
Ishizu chuckled and looked back over the couch when she heard Rishid approaching. "Hey. I found a puppy in the rain and thought we could keep him."
"I'm not a dog!" Malik growled, wishing he had the energy to whack his sister.
"...Malik?! What are you doing here?" Rishid quickly rounded the couch. His amber eyes instantly fixed on his step-brother's wounds. "What happened?"
"You know about the psycho. Take a guess," Malik replied hazily. "And to answer your other question, I decided to stick around and see what this town had to offer other than the Pharaoh."
Rishid narrowed his eyes, knowing that there was something else his little brother wasn't telling him. But, he had learned from his time in the service of the Rare Hunters that Malik's reasons were something that was never to be questioned.
"I'm going to dry off," Ishizu stated after a minute, coughing. "Then I'm hiding under the blankets until tomorrow."
Malik snickered. "You do that. I'm going to sit here and bleed to death."
Ishizu looked at the blond in exasperation as she got up. "Stop being so histrionic, little brother."
"I am not overreacting! I felt the blade dig into my shoulder bone! You wanna take a feel and prove me wrong?" Malik shot back.
Rishid quietly pushed Ishizu in the general direction of her room before sitting next to Malik, assessing his injury critically. He looked up finally, a small flame of hate dancing in his gaze. "What did he do this for?"
Malik looked away, trying his best not to snap at the older Egyptian. "My reasons are my own. Let's leave it at that."
Rishid sighed and tried to answer another question, knowing he would get nowhere trying to ask the youngest of the Ishtars about his wounds. "Why are you still here? Is it because of the holder of the Ring?"
Malik kept his mouth shut, being able to pen his emotions up after he talked most of them over with Ishizu on their walk home. But as he thought about it, he knew even doing that was an imbecile move. I can't tell Rishid. I already have Ishizu hanging over me. I can't take having him hovering too.
"You're going to have to tell someone the truth sometime, Malik. You can't keep your feelings bottled up like you are now."
"Who says I'm bottling my emotions up?" Malik finally snapped. "I don't care that I killed the kid. I really don't. He held a Millennium Item and I needed it." His lilac eyes searched the carpet angrily, trying to making himself believe his own harsh words. "Ryou Bakura was only a casualty of war. Yugi Motou will be, that desert enigma, Shadii will be, even my own sister will be if she reclaims the Tauk."
Rishid nodded, knowing he was walking a razor sharp edge. "You and your dark side have made that point painfully clear to everyone." He sat back and crossed his arms. "But, have you made that point to yourself as well?"
Malik was floored, scrambling to spit out a response. To his credit, he managed to growl out, "Why should I convince myself of my own actions?"
Rishid shrugged. "Murder is a heavy weight on a person's heart, no matter how callous they say they are. I do not believe that young Bakura was slain by your hand, but it still haunts you." The eldest Ishtar leaned forward. "Especially because that child meant something to you."
Malik gasped, his wide lilac eyes searching Rishid's demandingly. "You're speaking of lunacy, brother. Why would I murder someone I cared for, acting as if Ryou meant anything to me to begin with?"
"I just know you, Malik. You can deny it until you die, but it shows in your eyes."
"I don't have to deny anything because there's no emotions attached to Ryou," Malik sneered shakily. Dear Ra... Am I that transparent?
Rishid raised an eyebrow. "If that's what you want to believe, little brother, I won't make you admit it." The older Egyptian leveled his sibling with a meaningful stare.
"Stop looking at me like that!" Malik's hand suddenly darted up to catch a roll of bandages and tape. "Thank you, Ishizu."
"Welcome," the tired Egyptian muttered before shuffling to her bedroom.
Malik sighed and spotted a throw lying over the back of the couch. He grabbed it and slid out of his midriff, tying the thin blanket around him so it covered a satisfactory amount of his back. "Rishid, if you don't stop staring at me, I will cut your eyes out of your head."
Rishid's amber eyes continued to leer at the blond teenager. "Why would you do that?"
"Because you're fucking annoying me, that's why." Malik pulled the Millennium Rod out of his belt loop and used its dagger to cut the bandages. The Egyptian tried to ignore the maddening glare hell-bent on drilling a hole in his head and failed miserably. "What do you want from me?!" he finally snapped.
"Just admit it."
"Admit what?"
"You have feelings for the Ring holder," Rishid replied placidly, though a smirk was forming on his lips.
Malik growled, tapping the Rod's dagger against his leg. "It doesn't matter," he replied shortly, his lilac eyes looking anywhere but his older brother. "Even if I did, it wouldn't matter. He's dead."
Rishid sighed and got to his feet. Stubborn to the last word. The former Rare Hunter murmured, "You continue being delusional. I'm going to go see if Ishizu's still alive," in a curt, yet smug tone before heading towards the other end of the house.
Malik glared at the older Ishtar's retreating back, spitting out a violent curse in Egyptian before going back to cleaning his wounds, trying to turn his thoughts from the white haired duelist he had inadvertently destroyed.
* * * *
Mokuba grinned over at Joey as he beat the blond in yet another Nintendo game. "You give up yet, Chihuahua?" the smug youth taunted.
"Never! Not until I beat you!" Joey replied, selecting his character. "An' I know I'm gonna win this time!"
"I'm sure of that."
Five minutes later, Joey's anguished cry of defeat rang through the Kaiba mansion, followed by, "YOU LIL' CHEAT!" and thundering footsteps.
"AAIIEE!" Mokuba yelped, sliding down the railing and tearing through the living room, jumping over the couch and an imposing chair.
Joey was fast on the twelve-year-old's heels, his hands outstretched in a gesture spelling doom if the young Kaiba was caught. "Stop running!"
"Do you really think I'm that stupid?" Mokuba replied, dashing through Seto's office and an adjacent hallway before crashing through the atrium.
Joey let out a battle cry as he threw himself forward, unaware of the door that opened. "Now you get it!" the Brooklyn native stated as he tackled his target to the ground. But, instead of dragging down little Mokuba, he found himself on top of a soaking wet Seto Kaiba.
"I didn't know you missed me that much," the CEO joked lightly.
"Heh... Hey Seto. I wasn't trying to kill Mokuba," Joey replied, leaning down to kiss Seto lightly. "We were just playing a nice game of Cat and Mouse."
The brunet laughed and sat up, causing his chocolate-eyed lover to fall onto his lap. "Then why were you making death threats?"
Joey grinned charmingly and wrapped his arms around Seto. "Have a nice day at work?"
Mokuba, who was now sitting on the stairs, snickered. "The dog's dead meat!" he crowed.
Seto looked back at his brother with a raised eyebrow. "And what have you been doing to my poor koibito?" he asked.
Mokuba's eyes widened. Since when does that puppy get favoritism over me? "I-I wasn't doing anything, nii-sama! I-He..."
Joey's jaw dropped open and he punched Seto's arm lightly. "That's mean!"
Seto sighed and held an arm out, smiling when Mokuba dashed into his embrace. "So, I remember being told about pizza and movies?"
Joey nodded. "I ate all the pizza, so we're left with movies," he joked.
Mokuba grinned and got up, tugging the two lovers before him to their feet. "C'mon! I wanna watch the movies we got!"
"Let me get settled, Mokuba," Seto replied, going over to a nearby closet to hang up his trench coat and put away his briefcase.
"Ugh, fine." The smaller youth ran out into the living room to get everything set up.
Joey smiled and walked over to Seto, wrapping his arms around the taller teenager. Without Mokuba around, his cheerful facade crumbled like a dead leaf over a flame.
"Are you okay, Joey?" Seto asked.
"We went to Ryou's funeral today," Joey explained dismally. "I-" Finding no words to express his thoughts, the American buried his head in his koi's shirt.
Seto sighed and picked Joey up, bringing him upstairs to their room. He set the blond on the bed and closed the door. "You want to talk about it?"
Joey rubbed the heel of his hand against his eyes. "This whole thing is over those damn Millennium Items!" The seventeen-year-old shook his head. "Yugi havin' the Puzzle and Ryou havin' the Ring was okay. Neither of them tried to hurt us!"
Seto grabbed a pair of sweat pants and a tee shirt from his closet. "Bakura didn't exactly display friendly tendencies."
"But still, he never actively tried to kill us, Seto. But Malik..." Joey growled and threw himself back on the bed. "He controlled Ta an' nearly killed her. He controlled me an' nearly made me kill Yugi an' then me! Then, he went after Ryou because of his Ring. Just like that, he murdered him!"
Seto swiftly changed into his bedclothes, tossing the wet ones into a hamper. "Power plays are like that, koi. Unfortunately, people die in the cross-fire."
"But why Ryou? I mean, he never did anything wrong!" Joey protested. "None of us did! Seto, I'm scared. What if Malik comes back and tries to kill the rest of us off?"
Seto lay down by Joey, wrapping a strong arm around the other teenager. "I wouldn't let him touch you as long as I'm breathing."
"But you couldn't be there last time!"
"I was, just not when I needed to be."
"An' that's what I mean! To Malik, me, Tristan, and Tea are just pawns in his game with Yugi. What's to say that next time he won't just kill me?" Joey looked over at his lover with haunted eyes.
Seto didn't have an answer.
"I miss Ryou horribly; he was such a nice guy! But, his death scares me because Malik's proven he'll do anything to get what he wants." Joey latched onto the young CEO. "He'll try to kill you because you have Obelisk."
Seto kissed the blond's head softy. "I promise I won't let that happen, puppy." He caught Joey's eyes again. "You and Mokuba mean everything to me and I will do everything in my power to protect you both."
Joey smiled sadly as he kissed Seto's nose. "I know." He nuzzled against his lover, sniffling. I don't think that'll be enough, Seto, he thought dimly. Yami's duty is to protect Yugi, we're just a side job. Bakura, despite his shortcomings, did protect us, and he died with Ryou.
"Are you going to be okay?" Seto asked.
"I will be," Joey replied. I love you Seto, but I don't think you can protect us like you want to. The American let go of Seto and got up, his eyes trained on the floor. I keep getting this feeling that you're gonna be the next one to leave us.
* * * *
Bakura's eyes narrowed as his hand darted forward to capture the Millennium Eye, only to have Yami pull it away. "It's mine, Pharaoh. Give it to me."
"Not until I find out how you got this," Yami replied angrily.
"As per the rules. I dueled Pegasus and won so he had to give me his Item." The white-haired thief crossed his arms.
Yami growled, a scowl shadowing his features. "You're lying."
"How would you know? Were you there?"
"No, I wasn't. But, I know that Pegasus left his dueling deck at the arena before he disappeared. There is no way that he could duel you," Yami replied.
Bakura smirked. He should have looked more closely at Pegasus' side of the arena. "We dueled according to the ancient ways, before Duel Monsters ever existed."
Yami's eyes narrowed to angry slits. "You took advantage of Pegasus weakness from his fight with me and engaged him in a Shadow duel. How honorable of you."
"Thieves aren't honorable, Pharaoh," Bakura replied evenly. "I still won the Eye fairly and it now belongs to me." He smirked. "Unless you want to try and duel me for it."
Ryou took that second to cut in, grabbing the Eye out of Yami's unwary grip. "No. No duels, no fighting, no Shadow magic, none of that." His chocolate eyes smoldered. "I am sick of all the hocus pocus and threats!"
"It won't take long, hikari," Bakura replied, pulling a deck out of his pocket.
"I thought you said you didn't have it," Yami pointed out, glaring at the cards.
"I have more then one deck, Pharaoh. Now cork it and duel me."
Ryou growled and seized Bakura's deck before hitting him soundly. "Stop it! Challenges like this are what landed me in a bloody grave at age sixteen!" The Brit stuffed the cards and the Eye into his pocket. "And yes, I blame this whole thing solely on you, yami."
Bakura scowled. "How in the hell can you pin this on me?! Mar-Malik had a fucking god card! What did you want me to do? Run away?"
"If you had, we would both be alive right now," Ryou shot back. "My whole life ahead of me with a thousand different ways to die and a cursed deck of cards had to be my end!"
"That's fate's fault, not mine," Bakura replied.
Ryou ran fingers through his hair, tugging on it. "This wouldn't even have happened if my father had never given me that damned Ring! I wouldn't have been at Duelist Kingdom to ruin Pegasus' life and nearly kill my friends. I wouldn't have been at Battle City and gotten myself killed! One stupid little trinket completely ruined my life!"
Yami winced. "Ryou, everything you mentioned was Bakura's fault."
"Bakura is me. Everything he do all relates back to me and my inability to stop that... deranged spirit." Based on the pause, it was clear that the Brit was tempted to spit out a much more potent insult.
"Hikari..."
Ryou sighed, his glare still trained on Bakura. "Don't start with me, yami. Since I was given the Ring, I've nearly killed or have been killed." The sixteen-year-old turned and started back toward the hallway of carvings.
Bakura started to follow, but was stopped when Yami's hand fell on his shoulder lightly. "What do you want?"
"Leave Ryou go." The former Pharaoh let the ghost of a smile haunt his lips. "This is a lot for him to deal within such a short amount of time. Just let him reorganize his thoughts."
"Pharaoh no baka," Bakura growled, going over to sit at the top of a dead-end staircase. He was quiet for a minute before he looked down at Yami, who had taken up a post at the bottom of the stairs. "Why does he think he's responsible for my actions?"
The spike haired Spirit shrugged. "It's hard to say, tomb robber." His amethyst eyes met Bakura's. "He looks up to you like you're an older brother, that much is apparent. Like it or not, you're a roll model for your hikari."
"You're kidding me."
"I'm dead serious. Ryou cares about you a great deal. Part of him sees your flaws and hates them while the other is blind to them. He doesn't want to see that you will kill or steal on a whim so he blames himself for not being able to stop you."
Bakura rolled his eyes, though what Yami was saying was unfortunately making sense. "So, you're telling me that Ryou's taking the blame to feed his own delusions?"
The former Pharaoh sighed. "If you want to put it that way, yes. It's deeper then that, but I can tell that you won't listen to me."
Bakura smirked. "Of course I won't. You're just an idiot Pharaoh with a palm tree for a hair do."
"And you're just a thieving snake with an albino bat perched atop his head," Yami shot back smoothly.
"And you're a closet necrophiliac!" Bakura grinned smugly. "So there." The thief proceeded down the stairs, ruffling the other Spirit's hair enough to completely mess it up.
Yami sighed dramatically, wiping a lock of ebony and red tipped hair out of his face. Having his beloved Bakura back was so very nice and so very trying on his patience. But, that was the reason the Pharaoh fell in love with the thief in the first place and wouldn't have it any other way.
Evaru: Well, judging by the way you're beating Marik's head in, I'd say you like him quite a bit. [smirks] And, by the way, I'm not slow. I can't sit at my computer all day and type. I do have a life. [sticks tongue out] No comments on that, please.
Monoshiri: I blame the naming of the Blue-Eyes solely on my baby brother for watching Harry Potter while I was trying to write. ^)^ 'Tis what I get for asking a six-year-old to help me name a Duel Monster.
FluffCat: …Heh. I'm not going to anything excruciatingly horrible to Marik. I guess he's unloved 'cause he's after world domination. [shrug] He makes a super cute chibi though!
Sailor Comet: Eep. Sorry amiga. There's a lot of different takes on the hikari and yami relationships, so I like to pick one and spotlight it. As far as Ryou calling his yami "Bakura", I suppose it would be awkward at first, but I do have a (yet to be explained) reason for this.
Reen: Ooohhh yeaaah… So, guess my quiet time's at two in the morning when I can write in peace. ^)^U But, I'm glad I could make your day a little better.
Animegirl: [snickers] Lemon is the root of all that is goodness, isn't it? [looks around] I hope my parents didn't hear that. ^)^U Aaaanyway… As strange as it may seem, a lemon would actually help the plot a lot. (That rhymed!)
Jene: LMAO! Chica, you, me, and a mob of Malik fangirls would love to castrate Marik. XD
Akuro: Hee hee! Thanks! ^)^ And yeah, I know 'Kura's a bit OOC. But, it's more fun to take a little artistic license here and there!
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Chapter Six trailer:
Yugi sighed. \\I hope you know what you're doing, Ryou.\\
The snow haired Brit smirked as he made a flawless switch with the Puzzle holder, a handy trick he had learned from Bakura over the years. He instantly noticed Yami and Malik in a staring match. "That is extremely immature," he pointed out.
Malik looked over at "Yugi" and his lilac eyes narrowed. The boy looked taller, his eyes a little more slanted and dark then usual. His hair also seemed to want to clump up in a suspiciously familiar fashion as well. Something's definitely wrong.
"Malik, I challenged you to a duel," Ryou suddenly growled. "If I win, you give me my Ring back. If I lose, I'll give you my Puzzle."
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