Chapter Sixteen:

Infinite Questions & Limited Answers

In the past hour or so, enough ground had been covered to pave most of Japan and then some. Ryou had completely understood Bakura's reasons for snapping like he had, though the former didn't escape without a rap to the head.

But, more importantly, Bakura and Marik's confrontation had been relayed to Yami with a few omissions and the three of them were now contending with the same problem they had been ignoring since the Battle City catastrophe:

How to reanimate Ryou?

Bakura had completely dismissed Marik's inane riddles and maddening barbs, though Yami knew for certain there was some sort of a hint hidden somewhere. Ryou, being the smart one, just decided to back out until he saw the right time to pounce.

Though, it looked like that would take a while with Yami and Bakura squabbling like a couple of three-year-olds warring for the last cookie.

"He's insane!"

"So are you."

Bakura huffed. "I am most certainly not insane."

"Then stop dismissing what Marik told you and actually think about it for a second."

"I did and it doesn't make sense!"

My head's starting to hurt, Ryou groaned, rubbing his temples in slow circles. And why don't I have a say in this? I mean, it's my body that they're arguing over.

Yami growled, glaring hard at Bakura. "You're just pissed off that someone other then you can get into the Puzzle."

"That is a vile, contemptuous lie and you know it!"

"Denial proves guilt."

"So does lying."

I've heard more intelligent conversation come from Joey. Ryou sighed, resting his head in his hands. I'm going to be nothing but some nice fertilizer by time these two stop.

"I'm not lying! You are!"

Yami held his hands up. "Okay, okay, I'm sorry. You're right."

"Yes I- Wait, you just admitted that I was right?" Bakura looked like someone had kicked him.

"Yes I did." Yami shrugged. "You're not in denial. You're avoiding the truth."

"Oh! That's it!"

Ryou groaned and stepped forward to catch his dark side in mid jump, letting the ancient thief fall back to the ground with little ceremony. He had just about enough of the squabbling. "Yami no Yugi, Bakura, I don' t know what has gotten into you two, but I would appreciate it if you two can stow it."

"But-"

"Bakura, shut up. This is my body and my future you guys are playing around with and I don't want to have to wait until the Four Horsemen are knocking the door down with Armageddon at their heels." Ryou crossed his arms. "Now, if you two are done, can we focus?"

Yami shrugged.

Bakura just huffed and pouted.

"Good." Ryou sat down, preferably closer to Bakura in case he decided to try and take Yami's head off again. "We have to pick apart what Marik said piece by piece and try to figure out what he meant."

"He didn't mean-"

"Yami, I swear to God, if you say Marik is full of it one more time, I will sew your lips shut," Ryou sighed, glaring half-heartedly at his other half.

"Well, where do you suggest we start?" Yami asked, wanting to see if Ryou had any more of a handle on Marik's riddles then he or Bakura did.

Ryou shrugged, picking at his jeans. "The Items. Marik said they can tear walls down and put them back up." The teenager's chocolate eyed darted between Yami and Bakura. "From what I gather, he was speaking about them like it had to be a joint effort."

"How can that be? They're two entirely different entities," Bakura pointed out.

"But, when you sealed part of your soul into the Puzzle, it's safe to assume you linked them together," Ryou replied. "What do you think, Yami no Yugi?"

The former Pharaoh studied his hands. "That part of it makes sense. But, there was a common bond between myself and Bakura." His slanted amethyst eyes narrowed. "Unless I'm missing something, there's absolutely no connection between Bakura, Marik, and myself."

Bakura swallowed his guilt hard. He had an inkling of a clue as to what Marik had meant about 'the pathetic Priest and his thief'. And in all honesty, he didn't like where the train of thought led.

Ryou drew his knees to his chest to rest his chin on them, looking lost in thought. "You said you and yami held a common bond, correct?" he asked.

Yami nodded, a slender eyebrow raising.

"None of us, not even Malik, knows Marik's true origin. It could be possible that Marik and Bakura have... or rather had a common bond-"

((Don't you dare tell the Pharaoh, hikari,)) Bakura warned.

Ryou glared at the snow haired thief for the interruption. "-such as a partnership or siblings; something like that."

"Then how would Marik be able to traverse the three Items?" Yami asked skeptically.

"This is just a theory of mine, but because of this bond you and Bakura have, it allowed us to go between the Ring and Puzzle with no resistance."

Yami tilted his head slightly, curious. "You were met with no problems when you entered the Puzzle?"

"None. I think this is because the Puzzle sees the two of us as co-owners of the sort," Ryou replied. "True, I did set off that one trap, but that was because of clumsiness. I think if you were to enter the Ring, none of its traps would go off because it would think you're one of the resident Spirits."

Bakura looked at Ryou with a half-smirk. "Just what do you do with your free time, hikari?"

"Figure out the mysteries of my ever-so humble life," the Brit replied.

"Okay, so you explained the Ring's bond to the Puzzle. What about the Rod to the Puzzle?" Bakura pressed.

"What if the Ring was a gateway between the two Items?" a new voice pitched in.

Startled, Ryou jumped to his feet out of natural reaction to see Yugi looking at him with a slight smirk. "God, Yugi, don't scare me like that."

"Aibou, what are you doing here?" Yami asked, trying -and failing- to be tactful.

"It's well after eleven, Yami," the Pharaoh reincarnate replied easily, sitting down by the two Ring holders. "I heard dribs and drabs of your conversation, so I thought I'd add my own two cents." Yugi's brows knit together when he noticed Ryou, Yami, and Bakura wearing 'cat that ate the canary' looks. "What happened?"

"We, um, found Marik in the Puzzle a while ago," Ryou admitted. Off the three, the Ring holder didn't want to involve his fellow hikari any more then he was. Bang up job, he chided himself.

"...You what?!" Yugi hissed. "I thought you guys were just discussing different worst-case-scenario situations." The spike haired Puzzle holder glared at the ground. "I didn't think that this was a worst case scenario situation."

"No harm was done," Yami comforted. "He just gave us a splitting headache and a handful of riddles to solve."

Yugi shrugged, shaking off his earlier shock. "So, I heard most of Ryou's theories. They make sense for the most part."

"What are the gaps in logic?" Ryou asked.

Yugi hesitated. Between the two hikaris, the Japanese teenager had felt and witnessed Yami and Bakura's rekindling relationship. I can only hope Ryou's seen it too or there's going to be Hell to pay from Bakura... and Yami. "Well, I don't know if everyone can see it, but there's a definite bond between the yamis..."

Ryou started laughing, catching on to his friend's line of thinking. "Yes, Yugi, it's apparent that our other halves are acting like love-struck teenagers."

"Are not!" Yami and Bakura trilled in time, glaring at each other.

Ryou shook his head. "Continue, Yugi."

"Well, with this in mind, their... infatuation probably strengthens the bond between the Puzzle and the Ring, which is why they act more like one Item then two." Yugi paused to collect his thoughts and shake off the glares the two Egyptian Spirits were giving him for being so painfully tactless. "The problem is, how is it that Marik has the same access?"

Yami jumped in, having already formed a theory on that. "The Items can only have one holder at a time, but if they're linked, that limit is removed from what I've seen. The Ring now sees Marik as its primary owner, and Ryou and Bakura as the Spirits."

"What about the bond between the Ring now that the nutcase has it and Puzzle?" Bakura asked.

"That question's starting to grate on my nerves," Ryou pointed out.

"But, it applies to the whole problem," Yami replied. "In theory, the Ring is giving Marik the same access as Bakura."

Bakura shook his head. "There's only one door and it leads to the Ring," he corrected. "That and Marik directly admitted to linking the Rod to the Ring... Which is connected to the Puzzle! The Ring is a medium."

"Then the new question is: Did Marik encounter and resistance in the Ring?" Yugi sighed.

"Ryou or me would have felt if he had," Bakura countered. "He got through the Ring and into the Puzzle without a hindrance." The diamond tressed thief shuttered. "I could feel the aura from the Rod clinging to the walls in the hallway."

"Okay, so the Ring, Rod, and Puzzle are all linked together." Ryou pinched the bridge of his nose in a valiant attempt to ward off a headache. "Yami and Bakura obviously had a lover's bond when they were living-"

"Vile, contemptuous lie!" Bakura spat.

"You're over complicating it," Yami growled.

"-So the Puzzle and Ring share a similar bond." Ryou glanced at Bakura apologetically, knowing he was going to have to divest the full truth of what Marik had said to allow his situation to make a little more sense. "Unfortunately, I think Marik and Bakura shared the same bond in life, so it's reflected in their afterlife."

"Now that is insane," Yami chuckled. "Like you said, we don't know Marik's true past."

(Yami, if you don't tell Yami no Yugi, I will,) Ryou warned. (If we want this to make sense, secrets can't be kept,) he pointed out softly.

((I'm not keeping any secrets,)) Bakura snarled.

(You don't want to admit that you may have feelings for Marik as well, do you?)

Bakura jerked back as if Ryou had hit him again. ((...Feh, you're reading into it too deeply.))

Ryou sighed. (We both heard Marik. It is possible that he was a Priest.)

((Hah! Ry, for all we know, he's a Duel Monster reincarnate!)) Bakura rolled his eyes, trying not to let on how close to home Ryou was striking. But, he knew the attempt was for naught.

(Bakura, you love Yami now, right? Just between the two of us.)

((Off the record?)) Bakura sighed deeply. ((Yes. I love that gods damned Pharaoh in this life.))

(Then that's enough.)

"Excuse me, as much as I love the silence, we have some pressing matters to attend to," Yami piped up.

"Sorry," Ryou replied with a sheepish smile. (It's you or me saying it, Bakura.)

((Fine, fine! I'll tell him.)) Damn that kid. Bakura leveled Yami with a solemn stare. "It's possible that me and Marik have a bond stronger then mortal enemies," he grated out.

Yami nodded, tamping his shock down in the wake of the blatant proposal. "In that case, we could have a real mess on our hands."

* * * * *

It was close to the midnight hour, but this simple little fact didn't seem to bother the quartet currently at odds in the middle of the Kaiba mansion. The simple fact, once stripped of the extraneous opinions, was that no one had a single clue about what was going on and weren't a touch happy about it.

"Koinu, it was Malik! What do you want me to say?!" Seto finally growled, ending a five-minute verbal tennis match between himself and Joey.

"Something other then calm down!" the American spat back. "Help me, yell at me, dismiss me... Something other then smile and freaking nod!"

"Ten says Seto creams Joey," Mokuba intoned solemnly.

"Twenty says Joey charms Seto into helping him," Duke shot back. The dice master had been called over to discuss Yugi's very out of character behavior at the arcade, but eventually found himself refereeing the match between his friend and business partner.

Seto sighed, running his hands through his messy hair. "You're afraid of a Battle City repeat, aren't you?"

"YES! That's what I've been trying to say for the past two hours!" Joey cried. "Seto, that damned psycho has the Rod back and-"

"What?" Seto interjected.

"Yeeeaaahhh," Joey replied slowly. "Obviously you weren't listening when I told you he was threatening me with the Millennium Rod!"

Mokuba looked between the pair. "That's bad, isn't it?"

"Not now," Seto sighed. "Did he threaten you outright?"

"How does 'What if I want you to help me overcome the Pharaoh again' sound to you? Threatening enough?" Joey threw his hands up in the air. "Oh, let's add one of three sharp ends against my face for some flair. Is that better?"

Seto was about to tell his koi to calm down, but knew that result in a further bitchfit from the blond. Instead, the CEO took a deep, cleansing breath. "Did he threaten any of the small roles you hang around with?"

Joey's face when deadpan. "Pharaoh, Yugi, Puzzle, Pharaoh reincarnate... I ringin' a bell yet?"

Seto rolled his eyes. "We've been through his before. I will more readily believe in the tooth fairy before that hocus pocus."

"But you could read Ra's text," Mokuba pointed out. "And that's in ancient Egyptian."

Duke looked at Seto with a raised eyebrow. "You can read hieroglyphics? I'm impressed."

Seto growled. "It was a fluke," he grated out. So is that tablet and damned dream. "Yugi is not a reincarnated Pharaoh and the Puzzle is most certainly not haunted by said Morning Star."

Joey narrowed his eyes, leaned forward 'til he was nose-to-nose with his taller lover. "Then why did you just call Yami 'Morning Star'?" he whispered.

For once, Seto was at a loss for words.

"See! And you saw the final duel between Malik and Yami!"

"But wait, there were four people in that duel," Duke pointed out. "There was Yami and Yugi, then Malik and the spike-haired freak that looked suspiciously like him."

"That duel was a mess from the jump-street," Seto replied. "Personally, I believe it was smoke and mirrors to make things look better."

Mokuba leveled his older brother with a flat stare. "The only person you're fooling here is yourself," he pointed out casually. "Duke knows there's two Yugis, Joey definitely knows, Tea knows, Tristan knows, Ryou kno... knew. Hell, Ryou had another side."

"Speaking of which," Duke broke in. "Joey, do you remember anything that happened at the arcade today?"

"Bits and pieces," the blond teenager replied with a dark scowl. "I do remember Yami and Yugi fighting at one of the games."

Duke worried his bangs incessantly. "I only remember hearing Yami call Yugi 'Bakura'."

"They kissed," Joey threw in.

"There was a definite fight, but between the two of them."

"Wait, would you like to explain this to me or are you going to keep me in the dark?" Seto demanded crossly.

"Yeah, well, remember when you met us on the street and Tristan and Duke were unconscious? Good. We were at the arcade like I said we would be. But, none of us can remember what happened, just bits of events," Joey explained, going with the 'Reader's Digest' version of the story to save time.

"I'm not saying I believe in any of this crap, but, Yami's dead, right?"

Joey nodded.

"Then how in the Hell were he and Yugi fighting, in clear view of everyone no less?"

"Well, accordin' to Yug', Yami can create a solid form for himself. Can't explain why, but he just can," Joey replied.

"What was that part about Bakura?" Mokuba asked.

"I think Yami was throttling Yugi and then Yugi kissed Yami and we caught them. They put on the 'hand caught in the cookie jar' routine and Yami called Yugi 'Bakura'. It threw us all for a loop because we thought it was some sick joke," Duke explained, moving to another bit of hair and winding it around his finger.

"Wait!" Joey stared hard at his sneakers, collecting his thoughts. "There was another fight. Something about magic and tomb robbers."

"Sounds like a twisted fairy tale," Mokuba snickered.

"Oh crap!" Duke suddenly exclaimed. "Malik showed up before Yami and Yugi were about to be pounded into the ground! He called Yugi 'tomb robber'!"

Seto leaned forwards to rest his elbows on his knees. "You guys are kidding me?"

"He had Ryou's Ring too!" Joey added. His brows suddenly furrowed at a stray thought. "Before things trail off into outer space, I remember someone being called 'Marik' and Bakura's name again. ...It was Yami's voice."

"Hmm... Marik... Malik..." Duke looked over at Joey. "Maybe Malik does have another personality?"

"Yami said he destroyed it."

"Then Malik said something about disappearing into thin air."

"It wasn't Malik. The Malik I faced at the museum was... impish, but not malicious. This Malik was definitely nasty."

Putting the extremely random bits of information together, Seto started to get the larger picture. "Marik is Malik's other side?"

"It's a possibility," Joey agreed. "What about the whole thing about Yugi being called Bakura?"

Duke shrugged helplessly. "Shock? Grieving? ...Wait, I remember Yugi was real nervous when you pretty much attacked him with a schoolbook. He said Yami was upset about Ryou's passing, but talking about it like it was him that died."

Mokuba's ashen eyes darted between the three older teenagers, his mind working a thousand miles a minute. Being younger and more open to all of the possibilities, there was one that stood out in the young Kaiba's mind. "Maybe Ryou isn't dead?"

Seto groaned. "Mokuba, don't start with the hocus pocus again. It's not real."

"I think it is. You can fool yourself all you want, but I think it's real," the raven-haired youth replied vehemently. "With the Millennium Items and god cards hanging around, anything is possible!"

"He has a point, Seto," Joey agreed.

Seto glared pointedly at Duke. "Anything you want to add?"

The sable haired teenager held his hands up. "I've already discussed what I came here to discuss. I'm no professor in the supernatural, so I'm here to stop any bloodshed." As usual. Being the only one to know about Seto and Joey's relationship, the latter had employed his friend as a five-cent psychiatrist and mediator.

"C'mon, Seto. I know that you believe some of the 'hocus pocus' rumors flying around!" Mokuba insisted, working his little brother charm. He smiled cutely and shrugged. "It's hard to accept? So what?" His smile turned into a wicked little smirk that Seto was so fond of. "Are you afraid of what the Millennium Items can do?"

Seto recoiled at the "afraid" part, sneering. "I am not afraid of a collection of golden junk!"

"Then why are you running away from it?" Joey jumped in.

"I'm not," Seto persisted with a huff.

"Actually, it's natural for someone to deny what they don't know," Duke pointed out. "It's not necessarily fear that drives them to push the situation away, but an instilled mistrust of an alien situation."

Joey looked sidelong at the emerald-eyed teen, a golden eyebrow raising. "I guess the only way to get rid of that mistrust is to investigate the problem and become more friendly with it."

Mokuba nodded, smiling in his typically charming way. "I mean, Joey was an alien concept to you. A little investigating and now you two can't keep your hands off each other!"

"Mokuba!" Joey and Seto trilled.

The younger Kaiba grinned over at Duke. "It's so cool when they do that!" he snickered. "But seriously, maybe you should talk to Ishizu. She could shed some light on the situation for you."

Seto sighed, obviously defeated. "Fine. I'll go see Ishizu in the morning, but I'm not saying that I believe in any of this crap."

Duke chuckled as he got to his feet, heading for the door. "Keep telling yourself that, Kaiba." As he opened the door he added, "You'll feel like a real ass when the world proves you wrong, trust me!" A soft click announced the dice master's departure.

Joey looked at Seto, snickering at the crestfallen look on his koi's face. "Don't worry, I'm sure you'll find your answers long before you face public humiliation."

Seto rolled his eyes. "As always, you're a continual source of inspiration."

Joey grinned brightly and leaned over to lay a light kiss on the older teenager's lips. "Glad to hear it."

Seto couldn't repress a sigh as Joey and Mokuba tackled the PS2 that sat in the corner. The CEO, ever proud and mule-headed, would never admit that, while magic itself didn't bother him, the thought of ancient magic connected to him and his loved ones did scare him to no end.

Which was why he was putting off seeing Ishizu. She held all the unwanted answers to his unasked questions, able to tell him what his past life truly consisted of and if someone he loved would die. And Seto didn't want that.

So the longer he avoided Ishizu, the longer he avoided possibly losing the only two people in the world he cherished.

Did you know trying to work all this out logically is a real migraine? -____-U Hopefully, I made this make more sense then I think it does. If not, it'll all make some sort of sense later! Oh, I just finished the new Harry Potter book. One word:

EEEEEEVVVVVVVIIIIIILLLLLLL!!!!!!!

Heh… Just had to get that out. ^)^U I think I'll shut up and start thanking people now before I starting scaring you all off.

Akuro: What kind of a writer would I be if I revealed all my secrets early? ^)~ I'll tell you that you're half right in your assumption. But, yeah, Marik was fun to write last chapter! [giggles] And now that he's made his mind up, things are gonna get nasty whenever he's involved! ^________^

Sam the Bunny: Aw! Domo arigatou! ^)^ I'm glad you enjoyed the fic so far!

Jantra: SQUEE! [snuggles with Bakura plushie and stashes Pixie Stix for later] Sugar and 'Kura! ^___^ Arigatou! [grins like an idiot] Tension's good! Tension makes people do crazy things and stress over which guy to date!

Evaru: [snickers] Twisted little relationship going on, ain't it? XD It's, like, mental anguish and torture in the extreme! [pats Ryou's head] Of course, I'm sparing the creampuff for the time. What he doesn't have to fret over in relationships will mean all the more danger his life's in later on!

Shadowgirl: Domo arigatou, shoujo! The hikari/yami relationships are fun to play around with and I didn't mean to concentrate so much on the imagery. 'Tis nice to know I did a good job with it anyway! [gives Shadowgirl cookies]

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Chapter Seventeen Trailer:

Marik smirked, rising gracefully to his feet. "You're not immortal, Kasirika."

"H-How did you-"

Marik ran a finger down Bakura's wounded face, smearing the strange pseudo-blood down the thief's clean cheek. "Even in your own soul room, even in your afterlife, you can be hurt," he sneered. His dusty lilac eyes turned over towards the door linking the Ring to the Puzzle. He had less then a second to duck the irate Pharaoh flying at him.

Unfortunately, before Yami could land a blow, he was thrown to the floor and kept there under the influence of the Millennium Rod. His voice stuck in his throat, teeth grit in anger.

"My Morning Star, looking better then ever."

"Keep him out of this," Bakura snarled under his breath.

"I pray you've been tending to my little thief well these past few years," Marik continued, wiping Bakura's blood off his hand.

Yami glared hard at the Spirit before him, searching the endless depths of his maddened eyes. "I do not know what your motives are for 'helping' us, but-"

"Pharaoh, Pharaoh, Pharaoh, you always trusted me before." Marik shook his head, clicking his tongue against his teeth. "I implore you to find it in your dead heart to trust an old comrade. If not, I may have you teach you and your brat the same lesson I taught those two."

"Don't you dare," Bakura growled.

"All threats and no talk." With a wave of his hand, Marik sent Yami, Bakura, and Ryou flying toward the door, ending them up in an irate heap. A bundle of scrolls appeared in his hand and he tossed them into the tangle of limbs. "History does repeat itself, Kasirika. But, at the same time, it can be re-written to suit our whims. 'Tis the real potential of the Thousand Year Items, isn't it, Morning Star?"

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~