Show Me the Way from Crazy
Fourteen
Apologize for the Truth

(a.n. Bwah hah hah? I'm sorry I fail so much at life. I mean . . . this took me almost a month to update. I blame it all on school – but if you want to blame it all on me – please, feel free. I'm going to have to start writing any chance I get now – yes *gasp* that means not being lazy for me. Haha. That's all right though. I just have so much schoolwork. But . . . I'll get used to it. Find time. Yeah – please bear with me.)
Disclaimer: If I owned YGO . . . it would be a hell of a lot more like this. So . . . maybe one day I will? Heh heh . . .
Note: This is completely AU. Nothing in the series has happened in this. Well . . . kinda. Everything up to Battle City has . . . I guess. But besides that – nothing! Heh heh – just to clear up confusion . . . Oh! And another thing, I will be switching the point of view every chapter (don't worry – only between two people) because well, it's better to get everyone's perspective, right? Heh heh – and this is shounen-ai . . . if you have a problem – why the hell are you reading it?

Review Replies:
Trei: Haha. I feel so IMPORTANT! Bwah hah hah. But yeah . . . no offense to anyone who writes – cause there are some wicked good stories still out there . . . but a lot of them . . . man, fanfiction.net is dying.
Tenma Koneko: Haha. It's all good. Don't feel like you always have to review. ^_^
Kyrene: *Looks around inconspicuously* Damn . . . you're good at this guessing thing.
purplechaos04: Heh heh . . . yeah . . . there really is this thing in writing called a dramatic something that's like "you have to believe what the writer says for the sake of the plot" Yeah . . . just – ah – pretend that applies here? Haha.
Rnji and Mysterious A: 2? I've stayed up later than that. Sleep? Bwah. Who needs sleep? . . . Sleep when you're dead. ^_~

"Never apologize for showing feelings. Remember that when you do, you apologize for the truth."

Malik's POV

            It's been a couple of weeks since I – urm – killed dinner. Heh. Just a couple of uneventful weeks. I don't know why I stayed here for so long. I usually get bored with things real easily and then move on real quickly. But it seems that Ryou's enough to elongate my attention span . . . no complaints here.

            Ryou's dad had come back eventually. Apparently he was staying at a friend's house. He came back, still pissed off, told Ryou he had another dig to do, threw all of this stuff together and left. Ryou was pretty distraught for a week or so . . . but I think he's better now.

            I have seen Bakura send these weird, questioning glances at me every now and then when he seemingly thinks I'm not looking. It doesn't seem like he's questioning me, but more like himself . . . being in a situation that involves me. Gods, I hope I'm wrong.

            Things with Ryou and myself have been going fairly well. Just a few kisses here and there; lots of cuddling. It makes me happy. Hell, I even smile to myself when I think of him. Maybe the infamous Malik Ishtar has finally found someone to stay with . . . the only problem is my goddamn yami.

            "Hey, Malik . . ." Ryou started as he ended my thought session in the middle of the dining room table.

            I question this kid sometimes. I'm here, sitting in the cross-legged in the middle of the freaking dining room table and he doesn't even comment about it. Then again, if I had lived with Bakura for as long as he has, I might find the abnormal things completely normal too.

            "Yes?" I inquired, propping my head on the palm of my hand.

            "Do you want to go out and do something? Like go to the movies or something?" He sighed, looking quite bored. And I always thought Ryou had an extremely long attention span.

            I casually followed his glance at the window and saw that it was pouring outside.

            "I have a better idea," I started, thinking that the movie theater would be crowded. "How about we rent some movies, make popcorn, and watch them here?"

            "But how are we going to get to the movie store?"

            I remembered from our last outing seeing it only a couple of minutes away . . . so it wouldn't be too bad.

            "A little rain never killed anyone," I said, smiling.

            Ryou looked thoughtful for a moment, his deep brown eyes still locked on the window.

            "Fine," he decided finally, "But I'm bringing an umbrella."

            I held up my hands in mock surrender. "I never said that you couldn't, love."           

            Ryou ran off to the hallway closet, white hair trailing behind him. I followed soon after, and saw him grabbing a raincoat and umbrella as I passed. Seeing my black sweatshirt on the stair banister, I took it and pulled it on.

            "Malik!" Ryou said, looking at me, "That's a sweatshirt."

            I blinked back at him. "Ryou!" I started, "That's a raincoat!"

            He narrowed his eyes and I grinned. I don't ever think I've felt happier in any place before Ryou's house. It's comforting . . . it lets me be myself; no expectations.

            "You're going to get a cold," Ryou mumbled, "cause the fabric will soak up the water."

            I shrugged, "Thank you for your concern, mom, but I don't get sick. And if I did happen to get sick, by some weird fluke, you'd take care of me, right?" I latched my arms around his neck and kissed him, all the while still grinning.

            His expression softened and he gave in. "Fine. You'll still look like an idiot though."

            I started going through the door, "And you'll look like a duck!" I yelled from outside the house.

            I stood, glaring at an aisle of movies. Yes, glaring. Ryou had been right. I was wet and cold. How was I supposed to know?! It never rained a hell of a lot in Egypt.

            "What are you in the mood for?" Ryou asked me.

            I shrugged, "I'm not a big movie person – you can pick whatever you want. I'm sure it'll be great."

            Ryou smiled, and looked through a couple of aisles of movies. Along the way of walking, I half-heartedly picked up a few seemingly interesting movie titles and skimmed their summaries.

            Over the top of one particular movie cover, I saw someone out of the corner of my eye. Not wanting to draw attention to myself, I shifted slightly to gain a better view. Shit. There was a young woman in the far back of the store, with long black hair and clear blue eyes. There she was. There was . . .

            "Hey Malik!" Ryou said happily from behind me. "I was looking for you – anything you want? I was just gonna get a couple . . ." He trailed off – as I was glaring a bit at him.

            I realized that he looked slightly hurt and really confused – so I hugged him. "Sorry bout that, Ry. And I'm all set. We can go get the movies you wanted."

            "Okay," He said finally, still a bit confused, but seemed to shake that off, and smiled instead.

            When we were walking out the door, I looked over at her once more. I don't think she saw me. If she did . . . oh crap, I'd have to leave again.

            We finally arrived back at Ryou's, and now I was even wetter. Grrr. Wet and cold. Horrible combination.

            "Cold?" Ryou asked softly, noticing my shivering.

            "A bit," I smiled meekly.

            "If you want you can go change and put your stuff in the dryer while I make some popcorn." Ahh – one of the many things I love about Ryou. He doesn't usually say "I told you so" about things. It's nice . . .  it's – comforting.

            "Yeah . . ." I mumbled, starting to go up the stairs as Ryou walked to the kitchen.

            In the room, I pulled on pajama pants – they're the comfiest things ever made – and a shirt. Glancing around, I saw one of Ryou's sweatshirts through the crack in the open closet door. Figuring he wouldn't mind, I took the light blue material off the clothes hanger and pulled it over my head. Not the color I would have picked . . . but it was comfortable. And it smelt like Ryou; I have to borrow this more often.

            On my way out the door I slipped on slippers and then padded down the stairs. Ryou was walking out of the kitchen with a bowl of popcorn.

            "I borrowed your sweatshirt – hope you don't mind," I smiled apologetically.

            He smiled back. "It's fine – it looks good on you."

            Going into the living room, Ryou put the popcorn on the table, dragged the table closer to the couch, and finally got the movies out.

            "So which one do you want to watch first?" He asked, holding up four tapes.

            I shrugged, "Probably wouldn't be able to tell one from the other. You can pick."

            "Okay . . ." He went to looking at the tapes. Eventually he picked one, put it into the VCR, and sat back down on the couch next to me.

            About halfway through the second movie, I had my arm around Ryou and his head was on my shoulder. I was so comfortable and relaxed. You know how people always talk about their "happy place"? I thought that I might have found it before . . . but this is definitely it. Nothing can ruin my mood.

            The rain was still pounding down, watering the earth. The pitter-patter had a relaxing tone to it, and put me into a blissful state even further.

            A loud ding-dong echoed through the spacious front hall and Ryou's head left the spot on my shoulder. Dammit. I was quite comfortable like that.

            Ryou smiled a bit, "It's probably Bakura. He went out and knowing him, he forgot to bring a house key and locked himself out in the rain." He paused the movie, set down the remote and ran over to the door.

            I just sat there and sighed, waiting for Ryou to come back so I could be comfortable again. I heard voices coming from the right of me – in the front hall. One of them was Ryou's, and the other one was a familiar female voice . . . although the rain outside was louder because of the open door and I couldn't place the voice.

            The rain noise became quieter again after I heard the door shut. Then I head Ryou's socked feet padding towards me. He came into the room, looking a bit confused.

            "Someone's here to see you," He said, obviously bewildered.

            Slightly scared as to who it might be, I slowly got up and plodded into the hall. Standing there, on the worn "welcome" mat, was someone who was close to being the last person I wanted to see.

            "Hello, Malik." She said emotionlessly, staring at me with those all-knowing clear blue eyes.

            Ryou was standing off to the side, curious, but probably wanting to seem polite.

            "Isis . . ." I said slowly, wondering why the hell my sister would follow me all the way here. I know how she found me – that damn tauk of hers lets her know everything. "Why are you here?" I finally formulated one of my many questions into words.

            "I could ask you the same thing."

            "I ah . . . I . . ." How do I say this? I took a deep breath and said, "I live here."

            She raised an eyebrow at me, but still didn't seem shocked. "Mom and Dad wish that you would come home."

            "I am home." I replied defiantly. No way in hell was I going back there.

            Her eyes darkened. "Malik . . . you're coming home."

            "No – no I'm not."

            She doesn't understand. She never did. She tried to – but I know that she couldn't. Too much pain . . . too much regret. I couldn't ask anyone to try and understand that. I'm so much better off here – Bakura's helping me with my yami issues and Ryou . . . well, Ryou's giving me a reason to stay alive. Isis can go back home and tell Mom and Dad that they can turn off the porch light . . . I'm not coming home.

"Our eyes are placed in front because it is more important to look ahead than to look back."      

(a.n. – Yep. So ends chapter 14. I appreciate everyone's support in me writing this story. It probably wouldn't have gotten past chapter 5 without you guys. And about the whole Ryou's dad thing – don't think I'm just getting that over and done with – that'll be put into more detail soon. So . . . yeah, thanks for reading this – I do hope you decide to review. Even if it is a one-liner. ^_^ I haven't gotten a flame yet! Amazing, really.)