Disclaimer: see chapter one

Bakura glanced over at Ryou, who was staring at the tableau in horror. One hand smoothed the sheets he'd pulled over Malik absentmindedly, as he considered the situation. Obviously, he couldn't allow things to remain as they were, but there wasn't that much he could do without Marik's permission. The vampire laws were very strict about that. Malik belonged to Marik; therefore Bakura couldn't get anyone to help him without talking to Marik first.

"I'm going to have a talk with Marik," he told Ryou calmly. "If Malik wakes up while I'm gone get him something to eat and tell him I'm out. It should get through to him."

"How- why- what happened!" Ryou demanded.

"Marik... broke him." Bakura closed his eyes. "I'll see if I can get someone in here to take care of it, all right?" He didn't wait for an answer. He already knew that Ryou wasn't going to give him one – or not one that he could accept anyway. Poor Malik. Whatever it was that Marik had done to him, he couldn't possibly deserve it. His mind was in a complete shambles, and Bakura didn't understand most of what he'd picked up, except that Malik thought he'd done something wrong and needed Marik to punish him for it.

"Marik." he called, stepping inside the other's house and running a quick hand through his hair. He really should have stopped to comb it out. Marik probably had guests over to celebrate Yami's victory. Oh well. It couldn't be helped, and he really did need to speak to Marik about Malik soon, before the boy's condition worsened.

"Bakura?" Marik came into the room with a surprised expression on his face. "I didn't expect to see you so soon. What's the deal with Malik?"

"He's flipped." Bakura responded simply. "You can get a mind-healer to look at him, but other than that there's really nothing I can do."

Marik snarled. "Great. Just great. Mind-healers are far too expensive for me to hire one to look at him. He's not worth that much." He glanced at Bakura, "Take him if you want him; otherwise just get rid of him. I can find myself a new pet." a sudden smirk. "Besides, breaking them is the best bit."

Bakura shrugged, masking his feelings with his typical uncaring expression. "Sure, why not. He's already trained at least. Thanks Marik." He vanished quickly, hoping that Marik hadn't sensed his disgust that anyone would abandon someone like that. Bakura knew that if it had been him that was hurt he would have been frantic with worry, but Marik just didn't care about humans.

It didn't take more than a minute to find a mind-healer for Malik. There weren't very many of them, but the huge fees they commanded meant that most of the time people preferred to use non-magical methods instead. Bakura calmly teleported them both to his home, and took Ryou out of the room, leaving the mind-healer to her work.

"What are you doing!" Ryou demanded as soon as the door was closed behind them. "I don't know what happened to Malik, but you can't just leave him in there with some stranger! Who knows what she'll do to him!"

Bakura rolled his eyes, and cuffed Ryou lightly. The boy's head jerked to one side, and he glared at Bakura. "This has nothing to do with you." Bakura knew his voice was cold, but he didn't care. Ryou had no right to interfere with what he chose to do with Malik, especially not when it was something like this.

"You can't say that!" Ryou's face had gone red with anger. "Malik's my friend, and anything that happens to him affects me."

"Idiot," Bakura snarled. He'd been in a temper ever since Marik's comment; and now Ryou was giving him an excuse to vent it. "If you care so much, why didn't youdo something about it? I'm taking care of it now, and I won't let you interfere."

Ryou flinched away from him, bowing his head. "Yes master." He whispered.

Bakura's eyes softened; and he reached out to pull Ryou into his arms. "Shh little one," He murmured. "It's all right. I'm sorry I snapped at you."

Ryou snuggled into his arms, forgetting his grievance instantly. "It's okay..." he responded tiredly. He'd been up all night waiting for Malik to wake up.

Bakura sighed, and carried Ryou into his room, tucking the boy up in his bed and slipping out of the room, leaving Ryou to sleep in peace.

"The boy's fixated on you." Were the first words out of the mind-healer's mouth as she came out the door. "It's one of the things I couldn't change."

Bakura nodded. He'd spent some time learning about mind-healers when he was younger, so he knew that there were always some parts of the mind that they couldn't change without causing significant damage. "And the others?"

"His fear of his master, his hatred of blood, and a strong desire to show as little skin as possible." The words were recited in a lifeless manner, but Bakura could see her anger at the last one. "If it weren't Marik that was his master I'd hunt him down for what he did to that boy."

A shrug was her only answer. "So he's pretty much okay then?"

"Yes," the healer glanced up at Bakura diffidently. "His mind is not the same as it was before the breakdown, but he's regained his sanity and his memories. I am, however, slightly concerned about his fixation. If you do anything to him he may regress into his previous condition."

"So this means I have to be really careful around him?" Bakura asked.

"Treat him like he might break. He might." She said flatly. "That's all. I'll be leaving now." Bakura nodded, and ported her back to where he had found her, leaving her payment in her hands.

"Be careful with him." Bakura sighed. He'd be as careful as he could. Sending Malik back into insanity was not something he ever wanted to do.