Innocence?

Mystical Knight Dragon: Lucky you! You get another chapter! One more and we get to go back to the main plot!

Marikay: Plot? What plot?

Mystical Knight Dragon: -_- *begins strangling Marikay*

Baku: Yea! Happy thanks to the wonderful reviewers! Extra special thanks to Bakuras-hell (Glad someone appreciates my story! ^__^ *glares at Marikay*), Marikzgal4eva, Fuzzle (Muses: *huggle Fuzzle-sama*), and Kyota (I never use MSN messenger, even though I have it. I do have AOL Instant Messenger, though, if you want to IM me on that (Bozonic Caesar). Then again, I'll get on MSN just for you! ^__^ So, yes, I have MSN. (E-mail - Doggpup1121 @ yahoo.com; MSN name - Hyperactive Moosen))!!!!!!! You guys mean so much to Mystical Knight Dragon!!!

Indie: *gives reviewers lollypops* You're the some of the only people that keep her going in life... So...onward to the fic!

Chibi Bakura: This chapter is dedicated especially to Fuzzle-sama, who made corrections and stuff. Thank-you Fuzzle-sama! *holds up a picture of Mystical Knight Dragon bowing*

Disclaimer: *raises eyebrow* How about this: go away! *blasts disclaimer into the Shadow Realm* MUAHAHAHAHA!!!!!

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Chapter 10: Hunting the Guilty

A little man was gingerly cleansing the sidewalk of blood, his short brown hair shining dully in the sun. He had come outside on a whim, only to find the mess, a huge red streak smeared across the pavement, still fresh. 'Some poor little boy must have had an accident on his skateboard,' he thought to himself. 'I always knew those things were made by demons...' There was a dumpster near where he was standing, tucked away into the alleyway. He washed that too, the reason being that it reeked more than usual.

After carefully coiling up his hose, the man walked back into his household to go about the rest of his daily chores. He paused after he shut the door, realizing that it had been open. 'I could have sworn I shut that...' Shrugging it off, he removed his shoes and wandered towards the kitchen.

He never got there, though.

All the lights in his house flickered off just as the blinds on the windows furled shut. A second later, someone or something wound itself around the man's throat, and he was shoved up against the wall, hardly able to breathe. "Wh---what's going on?" he panted, his mind wandering through all of the horrid things that he could think of that might happen.

"You have information of value to me," a harsh voice spoke. The man could not see who the voice belonged to, but he had the feeling that the other was much taller than he---and a good deal stronger, too.

"Wh---what type of information?" the man asked, racking his brain for anything that he might have to save himself from being killed. "I---I work for a bank. You---you must h---have th---the wrong man!"

The voice laughed, sending chills up the man's spine. "This has nothing to do with what you foolish mortals have bestowed upon yourselves as a sorry excuse for a life! The information I'm seeking has to do with what went on earlier today..."

They were underneath one of the many windows of the household, and light was beginning to seep through the blinds, scarcely illuminating his attacker's face. He sorely wished it didn't, though, for every line of his face was etched with a deep hatred, which would make any normal man quiver and shake. This man just so happened to be normal...

"I---I don't know what you mean," the man stated truthfully, looking around for some way to escape. "I---I've been indoors all day. I have a nasty head cold and couldn't go to work."

"You lie!"

The grip upon the man's throat tightened, making him squeak with fear. "N--- no, no, no! I'm serious! I really do have this nasty cold! It's dreadfully contagious! Y---you really shouldn't be---"

"I don't care!" The grip tightened even more, making the man have to take very deep breaths in order to send enough oxygen to his brain in order to keep himself conscious. "You foolish mortals always have things to worry about! None of that concerns me! Did you or did you not see him die?!"

The man froze; his face turned white; his breathing stopped. "S---s---some-- -someone...died?!"

The attacker sighed. "Yes someone died, you fool! Did you see it?"

"N---no! W---when did this happen? W---why? Who did it? Who died?"

Marik smiled, loosening his hand a little. Exactly where he wanted this man. He knew very well that he did not work at a bank---he had read his mind using his Millennium Rod that he was holding with the hand he was not using to try and kill the other with. This man was a reporter for the newspaper. And now he was very interested in what was going on: a very big advantage for Marik. Maybe now he wouldn't *have* to control his mind... 'What am I thinking?' he asked himself, shaking his head. 'What fun would *that* be?'

"You went outside today, did you not?" Maybe now he would cooperate better...

"I---I already told you: I haven't been outside all day!"

Marik's grip tightened again, immediately falling back to suffocation mode. "I told you not to lie! I saw you!"

"Then why are you asking me when you already know the answer?" Not very smart.

The hand resting on the man's throat tightened so harshly that he was able to pick him up without the other falling. The man's hands quickly grasped Marik's wrist to try to weaken the grip, but to no avail. He was slammed into the window with such a force that it shattered, sending shards of glass everywhere. Concentrating very hard, Marik sent the shards of glass to the Shadow Realm. That would give him something to play with later on... Unfortunately, this scared the shit out of the man.

"What the hell are you?" he asked, shaking with fear.

Marik just grinned.

A faint white glow of light gently pulsated throughout the room, though it was not an ordinary light. In fact, it didn't seem like light at all. It emitted from the Eye of Horus that was etched into a golden staff that Marik was holding. Blood curdling laughter filled the room, making even the neighbor's feel the cold seep into their bones. Suddenly, the man dropped to the floor in a sort of bow right at Marik's feet.

"Rise, slave," Marik said after his laughter had subsided.

"Anything, master," the man said, stumbling to his feet with his head still bowed.

"Now, tell me all you know about the blood outside..."

:D

~*~Marik's POV~*~

A long time later, I finally saw Bakura carrying a fighting Ryou. It struck me as odd, but then I realized that they were nearing the dumpster. Bakura's Ring was pointing down the street, although he didn't seem to notice it. He opened up the dumpster lid, and I saw the reason for the Ring's strange actions: Yami was walking steadily closer.

"You're chance is coming up," I muttered through my thoughts to the man I was controlling across the street: the same man whose house I had just broken into only minutes before. He was completely and utterly useless, but just as long as it wasn't me saying "Hey Bakura! Your fucking light just fucking killed Yugi for no apparent reason whatsoever!" Ha! That'd go down real well with him... I'd be hanging by my neck from a building before he realized that it was true. Might as well use some unimportant character that no one cared about... Hell, I don't even know if he has a *name*!

"Yes master," the man muttered through the thought link that connected every mind slave I had to me. Sometimes I despised that link. Right now, I loved it...

"You know what to do, right?" I looked up at him from behind the house that I had stationed myself at. He was across the street pretending to read a newspaper at a local café. He was to look up innocently and shriek that it was Ryou who had killed Yugi. I had shown him a mental picture of him, so he should do alright. Still...I couldn't shake off the feeling that something was going to go horribly wrong...

"Yes master," he said in a voice so strange that it was almost obvious someone was controlling it. I seriously hope that the Pharaoh would be too occupied with other things to notice anything.

"You realize what will happen if you screw this up, don't you?"

"Yes master." I was pleased to hear a slight note of fear in the other man's voice. I had shown him pictures of very violent deaths that I had performed (R/A/N: His daddy! ...Oops... Umm... Spoiler?), all of which had a great deal of blood in them. The man didn't seem to exactly like blood... I could probably let him free of his enslavement, but then again, I couldn't risk that... Besides...what fun would that be?

Yami walked up to Bakura and said something. I couldn't exactly hear what anyone was saying from where I was standing. My mind drifted to the previous time I had stood here, watching a conversation without being able to hear it. Someone died then. Maybe someone will die this time...

/Yami?/ Shit! My hikari!

//What?!// I snarled at him, angry for him breaking my concentration.

/Where are you?/

//What's it matter to you?//

/Yugi's grandpa just came over looking for his grandson. Do you have any idea where he is?/

//I don't have time for this! I have other things I need to do!// I attempted to turn off the link when he spoke again:

/You were the last person to be with Yugi! If you don't know where he is, people are going to start getting suspicious and might think that you killed him or something!/

Ah... My all too naïve hikari... Sometimes I wonder how I got landed with him...and then he does something really fucked up and evil, which washes all my doubts away. I shut off the mind link. I needed full concentration to make sure that my plan wouldn't screw up...and yet, that lurking feeling that something bad was going to happen still lurked in the pit of my stomach.

I snapped back to the present only to realize that Ryou was nowhere in sight. Yami was still there, though...

"There he is!" the man screeched out. "The one who killed the little one!" I looked at him and saw that he was pointing at Bakura. Ha! That's a laugh! Bakura would never ki---OH SHIT! Bakura would never take this, though, unless...

"Pardon?" Bakura asked back to the man. What the fuck?! His hikari couldn't have rubbed off on him *that* much!

"You killed the little guy!" the man kept shouting, drawing the attention of many unnecessary passersby. "He has a knife in his neck and is placed in that dumpster!" Shit... This had to stop! This guy wasn't even under my control anymore! Somehow he had overridden it. I had to kill him...

"How was that, master?" he asked through the mental link. Okay... Usually after your mind has been taken over, you don't want to go back to the one who did it... Maybe I permanently damaged his mind or something...

Bakura was still confused. He opened his mouth to shout something back to the man, when he began yelling again: "Don't deny it! I saw you!" Damn it! What the hell was he doing! But surely...no one would believe him! I mean Bakura---*kill* Yugi?!

'Yeah...' a sarcastic voice said. 'Why would the Tomb Raider kill the Pharaoh's hikari?' Oh. Shit.

I opened my mouth to say something, but it was too late: Yami had gotten a brick and smashed it into Bakura's head. Immediately after, the Ra-damned Pharaoh picked up his hikari's corpse and cried over it, even when those--- policemen, aren't they?---came.

I was staring at all the sorrow and pain before me when I felt a tap on my shoulder. I thought it would be one of those...policemen...but it wasn't: it was that man that made all of this shit happen. How dare he show his face to me?!

"How did I do, Master?" he asked me, his face shining with eagerness.

I couldn't take it anymore. I slammed him into his house and began shouting all of these things at him. I didn't know what I said, but most of it was probably in Egyptian: he looked as if he had no idea what I was saying, either. Finally, I just snapped. I raised my hand, muttered a few more words to him, and then, with a final "Stay in hell, baka", I sent him to the Shadow Realm.

I wandered back where I was as if nothing had happened and watched what was going on some more. I think Yami might have seen me, but if he did, he didn't say anything.

"Yami?" I whipped around to see Malik standing there looking around himself with confusion. "What's going on here?"

I ran my hand through my hair and sighed. I couldn't tell him what had happened. I just did that: it didn't work. "Someone killed Yugi," I stated simply and wouldn't answer any more of his questions. I ran my hand through my hair again. "Come on, Aibou. Let's go." I then pulled him away from the scene and ran him halfway across town before he finally pulled me to a stop.

"Where the hell are you taking me?!" he spat, panting for breath.

I sighed and turned around. There was the jail: my destination. I started walking towards it, wondering if Bakura and/or Ryou had gotten there yet when I saw Ryou walking up. Unfortunately, Malik saw him, too...

"Ryou?" Malik asked, walking up behind Ryou. The white-haired hikari turned around to face my own hikari. "What are you doing here?" I walked up behind Malik and tried to find anything from Ryou's face.

I found nothing, though.

Ryou hesitated before giving his answer. I'm surprised he answered at all... He looked as if he was about to run off without telling anyone anything. "Bailing Bakura," he stated simply and a little too casually.

That was the strangest lie I had ever heard. I began laughing hysterically. They looked at me curiously, so I hastily added, "I knew that baka would screw up someday!" And just to make it seem like I didn't know what was going on, I added, "What did he do this time?"

/Damn it, yami! Can't you be at least a *little* sensitive of other peoples' feelings?!/

Whoa... Where'd *that* come from...?

//No... I'm a psychotic yami that likes killing people... I would have thought you'd have already known that.//

Malik mentally rolled his eyes at me and then hastily changed the subject and asked Ryou if he had heard about Yugi.

Ryou's eyes widened, and his face drained itself of blood. He began to back away from us, which made me unable to resist the temptation of taunting my hikari.

//Damn it, hikari! Can't you be just a *little* sensitive of others' feelings?//

/Shut up, yami./

I mentally laughed at him until he finally broke down and yelled that he was going to go get some coffee.

//You do that...//

I stood around the jail, waiting for something to happen. Finally, I saw Bakura being brought up to the jail by about four of those policemen. He looked unconscious, but one never can be too sure...

'If Bakura's here...where the fuck is Ryou?!'

I didn't get my answer for very many cold minutes. (A/N: I'd calculate it out, but I'm too lazy... I think it's about thirty minutes, though. Ah well...) I waited until about five minutes after he had gone in to walk through the door. Ryou was no where in sight; only some lazy mortal and some blood on the wall...

I turned down a hallway, ignoring the shouts and protests of the man with his feet on the desk. He seemed to be too lazy to move... At the end of the hallway, I finally spotted what I was looking for: a flash of white hair.

I ran up to Ryou and put my hand on his shoulder just as he had touched the door knob of some random door. He whipped around, making some of his hair slash my eye.

'Ra damn it!!!' I screamed. Hearing my pain-filled voice made me even angrier, and I put that anger into the conversation I was about to have with Ryou:

"What are you doing here?!" I snarled, trying to keep back the tears that were welling up in my eyes. Ryou didn't say anything, and the silence unnerved me. "I asked you a question!" I snapped at him. Damn... My eye is on FIRE! Stupid mother fucking hair...

"I have to get Bakura out of here," he said a little too calmly. Clearly, he wanted me to drop the subject, but I would never do something like that. And his hair was waving around a bit more... Can't have that going back into my eye... I slammed him into the wall, trying to get his hair out of my way, but it *still* waved around. I pulled out a knife that had blood on it and stuck it to his head, thinking of the many ways I could cut off that demon hair.

"I know it was you," I said angrily. "I don't think anyone else has guessed it, but I know it was you!" Ra... I'm so close to just ripping out Ryou's fucking head of hair...

"I don't have time for this Marik! I have to go!"

Ha! He wasn't leaving until I said he could! It was his fault that my eye is watering so badly! He should watch where he puts his hair! "No," I said firmly. He tried to push me out of the way, but he was too weak. He raised his fist to hit me, but I just grabbed a hold of it. I never thought that Bakura's hikari would be so weak... "You can't go around killing any more people," I spat out, taking myself by surprise.

He just stood there and stared, those chocolate orbs unblinking, going in and out of focus as his thoughts passed from one to another... It was kind of creepy... And my eye was reaching an almost unbearable point of pain. Ra damn it! Blink!

My fist raised up in the air, trying to bring Ryou back to focus. It pummeled towards his stomach, trying to bring him back, trying to stop before it hit him, but it never stopped. Instead, it hit him with my full weight behind it.

I think Ryou took my punch the wrong way because the next thing I knew his foot had collided with my...er...place that I wish no one would ever hit. I sank to the floor in pain. Maybe I lied about Ryou being so weak... Ra... My balls feel worse than my eye...

Doing the only thing I could think of, I returned to my soul room to see if I had any ice anywhere. I had to crawl over to my fridge (A/N: You *know* he has one!) because I couldn't walk---even if I did take the chance to stand up. Ra... Why did everything have to go so wrong *today*?!

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Mystical Knight Dragon: Whoa... That's hard to write while reading other fanfics and listening to music all at the same time... I almost started to stick Harry Potter characters and a half shark-alligator, half man in here... (By the way, I don't own Harry Potter or Half Shark-Alligator, Half Man by Dr. Octagon...)

Marikay: Maybe next time, you'll put the whole of your concentration into this...

Mystical Knight Dragon: -_- Maybe next time my parents won't be yelling at me every couple seconds, sending me to go do something else so that our house is "clean" when my relatives come visit... Pleckh... (Don't ask...) I swear my parent's are germaphobic... Ah well... At least they haven't kicked me out yet...

Marikay: Big surprise there...

Mystical Knight Dragon: *whacks Marikay with a golf club*

Baku: Er... Please review...

Indie: Mystical Knight Dragon is drawing another picture to go with the ficcie. It's from a bit further down in the story... She still hasn't finished the other drawing that she started since she decided to color it. Now she's regretting that and is going to trace the drawing on to regular paper (she drew it on notebook paper) and re-scan it with the other one when she's done with that.

Baku: ...She made Ryou look like a monkey...

Mystical Knight Dragon: ...Shut up... I didn't mean to...