Her Sweetness: Ah, hello. At chapter nine, already, huh? Good for us! Hmm. Ooh, I said I was going to answer reviews, didn't I? Okay, okay. But I'm only doing three right now. Single file, please!

Reviews!

Sakura Mitsu: No, Malik didn't have makeup on. He went all-natural.

Heidi of the woodland era: What does "suss" mean?

LPGurl: What luck! Now, you don't have to hunt me down.

Call On Me

Chapter 9:

When they were back inside the house, drying off, Ryou had put them all in the living room again. Much to Marik and Malik's despair as Yami and Yugi had captured the Light and Dark pair and were talking a mile a minute. Bakura was called upstairs to help Ryou out.

"…So, I was all Just kill him already! And so it happened, right there. At first, I was so shocked… I didn't know what to do. Before that day, I'd never actually seen a guy's head get chopped off right before my eyes. I think that was my first step towards my ideas of wanting to become a bit more involved in community beheadings… Um, Kiram? Kiram?" Yami noticed that the boy next to him was twitching uncontrollably, "Are you okay?"

Marik came out of his daze, "… Uh, yeah, Yami. I'm actually just gonna go… get a glass of water." He hurried out of his seat and almost tripped over himself running up the stairs.

'Good grief!' He thought when he was in the shadows of the walls, safely, 'That's gotta be some kind of subliminal torture!'

As he caught his breath, he noticed he was right across the room from what seemed to be Ryou's bedroom. He was in there with Bakura, with the phone in hand.

"They didn't answer, 'Kura?" Ryou seemed sad, depressed almost.

"Nope."

He clasped his hands together under his chin in an adorable, thinking manner, "That's so strange. Marik and Malik are usually home at this hour."

"Well, they're not at their house, I called five times." Bakura put the phone back on the cradle, "What're you so upset for, anyway?"

"'Kura, they're our friends, I want them to be here too!"

Marik smiled from the hallway. How cute Ryou could be when he was concerned about something. And about them, no less… it made Marik feel good. But he had no time to think about such things now. It was eight o' clock and soon enough they would be going to bed. And then the real fun would start. (A/N: He's talking about stealing the puzzles, not anything… dirty.

Ryou's sigh was heard from inside the room, "…Well, alright, then. Bakura, help me get this thing downstairs, it's so heavy."

"Alright."

Marik noticed them coming out of the door and he rushed downstairs and landed with a thud on the loveseat next to Yami. He smiled, "Hey, Kiram, where'd you run off to?"

"Oh, you know… places." He stared hungrily at the millennium puzzle, shiny and golden, hanging around his foe's neck. Only a few more hours…

"Okay, all! We're back, and look what we've got!" Ryou's cheerful voice called, he'd somehow managed to get in front of the large screen television without anyone noticing. Beside him was a large black machine, buttons decorating the exterior.

Ryou grinned and twirled the microphone in his palm, "Anybody for a little karaoke?"

"Ahhh!" Malik squealed, getting up and running over to the machine, "Ryou, you bought it! I can't believe it! But it was so expensive when we-" Malik clamped his own hand over his mouth. 'Oops…' He slowly backed away and sat back on the loveseat, 'I wasn't supposed to say that. Gosh, I gotta remember… I'm not Malik anymore!'

Ryou looked at him curiously and smiled, "Who would like to go first? I've got the backdrop feature, so you can pick the song and the scene behind you as you sing!"

Marik grinned to himself, he wanted revenge. Bakura almost blew his cover in the pool and now he would make him suffer, "I think Bakura should go first!" He looked at the silver haired boy across the room.

He growled, "What?"

"Yeah, c'mon, Bakura!" Yugi cheered in his small voice, "You can do it!"

"C'mon, 'Kura…" Ryou took his yami's hand and put the microphone in it. He shoved the coffee table further out; it would be used as a stage. He and Bakura were going over songs and backdrops. Bakura refused to do any song 'un-manly'.

"What song do you think he's gonna choose?" Yugi turned to Marik.

"Um… I don't know, Yugi. Hopefully it'll be something to match his personality."

"You mean devilish and laidback?"

"Nah, I was talking about strange and off balance." He received a side glare from Bakura as he jumped onto the coffee table. Bakura gave a skeptical glance at his hikari. Ryou had chosen the song since Bakura had no knowledge of modern-day music and the backdrop as well. Yami got up and turned off the light and Ryou plugged the Karaoke machine to the television and displayed the backdrop.

Bakura sighed as the screen glowed the scene of a bright city with tall buildings, the sunshine reflecting off the glass. The music played and he lifted the mic to his lips.

"(A/N: Song has been deleted. Due to idiots on Bakura's voice was totally opposite from his speaking voice. It was soft and kind of high-pitched, like Ryou's.

Marik's jaw was dangling. He had wanted to embarrass the damned spirit, not let him sing with that god awful, beautiful, wonderful voice… He frowned, 'It's official, the world hates me.'

"(A/N: Song has been deleted. Due to idiots on He finished the song after two minutes and jumped off the table, "Are you satisfied now?" He asked Marik.

Marik nodded, saddened and dismayed. "Yeah, I-I guess…"

"Oh, 'Kura, I love listening to you sing…!" Ryou tackled his yami to the ground and they fell behind the coffee table.

"Whose next?" Yami asked, "Kilam? You look like you can belt."

"Ah… Me?" Malik looked at him and Yugi, then at Marik, as if asking permission. Marik shrugged, not really caring, still wondering how the hell Bakura could sing. Malik beamed and skipped up the to table, preparing his song.

Ryou and Bakura were off the floor by this time and were sitting on a loveseat, watching Malik intently. Malik looked at the list of songs, happily. He always was looking forward to that fateful day when he'd be crowned American Idol, but because of his yami's plans for world domination, he never had a chance to audition. He considered this to be a lot like the real thing.

When he had chosen the song and the backdrop, Malik smiled and cued for the lights, he jumped onto the "stage". The backdrop came on and was a sort of off white with light blue and yellow butterflies spreading dots of color around the screen.

"(A/N: Song has been deleted. Due to idiots on Malik's voice was the equivalent of the Statue of Liberty. Free and sweet, though having a lonely air about it.

As he went about singing, Ryou tilted his head and smiled, "Bakura…" he whispered, "He sound's exactly like Malik when he sings… It's like… identical. Wow. They should really get together and sing, that's be amazing."

Bakura smirked, "Amazing."

"(A/N: Song has been deleted. Due to idiots on The song ended after about two minutes, and sadly, so did Malik's voice. He hopped off the table and sat back down, "How'd I do?"

Ryou smiled at him, "That was really good, Kilam! Really!"

Malik beamed, starring at Marik. Marik nodded his approval, not making a big deal it of it because Malik sings at home while dusting.

"You know, what I was saying to Bakura, Kilam… is that you sound like another friend of mine. His name is Malik Ishtar."

Malik bristled, sitting up straight and shot a look at his yami who was in the same position. Malik tried to crack a smile and said, "O-Oh… okay, Malik? That's… nice."

"Yes, I wanted him and Marik to come tonight, but their not answering their phone. They must be out trying to conquer the world. They do that from time to time." Ryou nodded to himself, "Besides Bakura, Malik's my best friend in the whole world. He's very nice, and he's a good person, despite popular belief."

"Eh…?" Malik couldn't contain himself. He's a very emotional person and what Ryou said about him threw him over the edge. He launched himself into Ryou's lap, "Oh my gosh, Ryou! You're a good person, too! You are! You're too… too good to me…! I-I can't believe you said that…! Ryou, Ryou, Ryou…!"

Ryou was being crushed under Malik and he wouldn't get off, "K-Kilam…?"

Bakura watched Malik cry and cry into Ryou's shirt, dampening it, "Mmm-hmm." He nodded and chuckled.

Marik's eyes were bugging out of his head, along with a very confused Yugi, Yami, and Bakura. Marik had to stop his emotionally devastated hikari before he ruined everything.

He rushed over and, with much difficulty, managed to pull Malik of off the other boy who was wearing a confused smile now. "Oh my, he's very affectionate." Ryou said, directing that at Marik.

"Yeah, I know." He frowned, as Malik looked at him, teary-eyed, "This has to stop, Kilam."

He sniffed and wiped away the last of his tears, "I-I know…"

Marik suggested that his other half go to the bathroom and gather his thoughts. Malik did as was suggested and went upstairs. He found the bathroom across the hall from the master bedroom, and went in, shutting the door behind himself.

The bathroom was pretty large, marble sinks and a bathtub the size of a King size bed. Malik went over to one of the sinks by the window and started washing his face.

'Oh, I feel so bad about this…!' he thought while picking up the bar of soap, 'If I've just blown it down there, Marik will hate me! And then there's Ryou… He says I'm a good person! He said I'm his best friend in the whole world! If he finds out that this is really me, he'll hate me! No matter what I do, someone's gonna hate me! Hate! Hate! Hate! Hate! Hate!'

By this time, Malik had found lipstick liner and was screaming, "Hate!" while writing it in red liner on the mirror. He'd lost control of himself… again.

Outside the door, Bakura was on his way to his room to get something, when he heard a bunch of clanking sounds come from inside the bathroom. He leaned his ear against the crack of the door and all he heard was muffled, frantic screams.

He rolled his eyes and opened the door, quickly going inside and shutting the door behind him. Malik was so wrapped up in his "Hate!" fiasco that he failed to notice the teen right behind him, smiling.

"Hey." Bakura's one word scared Malik into a state of shock, which disabled any movement from him for three minutes. When he was able to react again, he caught his breath and screamed at him.

"Bakura! What's wrong with you! Don't you knock? Have you no common decency?" He shouted.

"Common decency…?" Bakura tilted his head, "What's that…?"

There was a moment where all Malik could do was stare.

"…What are you doing in here, anyways?" He turned back around and saw how red the mirror was from the lipstick liner. "Oops…" Malik started washing it off with soap and water.

Bakura grinned when he was finished, "You know what's weird about this whole thing? You act just like that friend of Ryou's. And we haven't been able to contact him or Marik since… well, since you moved here from Italy."

Malik's eyes widened, though he tried to hide it. He walked briskly to the door and Bakura caught his hand before it reached the doorknob. "Why are you leaving? I wanna show you something."

"What?" He asked wryly. Bakura chauffeured him back over to the clean mirror. He tilted it so that it would reflect into the other mirrors. He took the lipstick liner and wrote on the glass K-I-L-A-M. Kilam. It reflected in the other mirrors as M-A-L-I-K.

Malik's eyes were wide and he turned to Bakura, stuttering, "Y-You… I-I… We…!"

He laughed and walked out of the door, and in a singsong voice, "I know a secret…!"

Her Sweetness: Boom, baby. I did the ever-elusive chapter 9. I really didn't think I could get it done that fast, but I stayed up till midnight finishing the damned thing and you'd better like it!

…

Please?

Anyway, all props go to Riku's Girl for leaving me alone long enough so that I could finish before I died. Thank you, girlie!

Oh, yeah, lemme give credit to the artists of the songs. I do not own them, but the people that do are:

Jewel – Intuition (Bakura's song)

Natalie – Goin' Crazy (Malik's song)

Hmm. That's about it. See ya next time! Oh, and review please!

Much love!