Despite the intensifying provocation that was eating away at Bakura's normal calm exterior, he had no choice but to deal with his present situation; one that he wished he would throw away. Yami.
His nemesis was a beaming ray of sunshine, always smiling and always bright and cheerful. It made Bakura sick. Now that Julian was out of the way, the only person that was blocking his way to Anzu was Lord Yami. Ostensibly, Yami was over-protective of Anzu, disagreeing with their marriage, yet agreeing at the same time.
And so now, here Bakura was, stuck behind his desk, with Yami across from him, smiling and twiddling his thumbs.
"So, Bakura..." Yami began casually, "I take it that this is, ah, all coming along finely?"
"Pardon?"
"I say!—the plan, old chap, the plan!"
"Oh." Bakura's eyes darkened, wanting to smack Yami upside the head for making him look like a fool. "We've barely begun, if you haven't noticed."
"No, sorry, I haven't." Yami laughed casually, Bakura twitching.
Ratta-tap-tap!Bakura frowned the interruption, while Yami beamed and turned in his chair as Ryou and Duke entered.
"We need to talk." Duke murmured, gulping.
"Talk? Now? Jolly good!" Yami beamed, his eyes darkening slightly at the interlude.
"Whatever we say here, however, my sister must not know. Can you promise that, Bakura?" Duke raised hopeful eyes to Bakura.
"I don't like deceiving your sister, on account of how she'll react if she finds out I kept it from her." Bakura said simply.
"So you can't guarantee...?"
"No."
"Well..." He sighed, shrugging. "It doesn't matter."
"Very well, what is it?"
Anzu entered the casino, casually, not bothering with looking for Marik or Malik. She headed upstairs, a silly grin on her lips as she went for Bakura's doors to his office.
"...Horseracing!" The one word was shrilled from the office in rage. Anzu winced, recognizing the voice anywhere. "Did you two completely lose your mind!" Anzu peeked in the room and Yami saw her; smiling, he waved.
"Come in, Anzu! We're discussing a topic your brother brought up!" He exclaimed merrily. Anzu looked at Bakura's infuriated face, his eyes dilated in antagonism.
"Your idiotic brother's influencing mine, Anzu!" He slammed his fist on the desk, looking peeved.
"I beg your pardon?" She had a bad feeling that Duke was reaching the limit of no return with Bakura.
"He and Ryou are caught up in some horseracing fixes. Horseracing." Bakura was obviously disgusted with this particular sport.
"Did you say fixes?" Anzu asked, her eyes narrowing. Ryou and Duke exchanged glances, nervous.
"Well, a man named Cornwall came up to us and offered quite a bit of money," Ryou explained, "if we could get the prices from the jockeys, then give that to them."
"Jockeys?"
"Yes, so they could fix the race. You see, we bribe them so that the races are fixed and so that Cornwall or whoever it is that is the mastermind behind this, gets the money from the bet they place on a certain horse." Anzu stared at them.
"Morons." A harsh voice snapped from the doors. They turned to see Marik, glaring at them. "Race-fixing isn't only against the law, but if anyone was to find out, you'd be going straight to the magistrate." Marik shot a look at Ryou. "You should know better than that, Ryou."
"Well..." Ryou looked down, ashamed and ashen faced.
"That's why most people are sticking to gambling in the casino's. You at least aren't taking random chances here." Marik sidled up next to Anzu, but Bakura barely noticed. "What's more," Marik lowered his voice to a whisper, his breath massaging her ear, "you can get laid while you're at it in the casino." Anzu shot him a disapproving look, but he merely chuckled.
"Do you want to end up in Malik's position as well, Marik!" Bakura demanded of him. Marik widened his eyes slightly, before drawing away from Anzu; putting his hands up, reassuring Bakura. "Listen," the rakish male turned to the two gay lovers, "I gave you a chance, Duke, and trust me, it was a good one! But you—" Bakura noticed Ryou's flush and had a feeling that there was something more to this than they were telling them. "I have a feeling there's more."
"It wasn't Duke's idea." Ryou murmured. "I suggested we go have a bit of fun and..." He blushed furiously in shame. "It just...Ended up this way. We were blackmailed."
"By Cornwall?"
"Yes, Duke and I were..." He blushed even more. Anzu blinked, her jaw dropping into a silent Oh. "He caught us and..."
"We were making love and Cornwall heard us and saw that it was two men!" Duke exploded shamefully. "He blackmailed us so now we have to do his dirty work." Bakura seemed dazed at first, thinking of his brother with Duke, the bounder doing all sorts of things to his younger brother.
It infuriated him.
Anzu, however, in hearing about 'making love', flushed as embarrassingly as Ryou. But not for them. Oh no, she was thinking of much more wanton things that were twirling about in her head. I wonder what it's like... She thought to herself. She shook the thoughts away.
"Well," she cleared her throat, "I suppose then that's settled, yes?"
"Barely." Bakura grunted. "I never did like Cornwall."
"Bakura!" She looked desperately at him. "Don't go making a scene. I don't think you want your brother's reputation to be tarnished, do you?" He glared at her, hating that Anzu was right.
"Fine," he grumbled, slumping in his seat, "but I had better not hear of you two's little, ah, 'fun', understand?" They just nodded, Ryou still blushing and Duke, stony faced. At that, Bakura dismissed them, along with Marik.
"Yami..." Anzu began hesitantly. "You wouldn't mind leaving for a moment?" Yami eyed her, smiling, however cynically.
"Of course, m'dear." He concurred, nodding. The shortest of the three glanced at Bakura, giving him a skeptical glance, before leaving unhurriedly. When the doors clicked closed, Anzu turned to Bakura, who was just as suspicious as Yami.
"What is it?" He asked, half-worried, half-wary.
"What if Cornwall lets it slip that Duke and Ryou are..." She gestured impatiently, "What they are."
"I'll deal with it when it comes up." Bakura stated coolly.
"What if it already has come up and we don't know about it?" His eyes narrowed, daring her to say more. "Don't you even dare glare at me, Bakura! We're certainly not at court enough to find out."
"That will change soon enough." Anzu just stared at him. "What are you so damn worried about? Haven't I taken care of things so far?"
"Well, yes, but..." She vacillated, not looking at him.
"But what, Anzu?"
"If papa and Julian are after you...Then...What if something...Happens to you?" She raised her eyes to his face. He frowned, eyeing her face carefully.
"Like I said, I'll take care of it when it comes up."
"I stand by my same argument as well."
"Does it appear as though something's happened to me, Anzu?"
"Not really." She lowered her eyes again, nervously shuffling her shoe in the carpet. "But I worry about you and my brother." Bakura blinked, surprised that she even cared about his welfare. His coolness melted by her soft heart, he sighed.
"Come here," he motioned for her to come around the desk. She grimaced, wondering if it was a trap. "I'm not going to bite you." Now that she unsure of. She shuffled over to him, a foot away from him, not trusting him. He rolled his eyes, grabbing her wrist and pulling her into his lap. "After that fight with Julian," he murmured in her hair, "do you really think I would be so careless?"
"Would you?" He shot a look at her. Anzu looked away from him, deciding that arguing with him while on his lap was probably not the wisest thing to do. Instead, she rested her head on his shoulder. "I just think that if the only person that's supporting me were to die, I would be alone."
"Marik, Malik, Ryou and Duke would still be here."
"But they're not exactly as strong as you, are they?" At the compliment, Bakura coughed.
"I...Suppose not." She smiled to herself, noticing that she had caused him to let down his guard for a bit.
"Bakura?"
"Hm?"
"Is...it okay if...?" Bakura didn't like where her question was going.
"I-if what?"
"If I borrow some money?" He blinked, before looking down at her questionable face.
"Must you make everything sound like something else?" He stipulated. It was Anzu's turn to blink.
"But I—" She realized what he meant when Bakura raised an eyebrow at her. "Y-you didn't think that I...W-wanted to...?" He shrugged.
"You never know."
"O-oh" was her anxious reply. She turned her face from him, blushing at the suggestion.
"Anzu, look at me." She turned to face him, but felt him mouth collide against hers. She went wide-eyed at the sudden action, but soon enough fell into the kiss. Her eyelashes fluttered, before she closed her eyes, parting her lips slightly. It was enough for Bakura to taste her, which was exactly what he was aiming to do.
"What are you doing out here?" Marik queried of Yami, who was pressing his ear to the doors.
"Damn doors are too thick." Yami grumbled to himself, drawing away. For once, he wasn't smiling.
"Are you eavesdropping?"
"I was attempting to. All I could hear were blurs of words. Hell, half of them I don't even think were the real thing." He paused. "But now," he pressed his ear harder to the door this time, "they're not saying anything!"
"Well, maybe—" the doors burst open, exposing a flushed Anzu.
"Oh. Um..." She looked at them both, before hurrying down the hall, busying herself with her parasol. Both males looked at each other, then peered in at Bakura, who raised an eyebrow at them.
"What?" Marik smirked, holding in his laughter. A thump was heard behind him and he glanced over his shoulder. Yami had fainted from shock.
"You have lipstick on your mouth." Marik said, snickering. Bakura blinked, trying to absorb the information. Smothering a curse, Bakura wiped it off.
"Damn woman." He mumbled to himself, then reconsidered that thought. Before he could, however, Marik spoke.
"I'm hoping that it was only a kiss?" He inquired, pulling Yami up and waking him up.
"Of course." A good kiss for someone so innocent. He twirled the thought around his finger, grinning to himself. Pity she's stubborn enough not to get in my bed.
"Intriguing."
"I'm going to kill you, Bakura!" Yami exploded.
"What are you, her father?" Bakura asked, raising an eyebrow. "Keep it down, shorty." Yami fumed, his eyes flaring.
"Don't underestimate someone just because of their height!" Yami growled at him. "How dare you kiss her! She's mine, damn you!"
"Remind who's told you this." Bakura said. Yami's lips twitched, before, with a grunt of anger, he slumped into a chair, glowering. Bakura's lips curved. "That's what I thought."
"Well?" Marik demanded, eagerly watching him. "How was it?" Bakura just smirked at him, shrugging. At having his question secretly answered, Marik grinned.
"By the way," Bakura frowned suddenly, "I haven't seen Malik lately." Yami was knocked out of his sulkiness at that remark.
"Now that I think of it, neither have I." Yami murmured, frowning in thought. Marik's lips pursed.
"He'd better not be getting in any trouble." Marik grumbled.
"I doubt that he is," Bakura assured him, taking out a cigarette, "Malik's the more innocent of us three – four – and isn't one to go looking for trouble."
"Let's hope that you're right."
"I have a feeling he's not." Yami said, grimacing. "He came to me earlier today asking to use one of my best horses." Bakura's brow furrowed, before realization dawned on him.
"He must've been leaving somewhere."
"Wrong." Bakura stood up. "He left."
"I just said that, smart one."
"No, I mean he left."
"As in...?"
"You must have provoked him somehow, Bakura." Yami told him.
"Or he did something he wasn't supposed to and fled."
"Like...?" Marik raised his eyebrows.
"I dunno." Bakura shrugged, his mind still faintly whirling from Anzu's inexperienced, yet experienced kiss. The other two sighed, knowing the cause of Bakura being brain-dead.
