Hello, hello! Thanks you so much for the wonderful reviews. I loves you all for it! I did get one review that showed a little confusion about how Mariku knew Bakura. Well, if you have seen the show, I do believe there was one or two episodes where Malik and Bakura were working together in a duel against Yami on Kaiba's blimp. It gotten take from that relationship only switched around slightly. Here's in the next chapter and thank you for reading.

Bakura was slumped over in the base of tub with the scolding water still gushing from the shower head. He turned off the water and stepped out of the shower and grabbed for a towel. He slowly swayed to one side and then the other. He leaned against the wall for support. His head was hurting and all of the sudden he felt light-heated. Bakura felt that something was wrong and did his best to hurry and get dressed.

As he dressed, he looked to his left and saw his slim figure in an elongated mirror clinging to the wall. He turned slightly and saw the lightly pink burn marks he had received not long ago, no thanks to Mariku. He shook off the thought of the other egyptian and continued to dress himself.

Casually he walked to the sandy-blond's luxurious mansion. He entered through the back gates of the surrounding wall and ascended the altitudinous staircase to the deck. He crept into the house through the unlocked glass doors, then headed for Mariku's room on the third floor at the end of the corridor.

Slowly he entered softly trying closing the door so as not to make noise. "I thought you would never come…" Mariku whispered. In the brightly lit right corner of his room, there was a red lovesac and Mariku was sitting in it comfortably. With the door now slightly ajar, Bakura slammed it shut not caring now that he had been seen.

"Where is my Hikari?"

Mariku stood from the large red lovesac. He approached the white-haired egyptian very slowly then wrapped his arms around Bakura's thin waist. "What are you talking about? What Hikari?" Mariku said, faking his innocense and failing. His games only encouraged Bakura's irrational actions.

Bakura too Mariku by the arm and flipped him over his shoulder (it's a karate thing, I think) and to the ground. He began kicking and hitting him as ruthlessly as possible. Mariku could feel a difference in his strength. He seems so much weaker than he ever had.

Little Malik heard the ruckuss and walked into the room to see what was wrong. He saw Bakura trying to brutally beat his Yami and took action. He leapt onto Bakura's back and started yanking on his long white hair. "Get off of Mariku!"

"Get the hell off! This doesn't concern you!" Bakura backed up hard against the wall, knocking Malik off. Bakura glared at Malik then at Mariku who was staring at him in deep thought. "I now hate you more than I have hated anyone in my life…" Bakura quietly said as he tore out of the room and left for the downstairs. It suddenly struck him that Ryou was not in this realm, but in the Shadow Realm. (This was through their physical bond.) He stopped in his tracks and tore open a portal to the Shadow Realm and entered without second thought. He was engulfed by the realm's deepening darkness.

Malik and been dismissed from the room and Mariku was still on the floor, sitting up now, but thinking none the less about Bakura's newfound weakness. "Something is wrong. Why was he so weak," Mariku first questioned in his thoughts. "It couldn't have been from when we were in the shower…a little hot water doesn't do that," he continued. "Could it be…? Is it his Hikari?" Mariku stood and paced back and forth thinking that he was beginning to understand. "He is still connected to his Hikari, unlike me. I seperated that link after I banished him to the Shadow Realm…shit…" he spoke aloud with the a curse word as the end of his sentence.

The fog was low and to the ground. It was dark, not a trace of light shown anywhere. Ghostly noises could be heard from everywhere, it was enough to drive a man mad in just a short while. Bakura had begun his search for the missing other. "Ryou! You little boy-bitch! Where are you!?" he called out as he glanced around the area. By now, Mariku had figured it out, being the smart person he is, and had already gone to the Hikari to make sure he stayed alive. He patiently waited for Bakura to come and find him and Ryou.

The tomb robber came into the area and saw Mariku sitting on a risen tomb stone with his back turned to him. Mariku looked back at Bakura and held up the weak Hikari. He threw him roughly at Bakura, knocking him to the ground.

Bakura slowly sat up with an expression of pain on his face. He looked down at Ryou who was splayed across his torso horizontally. "Ryou!?" he cried out carefully moving Ryou into a better position.

Mariku glanced away from him and shook his head slowly. "I feel sorry for you…you are still one with him." He jumped down from the stone. "Without him, you wouldn't be existant." He continued. He tore open the portal once again and was gone. Ryou moaned. He was as weak as Bakura, possibly even more. Bakura carried him out of the Shadow Realm and took him home where he could properly be taken care of and put to bed.

After Bakura had settled his Hikari into his designated bed, he stared at him a for a moment and sighed. "What a pain in the ass. You always get into trouble…and then I have to save you whether I want to or not," Bakura said not too loudly. He left the room deciding a little pain was needed right now. He padded down to the kitchen. He whipped out his favorite pocket knife and began carving into the flesh of his arm. The wonderful crimson streamed down his lightly colored skin. A sensation of relief flooded over him.