Bakura turned and headed out of the room and for the stairs. Suddenly, he felt a firm grip on his right shoulder and glanced back to see Malik quivering with his head lowered and tears streaming from his light purple orbs.
"I knew it all along…you don't give a damn about him. You were merely toying with him or something just as sick…just like you do to Ryou!" Malik burst out through clenched teeth.
Mariku had slowly become conscious and could hear most of what was being yelled outside his bedroom.
"Don't you fucking give me that speech! You have no idea, no clue what I do and do not feel! Just shut the hell up and leave me alone!" Bakura spat angrily at Malik who still had a firm grip on his shoulder.
"This is all your fault, Bakura!" Malik blamed. He lifted his head and glared at Bakura intenstly with a fire of anger and hatred burning in his eyes.
"I know, its my fault! Its always my fucking fault!" Bakura retorted sarcastically.
"He means nothing to you…" Malik said in a dulled tone. Bakura was shaking with rage, trying hard not to take it out on Mlik. "That's not true…" he pivoted and pushed Malik's hand away, "I fucking love him! I admit that I don't know how to show it, but I do! You need to just fuck off and worry about your own damn life! Bakura retorted, his yelling more passionate and heart-felt than before.
He turned from Malik and punched the wall, his fist being forced through the painted wall. "Bakura, just stay the hell away from him…" Malik whispered not wanting anymore trouble from the tomb robber.
"Fine," he removed his hand from the wall and turned in the direction of the stairs down the corridor, "I will…it would be better for me anyway…"
He walked down the long hallway to the stairs and disappeared from sight. He grabbed his coat at the base floor and slammed the front door closed behind him.
Malik looked back to see Ryou poking his head out of the doorway of Mariku's room with tears in his eyes. "I-" Malik paused, unsure of what to say. Ryou sighed and looked out a little further at the new hole in the wall.
Malik walked into the room, past the frightened Ryou and stared blankly out the window for a moment. "Was I right to…" he paused mid-sentence and looked down where Mariku should have been, but was not. There was only a blood stain, nothing more.
"Gone again," Malik whispered. He tiredly walked over to the tomb keeper's bed and sat down; Ryou sat beside him. "I'm such an idiot," Malik sighed heavily and leaned forward with his arms on his thighs, his head hung low, and tears suspended in his eyes.
Ryou placed a hand on Malik's shoulder. He too had tears in his eyes. "You were only defending Mariku, there's nothing wrong with that, Malik…" He leaned over onto Malik and rested his head on the other's shoulder.
Malik collapsed onto Ryou's lap with his head down, and his arms were tightly wrapped around the other Hikari's waist. He cried into the cloth of Ryou's shirt and mumbled angry words to himself.
It had been several hours since either Yami disappeared from the mansion. Mariku had used what little magic he had access to, due to being weakened from the blood loss, to heal his cut up body. Only a few cuts remained to bleed out the impurities of his soul.
He was quietly laying in snow that had freshly blanketed the park grounds. He was a little surprised to feel Bakura's life energy not far away and coming ever closer. All Mariku was thinking about now was what he could say to Bakura, but what could he possibly say? He heard the fight from his room; he had an idea of how Bakura felt, he just didn't know what to do.
The snow had barely begun is gently descent to the earth. The chilled breeze blew over Mariku's improperly clothed body. Bakura had walked in another direction and sat down on a bench under a tree to get out of the snow and think. Mariku stood, deciding that he needed to appologize for the horrid way he acted.
He teleported himself onto one of the higher branches of the tree towering over Bakura who was still sitting quietly on the bench.
Bakura seemed to be cold, but he was trying not to show it, his hair was slightly wet and matted against his face. Bakura stood, his trench coat dancing on the strong wind and blizzard that had developed. Mariku jumped down in front of him, surprising the robber who hadn't sensed him at all because his mind was busy with other thoughts.
The tomb robber's eyes were somewhat red, as if he had been crying for a short while.
"Bakura?" Mariku said confused by the tears and wipped them away.
"Mariku?" Bakura said also surprised that Mariku was actually up and walking, especially in this weather and in what little clothing he had on.
The sandy-blonde wrapped his arms around Bakura's slim waist. "I'm sorry." The tomb robber quickly appologized.
His eyes drew shut, the wind whipping him in the face along with small ice particles formed from what was snow. Mariku released him and looked up at him. His own eyes were filled with sadness and fear.
"You shouldn't be the one to appologize." Mariku replied.
Bakura opened his chocolate eyes just a pinch and looked into the dark purple pools of the other.
"Why do you say that?" Bakura looked down at the cold blonde.
"I lost control of myself….and you tried to talk me out of it."
Bakura one cold hand, cupping Mariku's face gently. "I am not the one to tell you what to do…"
"Yes, you are….I need you…" Mariku said very sincerely.
Suddenly, he disappeared in a flurry of snow. Bakura looked around confused and unsure of where the other had gone.
He arched a brow and shrugged. Abruptly, a stiffled voice called out his name. Bakura turned about and looked again for Mariku, this time realizing that he hadn't merely disappeared but had been buried in large pile of snow that had fallen from the tree. He dug at least eight feet into the snow before he found the first of many blonde spikes. He pulled Mariku out of his snowy prison, and he was gasping for air and coughing.
"Are you all right, Mariku?" Bakura brushed away the snow from Mariku's clothing. The sandy-blonde nodded, still coughing and trying to recall his breath.
The sound of something breaking whispered in the wind. The branches of the large tree were beginning to break under the pressure of the snow that was quickly falling. One branch did indeed break free and fell quickly in theif direction.
Bakura was hasty to push Mariku out of the way, falling on top of him to protect his bare torso. Another branch fell, followed by more. Suddenly, the snow was spattered with crimson.
"Damn it…" Bakura growled.
Mariku moaned and was unconscious. Bakura moved him out of the way of the last falling branch. Mariku was safe, but unfortunately, the tomb robber was trapped under its weight. The pain was unbearable. He looked up at Mariku to see his hair matted with blood. "Damn it…" he again cursed.
He looked around frantically for help. Off in the distance, two shadows appeared in the snowy blur. Bakura's vision went black and he passed out, holding Mariku's hand.
The two shadows approached the pair of males. It was Ryou and Malik who were shocked to see their yami's both unconscious and hurt. They worked quickly to get the yami's out of the snow storm and dragged them both back to Mariku's mansion.
After two long hours of bathing, bandaging and hard work, the two yami's had been placed in separate rooms of the mansion to rest.
Malik had falled asleep, slumped over the edge of Mariku's bed; and Ryou was awake and sitting near Bakura's bed.
The lightly sleeping tomb keeper stirred, both purple pools crept open and glanced about the room, then spotting Malik laying face down at the edge of the bed. The little Hikari too stirred and came to life and sat up to see his Yami awake and oddly enough backed away from him.
"Mariku…?" He said groggily. Slowly he inched toward the cowering male, "Are you okay?"
An ear-shattering scream rang throughout the spacious mansion. Malik fell backwards off of the bed and covered his ears. Ryou rushed into the room with his ears covered as well. He watched as Mariku backed up against the head of his bed whilst screaming and repeating himself, "Stay the hell away from me!"
"What's going on?" Ryou yelled to Malik.
"I dunno, he just started screaming!"
Ryou approached the Ishtar slowly. "Mariku! Stop it!"
Mariku ceased his screaming fit and threw a pillow at Ryou. "Stay away!" He curled up tightly with his face buried in his hands; and was shaking in fear. "Mariku, its okay. We won't hurt you." Ryou tried to assure. From out of nowhere, a light purple energy barrier flooded over Mariku.
Malik sighed heavily and walked out of the room feeling helpless and confused. Ryou followed him out into the hallway. "I think he has amnesia." Ryou said calmly. "He doesn't remember who we are or anything."
Malik sunk down to the ground and leaned back against the wall, burying his face in his crossed arms. "Great…This is just fan-fucking-tastic…" he grumbled through his arms.
Ryou sat down beside him and thought for a moment. "Is there any way to snap him out of this?" Ryou questioned. "Not that I know of right now." He replied.
Malik became quiet, Ryou as well. The sandy-blonde Hikari brooded for a moment. "Ryou, have you ever met anyone with amnesia?"
Ryou shook his head. He leaned forward expecting to hear a short speech.
"Well, Mariku is like a big puppy…" Malik began to put into words. "A really big puppy…." He thought as his thoughts wandered. "What do you mean?" Ryou inquired.
"If you've seen his waist line lately you would understand-"
"No, not that! The puppy part!" Ryou interrupted.
"Oh yeah, well, he doesn't really remember anything."
Ryou understood, but then again, he didn't. "Shouldn't we just-"
"No, this is something that will just take time. We can't just clobber him and expect everything to be okay. That never got anyone anywhere." He looked over at Ryou seriously. "Remind yourself that Mariku is not a normal human. His powers may prolongue the effect or just plain get in the way of his recovery." Malik explained.
The sandy-blonde Hikari got up and walked back into the bedroom. Not as surprising as it should have been, the room was empty. The window was jammed open, allowing the cold breath of winter to flow in.
Malik sunk to his knees and Ryou knelt beside him. He attempted to comfort him and give him hope that the Yami could be found. Malik glared at Ryou who was a little shocked to see such a look.
"Don't try to tell me that we can find him so easily! For all I know, he could be in Spain! I don't know where his unbridaled powers will take him now that he has no knowledge of them," Malik said with concern.
It had been several hours since Mariku's disappearing act. He had wandered around the neighborhood, not far from the house. He appeared to be looking for something that could not be found. He pivoted around the corner sharply and came upon the park.
It was abandoned, had plenty of hiding places, and it was quiet. He bolted across the street and ran down the long snow spattered pathway, until he came upon a good tree to hide in. He climbed high into its branches to have a good cry.
He was scared and unsure of where he was or what to do next. All he knew was that this was not Egypt, and his home was no where around.