Hello, hello, hello! Today hasn't been such a terrible horrible day and I can actually write this chapter without interruption from other family members. I think that is just totally awesome. For clarification later on, there are parenthesis behind Bakura and Mariku's thoughts later and that is just so you don't get confused on who is thinking one. Just thought you should know.
It was a new day and the city was vibrant and busy as everyday usually was in this city. Today, Mariku and Malik had decided to pay a little visit to the market. Malik wanted fresh fruit to go with lunch which was at least two hours from now. Malik was a much better cook now, but only because he wasn't allowed to actually touch the stove. He was only allotted that privilege on the days that Mariku didn't feel much like cooking his own meals and Malik's just the same.
Malik was dressed down for the warm weather to come later in the day not long from now, but Mariku was dressed as he had been for the past year, heavy black robes only these he wore today had a hint of blue to them, but not enough to make a big deal about.
Just as Mariku and his hikari were out in the market, Bakura was as well. He had left not long ago, leaving Ryou to himself for a little while he 'foraged' for food so to speak. He was again in all blue, this being his new favorite color without any warning. He looked quite yummy with his new bronze tan newly acquired, and his shorter hair like Ryou's exactly, this also newly acquired.
He was looking for bread, and fruit of some sort that would make a decent lunch for today. Nearby there, Malik was looking at some wonderful-tasting looking Apples, but couldn't decide which ones to take. Some were bruised, some were broken on the skin, but they still had fabulous color to them. Mariku's brow twitched as he impatiently watched his hikari look amongst the fruit which to him looked all the same. "Hurry it up! It doesn't take forever to pick out a few apples!" He snapped at Ryou with his arms crossed over his chest and his foot tapping loudly in the dust.
"I know, but they have to be the best. I also know that you are a picky eater and I'll regret it later if I don't pick carefully." Malik said making no sense to Mariku who just wanted to get out of the sun.
"They are all the same type of fruit," He said and packed a pile of apples into Malik's arms and dragged him away from the stand before its owner could see that he hadn't paid for the fruit. Malik knew what his yami was doing, but he didn't want to complain for that would only upset Mariku to the point of a beating for complaining.
Mariku was pushing Malik so harshly that it caused him to trip up and fall, Mariku also toppling over on top of him knocking the wind out of him. Both yami and hikari lay there in a heap of cloth, moaning as they lay there for a moment.
The disoriented yami sat up and rubbed his head and groaned then glancing down at Malik through one half-lidded eye. "You clumsy idiot, watch where you're going!" He yelled at his hikari and tried to stand up, but only fell back on top of poor Malik, squishing him a bit and causing him to gasp out painfully when Mariku again came crashing down on his aching body.
Suddenly, a long shadow cast itself over the two still on the ground. Mariku looked up at the tall figure looming over them both and quirked his brow. "You really need to use your eyes and try to see where you are going." Bakura said and just stood there staring at the two of them. Malik didn't bother looking up because he already knew who it was hovering over them and he didn't care much to look up at Ryou's mirror image.
Bakura nonchalantly stepped over the two entangled men and walked on as if they weren't there. "Mind your own damn business!" Mariku yelled after the arrogant male.
The thief turned slightly and looked back emotionlessly at Mariku. "It is my business when you are in my way."
"Arrogant bastard," Mariku said quite loudly and shook his fist at the male.
Bakura started to walk again, "Fucker!" He retorted and flipped Mariku off over his shoulder. Mariku growled and struggled to get to his feet while still on top of Malik making this harder. "Why I ought to--!" Malik shook a bit knocking Mariku back down. "Just stop it, Mariku." He said disinterested in having another battle commence itself right in the middle of the city.
The tomb keeper rolled off of Malik who complained of it hurting, but Mariku completely ignored him. The sandy blonde Egyptian had other things to do that seemed like a lot more fun than worrying about his hikari. "Watch and learn, Malik." He whispered and crept off. Malik sighed and lowered his head into the dirt. "Maybe I don't want to learn…wait, learn what?" He glanced back up just in time to see Mariku run past Bakura at a hastened speed.
Bakura had felt the breeze and also the absence of his wallet from the back pocket of his denim trousers. He rolled his eyes and cast a spell to freeze the predictable thief, but Mariku was one step ahead and was able to break his spell which surprised the tomb robber just a bit. No one had ever been able to break that spell.
"Nice try, idiot," Mariku was thinking to himself as he darted off down another street. Bakura sighed deeply and didn't want to chase after the keeper, but had no choice so he picked up after him and also ran down that same street.
He skidded to a halt once he had reached this empty street. The air was stiff with silence and not even a slight breeze was heard in the empty space. Bakura glanced around slowly as he watched for the slightest amount of movement. Just then, he pivoted and tackled the keeper who had crept up behind him.
Mariku struggled and was able to kick the robber off and scampered up the side of a building to the height of its roof. He laughed loudly at the robber on the ground and smirked. Bakura too began to laugh which caused a certain amount of alarm to Mariku. "What the hell are you laughing at? I stole your wallet right out of your pocket. Sure you got me when I came up from behind, but—"
"You do realize that you've taken an empty piece of leather, correct?" He continued to laugh at Mariku who looked quite stupid right about now to him.
"What the hell are you talking about…?" He glanced down at the wallet in his hand. "There's nothing in it you idiot." Bakura returned and shook his head with a sly smile on his face.
Mariku glanced into the wallet and began to growl as he realized that the wallet he had stolen was empty and there was nothing of value in it besides that. It was truly just a plain piece of scrap leather Bakura had probably sewn together.
Mariku hurled the wallet back at him and growled still as anger filled him to the brink of its boiling point. Bakura turned out of the street laughing and couldn't help but smile at the other's utter stupidity. He saw Malik still sitting on the ground, who then looked up at him as he passed by. Bakura slowed his pace as he passed the other. "Tell your friend to learn how to steal things the correct way…" he said and walked on.
Malik turned his attention to Mariku who was still perched atop the roof of the apartment building. "You can come down now, Mariku!" He yelled to him and stood up off the ground.
"Boku, wait!" He called after and tried to catch up. Bakura turned a threatening look to Malik and said, "Don't ever call me that." He turned his glance away and continued to walk trying his hardest to ignore the little one following him. "I apologize for the way he acted, Bakura." Malik said with sincerity in his tone.
"I'm not!" Mariku yelled from the roof top. "I refuse to apologize to that stuck up bastard!" He shook his fist at Bakura when he had looked back at the keeper.
"Forget about it Malik. It doesn't matter whether he apologizes or not, he obviously doesn't care and I'm still trying not to." Bakura stopped and looked back at Ryou over his shoulder.
Malik's head was lowered slightly and his arms were held at his waist in a slumped over way. "I can't believe you followed us here…" He sighed and shook his head.
"Follow you? I didn't follow you anywhere. After Ryou and I left the house, we got on the first flight out of Japan and just decided to come here. We did it to get away from you and your damn yami, but obviously this wasn't the wisest of choices."
"Tell me Bakura, is this supposed to be a sign of some sort?" Malik questioned as he took up walking beside the pallid haired male. "What the hell are you trying to say?" Bakura quirked his brow and slipped his hands into his pockets. "You know very well what I'm saying, don't act stupid." Malik returned a bit harshly in his tone.
Bakura stopped in his tracks and stared awkwardly at Malik until he was at least given an answer. Malik sighed and rubbed the back of his neck. "Maybe it is destined that you two still be lovers, same for Ryou and me." Malik explained tersely.
Bakura gave Malik a sour look and grimaced at him. "Listen Malik, Ryou has had the hardest time with trying to forget everything that happened exactly one year ago. You hurt him that day, and I don't want it to happen again, so maybe it would be best if you just stayed away from him." Bakura replied.
"Nothing bad will come of this, Bakura."
"How I am I supposed to know this? He was already in enough pain as it was when he saw you and you didn't realize who it was until he basically gave you the answer." Bakura spat at Malik.
"It's not my fault that his physical appearance changed as far as so I couldn't recognize him."
"Malik, he doesn't need any more problems than he already has."
"Malik, stop cavorting with the enemy!" Mariku yelled still from atop the apartment building.
"Listen, he is still struggling to give up who we was because he doesn't want those memories of pain—"
"Pain?" Malik looked sharply at Bakura through eyes considerably wider than before. "Malik!" Mariku screamed from the roof again. "Shut up, Mariku!" Malik retorted and gave his yami a most disturbing glare.
Bakura sighed and rolled his eyes as he slipped his large hands into his denim pockets and started to walk. Malik turned back and looked at him. "Where are you going?" He inquired and tried to follow him.
"You can figure things out for yourself. I'm done baby sitting you and your damn yami. I'm going home and I had better not catch you following me." Malik stopped in his tracks and watched as Bakura disappeared down the long street.
It was then that Mariku leapt down from the roof of the apartments and attacked his hikari and beat him into the ground. "Don't you ever tell me to shut up!" Mariku growled as he hit him again. "Stop it! That hurts!" Malik covered his head and was curled up. "That's just a small sample of what I'm going to do to you when we get home!" Mariku retorted and dragged his hikari to his feet roughly.
Over the course of the one year, Mariku had come across various new ways of torture and pain of which he loved to test on Malik. Down in their basement, he had three sets of chains set up in separate areas of the room. It looked fairly nice, but it truly wasn't.
Usually, he would drag his hikari down there and strip him down to his skin and would either chain him to the bed, the wall, or a long wooden table of which he did not often use. He liked the wall or the bed options a bit more.
Today, for Malik's rudeness in the market, he was going to punish him by chaining to the wall so that Malik couldn't run and couldn't do much of anything at all.
"No, not the wall again…you did that three days ago…" Malik put up a bit of a fight even though he knew his yami could definitely overpower his small frame of a body.
"Three days was obviously too long of a break for you." Mariku returned as he clasped the heavy metal bands around his hikari's wrists and ankles. He walked over to a tall oak cabinet and opened his two doors. Inside were various torture devices and some that didn't seem like they would be used for torture at all, this referring to the baseball bat and fly swatter.
Mariku stroked his chin as he looked over the various objects. Malik saw a few that he had his eyes on and gulped in a frightened manner, hoping that none of them would be used on him as of yet.
Mariku smirked as he picked up the whip, a box of daggers, and a few leather straps. This was his way of being sexually active with Malik without actually doing so since they weren't on the bed this time.
He glanced over his shoulder at Malik as he held the objects over his head for Malik's notice. The hikari's eyes widened a bit as he took note of each object. He felt a knot forming in his throat, that or else his heart had just given out, he couldn't decide which it was.
Mariku removed his robes and tossed them aside on the bed so as not to stain them in Malik's crimson. He approached his quaking hikari and began to lace the straps around his chest, legs, arms and neck. "I don't know what's gotten into you lately, but you won't act like this when I'm done with you," Mariku whispered in his hikari's ear as he tightened the last leather strap onto Malik's body.
He leapt into the air not far from Malik and spun around in the air, kicking Malik sharply in the chest, knocking the wind from him. He threw heavy punches and kicked his hikari repeatedly, even a few times in the groin which was obviously painful from the way his face was twisted and from each cry that escaped his bleeding lips.
Malik was on his knees and panting painfully with his hands suspended above his head. His form was riddled with bruises and open cuts and small wounds that were bleeding, his crimson running at the pull of gravity. His complexion was that of a pallid color lightly tinted by the crimson color and black and blue bruises.
Mariku opened his box of daggers and took one from its resting place. He looked it over, its silver surface giving off a reflection of his beaten hikari on its surface. He knelt down before Malik and lifted his chin until their eyes met, Malik's being half lidded with pain in both lavender orbs.
Mariku took the tip of the blade to Malik's chest and slowly allowed it to creep across his flesh, drawing out his crimson color. The sadistic yami licked the blood from the blade and smirked at Ryou and kissed him lightly. His mouth wandered off to the side of Malik's face and then to his ear in which he whispered, "You brought this upon yourself…" and then licked Malik's ear lightly.
Just then, Mariku's eyes widened as he gasped out and started to fall back with both hands on his stomach. Malik had taken this opportunity of having Mariku's guard down in order to deliver a swift blow to his stomach, using his knee, to get his attention and also for a little pay back after what he had, had to endure.
"How dare you-?" He glared at his Light dangerously and scrambled away from his hikari. "Shut up and listen to me…do you want to know why I am acting differently? More defiant maybe? It's because I saw Ryou and Bakura here in Egypt…" Malik winced and leaned back against the wall.
"Hmph…I already knew that. I tried to follow Ryou home one evening, but it didn't work out and I didn't get to speak with Bakura. However, that still gives you no right to hit me." Mariku was done for tonight and was exhausted, but he didn't mind because he had at least gotten some tears and a few good screams out of his hikari. He released the chains letting Malik fall face down onto the concrete floor in exhaustion and pain. "You should take a shower or something. You look terrible." Mariku said and left, taking up his robes from the bed and continuing out of the house for a much needed walk.
It had grown considerably dark outside, but Mariku didn't care. He sighed deeply, "Thanks a lot, Malik. You didn't need to remind me that they were here…" He thought to himself as he walked on down the dimly lit street.
Bakura was stationed at his home at the moment and was quietly sitting on a comfortable chair in his living room. He had been there ever since he had gotten home and hadn't really moved since then. He had occasionally checked in on Ryou, but had lazily done so through his link. At least Ryou was doing better than he was at the moment.
"Why couldn't they just get out of our lives?" Bakura thought to himself and leaned over onto the palm of his hand, giving off a small sigh as he did so.
"I knew I should have just taken my life when I had the chance…" (Mariku)
"Why did he have to follow me here?" (Bakura)
"Why did he have to follow me here?" (Mariku)
Bakura glanced around his living room and saw that there really was nothing to do with his time and decided that maybe a little fresh air would make him feel a bit better. He grabbed his favorite black trench coat and left his house figuring that Ryou would be fine on his own.
Okay, that's the end of this chapter. I know I know, freaky chapter with the torture and all, but there were other parts ya know. I thought this chapter was kinda fun other than the torture scene which made me feel bad for Malik. Anyways, plz review. Lata!