Author's note: Hey, everyone! -sweat- I know, I'm totally late, so I'll get to it quickly. First, though, in answer to some questions:

1) Bakura may just get his own body. XD Have to see how things go.

2) Malik and Bakura hate each other right now, so it's going to be a long time before they get together. -sweat-

Thanks for all the reviews last chapter. XD -gives cookies- I appreciate it a lot. Here's the second chapter of the fic!

flounces off-

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Disclaimer: I don't own Yu-Gi-Oh, Bakura, Ryou or Malik.

Pairing: Yami no Bakura x Malik Ishtar.

Warning: Contains shounen-ai in later chapters, swearing and adult themes.

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All In My Head

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Chapter two - Learning?

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Several hours later, I find myself roused from my sleep when something sharp pokes me in the chest. I pause, open my eyes and then sit up quickly, pulling the Sennen Ring's sharp-ended points out of my chest.

"Ouch," I mutter, watching blood lazily drip from a wound in my chest and onto my lap. With a devilish smirk, I use a finger to swipe up some of the blood. I suck on my finger, senses awakening as the metallic taste makes my tastebuds tingle.

I stop momentarily, hearing something interesting. Sucking the last of the coppery blood from my finger, I curiously creep into Ryou's mind, watching.

I doubt he's noticed my presence, because he's talking to Malik.

Malik flips through a thick textbook quickly, skimming, until he seems to come across what he's looking for. He smirks and dog-ears a page, turning it around to show Ryou, who he's sitting across the coffee table from.

Ryou observes the page and smiles, nodding. "That looks like a nice one to do!" he says cheerfully, nibbling on a cookie he's eating. How sickeningly cute.

I growl lightly as Malik smirks at Ryou, the way he used to smirk at me.

…What?

Er, that is not possible. My Gods, I've been asleep for too long. That, or, I need to go and attempt to kill the pharaoh. Holy hell.

Malik snaps my attention back to him when he leans back on the couch, folding his arms behind his head casually as he crosses one leg over the other, resulting in his lavender midriff riding up far more than necessary.

I find myself staring rather openly at the bronzed skin of his stomach, despite the fact that there's no one in Ryou's soul room except for me. I still feel stupid, so I rub my face vigorously with my hands, attempting to rid myself of the image of that sexy bastard in my head.

Gah, get out, you stupid twit of an ex-partner! With a final rub of my forehead, I'm convinced that the mental images of him are gone, and my attention is drawn back to the conversation arising between my omote and the Egyptian.

"How can we do it?" Malik asks, eyeing my omote carefully. For some reason, I don't like that look.

"Um…" Ryou appears to be thinking as he twitches his nose slightly, wearing a look that could resemble a pout. "…I don't know," he says after a while, looking half-sheepish.

Malik smirks playfully at him, removing one of his arms from behind his head to toy with one of his bangs. "Hm… Maybe the abomination living inside your head has some ideas," he suggests with a smirk, looking right in Ryou's eyes, as if he knows I'm there.

…Bastard of a tomb-keeper. That's all I have to say.

I'm just about ready to take control of our bo—MY body, and strangle him, but I don't know where to hide the body. Damn. Another good opportunity wasted.

Ryou squeaks, and I can tell he doesn't like the idea of me being in control around Malik. I smirk evilly, waiting for his response.

"Um, Malik, I don't think that's such a good idea," he says carefully, stumbling around his words.

Malik smirks, "Any reason why?"

"Um…"

Gods. Coherent today, Ryou?

"Hmm?" Malik presses, still wearing that bloody smirk.

"Erm…"

Oh, for the love of the Gods! What do I have to do, say it for you?

…Not a bad idea. Smart me.

I quickly gain control of our bo—oh, holy hell, THE body, and end up on Ryou's spot on the couch, blinking at Malik. I regain my composure quickly and smirk smugly at him. "Surprised?" I ask, purring slightly.

He narrows his eyes, the defiant lavender accusing me silently. "Not really."

"Oh?" I taunt, mimicking him and narrowing my eyes. Heh. I love to get him riled up. He's pretty hot when he's mad.

…Gah. GAH.

I am not getting into this again. No way in the seven hells.

Malik leans forward, resting his elbows on his knees and propping his head on his hands lightly. "Actually, I am surprised to see you," he muses, his eyes losing their glittering edge.

I arch a brow at this. Is he planning some kind of sneak attack on me? I cast a look to the door of the living room, half expecting a Ghoul to come out with some odd-looking mask, a duel disc and a cloak with a parachute inside it.

"Any reason as to why?" I ask dryly, settling back against the couch and further away from his smirking features.

Malik shrugs, sounding airy as he says, "You think I don't miss my partner in crime?"

Insert snort here.

"Partner in crime? Fool. I was your superior."

"Superior?" Malik echoes, looking disbelieving. "I'd say it was the other way around, Bakura."

"Oh, so? How does that work?" I question, looking thoroughly amused. He seriously thinks he is my superior?

Over my cold, dead, lifeless body, Malik.

…Alright, the fact that I'm dead has nothing to do with it. Just play along, and we'll do just fine, bitch.

"For one thing, my Sennen item is more powerful than yours," Malik points out with a devilish smirk.

Somewhere in the back of our mind, I hear Ryou gasp softly and cover his mouth with a hand quickly. 'Bakura,' he says almost pleadingly, 'don't you and Malik kill each other.'

I snicker, zoning out momentarily as I focus my attention on Ryou, anger at Malik's last comment dissipating.

'Ryou,' I sneer, 'what makes you think that lowlife stands a chance against me?'

Ryou makes a defiant sounding squeak, and his mental counterpart puts his hands on his hips lightly. 'Bakura, don't cause any trouble! I need Malik for my assignment, and he's my friend.'

'Omote, do you honestly believe Malik could be your friend? Do you know who you're talking about?'

'Yes, I do. Malik's changed, yami. You're a bit blinder than I thought if you can't see that,' Ryou squeaks, trying to sound bold, but I can see right through him, almost as if what he says is transparent.

'Do not fool yourself, omote. You don't know who you're dealing with.'

'I'm fully aware… Bakura, just... please?'

A rather random and large pair of brown eyes appears at the door into my soulroom, glossier than usual. I growl, shaking my head. 'Out, Ryou.'

Ryou sighs and wanders back out, scuffing his toes against the floor. How pathetically cute. I roll my eyes at myself, finding the fluffball's antics amusing and all together bad for my godforsaken health. There shouldn't be such a thing as sanity when you're dead.

With a satisfied smirk, I slyly slip back to the outside world, only to be greeted by a rather resounding whacking noise on my head. I blink for a moment, before realizing I've been hit with a pillow, of all things.

"…" I stare at Malik from underneath my bangs and the pillow, watching as he smirks at me triumphantly.

"Zoning out like that makes you drool."

"…" I continue to stare. Did that just happen? …He hit me with a pillow? Gods, what an idiot.

"You looked like you conked out," Malik comments off-handedly, propping his head on a hand and gazing at me curiously.

"…" I finally regain my sense and grab the pillow, tossing it hard at Malik's head. He ducks with a confident smirk, only to meet with a rather see-through coffee table. There's a noise, and then…

Silence.

Hah. Silence. No more Malik snickering. No more smirking. …Do I care? …

I blink, snapping out of my reverie, seeing Malik's lithe figure collapsed against the couch. …Huh. Looks like he's passed out.

I get to my feet, approaching him suspiciously, Ryou making squeaking noises in the back of our mind. He seems rather distressed by the fact that Malik has apparently passed out, and he slaps a hand over his mouth to prevent more squeaking noises.

'Hush,' I scold him, leaning over Malik's lifeless figure. He looks rather dead to me. Now I can finally di-. ...I can finally destroy the pharaoh without having to be constantly on the lookout for Malik and his idiotic Ghouls.

…Perhaps I'm hoping for too much. Maybe he is alive, and I've just been too careless to check whether or not he's breathing. …Oh, yes. Logical.

Ryou materializes in front of me, looking quite ghost-like as he leans over Malik also, laying two transparent fingers against the side of his neck.

I roll my eyes. 'Ryou, he's probably not dead. We weren't lucky enough for that to happen.'

Ryou shoots me a cute glare, which makes me roll my eyes again, before he returns his attention to Malik. 'He's just knocked out, he says, breathing a sigh of relief. 'Bakura, pick him up and take him to my room.'

'What?' I stare at my other half as if he's insane. 'You've got to be kidding.'

'No joke,' Ryou sighs. 'He needs to be taken care of, so come on.'

I snort and roll my eyes. 'If you think I'm touching that body with my hands, you've got another thing coming.'

After a few moments, I realize that could have been taken one of two ways, but I'm thankful Ryou's too naïve to figure out the other one.

'Bakura, I'm fully serious,' Ryou insists quietly.

I snort and pick Malik's body up into my arms, holding him as far away from myself as I can. 'Happy?'

'Very.' Ryou smiles. 'Now, up the stairs.' Then, he disappears back into our body and into his soulroom.

"Gods, how did I get stuck with this, again?" I ask myself with a huff, before turning and moving towards the stairs. I swiftly make my way up them, and then down the hall to Ryou's room, using my hip to open the door. I look down at Malik with an arched brow, noticing he has a slight bruise on his upper forehead from where he'd collided with the table.

I sigh and roll my eyes. The boy is turning into a diaster area. Making my way over to the bed, I toss him on it half-heartedly, though I had been contemplating whether or not I should take the chance and kill him while I could.

…Nah. There'll be plenty of opportunities to hurt little Malik… later.

Malik's breathing is shallow and uneven, his body sprawled across the bed, his sandy bangs rising and falling above his tanned cheeks with every breath. He's breathing noisily through slightly parted lips, and the noise is rather annoying.

Smirking to myself, I grab a pillow and place it over his face, the heavy breathing noises coming to a stop. With a satisfied smirk at my handiwork, I turn and walk out of the room, thinking of ways to torture my new captive.

…Or, Ryou's captive.

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A/N: Well, there's the second chapter. Once I started writing it, I found I couldn't stop. -blink- Anyways, if you want to leave a review and leave some constructive crit or whatever, feel free. I've been working a bit more on Bakura's character, because I think he needs to be a little more canon-like... Malik's turning into Battle City!Malik. -sweatdrop- Looking for ways to improve. -grin- Later.