Dread and the Fugitive Mind

Part 6

"He calls this roughing it? This thing's bigger than my house!" Malik exclaimed, slinging his bags down on one of the two beds in the room he was sharing with Otogi. Ryou was off in the room he had all to himself, and everyone else was settling into the other two cabins.

The cabins themselves were much bigger than he'd expected after Marik had finally told them they wouldn't be spending the week in tents. The three wooden holiday cabins formed a circle nestled deep in the middle of the thick woods to the north of Domino City. In the middle of the circle was a stone ring to set a campfire, surrounded by logs with the tops smoothed down to make seats.

They'd split up to put their things away and have a rest and a chance to look around, agreeing to meet up again to light the campfire once it got dark in a few hours.

"Thirsty?" Ryou asked, entering the room behind Otogi and handing them both a can of soda each.

"Thanks," Malik grinned, falling back onto the end of the bed with a sigh of happiness. Otogi opened his drink and sat down too, dragging Ryou down with him. It'd been a while since they'd been away from the city and he was going to enjoy being on holiday and not having to work for once.

Ryou escaped from Otogi's clutches and busied himself putting the dice player's scattered clothes in the wardrobe for him while Malik watched them both, trying not to draw too much attention to the fact that he was staring at his two closest friends.

A year or two ago the thought of sharing a room with Otogi for a week would have had him glaring death at Ryou until he got the single room. But now he was glad Otogi was there with him, not minding the close quarters like he would have once. The dice expert was equally clever and ditzy, and could make him laugh like nobody else. Then there was Ryou, who was quiet, responsible, occasionally eccentric and liked heavy metal. Those two were sure to keep him entertained for the rest of the week. He just hoped they thought the same about him, and that the others were getting on as well with their cabin mates.

XxXxX

"Heh, Pharaoh's going to have fun over there being the third wheel while Yugi and Jounouchi paw at each other," Marik smirked, looking out of the window in the large living room/kitchen of their cabin.

"There's an image I really needed," Seto muttered, rolling his eyes and wandering over to make them all a snack as Bakura finished his shower and joined them, looking tired again. The thief's white hair was dripping wet around his shoulders, soaking the grey shirt he was wearing as he sat down on the couch.

"You're getting water everywhere, 'Kura." Marik pointed out, grabbing a spare towel from one of the chairs. "Let me help you with that…" The golden skinned yami came up behind Bakura and sat down, wrapping the towel over his hair to soak up the water.

"I can do it myself, get… get off…" The tomb robber trailed off, shivering in pleasure at the feeling of Marik's long fingers running through his hair gently.

Seto watched discreetly, impressed that Marik could tame the fiery thief so fast. Bakura was leaning lightly back against Marik's chest, eyes half-lidded and barely seeming to realise what he was doing. He looked beautiful relaxed like that as the bigger yami ran skilful fingers through his hair down to his neck and shoulders.

Not wanting to do anything that might snap Bakura out of the calm little moment and bring his guard back up, Seto carried on quietly making sandwiches over in the little kitchen area, on the other side of an 'L'-shaped counter separating it from the rest of the large room.

He hadn't ever seen Bakura so content when he was awake before, the tomb robber was almost purring and his eyes were sliding closed. Seto supposed the thief must still be exhausted, Ryou had told Marik that the nightmares were still keeping his yami up at night and it'd only been a few days since he'd passed out on them during the Halloween party.

"Go to sleep, 'Kura. We won't let anyone in and we'll wake you when it's time to go out to the campfire." Marik said in a low, soothing voice.

"Mmmhh…" Bakura murmured, relaxing completely against the Egyptian yami. His eyes closed and within a few minutes his breathing had evened out into the steady rhythm of sleep. Marik gently laid the albino yami back on the couch and stood up, fetching a blanket to drape over him.

"He needs to sleep," Marik said quietly, making his way over to Seto and snaking a hand around the brunette to grab a sandwich from the plate.

"He must trust you if he'd fall asleep against you like that," Seto remarked, glancing over at the pale thief sleeping on the couch across the room.

"He trusts you too, or he wouldn't have fallen asleep with you in the room. Or even in the cabin, for that matter," Marik pointed out.

"Good," Seto smiled slightly, "he might just tell us what's bothering him yet." The brunette yawned, tired from having watched Bakura fall asleep.

"I think you're next," the yami grinned, wrapping his arms around Seto's thin waist from behind.

"I should finish putting everything away-"

"I can do that. Come here and let me work my magic," Marik smirked, taking Seto's hand and pulling him over to the other couch, on the other side of a low coffee table from the one Bakura slept on.

"Lay down and stop worrying. Just because we have a secret agenda doesn't mean this isn't still a holiday." Marik said as he waited for Seto to lay down on the couch before sitting beside him and running skilled hands over his back.

"You don't have to-" Seto began, but trailed off with a groan as the yami's fingers worked out a knot in his shoulder.

"Relax…" Marik murmured, and Seto smiled tiredly, putting all thoughts of everything he needed to do out of his mind and closing his eyes.

TBC