Disclaimer: I do not own Yu-Gi-Oh

The story is starting to get rolling now and good stuff will happen. Not to Anuket though, but things will get better for her eventually, I promise. I'm just gonna write now, you can read the important stuff at the bottom later.

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Unrequited Love

Chapter 9: Kidnapped

Later that night, Anuket was laying in bed trying to get to sleep. That seemed impossible though, her thoughts about what had happened earlier were still lingering in her mind. She sat up and turned on her tiny reading lamp. Anuket brought her knees up to her chest and hugged them tightly.

"Why, of all places did he have to come here?" she asked herself miserably burying her face into the sheets.

------------------Flashback

Anuket was sitting in the lounge with a mug of hot chocolate in her hands. It was more comfortable here then on the floor in the hallway. Ipet sat down next to Anuket, and pulled her in for a hug, which she needed very much right now. The elderly woman sat there, waiting for Anuket to tell her what had happened.

"Are you ready to tell me yet, or do you want a little more time?" she asked, trying to get the girl to confide in her.

"No, I'm alright now, well… as much as I can be in these circumstances anyway" replied Anuket wearily.

She began telling Ipet about the events that happened only an hour or so earlier. Everything had been going so well. They had all sat together laughing, joking and overall having a great time. She explained how all her friends had been asked to dance until she was the only one left.

"I was sitting at the bar when the lights went low. I was just thinking about how I was the only one left, when a man came up to me from behind. I couldn't see his face. It was too dark. He asked me if I wanted to dance, I felt a little left out because I was the only one who didn't have a partner, so I accepted. We danced for about half an hour, he seemed really nice. He asked me if I wanted to stand outside for a few minutes because it was really hot in there. I agreed to that as well. When we were outside and I turned around to face him… He looks just like he did nine years ago, only older now. But I recognised him straight away"

Ipet looked a little stunned. "Marik was the one you were dancing with?! I thought he was going to come into this later"

"No. that was him" Anuket continued miserably, "but the thing is… he didn't recognise me at all"

Unlike the other news, this bit didn't surprise Ipet at all.

"Well you have altered a lot over the years you know. I probably wouldn't have recognised you if I hadn't seen you for, how long did you say? Nine years? You were only seven Anu. You've had time to grow and develop your own sense of style"

Ipet leaned in closer to her with a smirk "and let's face it, physically, you've filled out very nicely since then"

"But that shouldn't matter. I can't have changed that much in appearance!"

"Well that's because boys are thick, it's a fact of life" Ipet said plainly. "I suppose you should be thankful Marik didn't remember you. He might have taken you straight back to Egypt otherwise"

That might well have been true, but in a strange way Anuket almost wanted to find him again and tell him who she was. She wanted to see if he would treat her the same way he did when they were children. If he didn't, that would most definitely prove he was just a typical, shallow male, only interested in physical appearance. She was suddenly aware that Ipet had just asked her a question.

"Marik didn't follow you did he?"

"No, I don't think so. The last I saw of him, he was still on the floor" Anuket replied thoughtfully. Ipet looked confused.

"Why was he on the floor?" she raised an eyebrow, she hoped Anuket hadn't done anything to infuriate Marik but it was wordlessly confirmed when Anuket gave her a shifty look. "You didn't hit him…"

"No! Well, I only slapped him… and kicked him a couple of times. But he deserved it! That was a long time coming! Don't look at me like that Ipet, I had to. I accidentally called him by his name! He never mentioned it to me once. He grabbed my arms and wouldn't let me go until I told him who I was"

Ipet now looked worried "Oh Anu…You do realise that now Marik knows you've met before, he may try and find you again don't you?"

"If his temper is as bad as you say it is Anu…he wont take kindly to being hit by a woman" Ipet thought to herself, not wanting to worry the girl even more.

"I realise that, but I'm sure it'll be ok. He didn't follow me and wouldn't even know where to start" Anuket replied trying to convince Ipet, and even more so, herself.

--------------------End flashback

Anuket was certain that Marik hadn't followed her. She kept looking over her shoulder the entire way home. That kick in the ribs would most definitely have winded him for a while. But what if he did find her again? Would he take her back to Egypt or just let her be?

"Why was he even here in the first place? I thought the men in his family were forbidden to leave the tomb…"

She couldn't think of a single reason as to why his father would allow him to leave that place. Mr Ishtar was very strict. What could have happened?

Anuket casually glanced across her room while she tried to come up with an answer to this but stopped suddenly, her blood running cold as her eyes landed on something. The box containing the necklace. Could Marik have been the one who sent them to her?

Everything seemed to point to him, the style of writing, the Egyptian dress and jewellery. The way he acted towards her also made more sense. It was almost as if he had seen her before, Anuket had just never thought about it at the time. She was too distracted with the moves he made on her. The way he held her when they danced together, she noticed how he kept smelling her hair and nuzzled into her neck.

Now that she thought about it, you just didn't do that sort of thing if you had only just met that person minutes earlier. If he had only just seen her at the night club, he would have been more talkative and verbally flirtatious. She only danced with him because she was feeling lonely, perhaps that was why she allowed him to kiss her like that.

"I can't believe it, he's been stalking me! Everything points to him, he must have followed me there…"

Anuket felt nothing but fury towards Marik but her anger quickly turned to fear as she realised something else.

"He knows where I live…oh please no" she whispered desperately.

Anuket quickly and cautiously jumped out of bed and looked out of her window onto the deserted street. It was eerily quiet. Anuket looked around carefully, trembling slightly. She kept thinking she could see something in the shadows across the street but thought it was just her paranoia.

She closed the window and locked it. The curtains were drawn as well for added security because she didn't feel safe anymore knowing Marik was around. Anuket crawled back under her bed sheets. She wouldn't be able to sleep with the light off so she dimmed it a little instead.

"I can only pray that Marik doesn't come back for me" She thought as she drifted off into an uneasy sleep.

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Marik watched her every move from his hiding place across the street. She had closed the window; there was no point in watching her now.

He was still reeling from the fact that she dared to attack him, but quickly pushed that feeling of anger aside as he reminded himself that he didn't want to scare her away any more with his temper. He had done nothing but show his affection for her and she threw it back in his face.

She was definitely enjoying herself, he could tell, from the way she held on to him while they danced. He could feel her blush and smile as he kissed her neck and pulled her closer to him.

She changed the moment they stepped outside and she saw his face. Marik was very interested now as to who she was. He had no memory of ever seeing this girl in his whole life. She was strikingly beautiful and he would never have let one as elegant as her pass him by.

"Who is she? Why does she look upon me with such fear and resentment?" he asked himself as he remembered the look of terror that crossed her features.

As far as he could remember, he had never given any woman reason to fear him. He had been with more then his fair share of women over the past few years. Actually, he had never been out with the same woman more then once.

"Could she have been one of them?" Marik thought, straining his memory for traces of the girl he had become so infatuated with but to no avail.

"Aaargh! It's no use, I just don't remember!" he growled in frustration.

Marik sat down on the curb.

"What could I have done to make her react the way she did? I never even got the chance to tell her it was I who sent her those gifts and letters…" he thought sadly.

Marik sat for a while longer, his legs brought up to his chest, his arms folded and resting on his knees. Thoughts swirled around in his head; he didn't know what to do. Surely he should just leave her alone; she had made it perfectly clear that she didn't want him the way he wanted her. A plan formed in his head, he wasn't going to take 'no' for an answer. Not after all the trouble and effort he had gone to.

"She will probably hate me at first, but that will change. Soon she will see that I am the only one for her" Marik thought, smiling confidently.

He continued to scheme, thinking about how he would achieve this and the problems he could encounter if he didn't. The fact that she knew him and was friends with his greatest enemy was one of them. If Yugi ever told her about him and his plans to become the next pharaoh and take over the world, she might start talking. His appearance for one thing. He might need to get closer to the pharaoh at some point and at the moment, using the millennium rod to control others was his form of a disguise. She could ruin everything if left to wander free!

"I have no choice; she must be separated from her friends. I can be very persuasive. Eventually she will come to me willingly. We were meant to be together…" Marik said standing up, walking back into the shadows, casting a final glance at the girl's dimly lit bedroom window as he went.

-------------------------next day

"Anuket! Where did you go last night? We were worried" Tea asked with a concerned look.

"I felt a little tired after a while and decided to go home, must have been the drink. You guys looked like you were having a lot of fun so I decided to let you be" Anuket lied.

She didn't want to explain what happened last night all over again.

Yugi had a thoughtful look on his face, or at least that's what it looked like. In reality he was having a conversation with the spirit in his millennium puzzle, Yami.

"I don't think she's being entirely truthful with us Yugi, she seems distracted, frightened even" said Yami.

"I agree, but Anuket really doesn't seem like she wants to talk about it does she? I think she'll tell us when she's ready. She might tell Tea first. You know, girl talk. It's probably nothing to worry about" replied Yugi.

The spirit looked at Yugi from his soul room with a serious look on his face.

"I hope so. Yet, I can't help but feel she's keeping something very important from us. I think it's best if we don't involve her in this situation with Marik. She might get hurt along the way; he's very dangerous and won't hesitate to use our friends to get what he wants"

"Maybe… I guess we'll just have to wait and see how things turn out"

The conversation ended between Yugi and Yami. Everyone else seemed to buy Anuket's story. Yugi hoped that whatever it was that was bothering her, she would share with them soon.

-------------------------------- later on

"That was a great duel Joey!" exclaimed Tea.

Joey had just been up against Weevil Underwood and emerged victorious despite the fact that the worm had cheated by sneaking a card into the blonde's deck that could potentially ruin his chances. Joey very was relieved. Not only because he'd won a rather difficult duel, but because he finally got his chance to impress Anuket. If he had lost against Weevil, he was certain he would have lost what little respect she held for him. At least that's what he believed anyway.

"That was very impressive the way you turned the whole duel around, we thought you were going to lose! I bet that's what you wanted everyone to think wasn't it? To throw him off guard" Anuket said, trying to boost his confidence a little.

Joey smiled widely at her and began to brag. "Yeah! It was all part of the plan. I'm sorry I had to worry ya like that. I was never in any serious trouble; I just had to let that bug think so. It's called tactics. That guy always lets his guard down when he thinks he's winning"

Joey glanced quickly at the other three which included Tea, Tristan and Mr Motou, who were looking at him in disbelief thinking

"part of the plan my arse!" but they decided not to say anything as Joey had obviously tried hard to win that duel.

Even Tristan decided to keep quiet this time. "you've won this round wheeler"

The five walked through the town looking out for potential challengers for Joey. They continued to chat about random stuff until the talk changed to the recent string of thefts.

"Rarehunters?" Questioned Anuket. "Who are they?"

Joey began to explain "They're a group of thieves who go round stealing rare cards from duellists! Ya have to be really careful if ya ever come across one of em. If ya don't have any cards they want, they'll probably beat ya up or something"

"Not that we'd ever let that happen..." Tristan added quickly seeing the troubled looks on the girls' faces. "It's ok. They probably wouldn't go for you ladies, you don't have a deck. I guess they'll only go after duellists participating in Battle City. Like our own little Joey here"

Joey looked annoyed "I'll have ya know I've already met one of them! They took my red eyes from me, but Yugi showed him who the man was!"

Anuket looked surprised at this "you've met one of them? What do they look like? Are they really that bad?"

"Yep! He beat me with a really powerful deck. He had three complete sets of Exodia in there! I couldn't tell Yugi how be beat me cus he said he'd tear up my red eyes! When it was over though, the rarehunter guy went crazy. He got this glowy eye thingy on his head and started screaming. Turns out he was being controlled by some guy, I know it sounds weird but it's true. He's after Yugi's millennium puzzle, you know, that thing he wears around his neck all the time? Anyway, this guy started to speak through this rarehunter telling us about how he was going to be the new pharaoh blah blah blah, said his name was Marik or something…"

Anuket's eyes went wide as Joey continued to talk about what happened.

"Did you say Marik?" she asked Joey, needing to confirm the name just in case she was going crazy.

"Yeah, are you ok? Ya sound a little spooked. Don't worry! I'll protect ya. Marik won't lay a finger on that pretty head of yours!" Joey said rather loudly putting an arm around Anuket's shoulders protectively.

Tea looked at the young girl standing next to Joey. She seemed really distant.

"Anuket?" she asked waving her hand in front of her face. "Do you know this Marik guy?"

Anuket quickly looked up.

"No… I don't, I thought Joey said Mark. I'm just relieved I was wrong, that's all" she lied, smiling cheerfully trying her best to brush off the feeling of dread that was in her stomach.

"I'll never get away from him; it seems that we were destined to meet again Marik…" Anuket thought dejectedly.

There was no way she would be able to forget about him now, her friends would realise something was wrong. She couldn't handle telling them the truth about her past, she decided to go home. She quickly thought of an excuse.

"Oh no! That duel must have lasted longer then I thought. I have to go; I promised Grandma that I would help her with something. She's probably waiting for me right now, I'll see you tomorrow ok?"

Mr Motou spoke up "are you sure you're alright Anuket? You look pale, well paler then you normally do anyway" he said correcting himself quickly.

The Egyptian girl smiled down at him "I'm fine, don't worry. It's just that time of the month"

They all looked confused, except for Tea, until she whispered something to them. The men looked slightly uncomfortable.

They waved goodbye as Anuket ran down the street. When she turned around the corner, she reduced her speed to a walking pace.

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Anuket walked along the street, deep in thought. She was too engrossed in her own problems to notice she was being followed by four men in purple robes.

As she walked further away from the town center they began to pick up their pace. Anuket felt cold all of a sudden, she had this awful feeling she was being followed and glanced behind her. She saw them; they all had their eyes fixed on her. As she watched them they picked up their pace to a fast jog. Anuket's heart stopped.

"These must be those rarehunters everyone's been talking about, what do they want with me? Marik couldn't have sent them could he?"

She didn't wait to find out. Anuket bombed it down the deserted street. It was late and most people had gone home. Only the nasties were out now.

She was still quite a way from home. Anuket knew she wouldn't be able to out run them for long. After all, she was only a fifteen year old girl and they were men most likely to be in their late twenties to early thirties.

She was starting to panic now. She could hear them catching up to her.

Suddenly a foot hooked her ankle from behind and she went falling to the ground. Anuket was sprawled over the pavement, her ankle was killing her and she had scrapes all up her arms and legs from the impact to the cold concrete.

She felt a rough hand grip her by her collar and pull her up. There she faced the rarehunter who tripped her. He had a superior smirk on his face and raised a hand. Anuket's face stung as his hand made contact with her cheek.

She looked up at him, her eyes beginning to water. He raised his hand again; this time she closed her eyes and braced herself as she waited for the blow. It never came.

The girl slowly looked up at the rarehunter, his hand was frozen midair and he was shaking uncontrollably.

"What's happening?" she thought fearfully.

The rarehunter started to beg "I'm sorry Master, I didn't know!"

He fell to the ground in a heap. The other rarehunters looked scared. They had distant looks on their faces which remained for a minute or two; they all glanced down at the girl at the same time before answering together "Yes Master"

Anuket was too confused to understand what was going on. Her mind was still dizzy from the slap on her cheek.

The other three rarehunters gathered around her. One of them gently picked her up avoiding her injuries. Another placed a blindfold over her eyes. Her hands were carefully bound to prevent rubbing against the scrapes.

She didn't know what to do. There was no way she could escape with her ankle the way it was. Anuket was terrified, she hated not being able to see or move at the same time and the fact that these men were rarehunters didn't make it any better.

Suddenly Anuket felt a damp cloth being placed over her mouth. She began to struggle and tried to scream but couldn't find the energy to do it. Her eyes became heavy and she soon found herself giving in to the sleep that called out to her.

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Cool! That was a nice long chapter for you. I hope you liked it.

Important note: I've been through all of the chapters and edited them a little bit so there will be new sentences and the grammar will be slightly better in my opinion. It seems I can do better if I've not read it for a while so I may come back and do some more at a later date ok? I'll tell you when.

Now then. Anuket has been kidnapped by the rarehunters. She has a good idea who was behind it. What will happen? Well you can have a say!

Everyone reading fic this must like Marik am I correct? Well I'm open to any ideas or situations you want to see in the next few chapters ok? Let your thoughts become known and I will do what I can for you.

Once again I thank you for your reviews and comments. I hope to see more of them from you. Sorry for the slight delay in the updating of this chapter. Just so you know, im going to be very busy for the next two weeks because one of my bosses is going away on holiday and I'm doing her hours as well as my own. I will still update on time, but keep that in mind when you read the next chapter if its not very good. I will do my best though.

Now for a few replies to my faithful friends and reviewers -

Minor Arcana: thanks very much for your review, even though at the time of posting this chapter you seem to be at chapter 2 but oh well! It's all good! Cheers very muchly

Mya starnight: glad you like this as well; I never thought I'd get so many reviews in this fic. I always figured it'd be one of those where I'd get two or three readers and they'd keep reviewing. I was wrong. Pleasantly so.

LoveLiesBleeding2: Hello! You're still alive! Yayness! Once again thanks very much for the little bit at the bottom of your most recent chapter in the gift of healing. I was touched (sniffle) great chapter! Hope you liked this one. If there's anything you wanna see in the next chapter then by all means let me know and I'll put it in especially for you. That reminds me of a song by Kylie Minogue (shudder)

The Gothic Girl Over There: your name is different again!! How many do you have (counts on fingers) I get confused cus you seem to have a new name each chapter! Anyway what's up with your other fic then? Where's it gone? I seem to have misplaced it. You still writing it? Anyway, thanks for your review, I appreciate it very much. You are one of the many reviewers I keep looking out for now you know.

The1koolkitty: You're damn right he's in trouble! Anuket will be kinda shocked with this whole situation but when she gets her nerve back, he'll be sorry. Thanks for your review, by the way. What's happening in your fic 'destiny dilemmas'? Are you still writing it? Hope so cus it's really cool. I saw the episode where yami Marik duels against evil Bakura and spirit Marik. He beat them badly! Nooooo! Not my Marik! And as I've said before, its good I'm importing the DVDs cus they've completely missed out the one where you see how he killed his dad! That is probably one of the best ones! I just have to wait till it's released in the USA and buy the DVD.

LoneGothic: I assume you like the last chapter then huh? Your review most definitely showed how you felt about it. Well good good. Hope you like this chapter and later ones featuring a bruised Marik.

chibichibimalik2: yep! She got him good alright! Hope you liked this chapter. They meet once more in the next one (duh! I'm sure you could've guessed that) anything you wanna see happen at all? If so let me know and I'll be glad to do it (if it's within reason)

malikoh2: chapters have been edited a bit, I've put in a bit more regarding the dancing, so you can dance with your Marik pic again when you re read it kay? Hope you like the changes I've made throughout the fic. They're only subtle, but I think the fic is a bit better now grammar wise.

Lady hunter: hmmmm some very interesting ideas you have there… I think they're quite good actually, but now I have to decided which one to use! Nooooo a dilemma! The tattoo idea would be easier but if yami Bakura likes her then that could make for more chapters and stuff. I have to have a serious think. Thanks for the ideas! Appreciate it muchly

Fish and chips: welcome! All new readers are welcome! I look forward to future reviews from you and possibly some ideas if you want to contribute. If not that's fine. Hope you like the story! I have just edited all of the previous chapters a bit so you may want to go back and check it out. I think that the fic is a bit better now (hopefully)