Disclaimer: I do not own Yu Gi Oh.

Author's notes: to those of you who haven't yet visited my homepage, can I ask that you do. I've drawn a series of artworks that relate to this fic and would like to know your opinion, as long as they're not too mean. The drawings are very different but I think that im starting to develop my own style now.

By the way! I've recently seen a Marik plushie on eBay!! Some one was trying to sell it for £300! That's crazy, but you know what? I guess it makes sense as it's a one of a kind. I think there is someone out there that will buy it! Not me, oh no… I'd probably pay up to £100 for it but im kinda skint right now. The plushie is so cool! Its 18" He's holding the millennium rod and you can take his shirt off and see his tombkeeper initiation on his back! Wow… apparently he has a six pack too. I almost asked to see a picture of it but then thought that would be really sad and pathetic. OO

Also I would like to take this chance to recommend a few fics.

1: loveliesbleeding2 has written a series of interlinked stories and are absolutely fantastic! You will enjoy them immensely as they feature our very own Marik Ishtar and a really cool and spunky lady called Katrina Kamera. It features comedy, romance and a really cool amun ra, who by the way is female! Yeah, girl power and all that! Please read her fics, you will love them I promise! And plus it will make me happy too if you do that!

2: DaRkNeSsApPrOaChEs is the authoress of a story called 'oh my ra' it features Marik and a cool crazy girl called Mitsuke. She finds out that she has a brother in domino… I wont tell you who though. Go and read it, it will make you laugh, cry and laugh some more. Also ask for some artwork of the characters cus she draws some real good stuff! I have a picture of Anuket and I love it very muchly indeed. If you're reading this darknessaproaches then I have to thank you again! Thankyou!!

3: Im sure you've all seen a fic or two by minor arcana. There's an ancient Egypt fic called 'the reeds, the lotus and the high priest' it is really long and incredibly well written. The sequel is currently being written but there are regular updates so you won't be waiting long for a new chapter. Please go read it and give the already high review score a boost cus the story is well deserving of it.

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Unrequited Love

Chapter 17: Reunions

Mai parked her car in front of the game shop. Everyone made their way upstairs, helping the two young men who had stiff joints, due to a mix of cold water and an even colder wind. They sat down on the couch and made themselves comfortable, wrapping themselves in warm, fluffy blankets. Tea went into the kitchen and absentmindedly made a hot drink for Yugi, much to Joey's annoyance.

"Hey! I was in the water too ya know! Why is Yugi the only one having special treatment? Im cold and I want somethin hot n tasty!"

"Ok Ok! Hold your horses! I'll go make you one too" she grumbled, heading back into the kitchen.

Tristan came out of Yugi's bedroom carrying some dry clothes for the pair. Joey always had a spare set of clothes at the Motou's house as he spent most of his free time there.

"How are you guys feeling?" asked Serenity.

"I dunno if im gonna make it" Joey started, receiving a slap from Mai shortly after. "You know what? Suddenly im feelin much better"

Eyes rolled knowingly at the pair. Anuket watched quietly from the door frame, smiling quietly to herself. She had never realised until now how much she had missed her friends, even though she had been gone for less than a week. To think she had almost given them up to be with 'him'.

"I guess I'd better call Ipet and let her know where I am" she thought.

Tea came back in to the living room with a hot chocolate drink in her hands. Joey looked up, smelling the sweet chocolaty goodness wafting through the air and started to bounce in a crossed leg sitting position on the couch making all who were sitting next to him fall off.

He grabbed the mug and started to gulp it down before realizing it was very hot. As he was gasping for air and everyone was telling him off for being a greedy pig, Anuket pulled Tea aside.

"Tea, I need to make a private phone call, can I borrow your cell?" she uttered quietly.

"Sorry Anuket but I don't have it anymore. When Joey and I were kidnapped by Marik's rarehunters, they threw it on the floor and smashed it to bits. Stupid Jerks…" she muttered angrily. "Why do you need to make a private phone call anyway? What's going on?"

"Oh, I just wanted to call Ipet cus I haven't spoken to her for a while. That's all" she replied nonchalantly, waving her hand as if it were no big deal.

"You mean your grandmother?" Tea questioned looking back at her strangely. "Why does she call her grandmother by her first name?"

"Yeah that's right" Anuket laughed. "Sorry, it's just that I hear everyone else calling her that, so it just kinda sticks in my mind"

She put her hand behind her head and grinned sheepishly. Tea smiled and nodded in agreement, although deep down, she wasn't sure whether she believed her friend or not. Oh well, no need to linger on a subject that's probably not that important anyway.

"Are you guys gonna be ok?" asked Anuket concernedly.

"They'll be fine." Tristan said, standing up and putting on a big loud voice. "They're tough! Marik will soon see that he can't stop these two. They're sort of like an annoying itch you can't get rid of, no matter how hard you scratch it"

"What a lovely thing to say in front of the ladies pal" said a black haired boy sarcastically in the back.

He had green eyes and was wearing a red top with black pants. He had what a dice hanging from one of his ears and a red and black bandanna, with loose strands of hair hanging over it. He looked over at all the lovely ladies in the room; flashing each of them a smile that he thought was sexy. His eyes landed on Anuket.

"Hi there! We haven't met before. Im Duke Devlin. You may have heard of me" he said proudly shaking her hand, somewhat firmly.

"Yeah…. Were you the one I heard on the news about a carjacking the other week?" Anuket asked, trying to sound innocent.

Duke's smile faltered a bit but he shook it off. "No I'm the creator of a game called Dungeon Dice Monsters"

"Oh…yeah…now I…remember" she said slowly.

Tristan cut in. "have you really heard of Dungeon Dice monsters?"

"yeaahnnnnn….no, sorry"

Laughter filled the room as duke fainted on the floor from the shock of a woman who didn't recognise him. Mai stretched tiredly in the comfy armchair she was sitting in and made to stand up.

"Well, sitting here all night won't help me prepare for the finals tomorrow will it? I guess I'll be heading off now" she looked down at the sniffly pair of duellists. "You will show up wont you? I want to have some competition you know"

"We'll be there Mai, don't you worry about that" said Yugi. "I have a score to settle with Marik, he won't get away with what he's done"

Anuket's ears picked up at Marik's name. Was he going to be there too? If he was, then she wanted to be present. Perhaps he wouldn't harm her friends while she was with them. It was worth a try in the very least.

"Hey. Can I come with you to the finals?" she asked everyone.

"Sure!" said Joey standing up, letting his blanket fall to the floor. "You can be there to witness my victory over money bags Kaiba. Multi Billionaire and complete and utter sh…" he stopped his current sentence at the warning glances he received.

"Be on your guard Anuket. Especially around Marik. He will do anything to get back at me and I do not want any harm to come to you or anyone" said Yugi.

Or who she thought was Yugi. He looked slightly different. His hair had extra blonde highlights and his eyes had a piercing gaze that seemed to bore right through her. Anuket realized that this must be the Pharaoh who Marik claimed 'killed' his father.

"You must be the spirit of the millennium puzzle, Yami" she stated quietly. "How can Marik think this spirit is a murderer? He seems nice enough and it doesn't take a genius to see that he is very concerned for his friends' welfare"

Yami bowed his head in greeting and smiled at the young girl. He knew there was something different about her. She was hiding something, this he was certain of. He also knew she didn't want to talk about it, but he needed to know what it was she was keeping from everyone.

"I will ask her when I can get her on her own, away from inquisitive ears" he thought to himself. "Mai, if you're leaving, would you take Anuket home? With all the rarehunters around, it's dangerous to walk through Domino alone"

"Sure hun" Mai put her arm over Anuket's shoulder. "Where do you live sweetie? I'll drop you off right away"

Anuket told Mai her address and said her goodbyes to everyone. The pharaoh was still watching her as she exited the room. As the two women got in the car and drove along, she felt her guilt twisting in her stomach. Yami only wanted to protect his friends, and here she was betrothed to the enemy. What would the pharaoh say if he found out? Would he be angry at her? He didn't seem to be the unreasonable type. Perhaps he would understand her side of the story. It wasn't like she wanted to be Marik's intended after all. He was the one who held an obsession for her anyway.

Before she knew it, she was outside her house. After thanking Mai for the ride home, Anuket walked up the drive and went around the side door. She knocked a few times and waited for an answer. After a couple of minutes, the shadow of an old woman moved slowly towards the door and unlocked it. A weary face poked around to see who could be calling at this late hour. Ipet's eyes widened with shock and relief when she saw who it was. She swung the door open and pulled the girl into a warm embrace.

Anuket closed the door with a free hand, whilst Ipet hugged her.

"Is that sound coming from Ipet?"

Anuket pulled away and regarded at the elderly woman. Sure enough, tears were streaming out of her eyes. Seeing this kind of made her want to cry too.

"What are you doing here? Are you alright? He didn't touch you did he?" Ipet asked all at once.

"Im fine, I escaped from him" replied Anuket, fighting back the tears that were gathering in her eyes.

She decided it would be best to ignore the 'touching' question as she didn't feel it was important to bother Ipet with the intimate details of her time away in Marik's custody.

"Im so glad you're safe. I was worried he would hurt you. He said that as long as I cooperated with him, you would be unharmed. Im so sorry, I was the one who told him who you were, I had no choice, I…"

Anuket cut her off.

"Don't worry about it. He would have figured it out eventually. You only did what you thought was best for me and im grateful for that. So how have you been?"

They sat down and talked, reassuring the other that things were alright. Eventually, Anuket told Ipet about the battle city finals.

"Im gonna to go and cheer Yugi and Joey on. They've done really well to get this far"

"I don't think I want you to go. What if Marik finds you and kidnaps you again?"

"He won't" Anuket said confidently.

"How can you be sure?" asked Ipet curiously.

"I just know. Trust me" she said, putting an end to the current conversation.

She smiled, mainly to reassure Ipet. In truth, Anuket had no idea what was going to happen. She just hoped it would be in her favour. Ipet decided to let the subject lie.

"You know I was surprised when Marik came here to pick up those 'gifts' he sent you" Ipet sent a disappointed glance towards the girl. "Why didn't you tell me about them?"

"I didn't want to worry you. Plus, I had no idea they were from Marik. He didn't make too much of a mess did he?"

Ipet snorted in anger. "He went through all your belongings and threw them on the floor! That boy has no respect for other people's property"

Anuket couldn't help but snicker at this. She didn't know why she found it funny. "Oh Ipet, if you only knew. He's hardly a boy now" she thought, laughing again. She pushed images and memories out of her head when she noticed the old woman looking at her with a confused expression.

"Im gonna go to bed now, I have to be up early for when everyone comes to meet me tomorrow"

Anuket stood up and kissed Ipet's cheek goodnight. Before she got any further, she was stopped. Ipet turned around and bent over into a cupboard. She pulled out a blue box with a pink ribbon and handed it to the girl.

"Happy sixteenth birthday sweetheart" she said, smiling broadly before going up to bed herself.

Anuket's gaze followed the woman before landing back on her present. She ripped it open in a child like manner and smiled at the contents

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Marik sat on his bed, twirling his millennium rod in his hands. His face emotionless, belying the agony he felt inside. He was still trying to come to terms with his sweetheart's absence. He felt empty knowing that she was no longer a few doors away from him. Unknown to Anuket, he would sneak in late at night and watch her sleep. He loved watching her sleep, she reminded him of an angel.

He let out a long and heavy sigh as he looked at the digital clock on the side. How long had he been moping around for? This wasn't going to get her back. Marik had a feeling she would return to her grandmother. If that was true, then he could pick her up again when battle city was over. Marik didn't want Anuket to see what he was going to do to her friends. She would be less than pleased to say the least.

He focused the millennium rod and spoke into the minds of one of his rarehunters. He gave strict orders to keep an eye on her house and make sure to follow if she made any attempt to leave town.

"Failure will not be tolerated" he warned before breaking the link.

Marik tucked the rod into his belt and pulled out his deck from his pocket. The battle city finals were only a day away and if he wanted to defeat the pharaoh, he would need to put together a powerful deck. His rarehunters had gathered enough locator cards to enter Odion and himself in the finals should previous plans fail. Unfortunately they had, and he was forced to take care of his adversary in person. The plan he had concocted was flawless. Nothing could go wrong. His determination to win became stronger then ever as he thought about his prize.

"Soon it will all be over. I will have my revenge against the pharaoh and claim Anuket as my own. We will begin a new life together" he smiled broadly. "Im sure she wouldn't object to starting a family right away"

Marik began to construct a deck that exploited Yugi's every weakness. He looked up from time to time and thought about the things he would do once he was in charge, before flicking through his deck again with an evil smirk.

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Does anyone out there have an idea as to what gift Anuket received from Ipet? I want it to be something special and meaningful, something she can carry around with her, like a necklace or piece of jewellery or something.

Im not very good at sentimental gift ideas and would like some input here. Have a think and let me know.

There will be one more update before Christmas and that will be on Wednesday. It's the part where all the dualists meet up at the Kaiba corps arena. What will happen when Marik sees that Anuket is with her friends? Will she give him away? What words will they exchange when they get a moment alone? and finally will Yami get her alone and squeeze some info out of her?

You'll have to wait and see.

Review time!!!

Raksha666: I know, I wonder what I would do if I saw him talking to himself too. Marik's a bit weird but what the hell. Oh by the way, there is a new ancient Egypt Bakura fic called 'darkness falls on ancient Egypt' it seems to be quite interesting so far. The author wasn't going to update on ffnet cus she found somewhere else but I asked her to and she did! Yay!

Vanna chance: Marik would never intentionally hurt her. It will be a lovely romance by the end, who knows. Perhaps there will be a few surprises too. I'll have to see cus im not exactly sure where im going with this, but I never seem to get writers block. Not much anyway. I promised 1 update a week and I will continue to do so. I tend to get a blast of inspiration just before I write, which is usually when I'm watching the telly.

LoveLiesBleeding2: howdy, ya see my intro at the top telling people about your fic? Huh huh? You like? Sure you do. Its common courtesy to return the favour when someone does something nice for you. This is my little way of saying thanks for describing my fic as fantastic amongst other things. So how ya doin? Broadband is set up! It is so fast! I will never be able to go back to the normal internet after this! Didja check out my comment at deviant art? Im on there too and I have a few pics up. Great site that. Minor Arcana is there also, although they call themselves toon-maha-vailo. I'll bug you there too, hee hee!

LoneGothic: Marik is an idiot, although he wasn't aware he was letting her know he kidnapped her friends. Will he slap his own head when he finds out? Hell yes! Grovelling ahoy!! The gang wont find out just yet, but when they do, hoo boy, there's gonna be some explaining to do on her part.

DaRkNeSsApPrOaChEs: that was a nice long review, did ya like the last chapter then? Hope so. I love to see Marik rejected too, that's why I started to write this fic in the first place. There is another one I'm reading where he's getting nothing from this girl at all! Of course that probably cus it's a Bakura/oc fic. Raksha666 is the one writing it, it's pretty good too. Love your story, that last chapter was excellent. Made me laugh many a times. I broke a few ribs too. "Oh my god! A trees attacking me" ahh, classic…

Meanae the Thorn: Marik did know they were friends but he's trying to make her want him more then them. That's why he gave her presents and stuff and tried to make her fall in love with him. Just shows how wrong he is then doesn't it?

CRAZYABOUTANIME: not exactly sure how he wins her back this time but I will be sure to make it good when the time comes. The story is called unrequited love after all. They can't be all lovey dovey too much or the title wont be appropriate it. There's gonna be a lot of I love you, I hate you, I love you, I hate you etc. it's gonna be great

animefan: 10 reviews? How that? I want 200 next! I'm doing quite well, I'm proud of myself. I always figured this fic would be read by a small number but it's nice to know its getting more and more popular. This fic will continue past battle city just so you know. I'm just getting the ground work ready for the part afterwards. More romance ahead.

Mya starnight: I'm no good at writing sloppy stuff either. People keep telling me its good but I guess its cus I've never written romance before in detail I just don't feel its good enough. Maybe it's the same for you. You probably think it's weird but others really like it. As loveliesbleeding2 once told me, you can't get any worse. Only better. Just study how others write and try it yourself. You'll get better and so will I. by the way, thanks for loving my story so far! There will be some more romance ahead in the near future…perhaps, hee hee

Leave nice reviews please. And check out my homepage for pictures of Marik and Anuket Drawn by yours truly!