~*~*~
Bow: In case you guys haven't noticed, my e-mail and AIM address has changed to WolfWing87@aol.com. If you guys want to IM me, PLEASE feel free. I don't have many friends, seeing as how I wasn't able to recover my old buddy list from my old SN :'(
Dragon: ::pats her shoulder:: There there.
Bow: Oh, and for those who didn't realize it. ~I'm a girl~ Female. Of the non-male gender. So is Dragon.
Dragon: Yea! So stop saying 'he' in your reviews. It gets a tad annoying.
Bow: Er. Yea, I know it's been a long time since I've updated. That would be due to laziness. No lies here.
Dragon: No, she's lying. She's been working on The Return of Dragons. Her original book.
Bow: o.o;;; Er. oh yea. that's right.
Dragon: And that consumes a lot of time. You should see all of the notes she has written out for that thing. And the sequel. And the sequel to the sequel.
Bow: Shoooooosh! ::tackles Dragon::
Dragon: ::snort:: Silly human.
Note: Oh, and about the whole "Malik is the hikari, Marik is the yami" thing; it doesn't matter. L's and R's are interchangeable in Japanese, and pronounced the same way. And personally, I think the R in Marik sounds gentler then the L in Malik. So nyeh!
~*~*~
"Ishizu... Where is Marik? We can't find him anywhere," Yami asked her, glancing over at the others, who nodded in silent agreement.
Ishizu looked away. "I don't know; that's why I didn't say anything about his location last time I spoke to you. I had hoped that he would have tried to contact you by now."
Yami shook his head. "He hasn't, and we can't help you if we can't find him."
"Please, be patient, Pharaoh. I know he will try to contact you sometime in the near future. He will not stay silent long," she said. "But now I will take my leave," and she turned and left without another word.
"Well, this has been a complete failure," Jonouchi snorted, crossing his arms over his chest. "We don't even know where we can find him."
Yami looked over at him. "Perhaps going after him may not have been the best thing to do in the first place. We do not know what he is capable of."
"But it was still a complete failure. So what do we do now?" Seto asked Yami.
"Wait, I guess. We have nothing else to do here, so we may as well get going," he replied with a heavy sigh.
~*~*~
Bow: Hee hee. You didn't think it was going to be ~that~ easy did you?
Dragon: O(o o)O;;; - see the dragon face? ^^
Bow: Yea, well, we're off again! To Marik!
Random Crowd of People: TO MARIK!!!
Dragon and Bow: o.o;;;
~*~*~
"Marik-sama?"
Odion opened the door into Marik's room tentatively, peering inside. His eyes grew wide, and a sweatdrop formed on the side of his head at the sight that lay before him. Marik was curled up against Malik's chest, sleeping, while Malik was propped up on one elbow, his other arm draped over Marik, staring at Odion.
"What do you want?" Malik growled.
Odion gulped, but steadied himself against the glare that Malik threw his way. He could deal with this spirit! "I just came to tell Marik-sama that breakfast was ready."
"Fine. I'll tell him when he wakes up, now go away," Malik snapped.
Odion returned his fierce glare, bowed contemptuously, and backed out of the room.
Malik looked back down at Marik, brushing a few blonde strands off of his face before returning his arm around him. "It is strange, that I care for you so much. You have such a weakness inside of you, yet I cannot leave you behind. Is it because of that weakness, that innocence in you, that I cannot harm you? Cannot strike out at you? Is that why I care about you? Do I see this lack of innocence, of weakness, in myself, and I seek it in you?"
"You never speak about your feelings like this, Malik. It's a nice change," Marik murmured, slowly opening his lavender eyes to look up at him.
Malik stared down at him, eyes slightly wide with alarm. "You were supposed to be asleep."
"Odion woke me up when he came into the room. The smell from breakfast followed him, and that woke me."
"You were not supposed to hear that."
"Why not? I care about you, you know that. Why can't I hear you speak of me with gentle words? Why can't I be shown affection?"
Malik took his eyes from him, looking over his blonde hair out into the room. He could not look into those soft lavender eyes.
Marik frowned. "And why can't you answer me?"
"How can I answer when I know not what the answers are?" Malik's voice grew firmer, but he still dared not look down at his hikari.
"Malik, do you really care about me?"
"What?" Malik blurted out, looking down at Marik so that their eyes connected. "Yes, I do. Did you not hear me before?"
"Then the answers should be simple. If you care about me, then why can't you show me any affection?"
Malik pulled Marik closer to him with the arm that held him, closing his eyes with a heavy sigh. "Because. I don't. know how. I don't know how to show affection."
Marik pressed himself closer to Malik, resting his cheek against the yami's bare chest. "Well, you are now. Pulling me to you, that shows me that you want me closer to you, and that is showing affection." He paused, closing his eyes and letting out a low hum. "You're warm."
Malik lowered himself down from his elbow, wrapping his other arm around Marik. "Well, so are you."
Marik's stomach let out a loud growl, completely ruining the mood as his dark skin gained a reddish undertone.
"Right, breakfast." Malik said with a heavy sigh, loosening his grip so that Marik could pull away from him and get dressed. "You go eat. I'll think of a plan."
Marik looked back at him as he slipped out from under the sheets, trying to keep his back turned to him with embarrassment. "For the Pharaoh?"
Malik nodded. "Who else?" and he disappeared.
~*~*~
Dragon: You tease! They were naked and in bed, yet no sex!!!
Bow: ::rolls eyes:: Give them some time. Malik is still getting used to this whole "Hey, I have feelings for Marik!" deal. Give him a break!
~*~*~
Yugi let out a heavy sigh, slumped against the coffee table in the adjoining room between Seto and Mokuba's bedrooms. Everyone was seated inside; Seto and Jou on the sofa, Honda and Shizuka in beanbag chairs, Bakura seated in a leather recliner with Ryou on his lap, and Yugi and Yami on the floor. Yugi's arms were sprawled out in front of him on the wooden table, chin resting on the edge. "Pointless. Yami, there's a killer after you and there is nothing we can do."
Yami reached out over the table, placing a large hand over his smaller one reassuringly. "There is no point in worrying if there is nothing we can do right now."
"How can I not worry?!" Yugi shot up to his feet, pulling his hand from Yami's as he clenched his fists at his sides. "Tell me; how can I?!" Tears began to build in his eyes. "Marik is after _you_ and he doesn't want to just talk. He wants to kill you! Do you know how worried I am?!"
Tears poured down the sides of Yugi's face, his shoulders hunched as he fought the sobs that rose from his chest. Jou and Ryou looked away from Yugi, feeling guilty that they were so relieved that it was not their loved ones that Marik was after. Bakura tightened his grip around Ryou, and Seto squeezed Jou's hand.
"First-" Yugi was choked by tears. " First I loose Anzu, and now this! How can you tell me not to worry, Yami? How can you?! I'm terrified! SOMEONE WANTS YOU DEAD AND I'M TERRIFIED, YAMI!"
Yugi cried, head bent as he let his tears fall to the shag carpet. His fists were clenched painfully by his sides, but that pain was nowhere near to what he felt in his heart. "I JUST WANT THIS MADNESS TO STOP! WHY CAN'T WE JUST BE HAPPY AND NOT LIVE IN FEAR?!"
Face pained, Yami rose to his feet, stepping forward to wrap his arms tightly around Yugi. Yugi leaned into him, letting his loud sobs finally break free from him as he gripped Yami tightly, his cries muffled by the Pharaoh's chest. Yami closed his eyes, stroking his hikari's hair to comfort him. He felt both of their knees begin to weaken, so he lowered them to the floor, sitting cross-legged as Yugi half-crawled, half- scrambled onto his lap without releasing him from his tight grip or quieting his sobs.
"I'm sorry Yugi. I'm so sorry." he mumbled, repeating the words over and over, so that it was almost uncertain what he was apologizing for. A pair of tears fell from his eyes, leaving delicate, silver trails down his cheeks. "I'm sorry for dragging you into all of this, I'm sorry for you having to duel Pegasus in the Shadow Realm, I'm sorry for all of the things your father did to you, I'm sorry for what I. what I did to him. I'm sorry I never told you, I'm sorry for Marik. I'm just sorry, Yugi. Please don't be angry with me."
Once Yugi's sobs had quieted, he turned his head so that he could try and blink the tears out of his eyes. "Hyoui." he mumbled.
Yami opened his crimson eyes, blinking back tears as well. ".What?"
"Hyoui. He told me what happened to my father," Yugi said quietly. "You were right not to tell me. I almost wish I didn't know. But he deserved what he got. All of it. Thank you. I know how hard it was for you."
The others were confused, but they dare not ask any questions now; this business was not theirs.
"You were not supposed to know about that night. I trusted Hyoui." Yami began quietly, the hand that had been stroking Yugi's hair now trying to dry the tears from his hikari's face. He looked down to him.
"And I trust Hyoui as well. He did what he believed was best for me, so I would know for sure that he would never hurt me again," Yugi mumbled.
"Yami, I- I don't mean to interrupt," Seto began awkwardly.
Yami raised his head to look over at Seto, Yugi, too, shifting his gaze towards the brunette without tilting his head.
"But what are we going to do about this whole Marik thing? He's coming after you, so we can't exactly leave you alone." Seto said.
"Yeah, Seto's right. We can't leave you in danger while the rest of us just cool our heels at home," Jou piped up.
The ever-rational one, Bakura offered up a suggestion. "We can take turns staying with you and Yugi at your house. We don't need to get Sugoroku or Siulin mixed up in this, and I doubt they'd pose much of a defense. But we can't leave them alone, so you'll have to stay home instead of coming to our houses."
Yugi looked uncertain. "But what about your families? Wouldn't they be suspicious of you disappearing all of the time?"
Jou snorted. "You think my Dad cares? He's too drunk off his ass to care where I am, so long as I don't get arrested."
"I can do whatever I want," Seto said.
Honda shrugged. "My parents won't care, so long as I'm not doing anything illegal. Anything to get the house to themselves," he said with a shudder.
Shizuka was about to say something, but Jou cut her off. "No, Shizuka. You're staying out of this one. I don't want you getting hurt. You stay with Mom, okay?"
She let out a sigh. "Okay, Jou."
~*~*~
Bow: ::lets out an evil cackle:: Perfect opportunity to bring in Otogi!
Dragon: ::blinks:: Whee?
Bow: Honda/Otogi!
Dragon: Whee!
~*~*~
Everyone was looking at Ryou, including Bakura. "Well, I don't think my Mom would mind. She seems to be pretty enthusiastic that I'm leaving home to be with you guys, since I didn't do to well with friends where we used to live. Besides, she had been wanting to get nights free since she started seeing this new guy."
Bakura looked startled. "What new guy? You never told me about this. And isn't your mother still married to your father? I know he's gone almost all of the time, and that they fight whenever they're together, but they're still married! So _this_ is what's got you so edgy lately!"
Yami coughed loudly. "Well, now that that is settled, who's going to be staying with us first?"
~*~*~
Bow: And we end here! Mwahahahahahahahaha!
Dragon: You horrible person! No sex!
Bow: ::wallops Dragon:: Silence you! Be patient! You had sex, what, two chapters ago?
Dragon: And how long has it been since then?
Bow: ^^;;;;;;;;
Dragon: ::huffs:: My point, readers. ::points at Bow::
Bow: In case you guys haven't noticed, my e-mail and AIM address has changed to WolfWing87@aol.com. If you guys want to IM me, PLEASE feel free. I don't have many friends, seeing as how I wasn't able to recover my old buddy list from my old SN :'(
Dragon: ::pats her shoulder:: There there.
Bow: Oh, and for those who didn't realize it. ~I'm a girl~ Female. Of the non-male gender. So is Dragon.
Dragon: Yea! So stop saying 'he' in your reviews. It gets a tad annoying.
Bow: Er. Yea, I know it's been a long time since I've updated. That would be due to laziness. No lies here.
Dragon: No, she's lying. She's been working on The Return of Dragons. Her original book.
Bow: o.o;;; Er. oh yea. that's right.
Dragon: And that consumes a lot of time. You should see all of the notes she has written out for that thing. And the sequel. And the sequel to the sequel.
Bow: Shoooooosh! ::tackles Dragon::
Dragon: ::snort:: Silly human.
Note: Oh, and about the whole "Malik is the hikari, Marik is the yami" thing; it doesn't matter. L's and R's are interchangeable in Japanese, and pronounced the same way. And personally, I think the R in Marik sounds gentler then the L in Malik. So nyeh!
~*~*~
"Ishizu... Where is Marik? We can't find him anywhere," Yami asked her, glancing over at the others, who nodded in silent agreement.
Ishizu looked away. "I don't know; that's why I didn't say anything about his location last time I spoke to you. I had hoped that he would have tried to contact you by now."
Yami shook his head. "He hasn't, and we can't help you if we can't find him."
"Please, be patient, Pharaoh. I know he will try to contact you sometime in the near future. He will not stay silent long," she said. "But now I will take my leave," and she turned and left without another word.
"Well, this has been a complete failure," Jonouchi snorted, crossing his arms over his chest. "We don't even know where we can find him."
Yami looked over at him. "Perhaps going after him may not have been the best thing to do in the first place. We do not know what he is capable of."
"But it was still a complete failure. So what do we do now?" Seto asked Yami.
"Wait, I guess. We have nothing else to do here, so we may as well get going," he replied with a heavy sigh.
~*~*~
Bow: Hee hee. You didn't think it was going to be ~that~ easy did you?
Dragon: O(o o)O;;; - see the dragon face? ^^
Bow: Yea, well, we're off again! To Marik!
Random Crowd of People: TO MARIK!!!
Dragon and Bow: o.o;;;
~*~*~
"Marik-sama?"
Odion opened the door into Marik's room tentatively, peering inside. His eyes grew wide, and a sweatdrop formed on the side of his head at the sight that lay before him. Marik was curled up against Malik's chest, sleeping, while Malik was propped up on one elbow, his other arm draped over Marik, staring at Odion.
"What do you want?" Malik growled.
Odion gulped, but steadied himself against the glare that Malik threw his way. He could deal with this spirit! "I just came to tell Marik-sama that breakfast was ready."
"Fine. I'll tell him when he wakes up, now go away," Malik snapped.
Odion returned his fierce glare, bowed contemptuously, and backed out of the room.
Malik looked back down at Marik, brushing a few blonde strands off of his face before returning his arm around him. "It is strange, that I care for you so much. You have such a weakness inside of you, yet I cannot leave you behind. Is it because of that weakness, that innocence in you, that I cannot harm you? Cannot strike out at you? Is that why I care about you? Do I see this lack of innocence, of weakness, in myself, and I seek it in you?"
"You never speak about your feelings like this, Malik. It's a nice change," Marik murmured, slowly opening his lavender eyes to look up at him.
Malik stared down at him, eyes slightly wide with alarm. "You were supposed to be asleep."
"Odion woke me up when he came into the room. The smell from breakfast followed him, and that woke me."
"You were not supposed to hear that."
"Why not? I care about you, you know that. Why can't I hear you speak of me with gentle words? Why can't I be shown affection?"
Malik took his eyes from him, looking over his blonde hair out into the room. He could not look into those soft lavender eyes.
Marik frowned. "And why can't you answer me?"
"How can I answer when I know not what the answers are?" Malik's voice grew firmer, but he still dared not look down at his hikari.
"Malik, do you really care about me?"
"What?" Malik blurted out, looking down at Marik so that their eyes connected. "Yes, I do. Did you not hear me before?"
"Then the answers should be simple. If you care about me, then why can't you show me any affection?"
Malik pulled Marik closer to him with the arm that held him, closing his eyes with a heavy sigh. "Because. I don't. know how. I don't know how to show affection."
Marik pressed himself closer to Malik, resting his cheek against the yami's bare chest. "Well, you are now. Pulling me to you, that shows me that you want me closer to you, and that is showing affection." He paused, closing his eyes and letting out a low hum. "You're warm."
Malik lowered himself down from his elbow, wrapping his other arm around Marik. "Well, so are you."
Marik's stomach let out a loud growl, completely ruining the mood as his dark skin gained a reddish undertone.
"Right, breakfast." Malik said with a heavy sigh, loosening his grip so that Marik could pull away from him and get dressed. "You go eat. I'll think of a plan."
Marik looked back at him as he slipped out from under the sheets, trying to keep his back turned to him with embarrassment. "For the Pharaoh?"
Malik nodded. "Who else?" and he disappeared.
~*~*~
Dragon: You tease! They were naked and in bed, yet no sex!!!
Bow: ::rolls eyes:: Give them some time. Malik is still getting used to this whole "Hey, I have feelings for Marik!" deal. Give him a break!
~*~*~
Yugi let out a heavy sigh, slumped against the coffee table in the adjoining room between Seto and Mokuba's bedrooms. Everyone was seated inside; Seto and Jou on the sofa, Honda and Shizuka in beanbag chairs, Bakura seated in a leather recliner with Ryou on his lap, and Yugi and Yami on the floor. Yugi's arms were sprawled out in front of him on the wooden table, chin resting on the edge. "Pointless. Yami, there's a killer after you and there is nothing we can do."
Yami reached out over the table, placing a large hand over his smaller one reassuringly. "There is no point in worrying if there is nothing we can do right now."
"How can I not worry?!" Yugi shot up to his feet, pulling his hand from Yami's as he clenched his fists at his sides. "Tell me; how can I?!" Tears began to build in his eyes. "Marik is after _you_ and he doesn't want to just talk. He wants to kill you! Do you know how worried I am?!"
Tears poured down the sides of Yugi's face, his shoulders hunched as he fought the sobs that rose from his chest. Jou and Ryou looked away from Yugi, feeling guilty that they were so relieved that it was not their loved ones that Marik was after. Bakura tightened his grip around Ryou, and Seto squeezed Jou's hand.
"First-" Yugi was choked by tears. " First I loose Anzu, and now this! How can you tell me not to worry, Yami? How can you?! I'm terrified! SOMEONE WANTS YOU DEAD AND I'M TERRIFIED, YAMI!"
Yugi cried, head bent as he let his tears fall to the shag carpet. His fists were clenched painfully by his sides, but that pain was nowhere near to what he felt in his heart. "I JUST WANT THIS MADNESS TO STOP! WHY CAN'T WE JUST BE HAPPY AND NOT LIVE IN FEAR?!"
Face pained, Yami rose to his feet, stepping forward to wrap his arms tightly around Yugi. Yugi leaned into him, letting his loud sobs finally break free from him as he gripped Yami tightly, his cries muffled by the Pharaoh's chest. Yami closed his eyes, stroking his hikari's hair to comfort him. He felt both of their knees begin to weaken, so he lowered them to the floor, sitting cross-legged as Yugi half-crawled, half- scrambled onto his lap without releasing him from his tight grip or quieting his sobs.
"I'm sorry Yugi. I'm so sorry." he mumbled, repeating the words over and over, so that it was almost uncertain what he was apologizing for. A pair of tears fell from his eyes, leaving delicate, silver trails down his cheeks. "I'm sorry for dragging you into all of this, I'm sorry for you having to duel Pegasus in the Shadow Realm, I'm sorry for all of the things your father did to you, I'm sorry for what I. what I did to him. I'm sorry I never told you, I'm sorry for Marik. I'm just sorry, Yugi. Please don't be angry with me."
Once Yugi's sobs had quieted, he turned his head so that he could try and blink the tears out of his eyes. "Hyoui." he mumbled.
Yami opened his crimson eyes, blinking back tears as well. ".What?"
"Hyoui. He told me what happened to my father," Yugi said quietly. "You were right not to tell me. I almost wish I didn't know. But he deserved what he got. All of it. Thank you. I know how hard it was for you."
The others were confused, but they dare not ask any questions now; this business was not theirs.
"You were not supposed to know about that night. I trusted Hyoui." Yami began quietly, the hand that had been stroking Yugi's hair now trying to dry the tears from his hikari's face. He looked down to him.
"And I trust Hyoui as well. He did what he believed was best for me, so I would know for sure that he would never hurt me again," Yugi mumbled.
"Yami, I- I don't mean to interrupt," Seto began awkwardly.
Yami raised his head to look over at Seto, Yugi, too, shifting his gaze towards the brunette without tilting his head.
"But what are we going to do about this whole Marik thing? He's coming after you, so we can't exactly leave you alone." Seto said.
"Yeah, Seto's right. We can't leave you in danger while the rest of us just cool our heels at home," Jou piped up.
The ever-rational one, Bakura offered up a suggestion. "We can take turns staying with you and Yugi at your house. We don't need to get Sugoroku or Siulin mixed up in this, and I doubt they'd pose much of a defense. But we can't leave them alone, so you'll have to stay home instead of coming to our houses."
Yugi looked uncertain. "But what about your families? Wouldn't they be suspicious of you disappearing all of the time?"
Jou snorted. "You think my Dad cares? He's too drunk off his ass to care where I am, so long as I don't get arrested."
"I can do whatever I want," Seto said.
Honda shrugged. "My parents won't care, so long as I'm not doing anything illegal. Anything to get the house to themselves," he said with a shudder.
Shizuka was about to say something, but Jou cut her off. "No, Shizuka. You're staying out of this one. I don't want you getting hurt. You stay with Mom, okay?"
She let out a sigh. "Okay, Jou."
~*~*~
Bow: ::lets out an evil cackle:: Perfect opportunity to bring in Otogi!
Dragon: ::blinks:: Whee?
Bow: Honda/Otogi!
Dragon: Whee!
~*~*~
Everyone was looking at Ryou, including Bakura. "Well, I don't think my Mom would mind. She seems to be pretty enthusiastic that I'm leaving home to be with you guys, since I didn't do to well with friends where we used to live. Besides, she had been wanting to get nights free since she started seeing this new guy."
Bakura looked startled. "What new guy? You never told me about this. And isn't your mother still married to your father? I know he's gone almost all of the time, and that they fight whenever they're together, but they're still married! So _this_ is what's got you so edgy lately!"
Yami coughed loudly. "Well, now that that is settled, who's going to be staying with us first?"
~*~*~
Bow: And we end here! Mwahahahahahahahaha!
Dragon: You horrible person! No sex!
Bow: ::wallops Dragon:: Silence you! Be patient! You had sex, what, two chapters ago?
Dragon: And how long has it been since then?
Bow: ^^;;;;;;;;
Dragon: ::huffs:: My point, readers. ::points at Bow::