A/N: Yes, number two down! My updating promise is holding true! Just have one more chapter to write for my last fic and then I will have fulfilled my promise to myself! Well, then, I kinda like this chapter, not too terribly interesting, but it works nicely to get me to where I need to be. Hm...I'm kinda iffy on the character portrayals, might not quite work, but this is what I wanted to happen, so this is what I wrote. Oh god, oh god, oh god... there's also my pathetic attempt at song lyrics. ...Guess that's all I have to say.

Disclaimer: It's like Buddhist philosophy, I own nothing. Material possessions kill the soul.

Chapter Seven:

Mokuba flew down the stairs in an effort to cut out time that he was already wasting. Stuffing his feet into his shoes, he grabbed a set of car keys and lunged to the door. Unfortunately, he didn't see his brother until it was too late, and he tripped on his own feet. Seto caught him without much more than a look in his direction, apparently foreseeing his little brother's clumsiness.

"Where do you think you're going?" Seto asked, pulling Mokuba up.

"I'm going over to Yugi's," he looked down at his watch, "and I'm late! I told you already."

"And how do you plan on getting there?" Seto asked.

Mokuba showed his brother the keys he was holding. "Perhaps in a car?" And seeing his brother's expression he added, "I'm sixteen, I have my permit, you even say I'm a good driver..."

"That doesn't mean I'm going to let you drive there alone, in the dark no less," Seto said. He held his hand out for the keys, which Mokuba gave up reluctantly. "I'm going to drive."

Mokuba walked slowly to the car, forgetting for a moment about his tardiness, and then plopped into the car. While Seto started up the engine, Mokuba flipped his cell open and dialed Yugi's number. After only one ring, Yami picked up.

"Hello Mokuba," he greeted. Mokuba was caught off guard by who picked up the phone, but shook it off.

"Hi, Yami," Mokuba said. "Um, I was just calling to say I'd be a little late. I got ambushed at the front door and so my brother is driving me," he shifted in the seat so he faced the window and lowered his voice to a whisper, "and just between you and me, he drives like an old man."

"I do not," Seto said, casting a glance over to his brother, who just shifted back and smiled at him. Seto could hear laughing over the phone.

"So, I'll probably be there in about thirty minutes," Mokuba continued.

"Don't worry about it, I'll make sure to save you some food," Yami said. "See you then. Oh, and invite your brother up too."

Mokuba stared at the cell phone. Must've been something wrong with the connection and the static was starting to sound like Yami's voice.

"Mokuba?" A faint voice asked from the speaker.

He held the receiver back to his ear. "Uh, yeah, I'll ask him," Mokuba said. "Seto?"

"Hm?" Seto responded.

"Yami's invited you up to his apartment for something to eat," Mokuba said, still in disbelief.

"Tell him I'd rather go stick nails in my eyes," Seto said.

"How nice," Mokuba said with his hand still over the phone. "Yami? He'd love to."

Seto stared at Mokuba closing his phone.

"Watch the road, big brother," Mokuba said, the smugness lining his voice.

Seto turned his focus back to the road, turning onto streets that were known to him only by names and not as actual places. The industrial buildings on either side of them closed in around them, he could see the crack dealer on the corner pull out a gun and murder them both. Seto sighed, they were in the wrong district for that kind of behavior, but it still felt unsafe.

Seto pulled up to the curb and took care to park underneath a street light. Before he could lock the car, Mokuba was already pulling the front door to the complex open and waiting for Seto. What am I doing? He thought, while walking toward his brother.

"I'm not going to eat anything," Seto said. "I'm just going to walk you up to the apartment."

Mokuba rolled his eyes. "Fine, fine," he said.

"Kaiba sure left quick," Yami said, looking after the elevator. He turned back around to Yugi and Mokuba, who were sitting on stools around the kitchen island.

"Told ya," Mokuba said. "Weird around people. But he came up, he's making improvements." Mokuba smiled at his food. He stuck the fork in his mouth and chewed happily. "Wow, this is really good. Did you make this Yami?"

"I do basically all the cooking around here, since someone else can't cook," he looked over to Jou. "And Yugi cleans."

Mokuba ate a little more, thinking. "Hey, Yami," Mokuba said sweetly.

"Yeah?"

"My brother's birthday is coming up soon," Mokuba said, moving food around on his plate. "It would be a huge surprise if you and Yugi could come and...cook him something."

Yami gave a look that reminded Mokuba of when he had asked if Seto would like to go up and eat something, but Yugi was smiling, and when Yugi caught Yami's look, it was like they were talking without words. Finally, Yami sighed and looked away from Yugi.

"When's his birthday?" Yami said, defeat lacing his voice.

Mokuba smiled. "October 25th, it'll be great!"

"As long as he doesn't act like a jerk," Yami grumbled.

"Oh, he probably will," Mokuba said, still smiling.

"Well, if I'm going to do this, then I better do it right," Yami said. "What's his favorite food?"

Mokuba thought for a second. "He likes lamb...um," Mokuba said. "I don't really know. I'll ask though. And I'll be really sneaky about it so he doesn't get suspicious."

Yami sat alone in a small, padded room with a microphone hanging down from the ceiling. On the other side of the thick plate glass windows the rest of the band and Yugi and Mokuba stood watching him. He felt awkward, like he knew he would.

"Are you ready Yami?" A producer's voice filtered in through the PA system.

"Yeah," he responded.

On the other side of the glass, Mokuba stood watching Yami wait for his cue. Right before Yami started singing, Mokuba noticed a change in his demeanor, like a big black cloud had descended upon him.

"Is there something wrong with Yami?" Mokuba asked.

"It's the song, listen to the lyrics," Bakura replied. Mokuba looked over to him, and saw that there was something off with him too.

Mokuba shrugged and started paying attention to the lyrics. He tapped his fingers on the ledge in time with the music, not really hearing what Yami was saying, partially due to the feed, but also because Yami was mumbling. Strange for him, usually Mokuba could understand Yami perfectly, he wasn't the mumbling type.

Focusing harder, Mokuba did get a few lines. Laying on my bathroom floor/Do you really want more/Sick to your stomach with greed/And still you don't hear me... Those few lines coupled with Yami's strange behavior raised some questions in Mokuba.

"Who died?" Mokuba asked, jokingly, expecting a laugh or two.

"I did."

Mokuba's eyes widened as he turned around to face Bakura. "What?" He asked. "You mean this song's about you?"

Bakura nodded. "Me and Yami have been friends for a really long time now, and we weren't the best kids either. He was never as bad as I was, but he has a dark streak in him. I guess we were seventeen when this song took place, I went over to his house 'cause his parents were gone for the weekend; we were gonna get drunk, maybe vandalize something." Bakura smiled. "Anyway, I went into his bathroom and started doing coke lines. To my knowledge, Yami's never done coke," he added, looking over to Yugi.

"What happened then?" Mokuba asked, all attention payed exclusively to Bakura.

"I don't really know, I guessed I blacked out and Yami found me," Bakura continued. "From what I learned later on, he called 911 right away, but when he was on the phone I stopped breathing. Yami kept me alive until the EMS came, when everything went to hell. I died on his bathroom floor."

Mokuba could hardly believe the story he was hearing.

"They revived me, of course," Bakura said. "And I got stuck in rehab for the mandatory month. Which did nothing, because the moment I was released I relapsed. Yami wasn't happy with that," Bakura said somberly.

"Did you relapse after that?"

"Not yet, but the craving never goes away."

In the pause, more lyrics floated in. Love you so much/I hate you for what you did to me.

"After I got out of rehab the second time, I noticed something different with our relationship," Bakura continued, obviously not done with his story. Mokuba refocused on his voice. "I asked Yami about it, and he told me that the closeness we once shared died with me on that bathroom floor."

"But," Mokuba started. "You're still friends, right?" Mokuba hoped for something positive to lighten the mood.

"Yeah," Bakura replied. "But he'll always hate me for what I put him through. And I don't blame him, I hate me for what I put him through."

Yami stopped singing, sitting on the stool and waiting for the song to finish. The black cloud that hung above him was still there, and didn't look like it was going to fade any time soon.

"He hates this song, but I made him put it on the list," Bakura said. He smiled, which Mokuba thought unbefitting of the mood. "Originally, he wrote that song to guilt me into never doing drugs again."

"And it worked?" Mokuba asked.

"I guess," Bakura said. "It was mostly for him."

Mokuba turned faced forward again, but then something else hit him. "Yugi, where were you during this?"

Yugi smiled, like he's prone to do. "Me and Yami are orphans. The state had a hard time getting us adopted, so we got split up," Yugi said. "But when Yami turned eighteen he came and got me."

"At least something has a nice ending," Mokuba said. Suddenly, worrying about his brother's birthday seemed very insignificant.

The door to the other room opened up, and Yami walked out. He stopped in his tracks as he saw everyone in the room was staring at him.

"What?"

With that, the black mood dissipated.

Mokuba looked down at his watch and walked over to Yami. "Hm, Yami," he said. "I have to leave soon, but I just wanted to tell you that Seto like pine nuts and marinated artichoke hearts."

"Okay," Yami said. "I can work with that."

"Good," Mokuba said. "I have to go now, but I hope the rest of your recording goes well."

Mokuba walked toward the door, waving at the rest of the people in the recording studio.

When he left, Yami turned around to Yugi. "You have your laptop, don't you?"

"Yeah, why?" Yugi asked.

"Look up how to marinate artichoke hearts, I hate those store bought ones."

A/N: Please review. I'm terribly bored with my life...or am I just stressed? Interesting how those two coincide for me.