Disclaimer: I don't, never have, never will, own YuGiOh. But I do own this setting and the species. So yeah, don't steal, k? Thanks. Oh, and watch out for language; there are a couple strong words.

Ummmm…..

Doodeedoodoo….

Nuthin' to say.

Not proud of this chapter, but I promised to get one up, so here 'tis.

Hope ya like.

Little later then I'd planned, but not as bad as some of my other stories. For one, I actually forgot to update after I uploaded the document. But that won't happen with this one!

REVIEW! If you do, I'll send you a free preview summary!

Confined Anomalies: Chapter 3

The Other Two

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"Preetttttty…where arrrreee yoooouuuu?"

Malik crouched on top of a bookcase, mentally cursing himself. Somehow, his panicked flight had led DIRECTLY to the psycho's room. And, to make it even worse, he'd been seen going in so Marik had shut and locked the door.

It's only a matter of time until that nut gets too close and realizes where I am. That is, he stifled a sneeze, if I don't give myself away first. When was the last time someone dusted up here? And there are only two exits, the window and the door both of which are locked with bolts too big for me to move. Ugh, this day just keeps getting worse, doesn't it?

"AH-HA!"

Wha-? "Ow!"

"Gotcha! I caught the fairy!"

Oh crap.

Malik flailed, struggling wildly in the thick netting. The rough fibers dug into his sensitive feathers, drawing pained squeals and whimpers. N-No! Ow! His thoughts dissolved into blind panic like those of a mammoth being driven into a tar pit. (1)

"No! No, stop it pretty; you'll hurt yourself!" Marik watched his new pet with concern.

The struggling, if anything, increased.

As a last resort, the Egyptian reached for the creature, groping desperately. If he wasn't restrained, he'd only get tangled up further and probably break an arm or leg.

"STOP-" his hand closed and room went silent. "-it. Huh?"

His hand was wrapped around the winged being's legs, holding them firmly in place. For some reason, this brought compliance.

With surprising gentleness, he pulled Malik out of the net, being careful not to create further tangles.

Several pulled feathers later, both were silent, Malik held in Marik's hand, and staring at each other. Such a pretty little critter. And feisty. We're going to have so much fun tomorrow! But what about tonight? A wide, predatory grin spread across his tan countenance.

"I know how to take care of you!"

Malik's eyes narrowed. Oh that really doesn't sound good.

"Let's go get your new home!"

Go get it?

Marik crossed the room, holding Malik tightly. Too tightly.

Dammit, why'd my new owner have to be so strong? I can't even struggle! Where are we going? Isn't he just going to put me back in the jar?

"There it is! Your new house, pretty!"

Oh no. Oh dear RA no.

The insane human was standing over a short, squat container made of plastic and wire netting. It was, to use the human term, an empty garbage can three feet tall with an open top about 2 and a half feet in diameter.

Looking enormously please with himself, Marik picked up the container and carried it next to his bed, turning it over so that the open end faced the floor. Then he turned to his captive, now twitching and fluttering his wings unhappily. "Now pretty, be good. This might hurt a little."

What is he going to do? "Gah!"

In one swift movement, Malik found himself thrown, literally, underneath the upended receptacle, narrowly escaping the rigid sides as they slammed back down.

Apparently, Marik thought his pet would escape if he left the sides up too long.

Damn giant freak. If he'd just let me go, we'd both be better off! I'd be free and he'd… have fewer things to worry about. Yeah. Hmph; I wonder how the others are doing? I'll try to contact them when Mr. Psychopath goes to bed.

With a suspicious scowl at Marik, now lying across the bed with his head buried in a pillow, the youth folded his wings and lay down on his stomach, grudgingly enjoying the feel of carpet (scratchy but far better then the glass of the jar or the wood of the communal cage) and the ability to stretch. Such luxuries had been almost unheard of ever since…well, ever. Before being captured, they'd lived in the wild, sleeping in trees and eating whatever edible flora they could find. Clothes had never been an issue; they each had a single outfit that had been around since before even Ryou, the oldest, could remember. The strange material grew with them and formed uniquely on each body.

"G'night, birdie."

"Mmm." Dozing, lost in memory, Malik opened his eyes slowly once the light went off. Time to contact the others.

>Yugi? Ryou? You guys still up?>

>Mhm.> sleepy acknowledgement from Ryou.

>You okay?>

>Yes. I'm still in the jar; he hasn't tried to touch me.>

>Good.>

>You?>

>I'm fine. But…he caught me.>

Ryou's amusement came through in his thought pattern.

>It's not funny; he's insane! I had a good reason to run!>

>I know, sorry.>

>Mmph. Yugi, how are you?>

No answer.

>Yugi?> Worry laced Malik's mental voice.

>Malik, I heard Yugi's new owner before he left. The man said he was going to take him out tonight.>

>I swear, if he hurt Yugi…>

>I hope he's alright.>

>So do I. Yugi? YUGI?>

>There's nothing we can do now, Malik; just relax. If something has happened, we'll both need energy to deal with it tomorrow.>

>Isn't that human the one you said was talking about studying and experimenting on us?>

>…Yes.>

An uneasy silence; neither wanted to leave their friend, but there was no way to reach him.

>There's nothing we can do right now; we shouldn't dwell on it until we know for certain what happened. Goodnight Malik.>

>…Night Ryou.>

Despite their fear, both fell asleep within minutes.

-Beep…Beep…Beep…Beep…Beep…-

"Mrgh."

-Beep…Beep…Beep…-

"Sharrup!"

-…Beep…-

-WHAM!-

"Finally! Stupid alarm clock. What time is it anyway? Idiot Pharaoh's usually the one to wake me up. Now I've lost my pillow…"

-BEEP!-

"GODDAMIT!"

Bakura lashed out angrily, aiming at the alarm clock. He'd never get back to sleep now! When his hand hit something smooth and cold instead, he viciously shoved it off the table.

"Yip!"

"Huh?"

Still sleep fuzzed, Bakura moved slightly to look over the side of his mattress at what he'd hit.

A large jar lay on its side on the floor, containing a pale creature with butterfly wings. It as curled up slightly, making soft whimpering noises.

What is-? Oh, oops.

"Oh come on, it can't have hurt THAT bad. You only fell a few feet." Grumpily, he picked up the jar to scrutinize the one within.

"Ah." A slight flash of pity ran through his eyes. One fragile wing was bent, leaking blood from where it had hit the jar's side. Being in the small capsule only made it worse; the limb hit the glass every time the wing moved, drawing pain expressed through small gasps and yelps.

"Poor little guy." Looking around cautiously, the others could NOT know he was doing this; Bakura unscrewed the lid and reached inside, pulling a very startled Ryou out by the back of his garment. For a long moment, they stayed like that, Bakura sitting cross legged on the bed dangling the tiny youth at eye level.

Wait, what am I doing? It could escape like Marik's did!

Ah, the curse of acting before thinking.

A pathetic whine brought him back to reality as the fairy struggled against his uncomfortable grip.

"Oh, um, sorry." Gently he dropped it on the bedspread and sat back to watch, ready to grab at the slightest sign of an escape attempt.

As soon as he was set down, Ryou stretched and yawned widely, then set about fixing his wing. A painful procedure, but after living in the jar for almost a year, he was used to it. Some customers had been even rougher then Bakura.

The first step to mending the damaged wing was to set it. Running his fingers along the feathered edge, he quickly found the most painful spot and with a sharp push and suppressed howl of pain, shoved the dislocated appendage back into place. The second step was to bind the wing for several hours until it repaired any fractures or serious breaks, but what to use…

Bakura watched with amazement as the little one treated his wing just like a dislocated arm. When It began looking around for a splint, the human decided to help.

Looking around for materials, all he could find were several Q-tips, toothpaste, a half empty bottle of water, scotch tape, dirty clothes, several small broken pieces of plastic (who knew what they once had been), and dental floss.

Without a second thought, he grabbed the dental floss and a Q-tip.

"Now, hold still."

Huh? Uh-oh…I forgot he was watching… For a split second, tiny mocha eyes widened.

Then Bakura pounced.

---------------------------

"Now let's go see Marik."

Ryou blinked up at his 'owner'; the man was standing over him with another piece of dental floss.

After pinning the boy to the mattress with one hand, Bakura had splinted the wing carefully with the Q-tip and, after trying and failing with dental floss, the tape.

The uninjured wing twitched slightly as the much larger person leant forward and tied the new piece of string around his neck, expressing Ryou's offended pride. Disgruntled, he took in what Bakura had done.

A leash. Well, I guess he did buy me as an animal. But it still feels degrading.

"Come on."

With care for the injured wing, the albino picked up his miniature double and set off.

"Oi, Lazy! Wake up!"

>Oof!>

Instantly wakeful, Malik could hardly believe what he'd heard following the human's statement. He was here? In this room?

>Ryou?>

>Ow. Yes.>

>Are you okay? Where are you?>

>My wing got bent. Again.>

A wave of sympathy.

>Thanks. Oh, and to answer your other question; look up.>

>Look…oh. Heheheh.>

>'s not funny.>

>-snicker- Sure.>

Ryou was standing the bottom-now-top of Malik's makeshift cage. His wing was splinted with…interesting materials and a short white leash led from his neck to his human's hand. He looked dejected and unhappy, but the combined affect was sulky and hilarious.

"Aw, how'd you do that Kura?

"Eh?"

"He's already trained!"

>Jesus! What the heck?> A large violet eye, almost as big as Ryou's head, was suddenly much too close.

With a startled cry, Ryou jumped backwards, toppling off the platform and falling to the floor, nearly strangling himself on the leash.

"Careful Marik!"

Marik blinked, startled. "Bakura, I thought you didn't care about It?"

"What? NO!" Instantly snapping up and dropping the leash (he'd been leaning down to pick the boy up) he glared at the other man.

"It's kinda cute, like a kitten (2), but I don't feel for it, not like that."

"Yeah, right."

"I am right."

"Whatever. Geez, I'm hungry; where's Yami? He usually yells and screams for us to get up, then shoves us out the door. You're always the last one up."

"Maybe he's scared cuz he lost the bet."

"Bet?"

"Yeah; while you were chasing your…whatever it is …around, I mad a wager with him that he wouldn't be able to keep his once he let it out."

Marik smirked "Want to go see if you won?"

"Of course." Bakura smirked, looking disturbingly like Marik. "Let's go."

"Uh, Kura?"

"What?"

"Your…ummm…fairy…thing." He pointed at Ryou, standing on the floor near where he'd fallen.

"Oh, right."

Not bothering to be gentle, he lifted the bin and shoved the youngling under with his foot, slamming it back down before either could escape and ignoring the surprised yelps as the little beings slammed into each other.

"Now let's go."

"Alright."

"Well damn."

"Guess he won the bet."

"Hmph."

The two men stood over their third companion, watching the little creature on Yami's bedside table with annoyance.

"How much do you need to pay him?"

"He's not getting anything."

Marik grinned, he'd been expecting this. "Why not? Is it going to 'mysteriously disappear'?"

"Yeah. Pharaoh will wake up and find he didn't tie the knot tight enough and the creature ran away."

Moving stealthily, Bakura untied the shoelace from Yugi's chest as Marik watched from the doorway.

"You going to leave the window open?"

"Nah, he'd know it was supposed to be closed; he's anal about details. It'd be a dead giveaway. I'll just..."

He reached out and grabbed Yugi's wing, tugging lightly.

"Mur?" sleepy violet eyes opened as feathers twitched

"Go! Beat it! Get out of here!"

With a startled squeal, too soft to awaken the sleeping human, Yugi stumbled upright and back, falling off the table and spreading his wings to flap awkwardly away from the giant person attacking him. Fearful, he fell to the ground several feet away and scrambled under the bed as Bakura left, joining Marik outside the doorway and closing the door.

Mission successful.

As the troublemakers slipped away, a figure within stirred and crimson eyes slowly blinked open.

TBC.

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(1) ummm…yeah. Old allusion, very old. Doesn't seem to fit, but the only others I could think of were lemmings and buffalo and those didn't work well either.

(2) Allusion to FTI.

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Thunderstorm101

Aramis-chan

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Kikyo's Killer