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.

Not really a very good chapter, but I had to write something and this was the last thing on my list.

Plus, everyone always seems to like the chapters I think are crap.

XD

Although one thing bugs me….

Why on earth does the universe seem to deem it necessary for all my stories to grow plotlines?

This was supposed to be a short!

Mbleh

Rant over. And this is only bad for me. You guys'll probably love it. It means you not only get more chapters and yami/hikari moments but a more involved and evolved storyline.

Sorry it's been so long since an update. As if having this story (I'm in the middle of several) at the bottom of my list wasn't bad enough, I also couldn't get inspiration and didn't have time. But it's up now.

Sorry if the characters are a little out of character.

Again, if you review, I'll send you a free preview summary of the next chapter!

I'd like to put up a shout out to a girl I knew who died from bone cancer earlier this week. She fought for a long time and lived a full life and we will all miss her. Rest in Peace Christina, you live in all our hearts.

Italics mean thoughts

>arrows> mean mind speech between Yugi, Malik, and Ryou

Bold means….other stuff.

Confined Anomalies: Chapter 5

'Fun'

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

Yami, Bakura, and Marik each spent about 80 hours at the Agency each week. Well, in the office that is. This was when paperwork and mission reports were filed and briefings were conducted. These 'down times' were stifling and boring, even to those who worked in the office regularly.

They were always glad when their shift was over (they made it a point never to be separated) and looked forward to going home, having pizza and beer for dinner, fighting over what to watch on the television, then collapsing into bed in the no-longer-so-small hours of the morning (5 am was early).

This day was no different.

After finishing their hours, the three tired men unlocked the door, only to be confronted with…

…complete and utter chaos.

They stood frozen in the doorway for a good ten minutes before Yami finally broke the silence.

"Ra, what happened here?"

Pillows were torn, their contents littering the air and floor, the television was on blaringly loud, almost all the furniture was turned over and/or slashed, and several charred circles marred the formerly spotless walls.

This was discounting the shredded paper and food strewn over the mess.

Yami's crimson eyes widened almost comically before narrowing into dangerous slits. His bad mood from earlier had not waned at any point in the day; if anything, it had intensified.

And this was not a surprise he needed.

"What the hell did you two DO?"

"US?"

"Yes, you!" Yami turned on Bakura with a vicious snarl, managing to look intimidating despite his diminutive size. "I know it wasn't me and you two are the only other ones with room keys!"

"Because we live here!"

"Exactly!"

"Yami's not making sense." Marik bypassed the argument easily, picking his way through the rubble with surprising grace and ease. "Did bad people come in?"

"Bad…? Burglars?" Yami furrowed his eyebrows unhappily.

It's possible, unfortunately. There went his scapegoat.

"Yeah, ya know, people who steal stuff?" Bakura sneered scornfully. "Don't jump to the most logical and obvious possibility, oh no, blame your two best friends." He laughed and turned away dismissively to join Marik as Yami pretended to ignore his statement.

"Friends, pfeh." He could feel a headache coming on.

The perfect end to a dismal day. He has the gall to act like none of this is his fault? He started the day by getting rid of the little fairy creature! And I could swear the only reason work was so terrible, more so then usual, was because of that idiot. I got chewed out for letting him slack off the other day while he got away scot free! And now he's just going to go fool around with Marik and leave me alone to clean this up? I don't think so.

"That is IT!"

"Wha-?"

"Whoa!"

"You think you're going to loll around watching TV while I clean up this mess and call the police? Not gonna happen. This time, you get to be the responsible ones. I have had ENOUGH!"

Both men watched him stomp out of the room, all but smoking with fury.

"Kura?"

"Don't call me that." Bakura responded automatically.

"Tomb robber?"

"Not that either!"

"Whatever. I think Yami's cracked."

"I think you might be right."

Silence fell for all of ten seconds.

"Wanna watch TV?"

"Yeah."

Ignoring the mess, they fell bickering onto the couch only to land on the sticky floor. The couch was…gone?

"OW! What happened to the couch?"

"I don't- there it is!"

"What? Where?

"Under the table. Well, sort of under. The table's more like propped over it. And it's covered in maple syrup. Yuck."

"It tastes good!"

"It does? Let me…no. That's even more disgusting then usual. What kind of robbers vandalize couches with maple syrup?"

"Hungry ones. It doesn't matter if it's disgusting. Yami said he wasn't cleaning up this time."

"Methinks we all need to have a little chat about our respective duties."

"Duties?"

"Yes. Where does he get off telling us to do his chores? They're his job! We have enough to do!"

"But…we don't do anything."

"So?"

"So I don't think he'll listen to us if that's what we have to say."

"Well I'm going to say it anyways. If worst comes to worst, he'll move out and we'll need to hire a maid or someone."

"Worst case?"

"Heheheh. More like best case. But we can do that later. Help me get the couch unsticky so we can watch TV."

"OK! Let's watch Frankenfish! (1)"

"Frankenfish? What kind of idiotic name is that?"

"It's about a giant man eating fish in Florida. I think it's the sequel to Snakehead Terror. (2)"

"That movie sucked. The only part I liked was when that kid got bitten in the head and the fish started eating his brains. What ever happened to the good horror movies? Where they didn't use creatures like fish to try and inspire fear?"

"There will be blood in it."

"Hm…as much as in the other one?"

"Probably more."

"Hmph. Alright. Let's watch that."

Marik grinned triumphantly as he watched Bakura trying to clean the couch with a handful of tissues.

He always got his way.

>I don't like this.>

>Shut up Ryou.>

>I can't believe you trashed their house! How; no, WHY did you do it?>

>Cuz the psycho caught me in a butterfly net and trapped me under a garbage bin all night!>

>Those were better conditions then we've had in a long time and you know it. Besides, my new owner isn't that great either, but I didn't feel the need to destroy the house, make them angry, and betray my friends!>

>Betray you? How?>

>You don't think they're going to notice the house has been pillaged? Keep dreaming! And when they find that we're gone, they're going to put two and two together and…>

>Guys, stop it. Please.>

>Yugi?>

>Malik, what you did was wrong. These people took us in and have been fairly kind so far.>

>Hmph.>

>But we have much bigger problems right now. >

>What do you mean?>

>I hear footsteps.>

They all went silent with fear as the heavy rhythmic thuds penetrated their conversation. One of the humans was coming near their hiding place.

>Yugi> Ryou's mental voice sounded breathless, terrified >We're in your owner's room. Only you know how he'll react.>

>I don't…know.>

>Yugi> Malik was terrified and guilty, getting defensive because he thought the other two were angry with him. >How can you not know? Tell us how he'll react!>

>I don't know!>

>Malik, knock it off, you're making it worse. Yugi, calm down. There's no way you could possibly understand him so soon, at least not in this case. These conditions are beyond unusual for us.>

Ryou stroked Yugi's wings gently, trying to calm him down while shooting Malik a disappointed, despairing gaze.

The hawk winged creature, for his part, felt dismal and guilty.

Dammit, I didn't mean for this to happen. I just wanted to have some fun and get revenge. I guess I thought we'd run away after, but they said no. I mean, they have a point; we most likely wouldn't survive long. But we might! Then we heard the humans outside the door, panicked, reverted back to normal size, and here we are. Back where this all began. Why Yugi thinks hiding under his human's bed will be safe, I don't know.

I doubt the psycho and his friends will be able to find us and realize what happened, but they are magic users. At least, that's what the one said, the one whose bed we're under. Goddamit, how did my plan turn out this way?

>Guys, I'm sorry.>

Yugi and Ryou looked at him, distracted from the oncoming footsteps that had stopped outside the door.

>This is all my fault. I didn't mean for anything to turn out this way.>

>Malik…>

>It's alright.> Yugi's small hand found his wing and touched it lightly, reassuringly. >It's not your fault. It's no one's fault.>

Yami was still in a fit of anger as he went to his room, but shouting had cooled his temper at least a little. When he was inside and had closed the door, he let go of it completely and fell to the bed with a groan.

"Idiots. Why do I bother? It's not like they'll actually clean any of it up. Or call the police. I suppose that's for the best though, the cops would have no idea how to deal wit magic users. If they searched the house, and they would for a burglary, they would find definite proof of our status."

Mournfully, he turned to the nightstand and regarded the abandoned restraints he'd used the night before.

"Poor little thing. I hope Bakura didn't hurt him when he got rid of him."

Tiny ears pricked nearby.

Got rid of me?

"Hopefully he just put him outside but it's not likely. The idiot probably tossed him out a window. I hope those wings weren't just for show. Poor creature." The memory of wide lavender eyes and a small body curled up in his palm made his heart clench with sadness.

Distractedly, he stood and began pacing. Staying still, especially while there was work to be done, was not in his nature. But he couldn't clean the house; he'd vowed to leave the task to Bakura and Marik.

"I'll bet they're not doing anything. Probably just sitting on the floor watching television."

Down the hallway, the albino and Egyptian were doing almost exactly that.

But not very happily.

"Marik, this movie is stupid."

"No it's not."

"Yes it is. Not only that, there hasn't been any real blood in it so far! And we've been watching for over five minutes!"

"There was that old guy, he was killed."

"Psh. That wasn't gory or bloody. It was…soggy."

"Maybe it just hasn't gotten into the action yet."

"How can a movie be interesting or good if nobody's been beheaded, disemboweled, or slaughtered in some other extremely gory way in the first five minutes?"

"…"

"…"

"Alright, you've got a point. It's stupid."

Bakura smirked, tossing his hair over his shoulder almost triumphantly. The expression turned into a full blown crocodilian grin in seconds as an idea occurred to him.

"Hey Marik, let's go get our fairies."

"Why?"

"Well, the whole reason Yami's so pissed is because he doesn't have one any more. If we bring ours out and make a point of how much fun and interesting they are…"

"That would be mean! Like rubbing salt in an open wound! Heh, let's do it."

"That, plus we haven't fed them yet."

"Oh yeah."

"Come on." With a languid stretch, Bakura rose to his feet and picked his way through the rubble to the doorway. Marik followed after a moment, pushing himself up off the couch with one hand on the wall. It came away covered in soot.

He gazed at the warm blackness, allowing his partner in crime to move on ahead with an annoyed huff.

Little pretty will wait. Why did bad robbers burn the wall? They didn't destroy it, no, they burned it. Burned it? Very strange. Just like the fact that they played with fireballs instead of taking the TV. Not that I'm complaining or anything, not at all. But it is very strange.

An enraged shout from his room captured his attention and concern. Maybe the robbers hadn't been after technology at all.

"I'm going to KILL that sonuvabitch!"

"Kura, what's going on?"

"They're gone! Both of them!"

A quick peek showed Marik's room almost exactly as they'd left it, but for one difference. The waste bin they'd left upside down was now right side up and its contents were very clearly not there.

"Pharaoh, open up!"

"What the hell is your problem? Give up on cleaning?"

"What are you talking about?"

Marik tuned them out in favor of a bright shiny…thing on his bed. He could see it only if he tilted just so and moved the lamp every so slightly...there! Got it!

"Bakura! Yami! Come look at this!"

"Not now."

"LOOK!"

"Fine! What?" Yami stood in the doorway, obviously pissed as Bakura glared over his head.

"There was something on my bed."

"Wonderful. It was probably lint. Now back to what I was saying."

"Yami, look."

Exasperated but warned by the suddenly serious tone, he gave in. "Fine…that looks like Bakura's."

"What?" Bakura joined them, painfully stubbing his toe on a hidden metal rod on the way over. He took a single look and discredited it. "That's not mine. It's much too long."

"And yours has always been short, ever since I met the two of you and that was before we got this place. But if it's not Bakura's, whose is it?"

On Marik's palm lay a few fine silvery filaments, too thin and delicate to be thread.

It was hair identical to Bakura's but double the length.

"Yami," Marik turned serious eyes on his friend "Our fairies are missing. Do you think this could belong to the thief?"

"Quite possibly." Yami murmured quietly, bending down to get a closer look. "We're going to need to be extra careful from now on. Whoever did this knows about what we do if all they took was the creatures. We can't risk their telling anyone. But we might still be in luck. We'll stay awake in shifts tonight to keep watch discreetly. After all, you know what they say." His eyes were cold, almost cruel as he regarded his comrades. "A thief always returns to the scene of the crime."

>So> Marik hugged his stomach, trying to quell its growling. >Who wants to go to the kitchen to get food as soon as the humans go to bed? I just realized human sweets and chips aren't very filling.>

Ryou and Yugi were hungry as well and shared an uncertain glance. >I think we should all go together.>

>Sounds good to me.>

>When?>

>As soon as Yugi's human is completely asleep.>

>Right.>

>Okay.>

TBC?

REVIEW!

(1) Don't own and yes, it is a real movie. About a giant freshwater fish, a snakehead, that lives in a swamp in Florida and eats people. Shown on the Sci-Fi channel. I have no idea if it's really good or not, it might be so don't take my word for it. It just sounds kind of tacky, that's why I'm making fun of it. I couldn't remember the one about the homicidal tree or I would have used that.

(2) It is. I don't own that movie either. It's about lots of tiny man eating fish that start growing very big and crawling on land to eat people.

Not allowed to answer reviews here anymore, but I can PM you if you sign in! And, I can send free preview summaries if you review! So, now that there is a REWARD, maybe I'll get more ppl!

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