TO DECEIVE IS TO BELIEVE
By Starflower Sakura

DISCLAIMER: You really like torturing me, don't you? Yu-Gi-Oh doesn't belong to me. If it ever does, I'll inform you.

To readers/reviewers: This is definitely the fics that going best for me. Maybe it's because it's the one with the longest chapters. Hehehe, the other stories are barely past two chapters, but sometimes it's hard to write anything if you don't have any inspiration. Lucky for you guys, I found my inspiration for this story so here comes chapter seven!

To Deceive Is to Believe
Chapter 7 – Theories

"So if what you're saying is true then doesn't that mean that… Oh! Malik-kun!"

"Ryou, Yugi. What are you two talking about?"

Malik left the house even before Isis was awake to avoid Marik from coming to pick him up for school. He was, in no doubt, still extremely tired but it was worth it, or so he thought. Surprisingly, Ryou and Yugi had the same idea in a way. Not that Yami and Bakura were picking them up or anything but they needed some peace and quiet time at school when they're not around.

"Ryusaki, Motoyoshi, and Ishiyama," they replied in unison, monotonously.

Malik twitched when they mentioned Marik, but all in all remained calm.

"Them? Why'd you want to talk about them for?"

"We were bored so Yugi came up with a theory that Ryusaki is really a hybrid between a cute little bunny rabbit and a horrible evil scientist. I came up with the theory that Motoyoshi is actually a clone of Yugi made by that evil scientist but his calculations were wrong so he turned out to be a few inches taller than Yugi!"

Ryou laughed sheepishly when Yugi playfully glared at him. Malik looked on with a look of interest etched on his face.

"Evil scientist and a Yugi clone, huh?"

Yugi and Ryou nodded enthusiastically. Malik raised an eyebrow at them. They must've been critically bored. Still, it didn't sound that farfetched.

"Oh! We got a theory for Ishiyama, too. Motoyoshi wasn't evil enough for him, so he decided to make a clone of you! That turned out to be Ishiyama. Did we tell you that this evil scientist liked to create people with gravity-defying hair, also?" Ryou asked, smiling almost jubilantly.

"Yea, Motoyoshi stole my hairstyle! Of course, my hair is naturally gravity-defying," Yugi grinned.

Ryou and Malik sweatdropped.

"Naturally gravity-defying? And I always thought you just used lots of gel," Malik said, laughing awkwardly while putting his hand behind the back of his head.

"Do not!"

Ryou chuckled and was about to stop them before a debate over Yugi's hair started between those two. He never got a chance to for he instantly turned around as he sensed someone watching them from afar. He grimaced lightly as he saw the unmistakable hair of Motoyoshi, the scary grin of Ishiyama, and the bunny ears of Ryusaki.

"I hate to break up this lovely little contest of yours, but I think we've got company."

They both looked up at him with puzzled eyes, asking him what he was talking about. There was no one around but them, seeing that it was still very early in the morning and almost nobody went to school this early. Ryou glanced over his shoulder, and, following his glance Yugi and Malik spotted them also. Malik cursed under his breath as Yugi groaned.

"Not again," Yugi mumbled, his face scrunched up in slight distress.

"I don't think the classrooms are open just yet so we'll just have to try our best to avoid them."

"Avoid them?! Hell, no!! I'm going over there and punch them into next week!"

Ryou and Yugi looked at each and nodded. They both took a hold of Malik, and like last time, dragged him away before he causes any trouble.

-------

"Aww, they ran away," Marik said, pouting like a child.

"Who wouldn't when they see you two?" Yami asked, rolling his eyes.

"Oh, then why aren't you running?" Bakura inquired, glaring at Yami.

"Because. Hanging with you guys ever since we were children has made me immune to such horrible sights," Yami grinned.

"Why, you!" Bakura growled as he lunged at Yami who gracefully dodged his attack by simply stepping to the side.

He watched attentively as Bakura missed him and headed right towards the tree he was leaning against. He winced when Bakura head bumped right into the poor tree.

"That hurts, y'know!" Bakura exclaimed as he rubbed a spot on his forehead.

"That's why you're not suppose to act like an animal and lunge at people like that and… hey. Where's Marik?"

Bakura looked around trying to spot their missing lunatic friend. Seeing as he can't find him, he shrugged, plopped down onto the green grass below, and concentrated on his bump instead. Yami sighed at Bakura's "concern" and tried to spot Marik by himself.

"Bakura?"

"What is it now?!"

"Are you ready to play?"

Bakura looked at him and raised an eyebrow at him at the word "play." Yami smirked at him as he pointed to somewhere near where Yugi and the others disappeared from sight. Bakura turned and spotted Marik making his way across, trying to find Malik.

"He doesn't let that boy get any rest, does he?" Bakura asked.

"Obviously not, but we can't let him have all the fun, now can we?"

Bakura grinned, "Nope, that just won't be fair."

He pushed himself up and dusted off imaginary dust and such and they went chasing after Marik, hoping to find some "fun" while they're at it.

-------

Still dragging a struggling Malik around, they were getting tired and fast.

"How much do you weigh, anyways, Malik?" Ryou asked, panting to some extent.

Malik glared up at him, "Are you calling me fat?"

Yugi giggled, "I'm sure that's not what he meant. It's more along the lines of, 'You're very heavy!!'"

Malik sulked cutely, but his face suddenly brightened.

He grinned mischievously as he started in an innocent tone, "If you wish to escape trouble of any kind, I'd suggest that you move faster."

"And… why's… that?" Yugi asked, as he felt that Malik was in no way, getting any lighter but instead the other way around.

"Because," he continued in his innocent voice, "Ishiyama, Motoyoshi, and Ryusaki are catching up with us."

"Oh, it's just… WHAT?!!"

Ryou and Yugi let go of Malik who dropped rather unceremoniously on the floor.

"Ow! Sheesh, is gently letting me down too good for you guys? On the other hand, now I can deal with some unfinished business with Ishiyama!"

He cracked his knuckles as he waited for them to catch up. He knew that he wouldn't exactly be able to hold a very civilized conversation with Marik, but having Marik go, "Malik-chan!!" and hugging him until he turned blue wasn't exactly what he expected either.

"Do you suppose we should run?" Ryou asked Yugi as Malik changed colors right before their eyes.

"Too late," Yugi sighed as Yami and Bakura caught up with Marik.

Knowing what was coming from watching Marik, they carefully escaped the hugs of death from Yami and Bakura. Unfortunately… not for long. Right when they went past them, they turned around and squeezed them from behind.

"Did you miss me, Ryou-chan?" Bakura asked, embracing Ryou.

"Can't… breathe… Need… air…"

Ryou's plea for help was ignored by Bakura because he started to rave about how much he missed him and squeezing him even more. Yugi, sadly, was in no better shape than Ryou or Malik.

"Isn't it horrible that we can't spend every second together?" Yami asked Yugi who was at the moment turning purple.

"Air?" Yugi asked cutely.

"I agree! We should demand to be in all the same classes!" Yami said, "I'm so glad you understand!"

"I was thinking," Bakura said after finishing raving about how much he "missed" Ryou. "I can't bear to be away from you so how about you move in with me!!"

"Oxygen… need…"

"Need what? Oh, you need to ask your parents permission, right? Oh, how cruel this world is if they don't agree."

When it came to how Malik was faring against Marik's fluffy hugs, I can assure you that he wasn't doing all that well. Marik was in no way like Yami and Bakura, who were talking to Yugi and Ryou. Instead, he was just hugging Malik like he was a giant stuffed animal, grinning like a cute maniac.

Out of some miracle, Malik got out of Marik's grasp. Without even chance to regain his much needed breath, he wrestled Yugi and Ryou out of Yami and Bakura's grasps. Nearly unconscious from the lack of air, Yugi and Ryou were unable to move.

This time, it was Malik who had to drag Yugi and Ryou off.

To be continued…

This story is the one of my best ones. Maybe it's because it's actually one of the ones that actually went past the fifth chapter. Anyways, the seventh chapter, I hope, was to your liking! I really wasn't quite sure what to write in this chapter that could follow up with the last one, but my writer's block went away! So, like I said, hope you enjoyed this chapter as much as you enjoyed the last six. If you didn't like the last six, then I'm seriously wondering what are you doing still reading it.

- Starflower Sakura