Mew: Yay! Chapter 4! –dances like a moron-

Draiku: … -ignores everyone-

Mew: Thanks to everyone who reviewed! I hope that I replied to all of you! Oh, and there's a link to a picture of Marik as the king of bandits on my profile, if anyone's interested. And, yes, I drew it.

And sorry that this took so long to post. I have no clue how long it took, but it seemed like a long time to me. Hopefully I didn't make you guys wait too long.

Yoko: Time for the disclaimer and such. Ugh, I feel so useless…

Disclaimer: I don't own Yu-Gi-Oh! I wish that I did, though. –cries-

The Prince of Thieves and the Slave

Chapter 4: Departures

Malik came back from stealing with a huge bag of fruits and vegetables. He set it onto the ground with a grunt. Marik noticed and walked over. He hefted the sack.

"Sheesh, Malik. This is light. I don't see why you should struggle with it," he said. Malik shot him a half-glare.

"Well, unlike you, thieves don't rely on brute force to feed themselves," he replied in a huff. Marik laughed.

"Now you have to go get beer," he said. Malik groaned.

"You're coming with me," he said, jabbing Marik in the chest with a finger. Marik chuckled at him.

"Fine, fine. I'll come with you," he said. Malik walked over to Ryou, who was chatting with Otogi and Honda.

"Marik and I are going to get some beer for these guys. Do you mind?" he asked. Ryou shook his head.

"No, not at all. Good luck," he replied. Malik smiled and followed Marik towards town. It was still quite early in the day, so they walked. They had plenty of time.

"Apparently, there's some guy who has a ton of beer stored away. We'll go to his place and take as much as we can. He won't even notice," Marik stated. Malik chuckled.

"Oh yeah, that guy. I steal from him all the time and he doesn't even make an effort to stop me," he said.

"Maybe he's a hopeless drunk," Marik suggested. Malik nodded in agreement and finally, they came upon the man's home. Malik peered into a window.

"He's speaking with some guards. It looks like he's in trouble," Malik whispered. The guards and the man spoke for a long while, until finally the two guards left.

"They're coming this way," Marik warned. Malik grabbed Marik and hid him, while he climbed onto the roof and lied down. His nose tickled, and he sneezed.

"Did you hear that?" whispered one of the guards. Malik mentally cursed.

"It sounded like a sneeze, coming from the roof," the other said.

"I'll check it out." Malik quickly used some of his jewelry to make it look like he had horns, and he slipped his earrings into his mouth so they looked like fangs. The guard looked up.

"Is anyone up there? If so, leave now! This is private property, you shouldn't be here without the owner's permission!" he yelled. Malik made a long, inhuman noise and showed himself to the guard. The man screamed.

"Look into my eyes…so that I may curse you to live a life of misery and woe!" Malik threatened in a scratchy voice. The guard stumbled backwards, running, and his companion followed, both screaming the word "demon!" over and over again. Malik removed the earrings and put them back on, and did the same with the jewelry. He hopped off the roof.

"Did they see you?" he asked Marik, who shook his head.

"That was insane of you. What if they weren't superstitious?" he asked.

"Then I'd take out my dagger and offer to let them keep their lives," Malik said with a shrug. Marik laughed softly.

"You wouldn't really kill them, though. You're too soft-hearted," he said. Malik laughed quietly too.

"Probably. Well, let's get the goods and get out of here before someone decides to see what the hell went on over here," he suggested. Marik nodded and they snuck into the man's home.

The man was asleep, thankfully. Malik found the man's stash, and swiftly put the jars into his bag. He filled two sacks, and Marik carried the larger one. They chatted on the way back.

"So, Marik, have you finally found your soul mate? Or are the ladies still avoiding you?" Malik asked cheekily with a smirk. Marik unexpectedly smirked back.

"I did find my soul mate, actually," he replied, now grinning. Malik blinked.

"Seriously? You're kidding, right?" he asked. Marik shook his head.

"Nope, not at all."

"Well, then, what's she like?" Marik looked to the sky.

"The perfect person. Smart, sexy, fun, athletic, and even a bit artistic," he replied.

"What's her name?"

"I forgot to mention one little detail, actually," Marik muttered.

"Um, what's that, then?"

"My soul mate's not a 'she.'" Malik blinked.

"You mean that…" Marik nodded.

"Yeah. My lover's a man. Surprising, ne?" He said, looking at Malik and grinning.

"It…well, yeah, it is a surprise," Malik said.

"You don't hate me for it, right?" Marik asked quite suddenly.

"What? Of course not! I mean, you're my brother. I couldn't hate you if I tried," Malik replied, surprised.

"Okay. Just checking." Marik gazed into space.

"Um, what's his name? I might as well know," Malik asked.

"Bakura," Marik said airily. Malik's eyes widened.

"You're kidding! He's the king of thieves! But then again…you are the king of bandits, so…you called him your lover. So you've…you know…done it with him?"

"Yeah. And I'll be the first to say that it was wonderful, even if we had only just met."

"What did you do to get to that level so quickly?" Malik wondered.

"Well, he was injured. A couple of my men and I found him in the desert, lying on his back. He was still alive, but there were vultures there, trying to get him. He was actually fighting them off, even though he looked extremely weak. We shooed the vultures, then took him back to camp. We thought that he'd die within an hour, even though we'd fixed up his injuries and such. He survived, and one day while I was rubbing some cream on his chest, he actually sat up and kissed me.

"After that, we just…had sex. So now we're together," Marik finished.

"Wow. That was quick," Malik commented.

"Why are you so interested, anyway?" Marik asked, raising one eyebrow at him.

"I dunno. I guess that it's just…I've never loved someone before, so I wondered what it would be like," Malik said, kicking a small stone.

"I'll tell you one thing, Malik. It's great."

"Ah! We're back," Malik said after a bit. They heard loud, rambunctious singing coming from where Ryou had been. They walked over, and saw that Ryou was singing along with most of the pirates.

"M' Bonnie lies o'er th' ocean, m' Bonnie lies o'er th' seeea! M' Bonnie lies o'er th' ocean, so bring back m' Bonnie t' me!" they sang loudly. (A/N: Sorry, couldn't think of anything else. –sweatdrop-)

"He's drunk," Marik stated bluntly, pointing at Ryou, who was singing loudest of them all. "They're all drunk."

"Well…Otogi did mention something about 'heavy duty grog' stored on his ship…I didn't realize that they had that much," Malik said. Marik grinned and joined in, as a pirate poured him a cup of grog. Malik sighed and shook his head, and joined in himself. They partied till late in the night, and finally fell asleep.

-

Malik, Marik, and Ryou stood on the banks of the Nile, waving and yelling their good-byes to the pirates. Otogi and his crew yelled stuff like "Thanks for the grog!" and "See y', maybe when we do some pillaging 'ere!" Malik and Marik just had to laugh at that statement, while Ryou just sweatdropped.

The ship soon sailed out of sight, and Ryou held his head, groaning.

"Why does my head hurt so much?" he asked. "And why can't I remember anything from last night?" Malik and Marik looked at each other for one second, then burst out laughing. Ryou blinked.

"What? What's funny?" he wondered.

"Oh, man. Ryou, you were so drunk that you were singing pirate songs! You were even laughing like them!" Marik said, grinning. Ryou gasped.

"Oh my gods," he mumbled. "I can't believe that I did that. I have never been drunk before." Malik grinned.

"Well, you'd better lie down if you want that headache to go away," he said and led Ryou to his home. Ryou nodded in agreement while Marik fed his horse. He lied in the bed and yawned briefly. Malik chuckled and went to Marik.

"How's your horse?" he asked.

"He's doing great. He can walk without flinching now. Thanks for helping him, Malik," Marik replied, stroking the horse's snout. The horse pawed at the ground and whinnied, then looked to Malik. "I think that he's thanking you," Marik said.

"You're welcome, both of you," Malik said and patted the horse's back.

-

Not much happened during the next few weeks, except for the occasional "Ryou screaming and running out of the Nile naked when he saw a crocodile." Marik thought that this was very funny because he believed crocodiles to be docile beasts, and described them as "large, scaly kittens." He even walked up to one and petted it on the nose while it was asleep for proof. Malik freaked out when he did this, although. Thankfully, the reptile didn't wake up.

Malik and Marik also taught Ryou how to read and write. Ryou was a quick learner, he was already writing out full prayers to various gods.

Marik's horse finally fully healed and was running freely without even hesitating. Marik could now ride the horse without injuring it.

"Well," Marik said one day, "I should leave. I've been staying too long."

"Honestly, Marik, if you want to stay another day you're welcome to," Malik insisted. Marik smiled and shook his head.

"No, but thanks for the offer. I need to get back to my band. I need to catch up on all the wonderful stealing I've missed," he said.

"I see," Malik replied. While Marik packed his stuff, he walked into the cave and told Ryou of the news, who was currently writing on a papyrus. Ryou blinked.

"He is?" he replied. Malik nodded.

"His horse has healed, so he'll be leaving today. I thought that we could pack him some food for his journey back home. Wanna help me?" he asked. Ryou nodded and stood, following Malik to the storage room. They filled a sack with dried meat and fruits, then added bread.

They walked out of Malik's home and to Marik, who was stroking his horse's muzzle, murmuring small prayers to make his journey safe.

"Here," Malik said handing Marik the sack. "It's food for your ride home. I just hope that it's enough."

"Thank you, Malik," Marik said, smiling. He and Malik pulled into a brief hug before Marik climbed onto his horse and rode away.

"You'd better take care of yourself!" Ryou yelled. "Don't go petting any more crocodiles! You only got lucky that time that you did!" Malik chuckled, realizing that Ryou was still upset about that incident.

"I hope to see you soon, Marik!" Malik called after him. Marik waved good-bye before disappearing into the distance.

TBC

Mew: That was a short chapter. The next chapter should be up soon, since I have a pretty good idea of what it's going to be about. I don't think that Ryou and Malik will be in it all that much, even though the story is about them. –sweatdrop-

Draiku: Yes, you do tend to get off-topic when writing…

Mew: Yes, I do. Anyway, whoever reviews gets a poster of Ryou running away from the crocodiles. Yes, he is naked in it. Hopefully that will attract some Ryou fangirls to review. –grin-

Yoko: …please R&R! Your reviews feed us!