Rustshipping (Yami no Marik x Thief King Bakura x Ryo)

(Ever wonder what was happening to Ryo after Yami no Bakura lost to Yami no Marik and got sent to the shadows?)

Bakura was often bored. There was only so much he could do to while away the minutes in the cold, lonely ghost town of Kul Elna while he waited for the threads of his plans to come together. So when he found a spell that would allow him to spy on his future self, he jumped at the chance.

At first, he had been surprised at what he was seeing. This boy was not him. He was thin and fair-skinned, with clear green eyes and soft, effeminate features. The only thing that they shared was their white hair, and the boy's was much longer than Bakura's. He didn't even do anything interesting. All he did was wander around a cold, strange looking room and clean things that didn't need cleaning, occasionally tinkering around with some small figurines and going to a place with many tables and other people.

Eventually, though, Bakura had understood, when he chanced another peek at the future and saw violet eyes flicker across green and people collapsing in front of a game board. The boy wasn't him, in some sense...but he would become a part of him in the future. After that revelation, Bakura legitimately enjoyed watching the future. The boy was fascinating. There was this emptiness in his eyes, an invisible barrier that he created between himself and others. Most of all, it was the flash of fear every time someone collapsed, every time he realize that somehow he was to blame for this. Bakura savored those fleeting moments of terror. It amused him greatly to know that someday he would be the cause of that fear. He was greatly looking forward to tormenting this quiet boy with the soft, restrained smile.

With nothing else to do while he was waiting for the pharaoh to come and find him in the Millennium Chamber, Bakura cast his mind into the future again. He tried his best to find different moments each time, after accidentally watching the boy create the same dinner three times in a row. This time, the boy appeared to be hiding in a corner of a dark, metallic room. He was shivering, his head down against his curled up knees. A smoky shadow wafted around him, and with a start, Bakura realized that it was not a room at all – it was that realm of shadows in which his god came from. What was the boy doing there?

The shadows warped, shifted, solidified into a tall, wavering shadow. Tanned skin, spiked blond hair, prominent blood vessels, a long twitching black cape, and eyes as flat and evil as a devil. He grinned maliciously at the small form of the boy.

"Oh, poor Ryo," he said. "Caught up in someone else's power struggles, and now trapped here."

Ryo did not answer. There was a stiffening in his hands, but he didn't look up. Bakura frowned. What was this boy, and what was he doing to Ryo?

The tan-skinned boy knelt down to be at eye-level with Ryo.

"You know, I'm surprised that Bakura would have wanted to get stuck with a useless boy like you," he said, and a knife appeared in his hand, tracing down Ryo's arm. "He had a choice of host...but he chose you. You don't do anything at all, now do you? Even the pharaoh's host is somewhat helpful."

Again, Ryo did not answer. As if annoyed by the lack of a response, the tan-skinned boy's hand shot out, cracking against the side of Ryo's head. The boy hit the ground with a whump, his eyes widening with the shock.

"You're not much fun, are you?" the evil being hissed. "Here I thought I might have fun playing with you now that you were trapped in the shadows."

He grabbed Ryo by the hair and yanked up to his knees. The knife poked up into Ryo's chin, and this time, the fear was evident in Ryo's eyes. Still, though, he barely reacted. Despite the hint of tears in his eyes, he spit in the boy's face.

And by this time, Bakura had had enough.

He gathered the shadows around himself and stepped into the realm of his god – for time had no meaning here, and no matter where they had come from, they were in Bakura's domain now.

The tan-skinned boy glanced up, obviously shocked at Bakura's appearance.

"Put the boy down," Bakura said softly.

"Bakura?" the boy said. "No, you're not him. Similar though."

Bakura sent him a dark, threatening smile.

"I think I said to put the boy down. Why don't you comply?"

The boy's eyes narrowed to slits, as Ryo tried unsuccessfully to look behind him at his rescuer.

"What if I didn't?"

Bakura let his eyes fall half-closed. He considered his opponent for a long moment.

"Why do you even care?" the boy pressed. "You are Bakura, or something like him. What do you care about your host?"

As he spoke, he turned Ryo around and drew the knife closer to the boy's pale throat. Ryo didn't look any happier to see Bakura, and while Bakura greatly enjoyed the terror that he was causing in the boy, he was not pleased to see that most of the fear was generated by his opponent.

"Tormenting that boy is my job," he said softly.

And the shadows exploded.

In barely half a second, the shadows had grabbed the tan-skinned boy, yanked him off of Ryo, and swallowed him up into the darkness. Ryo collapsed to the ground, and Bakura shifted, sensing the darkness around him. He hadn't gotten him, he thought irritably. The boy seemed to know enough of the shadows to escape before he had been consumed.

Ryo stared up at Bakura, his green eyes bright with fear, but his face schooled into a practiced blank look. Bakura sent him only the barest flicker of a smile.

"He won't bother you anymore," he said, turning with a flick of his cape.

But I am certainly looking forward to my chance to play with you...

And he returned to his own dimension with an echoing laugh.

A/N: ...yeah. Weird. But strangely I could see it happening. Next is Ruseshipping (Rishid x Marik).