Author Note (A/N): This chapter has been RE-WRITTEN! That means it's better ;)

Yay! Next chapter! ^^ Can't wait to see what you'll think... I tried to keep them in character here...tell me how I did!

Chapter 1: One Year Later

A white-haired boy was typing madly on the computer, writing down this fantastic idea for a story he just had about ten minutes ago while watching TV. It was some commercial advertising a perfume, and he got to thinking: what if the perfume slowly started to turn you insane? What if the longer you smelled it, the more messed up your brain became until eventually you killed yourself in your delusions? Or what if the perfume caused sores to appear on your body? Horrible sores that ached and bubbled and would cause you nothing but pain that you can't escape because the only cure is death.

Needless to say, it was not a romance novel, or a comedy like the previous white-haired boy wrote, no. Actually, most of the boy's fans were completely shocked by the 180 degree turn-around he made. How does one go from lighthearted, feel-good novels to the dark, soul-sucking pieces that he did currently? Of course, they wouldn't have been half as surprised if they knew what had happened one year ago, when the boy everyone knew was trapped into a necklace so that the body could survive, and currently a malicious, evil spirit resided within. Bakura was that spirit's name. Funny how that was the same last name as the original owner of this body.

Anyways, why did the spirit decide to write horror novels? Well you see, when Bakura took over he decided to keep the writing career since he realized he needed money if he wanted to live comfortably. He couldn't just steal things like he used to anymore; the world was far too advanced for that and he'd rather be cooped up in a house all day than trapped in a prison cell for who-knows how long. Not that he didn't try and steal a little something every now and again but… Anyways, he decided to write horror novels instead, since he loved the idea of killing and destruction; the screams the tortured victims let out, the blood dripping delightfully through your hands, their sad, sorry eyes looking up at you so pitifully…

Anyways, he was just finishing up explaining how the mad scientist who manufactured the perfume would mass produce and sell the destructive product when his watch beeped; alerting him that it was midnight. He smirked and chuckled to himself before shutting his laptop down and closing it. "Time for dinner," he announced to himself in an almost sing-song manner as he stood up and walked out of his house, locking the front door behind him. He didn't want any intruders in his home now did he?

He walked outside of his home and breathed in the crisp night air before letting it out with a contented sigh. He always enjoyed his monthly midnight "walk-and-eats," it made him feel like a civilized predator. Someone who looks like they would be a fine gentlemen but is really a psychopathic monster just waiting for the right moment to strike. Oh yes, he enjoyed his monthly midnight walks; he enjoyed them a lot.

However, as he continued his enjoyable walk, he began to get a little irritated. No one was out tonight, no one. Usually a lot of people were out and about at midnight; whether it be disobeying teenagers sneaking off to parties or "hang-outs" or late-working adults. Not even that one elderly fellow who seems to have insomnia (or otherwise is too old or forgetful to realize that it's nighttime) nor that group of delinquents who go out and cause trouble and mayhem were outside (he especially missed those boys because sometimes he would help with the "crimes"). Where was everyone? How was he supposed to quench his thirst if there was no one to drink from?

He continued his walk as he scanned the area, and stopped suddenly when his gaze finally found someone with his inhuman eyesight. It was a tan, sandy-blonde boy wearing a purple hoodie that cut off a little bit above his black pants along with copious amounts of gold jewelry all over him; bracelets, necklaces, earrings, Bakura wouldn't have been surprised to find out that the boy also had a bellybutton piercing, or lip piercings or something else like that. Of course, he only assumed he was a boy based on his muscle structure, he wasn't entirely sure since he seemed awfully skinny for a boy, but so was he so he really shouldn't be talking.

The vampire quickly shrugged off all of his previous thoughts as he went into hunting mode; stalking his prey, he walked quietly and gradually got closer and closer to the back-turned victim until finally running forward with vampiric speed and grabbing his wrist, with obvious intent to bite his prey's neck and drink the delicious life-sustaining blood that flowed through the human. Of course, before he could make his mark on the stranger's neck, he was suddenly aware of the presence of something extremely sharp at his side. He turned to look what was there and saw that the stranger was holding a golden rod with an extremely pointy end towards very close to the side of his stomach.

"This has killed many a vampire, so I'd back off if I were you," his supposed-to-be-prey said. Even though Bakura knew he should be somewhat afraid right now, he wasn't. He wasn't really one to feel fear, for he knew that death was eminent sometime in his life, and he's inflicted it on so many others, so why fear death? Instead, he focused more on how the stranger's voice wasn't too low or too high, it was somewhere in the middle, unlike his own, unusually-high-for-a-boy voice. After staring at the tan boy for a few moments he finally released his wrist; even if he didn't fear death he'd still avoid it, since living was too much fun. "Who are you?" he asked suspiciously, looking straight at his violet irises. "And how do you know about vampires?" his voice took on a defensive, almost angry tone at his last question.

"My name is Marik," the stranger answered calmly, "I'll explain everything later on, but right now you need to feed, don't you?"

Bakura nodded hesitantly and raised one eyebrow. "What is there to explain? All I asked was how you know about my kind."

"Like I said, I'll explain later on," Marik avoided his question easily, "now follow me, I'll help you find someone." He sheathed his staff, and Bakura noticed then that the holder had bat wings and an Egyptian Eye on it, just like his Ring. He was about to ask about it, but then figured the mysterious man would just say, "I'll explain later." In all honesty, Bakura would have killed the man right now (it made no difference to him whether or not the man died), but he was helping him find some dinner in this seemingly deserted town. And frankly, he was curious as to what could be of such importance that this man would risk being bitten and even killed by a vampire for. So, he decided he'd listen to what the boy had to say and go from there, although the killing option seemed the most likely because what if he told someone that there was a vampire in Domino City?

"I know you're probably planning on killing me right now," Marik said, surprising Bakura somewhat. Could this man somehow read minds too? Was he magic? "But please listen to my offer first," the man finished.

"How do you plan on finding my dinner anyways?"

The stranger looked a little disgruntled at the use of the word "dinner," but he shrugged it off as he answered, "With this," and held out the rod-thing while still walking ahead of the vampire.

Even more curious, Bakura asked, "That thing helps you find people? That seems rather pointless to me."

"Actually," Marik drawled out, sounding slightly annoyed, "this thing allows me to mind control people, but it can also lead me to them. That's how I found you actually, I wanted to find a vampire and it lead me to your direction. Once I saw how pale you were, and how closely you were analyzing the streets, I figured you were a vampire."

Bakura snorted; this sounded like a mushy-gushy romance novel that Ryou would write. All you had to do were edit some of the words and it could come out like this: I wanted to find my true love, and it lead me to your direction. Once I saw your face I knew it was true! He chuckled under his breath. It's so cheesy that it might actually be humorous, he thought to himself. Of course then he picked up on a key phrase that Marik had said: he could mind control people with that thing! He began to walk right next to him as he peered at the mysterious golden rod. "That's an impressive stick, where'd you get it?" he asked curiously.

"None of your business," Marik replied standoffishly. Obviously, he did not want to talk about it. Unfortunately, that only made Bakura more curious.

"Did you steal it?" Bakura asked. When the stranger didn't answer, Bakura took that to mean "yes." He smirked, maybe he should listen to what this man had to say, if he was a "bad egg" as people of today's age seemed to call them. "Where'd you steal it from? A museum?" Marik still didn't answer. "If I call the police will I get a reward for turning you in?"

Marik stopped and glared at Bakura sharply. "First off, I did steal it. Second, you won't get a reward for "turning me in" because I didn't steal it from a well-known place. Third, mind your own damn business." He continued his glare for a minute before he started walking again. Bakura followed, admiring this man slightly for standing up to a vampire like that; he realized he could break both of his legs in the blink of an eye right? Besides, like he'd ever turn a fellow thief in. Of course, even if he wouldn't do that, he still asked him, "A little sensitive, aren't we?"

Bakura received a glare in return, but he just smirked. Now he was debating whether or not he should kill this man after hearing what he has to say. He seemed interesting, and surely a man with such a character would have something of the utmost importance to discuss with him? But what could that matter be? Maybe he wants me to kill someone for him, Bakura thought to himself. It would make sense; vampires were stealthy creatures, it would be a piece of cake to kill a man and leave no evidence. Killing them through drinking their blood, however, is another matter, because that leaves two, prominent holes in their neck. But suppose he did just want to hire a murderer…? Bakura chuckled to himself.

"What are you thinking about?" Marik asked casually.

Bakura's smirk widened as he looked at the man intensely, trying to scare him a bit. "Murder; cold-blooded murder."

Marik kept quiet, though the intense stare did make him feel uncomfortable. This one seems so… lost, and psychotic, he thought to himself, maybe I should find a different vampire... No, it had taken too long to find – what was his name again? This guy. "What did you say your name was again?" he asked.

"I didn't."

"Then what's your name?"

"Shi," Bakura answered with a devilish smirk, since "shi" meant "death" in Japanese.

Marik sighed inwardly; obviously he wasn't going to get "Shi" to talk much.

After a few moments of silence, Bakura figured that he might as well tell the man his name; there was no harm in that, was there? Besides, surely a fellow thief wouldn't sell him out to any suspicious people? Of course Marik didn't really know he was a thief, did he? "My name is Bakura," the white-haired boy finally said into the night.

Marik nodded. "How old are you?" he asked.

"How old are you?" Bakura shot back at him. He really hated when people asked that question, because he really wasn't sure how old he was anymore…

"Twenty," Marik answered back easily. Lucky bastard…

"I'm older than you," Bakura answered, since he knew that he was, most likely, the "oldest" person on this earth at the time.

"Oh. Why is your hair white?"

"Look, we can keep playing twenty questions or you can find me a snack," Bakura answered, becoming very annoyed by all his questions.

"Can't I do both?" Marik asked with an amused smile.

Bakura glared at the smart-aleck and said in a harsh tone, "No."

"You doubt my intelligence?"

"In all honesty, yes."

"Funny, you don't strike me as the "honest" type."

Neither do you, Bakura thought to himself, but instead he said, "I told you my name, didn't I?"

Marik shrugged. "You could be lying," he said.

Bakura smiled. Well, at least he's not a fool. Maybe I should let him live and just wipe his memory of this encounter…

Just as Bakura was thinking about when would be a good time to erase his mind (and possibly take that "mind control" staff of his), Marik stopped and pointed at a young, blonde girl sitting on a park bench. She was tapping her foot impatiently and looking at her watch every five seconds. "There," Marik said. "There's your "dinner." Bon appétit," he said the last part with a perfect French accent, making Bakura even more curious about this mysterious man. Who was this person called "Marik"?

The vampire decided to worry about that later, and instead started walking towards the girl; no need to be quiet, this would be an easy meal. Of course, he stopped moving when she suddenly stopped her annoying movements and got a blank look in her eyes. Bakura creased his eyebrows in confusion, wondering why she had suddenly stopped moving.

"I took control of her mind," Marik answered his unasked question.

Bakura looked at him suspiciously. "Why?" he asked.

"Easier to drink."

Bakura looked back at the girl, frowning slightly. Sure, it would be easier, but what he enjoyed most about it was when they tried to stop him from hurting them. Also, he didn't like attacking innocent people. There were too many bad people in the world that needed to be knocked down, the innocents deserved to live. Like children. He would never hurt a child because they haven't done anything wrong; they haven't had the chance to grow up and purposefully make bad choices. That's why he refrained from killing anyone in this day and age, he wasn't sure if they were like a child or not, but he would take a life if he felt fit. Of course, taking blood from someone that didn't even know what was happening just seemed… wrong to him.

"Stop that," Bakura finally ordered.

"Stop what?" Marik answered back innocently enough, but the smile on his face gave away his amusement.

"You know!" Bakura snapped, not wanting to play any games. "Mind controlling her; stop it."

"Why?"

Bakura scowled, irritated by the simple question since he wasn't sure how to explain, but tried to anyways. "I don't want to attack someone who doesn't even know what's going on, especially since she looks too young to have done anything wrong. If she was a bit older I'd have no problem but…" Marik smiled, pleased by his answer, but Bakura didn't notice as he continued, "I also love seeing the fear in their eyes… the knowledge that they can't escape –"

"One question!" Marik interrupted, since he seemed to be slipping into some kind of violent mode and he did not want that. "Do you plan on killing her?"

Bakura hesitated before saying, "No… I don't plan on killing her. That hobby has actually become quite boring now that it's so easy." And he spoke the truth; before when he fought and killed people it was much more fun because they actually stood a chance (well, not really, he knew he'd win, but there were always those moments where he wasn't quite sure who the victor would be).

Marik smiled faintly, hoping that last comment was just a joke, though he wasn't entirely sure with how this vampire had been acting so far… But he needed a vampire, and this was the only one he'd encountered so far. "Congratulations, you've passed my test," he said.

Bakura raised an eyebrow. "Test? What test?" he asked, wondering if maybe this man was just crazy. It would explain why he'd put his life in danger so easily.

"It was a… personality test, of sorts," Marik responded uncertainly. He wasn't really sure how to explain his test right now without explaining everything, so he'd just say that for now.

Bakura just raised an eyebrow and gave him a patronizing look. "I passed a personality test? I hope "pass" is the new word for "fail," otherwise you may be more far gone than me."

"Trust me, you didn't pass by much," Marik assured, only slightly alarmed by his last statement. He had come to the conclusion that this man was simply trying to scare him away by acting like this, so he'd take whatever he said with a grain of salt. "But it's not like there's an abundance of vampires in Japan, so I'm stuck with you."

Bakura couldn't help but chuckle at that statement; Marik was basically saying that he was only sticking with him because he was easily accessible and not for any other reasons. And Bakura was fine with that; he was used to it, but if he found out he was going to be used for bad or "evil" purposes, then he'd kill this stranger. But he'd have to think about this later; the girl's foot started tap-tap-tap-ping again, and Marik said, "Go get 'em tiger, I'll quiet the scream for you."

The predator smirked into the night before walking toward her again, stopping only a few feet away from the park bench. "Hey babe," he said smoothly. The girl was so shocked at hearing another person's voice in the night that she stopped tapping her foot and turned to look at him with wide eyes. "What's a girl like you doing in a place like this?"

The girl looked at him untrustingly and hesitated. "… Well," she spoke slowly, trying desperately to think of a good answer. "My boyfriend and I had decided to meet here for a date; he'll be here any minute. He's very strong."

Bakura almost felt like laughing. Obviously this girl was trying to scare him off by threatening him with her supposedly strong boyfriend, but there was no way an ordinary human girl would be able to threaten a vampire, not when she didn't even know the creatures existed.

Bakura, shoving his previous thoughts away, sat down next to the girl. "You know," he said in a sultry tone, "he shouldn't make you wait like this." He leaned in close to her, giving the poor girl the impression that he was going to kiss her, so of course she moved away. She was absolutely disgusted by this, and she couldn't help but feel a touch of fear; there was no one else around, and she wasn't exactly the strongest girl out there… She kept scooting away from this weird stranger until her back came against the arm rest, and when she saw the despicable man coming in closer still, she made a move to run away from there – her boyfriend would understand!

Unfortunately, when she moved to run away Bakura grabbed her arm and pulled her back down forcefully, causing her to cry out and her arm to ache with pain; he pulled so hard! She didn't have much time to think about anything else though, as he finally bit into her dainty neck, drinking her delicious blood. Oh, how could sticky, thick, red liquid taste so delicious? So savory? So tantalizing? It was like drinking the finest wine in the world, only without the fear of getting drunk and each "wine" having an entirely unique tang to it.

As for the girl's point of view, she was shocked, and scared; her eyes widened and she opened her mouth to scream, but for some reason she just couldn't. Little did she know, a little, golden rod was what was keeping her silent, just as she didn't know there was someone else watching this horrible sight. She struggled, but it was no use, and as the time went on her eyelids grew heavy and she found herself slipping into darkness; was this how she was going to die…?

Bakura, unfortunately, hadn't realized just how thirsty he was, and he was slowly starting to kill her with blood loss, but he just couldn't help it; the blood was so good…! It was like candy, only sweeter and juicier… like some sort of forbidden fruit, the most delicious thing in his world… He just wanted more, and more, and more…!

He stopped drinking the agonizingly delicious blood when he felt something strike the small of his back. He snapped out of his bloodlust and took his teeth out of her neck, having to not breathe or else he would smell the blood and attack her again. Instead, he carefully licked the blood that was from her neck, struggling between keeping his mind clear and going back into bloodlust. When he was done with his deed, he propped her up on the park bench in a way to make it look like she had simply fallen asleep, waiting for her suitor.

He stood up, ready to go home, and immediately came face-to-face with an angry Marik. Oh right, he had forgotten about the tanned stranger… He must have been the one to hit his back and snap him out of it.

"You said you weren't going to kill her," he said with barely concealed fury.

Bakura glared at him, annoyed by his tone. How dare he talk to him like some child needing to be scolded! "Sorry," he responded sarcastically. "It's really hard to control how much you drink when you're thirsty."

Marik folded his arms and continued his glare. "When's the last time you fed?" he demanded to know.

Now Bakura was getting more pissed off; no one demandedanything from him! Nevertheless, he answered, simply because it was an odd question for him to hear. "About a month ago. Why?"

Marik seemed surprised. "Most vampires feed more than that."

Bakura shrugged, calming down a little now that he wasn't doing anything that pissed him off. "Honestly I find that having to drink blood is a nuisance, so I only have to do it once a month," he explained. "It was much more fun when I wasn't a vampire and didn't have to live off the stuff," he added under his breath."

Marik, knowing Bakura had mumbled something at the end, but not entirely sure what, decided to ignore it and instead said, "You should really feed more often."

Bakura glared at him, angry again. "Don't tell me what to do you insolent little brat! You don't know who I am nor do you know what it's like to be a vampire!"

Marik glared back at him and opened his mouth to say that he did, in fact, know probably a lot more about vampires than he did, when he noticed Bakura staring distractedly at him, right above his shoulder. The keen-eyed vampire had just seen a glare on the road, and now he heard a car coming up fast. He grabbed Marik by the wrist and moved them both behind a bush, the human muttering a "What the-?" before Bakura shushed him harshly, earning another glare which he gladly returned. Man he's annoying! they both thought, looking away from each other and back at the road. Soon a black sedan came up and stopped right in front of the now-unconscious girl on the park bench. A guy who obviously used way too much hair gel on his filthy black hair exited the vehicle and walked right up to the girl, shaking her gently to try and wake her up. When that didn't work, he tried snapping in front of her face, and when that didn't work, he picked her up bridal-style and put her in the passenger side of the car.

Bakura was about to go home, but then that idiot boyfriend cut himself on a bear-bottle that was on the floor of his car and the tantalizing scent filled the vampire's honed nostrils, and when he smelt it he forgot about everything else except getting that delicious liquid into his mouth.

He ran forward and bit the strong-looking man on the neck without any hesitation. The guy cried out, but soon fainted from shock combined with fast blood-loss. As soon as the guy turned limp, however, Marik ran forward and hit Bakura on the head with his rod, hard, causing the vampire to snap out of his blood cravings yet again and allowing the human body to slump onto the floor. Bakura looked down at the guy, angry at himself; he should be so weak! He should be able to handle the scent of blood without going crazy…! He didn't care about his "vampiric instincts," he knew he was stronger! And during these thoughts, he picked the guy up and put him in the driver's side of the car, slipping one of his arms around the girl's shoulders and leaning them towards one another, making it look like they had fallen asleep cuddling or something before he closed the door. It was absolutely necessary to make it look like his victims had just fallen asleep somewhere, because then usually they disregarded it and tried to dispel any memories of the blood-sucking encounter they had.

After he was satisfied with his work, he tapped into his power of vampiric speed and ran all the way to his house, not giving a damn about the annoying stranger he had met but a few minutes ago; he just wanted to get out of there before they woke up, and he just really did not want to deal with Marik.

Unfortunately, the mysterious Marik ran after him, and even when he couldn't see the vampire anymore, which was fairly quickly, he still ran on, letting the rod guide him. He needed a vampire, and gosh dang it he was going to get one whether he liked it or not!

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A/N: And so begins this epic tale… I hope you like their relationship so far XD Lol.

Don't forget to leave a review on your way out! =)

*Note: Since this chapter was re-written, the next one may not seem as good or line up exactly (unless you're reading this message after the next one's already been re-written, then you're all good to go!).