Woo! Another chapter!

Chapter 15: Day Three

It was night-time, and Bakura was driving the boat, but he wasn't paying too much attention at all. He was thinking too much again, his thoughts coming one after another, not giving him time to stop or ponder his thoughts, like an automatic machine-gun going on rapid fire.

Why is Ryou taking control? He shouldn't be waking up. What's waking him up? Is he getting stronger? If he is, how? And how many of my thoughts has he read? When did he first start to be aware of what's going on? Does Ryou like Marik? Why does the very thought make me angry…

He tried to stop thinking, but this proved easier said than done. His thoughts seemed like they wanted to keep tormenting him, making him recall thoughts that he had tried to just put to the back of his mind.

Like how he felt every time Marik called him 'Kura.

Like how he felt every time Marik smiled.

Like how he had felt when he found out Marik had drawn pictures of him.

Like how he felt when he kissed Marik that one time…

Like how he felt when Ryou looked at Marik like that…

He growled recalling that last one. He sighed, and started to try and take control of his mind. If he couldn't stop from thinking, he could at least try and control his thoughts, and actually try and figure stuff out.

So maybe Marik is my… Blood Pack… But that doesn't mean anything, certainly not… It doesn't mean he's my… I mean, some people think it's just picked at random. Yes, that's it, it's just picked at random. Besides, the book could be wrong, right? Even though he said this, somehow he knew that the book was telling the truth, somehow… He opened his eyes remembering something. When the hell did Ryou write that book anyway? He was tempted to wake Ryou and ask him, but he didn't want to risk it. What if he couldn't put Ryou back to sleep? Or it only lasted for a few seconds? No, he couldn't wake Ryou, even thought he wanted to know, he couldn't.

He turned his attention back to the sea.

While Bakura was tormenting himself, Marik was lying awake on the bottom bunk. He couldn't get to sleep, he kept thinking about something. He kept thinking about how Bakura had been acting yesterday. Nice and innocent one minute, then back to sarcastic the next? He knew Bakura had mood swings, but they never varied that much. Something was wrong, but he didn't know what.

He turned onto his side. He knew that Bakura would never tell him if anything was wrong, even if it really bothered him. That's just how Bakura was. He acts like he doesn't need any help, doesn't need anything, he acts like a tough guy all the time, but deep down, (deep, deep down) he's a nice guy. Marik smiled, remembering why they were traveling by boat in the first place. He wondered if he would do that for anyone else… Marik sighed. It wasn't the first time he had thought stuff like that. He switched back to his original train of thought. Since Bakura won't tell me anything, I need to investigate. But how to make it look like I'm not suspecting anything? Marik sighed. He wondered briefly why he cared so much. Maybe it was just the thought of Bakura not trusting him, I mean, he was a trustworthy person. And Bakura seemed less trustworthy than him, and he had still told him some of his past…

He turned onto his other side, and noticed something on the floor. It looked like a thick rectangular object. Marik was just going to ignore it and go back to his thoughts, but he kept wondering, what was it? He didn't remember bringing anything shaped like that. And what was it anyway? Is it a box of food or something? How did it get on the floor? He stared at it, and eventually, he got up and picked the object up. He was severely disappointed by what it was. It was just a boring book, that book Bakura was reading called, A Vampire Story.

He stared at it and opened it up to the first page. He read the first paragraph, but he was really tired and didn't think it looked good, so he threw it back on the ground. How can Bakura read that thing? It doesn't even look useful. He went back to his bed and reached under his pillow and grabbed out his drawing journal. He flipped it open to his latest project. It was a picture of the boat they were on, but he couldn't finish it yet, because he had no idea what the boat was called. He decided to ask Bakura later. He flipped through his book. He wished he had some colored pencils, but it had taken a lot of convincing to make his dad buy him a freaking regular pencil. And the book had been a gift from his mother. He would've bought some colored pencils now, but he hadn't wanted Bakura questioning the purchase of the pencils. I mean they don't really have much use other than for drawing. Of course I guess that doesn't matter now… Bakura already looked through my book. He found his face heat up remembering it. Why did he have to draw Bakura? That was so embarrassing…

He sighed, and put the book back under his pillow and tried to go back to bed again.

After about 10 seconds, Marik took the book back from under his pillow and dug through his pillow case for the pencil that he kept in there. Then he started to embarrass himself more.

When Bakura saw the sun was rising, he went back below deck to wake Marik. However, when he was walking down the stairs, he felt pure goodness try to consume him. "Ryou…" he whispered angrily under his breath. He pushed it away, but apparently, he couldn't get rid of his voice that easy.

"Please, just go away, I can take over from here," he begged.

"No. Freaking. Way," Bakura growled back.

"But it's my body!"

"Just go back to sleep Ryou! It's daytime anyway, why would you want control? You can't do anything."

"I don't know," Ryou seemed hesitant, "The daytime isn't too bad."

"It can burn you like vampire bacon, and you say it's not bad?"

"There are some things that are okay…" Bakura had decided that Ryou was insane, when he remembered something.

Ryou had tasted Marik's blood yesterday. And how he had acted…

He found himself growling, "I see," he said, dragging out each word like it was an accusation, "You want to talk to Marik again, don't you?"

"Eh…" Even thought Ryou was inside the ring, Bakura could feel him blushing. He felt angry, angrier than he had ever felt in a long time. "I'm right aren't I?"

"W-well…" Ryou said, "I-it would be nice, to talk to him again…" Bakura growled, so Ryou added hurriedly, "I can understand if you want to talk to him first! I mean, he is your Bloo -"

"Marik is not my Blood Pack!" Bakura screamed, even though he had decided that he was in fact that since last night.

Ryou sounded surprised, "Oh! I just figured… since… His blood tastes so good to you, and… it seems you like him and -"

"If you know what's good for you, stop talking. NOW." Ryou was quiet, and Bakura was about to put him to sleep, when he remembered something.

"Ryou…?" he said slowly, "When exactly did you write A Vampire Story anyway?"

"Um… Actually, that's a funny story, I didn't actually intend to write it. For a couple months, I kept waking up in a cold sweat, and this story came to my head. I immediately started typing it until I fell asleep again, and I did this for a while, until eventually the story was complete."

"If what you say is true, explain to me how I have absolutely no recall of you submitting it to be a book?"

"Um… well, I was supposed to e-mail a different document to my publisher, but I clicked on the wrong one and sent him the vampire story instead, but he decided to publish it anyway, at least, that's what I remember…" Ryou didn't sound too sure now, but Bakura didn't really care. The book must have gotten published some way, why not like this? Bakura always tended not to pay attention to what Ryou did that often anyway, so why not?

"Well, that's all I needed to know, bye Ryou." He cast his sleeping spell on him, then walked into the bedroom. He saw Marik sleeping with one arm dangling with a pencil in it, and the other arm covering a notebook that Bakura remembered was filled with pictures that he had drawn. Including some of him. Bakura glanced at the book, and found his heart beat faster when he saw it was a picture of him. He smiled, but immediately tried to wipe it off his face. This proved easier once he took a closer look at the picture. Marik had been drawing him, yes, but he was in a devil costume, with the tail and the little horns and the scepter, and the evil little smirk that said, I-did-something-wrong-and-I'm-proud-of-it, but he had also drawn another person on the other side.

He had drawn him again, only this time in an angel costume, with the halo and the hands together, and the white robe, and the goody-two-shoes smile that said, I-would-never-do-anything-wrong. Bakura stared at the picture, he must have drawn him and Ryou, there was no other explanation. But did Marik know that Ryou was awake? Did he know and just not say anything? Bakura closed his eyes. Maybe, he's just confused? Maybe he doesn't know it's Ryou, maybe he just thinks I'm acting weirdly. Yes, that must be it… Bakura looked back at the picture, then moved his hand to shake Marik awake, but then he saw his face and his hand froze. He just looked so… peaceful, so fragile, how could he wake that?

Bakura screamed inside his head. When did I become so weak? Wake him up! Bakura reached his hand out again, but stopped like the last time. He groaned in frustration, then he put his hand down and stared at Marik. His eye started twitching, then he knelt down in front of the bed. He ground his teeth together, he couldn't help but feel like a prince kneeling before his beloved.

He shook that thought from his head, and looked at Marik again. He moved a strand of hair from his face back behind his ear to join the rest of that beautiful blonde hair…

Bakura took his hand back right away, as if he had been shocked. What am I doing… he thought. He sighed, then found himself leaning forward, forward, until his lips almost touched his. But then he saw Marik's eyes start to flutter open and he stumbled back, ending up with him lying on the floor. Marik rubbed his eyes sleepily, "Bakura?" he asked while yawning, "What are you doing on the floor?"

"Um…" Bakura said as he stood back up, his pale face highlighting what would have been only a light pink blush, and he couldn't help but notice that Marik looked kind of cute when he was tired, "I was… looking for something…"

"Looking…" Marik said dazedly, "were you looking for that?" he said pointing across the room at the book he had tried to read last night.

Bakura looked at it, "Ah, yeah," he walked over to it and picked it up, wishing that he could burn it right now, "Thanks…" Bakura's eyes went wide and he swore at himself silently. He never said "thanks" unless he was mocking someone, luckily Marik hadn't caught his "weird" behavior since he was still tired. Marik noticed just now that he was still holding a pencil and he put it in-between the pages of the picture he had drawn, closed the book, and put it back under his pillow and went back to sleep. Bakura stared at him. "Hey… Get up," he said.

"Five more minutes," Marik said, his voice muffled by his pillow. Bakura was going to say something, but he dropped it, and threw the book on top of his bed, grabbed his day attire and went back above deck to drive the boat for a little while longer.

Bakura was annoyed with himself. What's wrong with me lately? His eye was starting to twitch again. I swear, it's like I'm not myself. Usually I would waste no time in shaking someone awake and giving them orders. He scowled, I need to act more like myself… he decided right before Marik came up above deck. Bakura glanced at him, But will it be that easy to revert back to myself? Baka, what am I talking about? Of course it will be easy, why shouldn't it be? Somehow, his mind came back with a, "Because Marik's here." Bakura growled out loud, and Marik stopped in his tracks and looked at him. "What's pissing you off now?" Bakura turned to look at him, and got angry when he felt his face heat up slightly.

Bakura glared at him, "You. Now pilot this stupid boat, I'm going below deck," he said as he got up from the deck and walked below deck. As soon as he got below deck, he kicked the wall, "Baka!" he yelled at himself as he kicked the wall repeatedly, "That wasn't normal! Act like yourself this instant!" He sighed, and then his mind said, "You've changed Bakura, face facts." Bakura scowled. Curse my mind, can't it just shut up? Wait, minds don't talk back… "Ryou!" he said aloud.

"Yup!" Ryou said, strangely happy.

"What's got you so happy?" Bakura asked, glad to be thinking about something else.

"Well… I always get happy when…" he seemed hesitant now.

"When what?"

"… You wouldn't like it if I said what I was thinking."

"Ryou, just spit it out and don't be such a spineless weakling!" Bakura said, annoyed now because he was curious and wanted to know what Ryou was happy about.

"Eto… All right, I always get happy when I see love blossoming."

Bakura was silent. "Who's love is blossoming?" he said in a scarily controlled voice.

"I knew you wouldn't like the answer…"

"Answer me Ryou, answer me before I get really mad."

"Well… yours of course." Bakura growled in frustration. "That's not the case! There is no love that's blossoming, just me acting weirdly, that's all! And I'll correct that problem right now! I just need to act like I did in ancient Egypt, that's all, shouldn't be that hard."

"But -" Ryou said, but then was quiet.

Bakura sighed, "But what Ryou?"

"Well… it's just that… there's a major difference from the you then, and the you now."

"And what is that?" Bakura said, still slightly annoyed.

"Well… actually there's more than one…"

"What are they?"

"You won't like them either."

"Tell me anyway."

"…but you'll get angry." Bakura growled, and Ryou decided he better tell him anyway. "Well," he started, "First, now you're a vampire," Bakura nodded, "And, now you're working with someone, you're not alone," Bakura nodded again, this time with a slight eye-twitch, "…And this time you have a Blood -"

"For the last time," Bakura said, trying to control his anger, "Marik is not my Blood Pack!" Bakura failed in controlling his anger and ended up screaming the last part. But he screamed it inside his head, so Marik didn't hear.

Bakura was breathing heavily, and then Ryou decided to say this: "So… You wouldn't mind if I drank Marik's blood again?" Bakura bit his bottom lip. He didn't want that, he never wanted that to happen ever again. He didn't want anyone even touching Marik, let alone drinking his blood. He especially didn't want Ryou to drink his blood, seeing how he looks at Marik... Bakura resisted the urge to growl. He knew what Ryou was doing, trying to prove a point. He was too protective of Marik, he didn't want the blood to be gone since he was his Blood Pack. But was that it? He just didn't want Marik to be drunk by anyone because he didn't want the blood to be gone? Was that it? Or was it something more. Did he not want Marik to be drunk because he… he…

Bakura scowled. "I wouldn't mind at all," he lied through his teeth, "in fact, go ahead! Take over, just don't burn yourself again, and try to act more like me, it will make him less suspicious." Bakura started to go back into the Millennium Ring and let Ryou take over. But in his mind, he was thinking about how hard those words had been to say, but why? He didn't care, he didn't care if Ryou drank Marik's blood right? He didn't care if Ryou touched Marik.

Bakura growled silently. There, I'll prove once and for all that Marik is not my Blood Pack.

'But didn't you already say he was?' his mind came back with.

And this time, it wasn't Ryou talking.

Through all of Bakura's denying phase, Marik was driving the boat, still wondering what the heck was wrong with Bakura. What made him so annoyed? They were practically trapped on this boat, what is there to annoy him?

Maybe he's just the kind of person who can't stand feeling trapped? Marik thought, No, that can't be, he would have gone crazy trapped in that house during the day then. Of course, maybe he is crazy… Maybe he doesn't like traveling by boat? But then why did he buy one? Marik felt guilty now, he was the reason Bakura had bought a boat. But, he didn't have to do that…

'So then why did he?' his mind asked him.

Marik sighed, I don't know, he's impossible to predict.

'Why do you think that is?'

Marik was getting agitated, How should I know? For all I know about him he was always like this.

'Do you really believe that?'

Stop speaking in riddles! he yelled at himself.

'Fine then, I'll be blunt about it. Maybe he's acting different weird because he likes you and doesn't know how to deal with it.'

Marik felt his face heat up. Don't be ridiculous! he told himself, Bakura can't like anyone, it's impossible for him.

'Why else would he buy a boat for you?'

Because… I already told you I don't know!

'Why? Don't you want Bakura to like you?'

Yes. I mean no, what's the right answer?

'You said yes first.' Marik sighed. He knew Bakura didn't like him, end of discussion, but what about his feelings? He had never really thought about it before. He had never really liked anyone like that before…

He shook his head. This is ridiculous, Bakura is probably just dealing with something I don't understand. But I still want to help him. Because we're friends. That's it, end of story. No sooner had he decided this then Ryou walked above deck and looked at Marik.

Ryou hid in the shadows and lifted up his left shirt sleeve. His mark was only slightly darker than his skin. And since it was so pale, this wasn't a very big difference. Ryou sighed. It was because Bakura had drank Marik's blood yesterday, and even if Bakura didn't want to admit it, that didn't change the fact that Marik was Bakura's Blood Pack.

Ryou sighed, Bakura's just being stubborn… Well, it'd be pointless to drink his blood right now, so I'll just talk to him. He frowned, but how would Bakura react? He sighed, Shouldn't I be happy right now? I got my body back, I shouldn't be worrying about Bakura… especially since he doesn't want my help… But that was the way Ryou was. He would always help others, put them before himself, even if it hurt him, even if the person he was helping hurt him. That's just the way he was. He looked at Marik, and decided that from now on, he would help Bakura and Marik get together. Even if he got hurt along the way, even if it meant he would never use his body again… Even if it meant he could never have Marik for himself... He shook that last thought out of his mind and closed his eyes and clenched his hands into fists. He remembered a promise he had made, "If I ever find true love," he had said, "I will do anything I can to help them get together." Ryou opened his eyes again, this time with determination in them, and decided it was time to live up to that promise. He walked on the deck.

Marik turned to look at Ryou. "Hey Bakura, feeling better?"

"I am," Ryou said, trying to imitate Bakura's voice and doing a pretty good job, "th-" Ryou cut himself off. He was about to say "Thank you for asking," but then figured that Bakura wasn't the type to say 'thank you.'

"That's good," Marik said, not catching Ryou's slip up, "You've been acting weird lately, anything wrong?"

"No, nothing's wrong," Ryou tried to think of something sarcastic to say, and decided on: "Don't worry about me." Ryou sweat dropped. He wished he knew Bakura better, and that he was better at this sort of thing. It was silent for a while, and Ryou could tell that Marik was still worried, so he said, "Really, I'm all right, how far are we in our travels anyway?"

Marik shuffled his feet. It was the way Bakura was talking, it didn't sound right… "We should be there early tomorrow morning."

"That's good," Ryou said. All was silent again, and Ryou wished he could act like himself, then he would know what to say.

Meanwhile, Marik's eye was twitching. Bakura's attitude was starting to make him annoyed. Act like normal dang it! He turned to Bakura, "I bet you'll be happy to be off this boat huh?"

"Why would you say that?"

"Because then you won't have to hide from the sun all day."

Ryou tried to think of what Bakura would say, and then thought of something. He started thinking of Bakura as a character in one of his books, and he suddenly knew what to say. He smirked, but it looked weird on his face, "You think I was hiding from the sun?"

Marik raised his eyebrow, "Yeah, why?"

"I was hiding from you, you're really annoying." Okay, maybe it wasn't perfect, but it was close enough.

Marik resisted the urge to smile, at least he was acting a little bit like his old self. "You're no picnic yourself there buddy."

"I'm not your 'buddy,' and will not be referred to as such."

Marik smirked, "But you're the one who said we were friends, right?" Ryou was surprised, Bakura said that? Hm… well, it's a step I guess. Then he heard Bakura say inside his head, "I only said that because he asked. Stupid brat…" Ryou could tell that Bakura hadn't meant to be heard, but he said anyway, "I only said that because you asked, remember?"

Marik shrugged, "You still said it."

"Only because you kept pestering me," Bakura said, not meaning to be heard again.

"Only because you kept pestering me," Ryou copied.

"Doesn't change the fact that it's been said," Marik grinned.

"I only said it to see what kind of reaction I'd get. Bet you don't remember smiling like an idiot after I said that." Ryou copied him exactly.

Marik's face heat up, "I was drunk! Of course my face would heat up at random times."

Bakura laughed evilly, and Ryou did his best to imitate it, "Admit it, you want to be more than friends, don't you?" Ryou copied him, and tried to keep from smirking. This was starting to get fun. He also found that Marik looked cute when he was blushing, and he had to try not to laugh as Marik stammered, "T-that's not it! Don't just say whatever comes to your mind!"

Bakura started laughing, and Ryou let his own laughter loose, "Oh yeah?" Ryou imitated what Bakura was saying in his mind, "Then why is your face so red Marik? Admit it, you're gay."

Marik got angry, "I'm not gay! Stop stating what you want to be true!"

Bakura stopped laughing, and so did Ryou. He could feel Bakura's anger, he obviously did not like what Marik had said, or maybe he did like it, and that was the problem. But Bakura being who he was, wouldn't even admit to himself that Marik might be speaking the truth, and said, "Five points for stealing my line," and Ryou copied him exactly. Just then, Ryou found the urge to smile. He wasn't even the one talking to Marik, he was just copying what Bakura said.

Marik glared at Bakura, "And to think that I was actually worried about you!" he said with disbelief.

Bakura was silent, but Ryou could feel a sort of odd joy coming from him, and then he felt Bakura start to take over again. He let him, not that he could have stopped him if he tried, but still.

Bakura looked at Marik, "You, were worried about me?" he asked with only a slight hopefulness in his voice.

"Of course!" Marik said angrily, "You've been acting really weird lately, and frankly, it was starting to freak me out!"

Bakura was silent, he looked down. "No one's ever worried about me before…" he said quietly, but Marik could just barely hear it. He didn't know how to react to that. As long as he could remember, his mother, his sister, his brother, they had all worried about him. Sometimes a little too much, but to never be worried about? He couldn't imagine that. He didn't know how that felt, lonely? Depressing?

"Bakura…" Bakura didn't hear him, he was trying to work out his feelings.

Was he happy? Sad? Relieved? Annoyed? Angry? What? How did he feel, how did he feel? He closed his eyes. No one had ever worried about him before, there had been no one to worry about him first of all, but also nothing to worry about. Sure, he had had a girlfriend long ago, but she had never worried about him, she really only liked the money he stole. And he never got caught when he stole, unless he wanted to get caught to feel the rush of being chased again.

He closed his eyes. The truth was, he did know how he felt, but he wasn't sure if he liked it. He knew he felt happy, but why? Shouldn't he say, "Don't worry about me"? Isn't that what everyone says when someone says they're worried about them? Then why did he feel happy? Why did he feel like hugging Marik and saying "Thanks for worrying about me," for the first time since - ever! He clenched his fists and looked at Marik. Marik, who had just been waiting there, patiently, waiting for Bakura to say something.

Bakura looked down again, and felt like punching himself when he felt his face heat up again, "Thanks… I guess. For… worrying."

Marik smiled, "Don't mention it, least I could do after you bought a boat for me."

Bakura snapped his head up, "I didn't buy the boat for you, stop saying that!"

Marik laughed, "Whatever you say Bakura."

Bakura scowled, "You might want to watch what you say if you want to stay alive Marik."

Marik rolled his eyes, "And you might want to find a different threat other than, 'I'll kill you,' because I know you won't."

Bakura smirked, "You never know, you just might succeed in pushing me to my limit one day."

"And how close am I to that limit now?"

Bakura held his pointer finger and thumb one millimeter apart, "This close."

"Aw come on, even after I just said I was worried about you?" Marik joked.

Bakura found himself grinning, "All right, I guess I'll give you another millimeter, but that's it." It occurred to Bakura that Marik had changed the conversation on purpose, just to make him feel better.

And that made him feel really happy.

Marik was driving the boat, and Bakura was sitting on the only other chair on the boat relaxing. He hadn't felt like going back below deck, but was thinking he might because Ryou was annoying the heck out of him.

"So, why were you so happy earlier Bakura?"

"Shut up."

"It's just that you were really happy when Marik said he was worried about you."

"I said shut up."

"But -"

"Ryou, you're never going to get me to say I was happy, just give up." Normally, Bakura would have put Ryou to sleep by now, but Ryou somehow managed to wake up shortly after. This worried Bakura, but he was still too happy from, earlier events, to care about it much. Besides, Ryou didn't try to take over, he was, surprisingly, staying put inside the ring. It seemed he was satisfied enough with just having someone to talk to, or he was having fun tormenting him, whichever one.

So it came to pass that he was closing his eyes and ignoring Ryou when all of a sudden Marik said, "You know, I have some questions."

Bakura glanced at him, "And what are they?"

"First off," Marik began, "How are we going to get the Millennium Eye from Pegasus anyway? I mean, it's in his eye for Pete's sake."

Bakura turned to look at him better, "I've been thinking about that, and I think I've found a solution."

"What is it?"

"Well," Bakura began, "You could pretend you're his fan or something, and tell him it's always been your dream to meet him. Hopefully he's a sucker for his fans and will invite you for dinner or something."

"But if I'm his fan," Marik said, "Wouldn't I need the cards he's invented?"

"Tell them a strong wind came by and blew all of your cards into the ocean or something then."

"Okay, where do you fit in?"

Bakura sighed, "As much as I hate this, I'll be your pet cat."

Marik smirked, "My pet cat?"

"Yes, I can't go out in the sunlight, and if I'm just a shadow, I don't know how useful that will be. If I'm a cat, then when the right moment comes along, I'll scratch the Millennium Eye out of his eye socket and we'll run."

"What if his guards catch us?"

"Then we'll fight, you've been in fights before right?"

"Of course. I once fought off 3 vampires at once."

"Impressive, but can you handle over 20 men?"

"In my sleep."

"I bet you couldn't."

"Yes I can!"

Bakura smirked, "I hear a bet coming on."

"Fine, but nothing too extreme this time."

"Agreed, how about, if we end up having to fight our way out of it, you have to knock out, or kill, whichever you prefer, 20 men by yourself. If you don't, you have to…" Bakura thought about it, one thing came to mind, "You have to kiss me."

Bakura delighted in watching Marik's face turn red, "Wh-what?"

"You heard me."

"B-but, why?"

"It's the only thing I could think of that you'd hate, or would you actually like that Marik?"

Marik got angry, "For the last time, I'm not gay! And I'll take that bet, considering I'll win. And you have to knock out or kill 20 men too, or else you have to be a cat for an entire day and do whatever I say!"

Bakura chuckled, "Such sick pleasures you have Marik… But whatever, I agree to these terms." They shook on it, both determined to win, but who was the most determined I wonder?

Anyway, so they both decided that Marik should act like a crazed Duelmonsters fan, but then they realized that neither really knew much about the game. So they called up Yugi and asked him to give them tips about how to play, what are some cool cards, etc. Yugi wasted no time in explaining all there was to know about Duelmonsters. He was ecstatic that his friends wanted to know how to play that he didn't even question their sudden interest in a children's card game. Marik and Bakura were both just glad that they knew a Duelmonsters expert, because otherwise their plan would have been faulty.

So after Marik had taken notes on how to play Duelmonsters, they both went above deck. By this time it was dark out, so Bakura took off his day attire. He was slightly relieved, he had been wearing that thing all day and it was kind of warm. He felt the cool chill of night settle in on his bare arms and stood there for a minute, enjoying the cool feeling. As for Marik, he was looking up at the stars again, wondering why they looked especially bright today. Then he looked at Bakura, happy that he was finally acting like himself again. It had really been starting to bug him.

However, right now, Bakura was wondering something. How do I feel about Marik? I like him as a friend yes, but is there more…? Bakura thought about this for a little bit, then decided that that was it. He only liked Marik as a friend. That was that, over and done with, nothing more… He looked back at Marik, and felt a jolt of joy when he saw Marik's head turn away, almost as if he had been looking at him…

Bakura turned his head back in front of him. Okay… maybe I like him a little more than a friend… Bakura thought. But then told himself that was ridiculous. He liked women.

~~~{REVIEW REPLIES!}~~~

Bec: Yeah, I guess I was being a little too hard on myself, but I'm always like that… That's probably not a good thing… I just feel bad because one chapter I'm like, "I'm doing Puzzleshipping!" and the next is like, "Never mind, I lied :P"
I'm glad you like the story, and I'm probably going to have Ryou appear more and more, and I want him to act like a little brother, but I don't know how to get to that point… And I really wanted to make Marik ride a dolphin, and you can't really just ride a wild dolphin with no experience or previous training, and I like Mako because I LOVE to swim.
I'm happy this is bloody great! (I love that word, bloody)

That's What Cheese Said: Please don't get murdered! =( That's bad! And I've had that Blood Pack thing planned since, I don't know, maybe chapter 5? Sometime before I introduced Anzu. I'm glad that it's "genius" and that you like it. And yeah, I like Ryou too =) I have plans for him… sort of anyway…
Yeah, I wanted to bring Mako in so he could let Marik ride a dolphin, I just… yeah… Dolphins are awesome and I love swimming, I wish I could swim with a dolphin…
Lol, at first I was like, "Who is Bonz?" Then I looked him up and saw he was that ghost guy, I don't know, I'll see what I can do to bring him in.
And I said I was sorry! Don't rip out my heart! Geesh, that makes me feel better, I already feel horrible… And I promise you, Marik will never date Serenity, at least not here. And yeah, I changed it because of the Blood Pack thing.

Shampoo: Thanks! I'm actually planning on having Ryou help Bakura with his problems, and be kind of like an annoying little brother. I just need to figure out how to get there.

Lols, I'm gonna ask you guys once again, who should win the bet? Marik or Bakura? I'm having a really tough time deciding right now, because I could make both instances funerific. XD

ANYWAY! I've been thinking of this one Yu-Gi-Oh! Thiefshipping fanfic where Bakura is the beast, Isis is Beauty, and Marik is Beauty's brother… try figuring out how that works XD

I've also had this story idea going around in my head for a while. Basically, under special circumstances, Ryou has to pretend he's a girl for his school year, but what happens when boys and girls alike start liking him? Right now, it's kind of like angst shipping vs. thief shipping vs. tender shipping… I still haven't decided which one it should be… XD