*Note* This chapter uses real life places and names. Though I looked up these places and names, I have never been there so I can not describe them accurately nor can I say what exactly would happen. Take all descriptions of real-life things lightly, for even if I look it up, I still have never been there, and the internet is limited compared to real-life experience.
In other words, don't flame me, just tell me what's wrong if you know it to be wrong so I may fix it. Thanks! =) (Yes I'm putting this every time).
Heeeeere's a chapter! =) Yay~! This has also been beta'd by Lady Sunami, since originally these chapters were together.
Chapter 30: Couple…? (This chapter is dedicated to Random Inspired. Enjoy! (= )
Soon, Marik and Bakura were in an ice cream shoppe, sitting at a red booth surrounded by yellow-orange walls and waiting for their ice cream to arrive. Bakura had the page Marik had found laid out on the table and was looking at it critically. "Firstly," Bakura said, "we're not even sure this can be trusted."
"But you have to admit," Marik said, "its logic makes sense, and it's the most in-depth thing we've found. Or, I've found at least," he added the last part hastily, since he wasn't sure if Bakura had found anything, but he also felt a little guilty, since his focus hadn't really been on the task at hand… He looked down so that his bangs would hide his now pink face.
Bakura hadn't noticed Marik's tone or expression because he was still analyzing the page. "Who wrote this…?" he asked no one in particular.
Marik figured that was a rhetorical question and didn't answer, but after a few seconds of silence he said, "I'm not sure… It looks to me like they're making their journal into a reference book or something though."
Bakura glanced at the tiny page numbers. "Yes, it does look that way… but just because there's supposedly 100 pages or more in this journal, doesn't necessarily mean that it's correct."
"But why would someone make this up?"
"Maybe he was insane, we don't know Marik!" the vampire exclaimed, "We can't trust any of this, it's just a page!"
"But don't you just feel that it's true?" Bakura was silenced at that. Apparently Marik felt it too. He stared at the page, reading one particular part over again, "Likewise, if you make the Wish with good intentions (or a pure heart) then the Dark Magic has very little or nothing to respond to, and will grant your wish without corruption. It will still take something in return, just something smaller than what would be owed."
If this was true, then what was considered a proper exchange for the wish they had in mind? Would one death in the world be too much? Or would it suffice? Or be enough? If only they had this one hundredth page that supposedly had the "Rules of Equality" on them, then they could probably tell.
Bakura sighed. "Marik, even if this paper is true, there's still so many chances…"
"What's life without risks?" Marik asked, "If people never did anything if there was even a slight risk, then nothing would ever get done."
"This isn't a slight risk Marik, it's your life!" Bakura scolded him, "a slight risk would be losing one thing that's important to you, a slight risk would be losing all of your money, or your house, a slight risk would even be the chance that you could get harmed compared to the huge risk of your life!"
Marik was silent, and he was about to speak before their ice cream arrived. They thanked the waiter before taking the frozen treat and setting it on the table. They began eating it while they waited for the man to be out of ear-shot; Marik with his Caramel-Chocolate Chaos and Bakura with his Death by Chocolate. They had also ordered a few cherries and chocolate-covered strawberries by the request of Marik. Bakura stared at the strawberries covered in white chocolate untrustingly. What did they do to the chocolate to get it white like that…?
"Bakura," Marik said, sticking his spoon in his ice cream and looking at it, making Bakura tear his gaze away from the unnatural white chocolate to look at the Egyptian. "… Do you fear death?"
Bakura's eyes widened. That was an odd question, although it wasn't really for the conversation they'd been having. "Not really," he answered, picking up more ice cream with his spoon, "after being alive for five centuries, living begins to get a bit tedious…" he put the spoonful in his mouth, mumbling, "But now I have someone to live for…"
"What?" Marik asked, wondering what Bakura had said at the end.
Bakura ate his ice cream and looked at Marik. "I'll put it this way; your death is the only one I fear."
Marik felt a tingle go through his back at those words. He blushed slightly and stuffed ice cream in his mouth to try and cool his face down. That's right, Bakura's been alive a long time… he thought, of course he would feel impartial to death too. For some reason, the thought of Bakura not caring about his life made his chest tighten, threatening to make him think of what it would be like if he did just die suddenly.
"What about you?" Bakura asked curiously, putting more ice cream in his mouth, "Do you fear death?"
Marik avoided his eyes. "Not… really," he said, instantly filling Bakura with a touch of panic. If Marik didn't care about his life, then would he be reckless with it?
"It's just…" Marik continued, "I've seen so much… it doesn't really affect me anymore…" That was a lie; death affected him very strongly. Every time he saw a vampire murdered… it hurt him. He loathed the thought of anyone dying, especially Kura, so it didn't really make much sense that he didn't particularly care about himself…
"And yet you're afraid of heights," Bakura brought him out of his thoughts. Marik sighed. "It's not so much heights or death I fear so much as pain… although maybe I don't fear death because it feels so far away, and when I'm high up, death feels so close, and pain would come right before it from the fall. Pain, fear, terror…" Marik ate more ice cream, "heights are scary."
Bakura sighed. "Marik," he said unhappily, "I can't stop you from collecting these Items, but I can stop you from making the Wish."
Marik was about to ask him how he planned to do that when Bakura said, "I'll make the wish."
Marik felt his blood run cold. "… What?" he asked.
Bakura shrugged, "It's no big deal, really. I should've thought of that earlier. After all, it doesn't matter who makes the wish right?"
Marik stared at Bakura, now knowing how his friend had felt earlier. "No. You're not making the wish," he said, putting more ice cream in his mouth, signifying the end of the discussion.
Bakura raised an eyebrow and leaned back, crossing his arms. "No?" he questioned, "You won't let me make the wish? Why ever not?" he asked, his tone implying that he knew the answer and that he felt a little hostile towards how Marik was acting now that the roles were reversed.
Marik swallowed his ice cream and sighed. "Okay Bakura, I get your point. I'm sorry I didn't think about what would happen after the wish was made, all right? I was just excited that we were actually working towards it in the first place and intoxicated with the idea that all vampires would be free that I overlooked a detail, so I'm sorry," he concluded by putting more ice cream in his mouth.
Bakura put an elbow on the table and rested his head in his hand. "This is a real problem, since neither of us wants the other to make the wish."
Bakura stared at Marik, and at that moment the tan man felt so much lo– care, coming his way. He sighed, "Bakura," he began, "I'm the one who started this journey and wanted to make this wish in the first place, and I'm going to be the one to make the wish and finish the journey. Whether you come with me or not… that's your decision," he put more ice cream in his mouth, but it was hard to enjoy the taste with this atmosphere.
Bakura just stared at the ground. Marik's last proclamation confirmed his theories that Marik was determined to finish this no matter what it took, even his own life. He was willing to do anything for what he thought was right, and there was nothing Bakura could do or say that would change his mind. So that was it? He would just have to accept the fact that his best friend might actually… die?
He looked at the paper again, and was suddenly hit with such a strong feeling of confidence and reassurance that everything was okay. It was almost as if someone shot a confidence and reassurance gun at him or something he felt so strongly like everything was going to be fine. After all, it was obvious Marik's intentions were pure, it was obvious he had a strong will; he would be fine… He would be fine! Bakura didn't know how or why he felt this way, but he just did. There was just something magical about this paper that just made him think everything would turn out fine in the end. Besides, it was usually the vague objects that people find that help them along their quest! At least that's how it works in books and movies…
Bakura looked at Marik, who was staring at him anxiously again. Bakura glanced at the paper, being hit with the same, strong, reassuring wave, and said, "All right Marik." He stopped talking after that.
"… All right what?" Marik asked.
Bakura put more ice cream in his mouth while closing his eyes. He said with the spoon in his mouth, "All right, you can make the wish." Before Marik could say anything, Bakura added, "But! You have to make me a promise."
Marik smiled, happy that Bakura was finally not against it and willing to agree to anything at this point. "What is it?"
Bakura reached forward and gripped Marik's hand tightly. "It's a promise for us both actually…"
Marik's heartbeat increased tenfold and he could feel heat creeping up the back of his neck, though he wasn't entirely sure why. But… what exactly was Bakura going to say…?
Bakura stared deeply into Marik's eyes and said, "You – we – have to promise to live for each other. Even if we don't care about ourselves," he smiled, "It's obvious we… care about each other, and couldn't stand it if the other died, so…" Bakura began to get flustered, and when he gets flustered he does not have his golden tongue, so his next words were less than… eloquent, "let's… live for each other."
Marik blinked at him, some of the heat making its way to his cheeks. "You mean, don't do anything reckless that could cost our lives… for the other's sake?"
"Yes!" Bakura said, happy that Marik understood, but then his face got more serious, "Promise?"
Marik stared into Bakura's set eyes. This mattered to him a lot didn't it… "Yes," Marik said, feeling as if there was only him and Kura in the whole world at this point, "if you promise to live for me, then I'll live for you…" he gripped Bakura's hand tightly, continuing to stare into his eyes.
"I promise as well," Bakura said, right before many, strong emotions went through him.
They stayed like that for a while, until both young adults snapped out of it and began eating their ice cream again, both blushing like mad.
They just made such a big promise; living for someone else. Marik had to admit that it was almost… romantic. Which of course did not help his face in the least, and he had to shove more ice cream in his mouth in the mere hopes that it would cool his face down. Even Bakura admitted that it was, romantic, but he also thought it was kind of cheesy… something you'd see in a wannabe romance novel, not something in real life. Of course, this whole scenario was so much like a book that Bakura was beginning to feel as if he just a simple character in a story. If that was true, whoever was writing him must love putting him in these types of situations…
Bakura took one of the cherries to rid his mind of his thoughts, and as soon as he tasted the sweet maraschino cherry, his eyes went wide. "These are really good!" he exclaimed, the cherry stem still in his mouth.
"Really?" Marik asked, his cheeks still a bit rosy, "Could I try one?" He leaned forward and opened his mouth a bit, so Bakura picked up a cherry and placed it in his mouth while saying, "Sure." Marik bit the fruit off the red stem and started chewing. After a few seconds, a blatantly obvious fact dawned on them both.
Bakura just fed Marik a cherry.
Marik's cheeks turned almost as red as the cherry that was in his mouth, but he kept chewing. Bakura couldn't stop a huge smirk from appearing on his face, and he said, "Ha, I just fed you a cherry…"
Marik looked away from him, "So?" he asked, even though he knew the "so" already.
"So," Bakura said, leaning forward and pursing his lips slightly, "do you like my cherry?" he whispered flirtatiously, deciding to have a bit of fun.
Marik blushed more, much to the delight of Bakura who wished he had a camera right now. Marik looked positively cute like that~! "It's not your cherry," Marik retorted, "and you'd have to be crazy not to like cherries."
"Hmm, not what I asked, but I'll take it as a yes," Bakura said with another smirk before leaning back in his seat.
Marik's eye started to twitch, but he just swallowed the cherry and put more ice cream in his mouth, which is when Bakura got the bright idea to take a spoonful of ice cream and hold it out to Marik. "Say "Ahhh,"" he said.
Marik glared at Bakura. "N-" before he could even finish the word Bakura stuck the chocolate ice cream in his mouth. His blush stayed on his cheeks as he ate Bakura's ice cream. When he was done he took some of his ice cream and shoved it in Bakura's mouth as well, "Let's see how you like it…" he mumbled.
Unfortunately, his plan for revenge backfired considerably since Bakura did like the ice cream, especially when considering whose it was and who was feeding it to him. The vampire licked his lips and said, "Mm, not as good as your blood, but pretty close," and then winked.
Marik's glare increased as the red that had invaded his cheeks refused to leave. "Shut up you stupid vampire," he shoved more of his own ice cream in his mouth, realizing too late that his spoon had been in Kura's mouth only a few seconds before…
Bakura chuckled at the look on Marik's face and then eyed the strawberries, getting another brilliant idea. He took one of the cherries, took the green stem off, and held it in his mouth between a smirk. He looked at Marik and pointed at the strawberry, "Want it?" he asked.
Bakura had to stop himself from laughing lest he drop the strawberry or bite into it, for the blush on Marik's face appeared to have called for a lot of backup, and it was very funny to see.
Marik lifted one arm up and pushed the strawberry into Bakura's mouth with his index finger without saying a word, but when he did so Bakura's lips enclosed around Marik's finger, and a shiver shot down his arm and through is back when he felt the wetness. He pulled his hand away and stuck it to his side, digging his hand under his leg and looking down, eating more of his ice cream.
Bakura laughed at Marik's reaction and leaned forward, using both of his arms to prop his head up. "You know, with us feeding each other food it's almost like we're a couple."
Marik's eyes widened and it was almost as if he was frozen. Bakura hadn't been expecting this reaction, and it made him freeze too.
However, Marik was thinking… He had already said how he wasn't sure if they were friends anymore, were they more like… a couple…?
Marik slammed his head down on the table loudly, causing a few Curious Calvins to look over at them. Bakura just looked at Marik, wondering why Marik was responding like this to what he said. He wasn't entirely sure if Marik's actions were good or bad, but either way they should probably finish their ice cream soon unless they wanted to drink it. He poked him in the shoulder, "Marik," he said, "eat your ice cream or it'll melt."
Marik lifted his head to glare at his friend, but his face was still quite red so it looked very humorous. "Don't. Touch. Me," he said fiercely.
Bakura put his hands up by his head palms forward to say, "All right," before eating more of his ice cream. Obviously Marik didn't want to be bothered, and frankly he didn't want to piss the Egyptian off toomuch. That was hardly fun.
Marik took a deep breath to calm his heart, which seemed to be imitating a bird's heartbeat… he let it out, but he still couldn't get the word, "couple" out of his head.
"Can we just give up?" Bakura complained.
They had been searching New York City for a Millennium Item for hours now and it was starting to get on Bakura's nerves.
"We can't just give up!" Marik said, "Not after all we've discovered and been through today!"
"I didn't mean give up completely, just for the day! It's almost dark out Marik!" he waved his arm in the direction of the sun low in the sky.
Marik looked out at the setting sun and sighed. "I guess we should stop for the day… I can't believe we couldn't find it though." He mainly had trouble believing this because they had the Ring actually pointing them in the right direction!
"Well, someone most likely is in possession of it and keeps moving around, so of course it'd be hard to find," Bakura explained, "but besides that, I wanna go back to the hotel! We've been walking around all day and I can't handle any more of these boring skyscrapers…"
Marik laughed. "You need to learn how to get around, what if we get separated? How would we find each other again?"
Bakura held the Millennium Ring out to him. "This thing will point me to you, no big deal."
Marik shook his head. "You really need to stop throwing out the maps I give you…" He said this because he had given Bakura another map today, only to discover it had been "lost" only a half an hour later.
Bakura smiled cheekily and shrugged. "Hey, it's windy in this city, you even complained about how cold it was."
"It is cold!" Marik exclaimed, "I'm used to warm climates, okay? Ugh, why does it have to be winter still…"
"I heard it's going to snow tomorrow," Bakura commented.
Marik sighed. "Well, the snow is pretty so I don't really mind that, but I'm gonna need a warmer coat…" he looked at the fall jacket he had brought with him in disappointment. He really should have brought his winter coat… but he had to pack light!
Bakura folded his arms. "See, this is why we should go back to the hotel!" he persisted.
Marik nodded. "All right, we're done for the day… who knows, maybe we'll see the Item on the way back." Marik started walking towards the hotel, knowing Bakura would follow.
"Don't get your hopes up, dearest," Bakura mumbled as he walked after him. He caught up with his pace and started walking right next to him, their hands almost touching but not quite.
Which of course annoyed Marik to no end.
That hand… it was tormenting him. It was right there, so close, and probably so warm… unlike Marik's freezing hands since he had left his gloves back at the hotel. It would be so easy to just take hold of it right now, and intertwine their slim fingers, and smile sweetly at Kura and k-
Marik snapped his eyes away from that tempting hand, instead bringing his hands up to his face and blowing on them to get them warmer, hoping the heat from his breath will take it's heat from his cheeks.
Bakura noticed Marik trying to keep his hands warm, and decided to grab one of his hands, which of course was what Marik had exactly been trying to avoid. It didn't help matters when Bakura said, "I'll warm them up," and not only held his hand but also started blowing on it. Marik felt Bakura's warm breath ghost over his hand, causing a small shiver in his wrist and causing the hairs on his arm to stand up. His hand definitely felt warm now, and not just his hand, but everywhere else as well. He looked at Bakura, about to tell him he didn't have to do that, but then saw the caring look on his face, and the words died on his slightly open lips. At that moment, the look on Kura's face made him feel so… warm, and protected, and safe. Very unlike how he felt with his father…
He tore his hand away and shoved it in his pocket, looking ahead like his life depended on it. Bakura stared at his hands for a moment, surprised by the sudden lack of a tan hand, before looking at Marik. One look at his face told him that Marik was, embarrassed. Bakura smirked, "Marik, didn't you want me to hold your hand?"
Marik hid his face even more. "No, I was just trying to warm them up."
"But you didn't take your hand away right away, only after a little bit," his smirk increased some, "so you must have liked the feeling a little bit."
"…" Marik didn't say anything, mainly because he didn't want to admit that he had enjoyed Kura's touch… More than just a friend should. It was almost like how a… couple enjoys holding the other's hand…
Bakura took Marik's silence as a sign that he did, in fact, like holding hands (which of course was true), and now felt very, very happy. He put his arm around Marik's shoulder, "Marik, if you wanna be close to me, just say so."
Marik glared at him. "Well I don't!"
Bakura raised an eyebrow. "Really? Because I wouldn't mind actually sleeping tonight," he leaned closer to Marik's ear and whispered, "in the bed with you…"
Bakura took his arm away to clutch his stomach with laughter at Marik's face. His eyes had gone wide and his face turned so red that it was getting hard to see his mouth! And soon the flustered boy turned to look at his friend, saying, "In your dreams!"
Bakura raised an eyebrow, an amused expression on his face. "Have you been invading my dreams?"
Marik put his hands to his head and pulled his hair, letting out a scream of frustration and irritation. "Stop saying stuff like that!" he ordered, "Every time you say stuff like that… It's weird!" It makes me think about… what kind of relationship we have.
Bakura chuckled. "It's weird you say?" he asked, "It's fun for me," he grabbed Marik's hand again, "And your hands are cold man, and that's coming from a vampire…"
Marik tore his hand away from him. "Excuse me for being human and forgetting gloves, now let's just go back to the hotel already," Marik said before stuffing his hands in his pockets huffily and walking towards their hotel. He suddenly smiled, "On second thought," he said, taking one hand out and gesturing in front of him, "You lead the way."
Bakura narrowed his eyes. Marik knew that he didn't know his way around and would get lost in this city… he was doing this to punish him for his earlier actions. Nevertheless, Bakura shrugged coolly and said, "All right," before walking past Marik in the direction they had already been walking down. He was determined to find the way back to the hotel so that Marik couldn't make fun of him – he will find the hotel!
Unfortunately, despite his determination, after about ten minutes he had gotten hopelessly lost, and since he was starting to get very impatient and wanted nothing more than to sit down in a chair and do absolutely nothing for an hour or so, he turned to Marik and glared. "Where the hell are we?-!" he asked angrily.
Marik smirked. "You're the one leading the way –"
His retort was cut short as Bakura let out a frustrated cry and pulled on his hair, much like Marik did earlier. "Damn it Marik, I wanna go back to the hotel and relax! Now tell me where the hell it is right now!-!"
Marik chuckled at Bakura's outburst. "All right 'Kura," he said before taking the lead, "follow me unless you wanna get lost!" he called teasingly behind his shoulder. Bakura grumbled behind him, but followed nonetheless. Marik smiled to himself, because if Bakura had kept walking and turned the next corner he would have made it to The Plaza and could've proved Marik wrong and made him look a fool, but he had gotten impatient, and so when Marik turned the corner and gestured to their lavish hotel saying, "Ta-da," he had a huge grin on his face, feeling very proud.
Bakura stared at their hotel in disbelief. We had been that close…? he thought to himself disconsolately. He could feel his face grow hot with embarrassment, and he put a hand to his head and closed his eyes, muttering Egyptian curses under his breath. However, he looked up to glare when he heard Marik laughing at him. He ground his teeth and said, "Oh sure, laugh it up princess, just know that I can easily make you blush more than I am right now…"
Marik poked him in the nose playfully, "I don't really care right now 'Kura, now isn't there a reason you wanted to go to the hotel?" Marik chuckled at the end, putting his hand on the top of Bakura's head and ruffling his hair, which caused Bakura to scowl at him and swat his hands away.
But then Bakura smirked evilly, the perfect comeback coming to him. Hopefully it would transfer the blush from him to Marik as well. "Yes, there was a reason," he almost purred as he put his arm around his waist, "to be alone with you."
Marik blushed only slightly and pushed his arm away, saying, "Weirdo."
Bakura laughed before walking towards the hotel; he couldn't wait to get inside and sit down. He knew he was a vampire and wasn't supposed to feel tired, but after searching around a huge city all day for something that could keep moving around he was very tired of searching for it, and his mind just wanted to do nothing. Sort of like how a high school student feels after a day at school.
As soon as they stepped into the hotel however, Wilmington exclaimed, "Sirs!" causing them to look at him. "A package came for you today," he said, picking up a fairly large package and putting it up on the counter. Bakura and Marik looked at each other, grins starting to blossom on their faces. They walked over to the package and looked at the address. Sure enough, it was from Yugi, which meant that it was probably their new sunblock!
"Thank you," Bakura said as he took the package, finding it difficult not to smile right now. He took it into the elevator with Marik following him, and he told Marik enthusiastically, "I can't wait to try this stuff out!"
Marik laughed. "I can't believe that this stuff actually exists now… my dad would freak," he laughed, then his eyes light up, "I should call Isis! Oh wait, I mean Ishizu… oh whatever, I'll call her by her actual name on the phone, I don't care."
Bakura laughed. "But your dad could tap into the phone lines and then track your phones!" he said with mock worry, making fun of Marik's earlier paranoia.
Marik rolled his eyes. "Yes, because my dad has time to listen to every single phone line in the world," Marik said sarcastically, but then he started to think about it. After a few seconds he glared at Bakura, "Thank you so much for making me more paranoid Bakura…"
Bakura laughed. "It's what I do Marik," he said right before the elevator opened up at their floor. Bakura ran to their room, taking out his key card hurriedly and sticking it in the door. But of course the scanner couldn't read it in time because he pulled it in and out so quick. He had to put it in again, this time slower, and then the lock turned green. Bakura opened the door hurriedly and threw the package on the bed, tearing it open like one would expect a vampire to tear into one's throat. It wasn't exactly a pretty sight for Marik to walk in to, but he shook his head at his friend's enthusiasm and walked over to him, putting a hand on his shoulder and saying, "Calm down, you look like a crazed animal…"
Bakura just smiled cheekily and held up a bottle of the "Vampire Sunblock." "Help me put this on!" he said, handing him another bottle. He took his trench coat off eagerly, and then took off his shirt. Marik felt horrified, but not by the sight of Kura without a shirt, definitely not – that was a wonderful sight. No, he felt horrified because he couldn't take his eyes away… and because he wanted to touch him… and –
His thoughts were cut short when Bakura said, "Earth to Marik, help me put this on!" he said as he started rubbing a thick layer of lotion on one of his arms.
Marik stared at him, frozen to where he was standing. "Wh-where do you want me to put it on…?" he asked, his voice a little nervous, yet also eager… Which of course made his feel even more horrified at himself. He was positive his face was pink right now, if not just full out red.
"Put it on my back," Bakura said, not noticing Marik's discomfort or his stutter in his excitement to go out in the sunlight, "there's only a few precious moments of sunlight left and I wanna feel them!-!"
Marik swallowed and stepped around Kura to start putting the lotion on his back. As soon as he touched Kura's back though, a shiver went up his arms. Applying cold lotion on cold skin was not a good idea, but it wasn't just the cold that made him shiver. He applied a thick layer – just like the vampire was doing – all over his pale skin, and then he started putting it around his neck. All throughout this his heart was pumping loudly, and he was amazed Bakura didn't hear it… After a little bit, he asked, "Wait, why are we putting it on your back? Why don't we just put it on your arms and legs…?" he mainly just asked this so he could calm himself down, although why he needed to calm himself down in the first place was hardly an unpleasant experience but…
"Because I'd rather be thorough and protected than stupid and burned," he said, smirking over his shoulder. He'll admit, he enjoyed feeling Marik's hands rub over his back, but right now he was in too much of a hurry to get into the sun to focus much on it. Which is why he didn't notice Marik's heart, or his face. Oh dear, he's missed so many things today hasn't he?
After a little bit, Marik was done with Bakura's back, and was about to ask him what else before he saw him rubbing the lotion over his chest. Marik felt the words die on his lips as he saw the white lotion being rubbed over Kura's pale, smooth, milky skin…
He turned his now-red face away from the sight with a surprising amount of difficulty. He closed his eyes and brought a hand up to his forehead. What the hell is wrong with me today?he thought.
Bakura was now done with his torso, and was about to do his legs when it occurred to him he should probably go to the bathroom for that part, so he did, unknowingly giving Marik a much-needed break from the erotic sight. Marik took in a deep breath and let it out slowly before falling back on the bed, his arms stretched out towards the ends of the bed. After about half a minute though, Bakura came back up all hopped up like he had a sugar rush, but his shirt was still off so Marik had to keep his eyes closed. However, soon after he did that, he felt Bakura poking him in the side repeatedly. "Do I have to kiss you awake Sleeping Beauty?-!" he asked impatiently, his short-sleeved shirt now on.
Marik's eyes snapped open and he sat up in a flash, "No!" he said, walking towards the door and opening it right before a flash of white hair blurred past him and down the halls. "Come on Marik!" the excited vampire hurled through the halls, causing Marik to smile and run after him. He laughed harder when he almost ran into someone walking down the halls until he eventually came to the front lobby and saw an amazing sight.
Bakura was outside. In the sun.
And he wasn't getting burned.
Once Bakura had arrived in the lobby and actually saw the sunlight, he had frozen. Every vampire instinct in his body was screaming at him, "Don't go outside! You'll die!-! Don't go towards the light!-!-!" But he forced himself to move forward. He was going to feel the sun damn it! He had missed it – in ancient Egypt he always felt the sun. Well, except at nighttime, but you get the point. Not feeling the sun in over 5 millennia… it was irritating! It was nerve-wracking! It was stupid! And gosh dang it, nothing was going to stop him now! Especially not some stupid instincts!
So he took a deep breath and walked outside – into the sunlight. His whole body cringed, as it knew that right now it should be burning up and rotting away, but it didn't happen. And, honestly, his first actual thought was, This is really hot… Which it was; the warm sunlight felt very, veryhot on his skin, but it still didn't burn him. It was as if he had a fever all over him; the sunlight penetrated through his whole body and warmed him down to his very core. And as he felt the unwonted sunlight touch and remain on his skin longer and longer, his instincts seemed to relax, and he just enjoyed the feeling of the waning sunlight on his arms and face.
Soon, he heard Marik come out and he turned to smile at him. He could tell by the look on his face that he was just as amazed as he was, and that made his smile bigger for some reason. He ran over to Marik and swept him up into a hug, so great was his joy. He could finally feel the sun… finally! After all these years as a cold, blood-sucking creature! (Not to mention the thousands as a spirit stuck in a Ring). Just imagine, what if you hadn't felt the sun in a long time, and all you felt was the cold, murky, dark, crushing, chill feel of night? Wouldn't you be overjoyed at feeling the sun again?
After he set Marik down, still smiling like the dickens, he felt a great urge to kiss him right now… And he actually almost did! But then common sense came back to him and he coughed instead, saying, "So, what should we do first now that I can be out and about during the day without care?"
Marik laughed, happy that his vampire was overjoyed at his new freedom. "Let's just walk around till sunset," he suggested, starting to walk forward. Bakura followed happily, marveling at how warm the sun felt on his skin. He was surprised if he would ever feel anything but warm for the rest of his life it penetrated so deep into him. "Is the sun always so warm?" Bakura asked curiously, holding his arm in front of him and turning it around to look at it. Still not burning!
Marik chuckled. "Well, it is the sun Bakura."
Bakura glared at him. "Feel my hand, you'll know what I mean then," he grabbed one of Marik's hands, and Marik was very surprised by how warm his hand was. It was as if he was burning, but he wasn't. His unnaturally warm hands felt very nice against his still freezing hand though, and he didn't really want to let go…
On the opposite end, Bakura was surprised by how cold Marik's hands were. It was as if he was holding a block of ice, and it almost made him shiver. He wanted to take his hand away, but when he tried to, he noticed that Marik didn't seem to want to… He smirked before intertwining their fingers together. "Your hands are so cold Marik, let me warm them up."
Marik felt heat rise to his face for the millionth time that day. "Duh they're cold," he retorted nonetheless, "anything would feel cold to your hot hands."
Bakura chuckled. "I suppose, but still," his grip tightened around Marik's hand, "I'm not letting go of your hand."
"… You mean until we get back to the hotel, right?" Marik asked.
"Well," Bakura said contemplatively, "I would like to hold it forever…"
Marik turned his head away when Bakura said that. With all of his weird thoughts today, especially the one about them being a… couple, Bakura's weird words and actions were not helping him in the slightest. "Well, that's impossible…" Marik said.
Bakura tightened his grip even more. "A man can dream can't he?" he said, but then he let go and walked ahead. Marik felt his hand; it felt really warm now… He pressed his other hand to his cheeks to try and get that one warm too before following Bakura.
They walked around the town for a while, Bakura feeling the glorious sunlight and Marik happy for him. Once the sun went down though, they headed back. Bakura sighed, "I'll have to wait till tomorrow to feel the warm sunshine again…"
Marik laughed. "You can wait Bakura. Oh wait, I forgot, you're the most impatient person alive."
Bakura punched him in the shoulder. "Shut up," he said.
Just then, some random local shouted at them in horribly spoken English, "Speak Eng'ish ya fuckin' for'ners!"
"I'll start when you do!" Bakura retorted angrily in proper English, startling the local somewhat. Bakura watched him scurry off with an almost nervous expression on his face, and Bakura found himself trying to resist the urge to burst into laughter. However, he gave in when Marik did exactly what he was trying not to do. Marik was laughing so hard that he actually had to grab onto Bakura's shoulder for support. "I-I can't br-breath!" the Egyptian said between laughter, "D-did you see the look on that guys f-face? Priceless!"
The two young adults stumbled their way through the streets, laughing loudly and causing other people to laugh as well. Eventually they made it back to the hotel, trying to stifle their laughs in the quiet lobby but not quite succeeding, as they still had a few outbursts here and there, much to the amusement of the guests and staff alike.
When they finally did make it back to their hotel room, Bakura laid down on the bed and announced, "I am not moving from this spot for the rest of the night."
Marik laughed. "All right lazy bones," he said right before he heard his stomach growl softly. "I'm gonna go get something to eat, you stay here and be lazy," he joked as he started walking towards the door.
Now Bakura wished he hadn't proclaimed he was going to just sit there all night, because he didn't really want Marik to leave his sight… Damn protectiveness. He fought the urge he had to stand up and say that he would go with Marik to get food and instead said, "Don't get killed!" just as Marik closed the door behind him. Bakura sighed at the emptiness in the room… just a glimpse of what his life will be like when Marik leaves after the Wish is made…
He didn't like it. He didn't like it one bit.
He needed something to distract himself from this, loneliness he felt. Damn, how the hell was he going to live when this loneliness lasted forever if he couldn't even handle a few seconds? He sat up on the bed, eyeing the TV. Usually it didn't do much good for him, but it might be just the ticket he needed this time… He stood up to grab the remote, but then remembered that little drawing journal Marik had…
He went to Marik's closet and started searching through it, finding it under his luggage. Not in it, under it. Wow, paranoid much? Well, evidently it wasn't enough since Bakura found it anyways.
Bakura flopped down on the bed and started flipping through his love interest's journal, smiling whenever he saw a picture of himself, knowing that Marik drew that…
Just that thought alone made him so happy.
Scritch scratch scritch scratch… rub rub rub.
Bakura let out a growl while his eye twitched at a picture he was trying to draw. It wasn't turning out so well… One arm was way smaller than the other, and one foot looked more like a tentacle… He erased the tentacle foot first because it was starting to creep him out.
Suddenly the door opened and closed, signaling Marik's return to their hotel room. Bakura looked up from the bed he was laying on and waved his hand once, "Hey, what'd you eat?"
Marik smiled. "American specialty - a hamburger."
"Huh, was it any better than a Japanese hamburger?"
Marik shrugged. "Not really."
Bakura chuckled and went back to erasing his drawing. Marik's eyes widened at the sight. "Is that my drawing journal?-?" he asked, his voice bordering on hysterical.
"Yup," Bakura responded carelessly right before it was taken from him, "Hey! I was using that!"
"Who said you could!" Marik responded angrily, holding his book up to his chest, "You can't just draw in this without asking first!"
Bakura raised an eyebrow and smirked. "You're acting like a teenage girl protecting her diary."
Marik clenched his teeth. "I am not a girl, and this. Is. Not. A. Diary! It is much better than those useless things!"
"You're going to have to explain that one to me," as Bakura propped his elbow up to rest his head in his hand.
"They say a picture says a thousand words right? Well, since I have at least thirty pictures in here, that's thirty-thousand words, which is probably way more than any diary."
"… So, you're basically saying it's like a teenage girl who draws in her diary rather than writing in it?"
"Bakura," Marik said threateningly.
"So tell me," Bakura asked, his smirk widening, "what are some of the words the picture you drew of me say?"
Marik's eye started to twitch as a very faint pink blush came to his face. "You just can't let that go can you?"
"No, not really."
"Just don't draw in here without permission!" Marik yelled at him - completely avoiding his friend's question.
Bakura pouted, "All right, geez. I wasn't doing that good anyway."
Marik raised an eyebrow and looked at drawing Bakura was erasing. His eyes widened again and his mouth started twitching into a smile. He burst into laughter, laughing so hard that his face turned red. "Wh-what is this supposed to be? An a-alien?" he punctuated his question with more loud laughter.
Bakura's eye started to twitch. "I was just trying to draw a person!"
"Just say it's an alien to save your dignity 'Kura."
Bakura growled. "I'm sorry we're not all master artists like you Marik."
Marik threw the book back at him. "I-I'm sorry, keep drawing. I'll need a good laugh now and then!"
"I hate you right now Marik…" Bakura said as his eye started twitching, "this is the first time I've tried to draw anything."
"You've never drawn anything before?" Marik asked incredulously.
"Well… Not on paper, and not with a pencil…"
"… Oh, then that wasn't that bad."
" 'Oh, then that wasn't that bad,' " Bakura mocked as he started erasing his drawing again. Marik watched him for a little while before taking the 'writer's table' chair out and turning it towards the TV. He sat on it, making it teeter towards the back wall because he didn't like sitting in straight-back chairs, and turned on the TV. Soon the hotel room was filled with the loud buzz of television, but it never stayed too long on any one channel since Marik flipped through the channels hurriedly, not really wanting to watch anything but not knowing what else to do since his journal was now being used by Bakura. Eventually, Marik turned the TV off after watching a show about who-knew-what (it had this weirdly-drawn cat and an equally weird pink bunny and some… orange fish? It was that kind of show that made him appreciate Japanese art and cartoons more…). He looked over at Bakura, who was still trying to draw a person. "You know," Marik said, "since you're a beginner it would help if you had a model to draw."
Bakura looked at him with a disinterested look in his eye and raised his eyebrow slightly. "Do you want to be my model?"
Marik blushed; this was really not helping his earlier thoughts… "I didn't mean draw me, I meant draw the chair or something…"
"But what I want to draw is a person, and since you're the only person in this room and there is now way I am going door to door to ask someone to be my model, would you please…?" Bakura didn't finish his question.
Marik scratched the back of his neck and sighed. "I guess then…"
"Besides," Bakura said, trading his disinterested look for his more usual smirk, "you've drawn me once - so it's only fair that I should draw you."
Marik glared at his friend. "If you draw me, you can't bring that up anymore."
"Whatever, it's not a big loss," he laughed, "I have so many other things to torture you with anyway!"
Marik's eye started twitching, but since he would really like it if Bakura would stop bringing up that stupid drawing, he asked, "Where would you like me to stand?" through gritted teeth.
Bakura pointed at the 'writer's table.' "Sit over there and rest your elbow on the table with your head in your hand, then look into space like you actually have a thought in your head."
Marik's eye started twitching, why did Bakura like to torment him so much? Of course he realized that Bakura's torment was nothing compared to his own mind when his inner self answered with, "You know they say that a person teases you because they like you and don't know how to express themselves?" So with his eye twitching and him trying (and slightly failing) to conceal a blush rising to his face because of something Bakura said yet again, he stood up, put the chair back where it was before, and sat in the position Bakura described. Marik hardly looked happy though, if the sour, angry look on his face was any indication. "Smile," Bakura mockingly sang, earning a glare which received a chuckle. Then he got to work trying to draw.
Bakura threw the journal on the ground. "I give up!" he declared, "There is just no way that I can draw anything even remotely good!"
Marik stood up and picked up his journal, dusting it off and telling himself that he'd hurt 'Kura for any possible damage to his property later. He looked at the drawing. It wasn't that bad, it was obvious it was drawn by someone inexperienced, and the person looked a little fake, but it wasn't that bad. He told his friend this: "You know, it's not that bad, you just need practice."
"No, it's terrible," Bakura said, laying on the bed on his stomach and burying his mouth into his arms so that only the top of his nose, eyes, and hair were visible. He was obviously sulking. "Compared to yours…" he muttered under his breath, but to Marik it just sounded like more grumbling and he rolled his eyes. He got on the bed next to 'Kura and the journal page in front of him. "Come on, try again. I'll help you. What do you want to improve first?"
"Everything."
Marik closed his eyes and sighed. "Let's start with the head then…" he said, handing him the pencil he had thrown to the side of him. Marik couldn't help but chuckle a little bit - he felt like he was dealing with a five-year-old who was having a temper tantrum. Marik turned to a fresh page and told him to start drawing a head. Bakura glared at the paper and pencil like it did him some sort of wrong before taking the pencil from Marik and starting to draw. A few seconds into it, Marik could see what the problem was. "It's hard to draw a chin right away, you need to draw a circle first."
"But no one's heads are round," Bakura protested, obviously still mad that he couldn't draw.
"The circle's just the base -"
"That doesn't make any sense!" Bakura complained.
Marik sighed and took the pencil from him. "Here, I'll show you." He drew a base for the head, consisting of a circle, and then a line leading from the bottom of the circle to a little ways down. He made a sort of triangle from the tip of that line to the sides of the circle. "See? That's the chin, you erase the extra lines later."
"Drawing is so complicated…"
Marik laughed. "You think that's complicated? You should wait till you start drawing different expressions, or a different kind of chin."
"… Whatever," he said before copying Marik's base. Of course, somewhere in-between that, he realized just how close he and Marik were when their arms brushed against each other. And what's worse, he noticed with annoyance that his heart started speeding up. Oh you have got to be freaking kidding me. Seriously? Seriously?-! He's just teaching me how to draw! Stupid heart… But no matter what he scolded himself about, it didn't change the fact that they were close, and that he could feel the warmth emanating from his companion and that he could feel heat creeping up the back of his neck and that his stupid heart just seemed to want to race and that he smelled nice like lavender… Did I seriously just think that? Of course it did make him wonder if Marik wore cologne… or perfume for that matter.
In any case, by the time Bakura was done drawing the base, he was an emotional wreck, and the worst part was that you'd think Marik would have noticed right? Especially after all of his thoughts during the day, but he didn't because he was so focused on how Bakura was drawing that he didn't notice the actual person drawing. "Okay, not bad," Marik said, making Bakura think of about a million things he could retort to express that everything was 'bad,' and not just his drawing. "Let's work on the eyes next, how do you draw them?"
"There's not a base?" Bakura asked acidly, already in a bad mood with his stupid emotions. Of course, Marik just thought he was still pouting so he said, "Not really."
Bakura started drawing the eyes the way he knew - a circle. Marik quickly corrected him. "Human eyes aren't actually a circle -"
"Maybe I'm not drawing a human," Bakura said low and menacing, "maybe I'm drawing a demon."
Marik rolled his eyes. "Here, like this," he said before demonstrating. Only this time, instead of taking the pencil from Bakura's hand, he moved his arm over Bakura's back and put his hand on top of his, entwining their two arms, then he started guiding his hand.
Ooooh, if Bakura had been an emotional wreck before, you should have seen him then.
His face flooded with color, but not just because their hands were touching, it was also thanks to the fact that Marik was even closer and was now pressed up against him since he wanted to be in a better position for drawing, and now his face was very distracting. Or more precisely, his lips were veeeery distracting right about then. They were so close… Damn it damn it damn it! Why must this happen to him now? Why! His heart sped up even more so, and he was surprised that Marik didn't notice the drastic change that had occurred in his friend in the past few seconds. But he was concentrating on guiding Bakura's hand to teach him how to draw some stupid eye that Bakura wasn't even paying attention to - so the lesson was kind of useless. What Bakura was paying attention to, however, was the thoughts of what would happen if he just… kissed Marik right now? I mean… he seemed to enjoy the past ones somewhat, right? Before he could delve deeper into this thought though, Marik had finished with his eye-lesson and looked at Bakura, who had already been staring at him. Marik gave a bewildered look at Bakura's red face, and opened his mouth to ask what was wrong, but at that point Bakura's common sense exploded with emotion. He leaned in and claimed that parted mouth in his own, taking Marik - and himself - completely by surprise. But neither pulled back, they were too shocked to do that.
Now this is where things get complicated.
You must understand that Bakura is a very, very, very old spirit, and even though he might have read one or two romance novels or seen one or two romantic movies, he had no idea what "French kissing" was, and so none of that occurred. But it was still passionate in the general feeling of the kiss. It wasn't degraded into a 'sexually pleasing' kiss, it was more of an 'emotionally pleasing' kiss, a loving kiss, a caring kiss, which is what Bakura had always associated kisses with anyway - love and care, a way to tell someone, "I love you" without actually saying it. Nothing more, nothing less.
Marik, though he had rarely kissed anyone, sensed that, but only a little later. When he first felt Bakura's lips against his own, he didn't understand what was happening. It wasn't until a few moments later did he realize that holy crap Bakura was kissing him! His reaction was almost immediate, his heart fluttered, heat started rising to his face, but what surprised him - and Bakura - the most, was that after blinking in shock a few times, it seemed that his emotion or something inside him exploded as well. His eyelids started to droop until they closed completely and then he kissed him back. No longer were his lips shocked into stillness, now they pressed back into Bakura's, showing that maybe, just maybe he liked the kiss, or who was giving it, just as much as the other, and it was then that he sensed the love and care, the unspoken "I love you" that Marik felt like giving back to him.
Eventually, they had to break apart. Or more exactly, Marik needed to breathe. When they pulled apart, both vampire and human were panting. Though they hadn't "French kissed" they still hadn't been able to breathe, not wanting to take their lips away from the others, and even though Bakura didn't even have to breathe, it showed just how deep their kiss had gone without tongue.
As they both tried to calm their speeding heart rates, they stared at each other, admiring the other's, dare they think it, cute blush. And just as the brilliant idea came to Bakura that he should lean in and kiss him again, reality and common sense came crashing back to him, hitting him in the head like a grand piano on an American cartoon character.
He had just kissed Marik, and more importantly, Marik had kissed him back!
Bakura's face lit up like a Christmas tree, and he immediately looked away from Marik's face, not being able to look at him anymore. He started stammering, not able to finish one complete thought. "I-I'm sorry, I don't… I just… I couldn't…!" But what he meant to say was, "I-I'm sorry, I don't know what came over me… I just wanted to kiss you so badly… I couldn't take it anymore!" But he just couldn't. After he got tired of stammering his incomplete thoughts, he let out a sound of frustration and rolled off the bed and ran out of the hotel room, letting the heavy hotel door close after itself. Marik stared after him, blinking only every once in a while. His face was just as red as Bakura's, and his heart was racing probably even more, and he couldn't stop his hand from reaching up and feeling his lips. He could still feel Bakura there, still imagine the kiss… His face enflamed even more and he buried his face in his arms. Was it so wrong of him to wish Bakura would come back in and kiss him again?
And why did he leave anyway? Did he… not like the kiss as much as he thought? Or… as much as he had?
And why did he enjoy that so much anyway? They were just friends… weren't they? Of course this did make them seem like more of a couple… was that what they were…?
Marik wasn't so sure where their relationship stood now, and he wasn't so sure if he would like the answer or not.
Bakura walked down the street cursing loudly in every language that he knew, pulling on his hair, closing his eyes tight, and sometimes even just screaming his frustration out to the world. One time he even started kicking a stoplight pole near the sidewalk he was so mad at himself.
What the hell was wrong with him?-! He might as well have just told Marik, "I love you."
Of course, he did kiss me back… maybe…?
Bakura stopped his train of thought right there, grinding his teeth and clenching his hands into fists. No, he was not going to get his hopes up… Maybe Marik did love him, maybe he just liked the kiss, maybe he was just a confused, jumbled up mess and didn't know what he was doing… he couldn't get his hopes up, he couldn't…
And yet, that was exactly what he found himself doing. After all, you'd have to be pretty messed up to kiss someone back if you didn't like them at least a little bit, right…?
Bakura screamed in anguish again, and, finding himself near a patch of trees, started kicking at the base of one. However, after a few times he heard a resounding crack! and the tree he had been kicking fell over. Bakura stared at it. Damn, I must be mad… he thought to himself before turning around and walking away from the tree, not wanting to get blamed for it.
However, before he could take two steps, he heard something horrible. Something that caused his ears to hurt something terrible; a high-pitched sound that seemed intent on making his ears bleed.
Keith's Vampire Whistle.
Must… hide… Bakura managed to think through the pain as he put his hands up to desperately try and cover up his ears and block the god-awful sound. Usually he would stay and fight if challenged, but Keith was fighting dirty and using something that made it difficult for him to move, to even think, so all he could do was hide and not make a sound. He walked as quietly as he could to a nearby bush, but he could have been stomping around for all he could hear other than the painful, piercing sound of that glorified dog whistle… (1)
Eventually it stopped, and Bakura was very grateful and had to stop himself from letting out a relieved sound.
Although as it turns out, he shouldn't have been relieved.
Soon the sound returned tenfold, and since he hadn't been expecting it he let out a pained sound. He felt fear settle in his stomach as the sound stopped immediately after he had said something, and he stood stock still, not daring to move a muscle lest he be discovered.
Unfortunately, tonight was not his night.
Keith found him, and once he did he said, "Got'cha!" really loudly before sticking something in his neck. Bakura let out another pained sound before his vision started to blur and his body went numb all over. He saw the ground turn sideways beneath his vision, the only indication that he had fallen. He heard echoes of cruel laughter in the back of his head as black seeped over his eyes, sealing his fate…
(1): Lady Sunami is responsible for the term, "glorified dog whistle." ;) I thought it was funny and wanted to include it…
Yep… I think I'll stop there! =D Ain't I nice? ^^ Please vote on the new poll I have on my profile~!
Also, the part where Bakura feeds Marik a cherry wasn't entirely my idea; that actually happened between me and one of my friends. She was eating a maraschino cherry and said, "These are my favorite kinds," and I wanted to try one so I opened my mouth and she fed me one. While I was chewing it I chuckled and said, "You fed me a cherry," and she got sooooo mad at me XD Mainly because now she had one less but… Anyways! She told me I should put it in here, and also add chocolate covered strawberries… so I did! Because I loved the idea XD My friend is called kitty-kura-vampire on here, if you wanna look her up. She said she'd review though, just so she could say, "YES! I AM THE FRIEND ANNZY IS TALKING ABOUT!-!" so… yeah… XD
Also! It is almost anime-on-replay's birthday! So I want you all to spam her inbox with happy birthday wishes on the 26th of this month, even if you don't know who she is (say Annzy sent you (; )… and if you don't know who she is then you should check her out! Because she is awesome and fun to talk to!