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What happened last time

Isis lowered her gaze in defeat. She knew she had to do it…

Back to the story

She knew she had to do it… Damn that sly Thief. "Fine…" muttered Isis. "Give me tree weeks to prepare."

"Tree days Priestess, I'm in a hurry."

"Two weeks," she tried.

"One week and nothing more," said Bakura while glaring her down.

She narrowed her eyes, but nodded. "Fine."

Bakura backed off and left the room.

Meanwhile…

Malik sobbed silently in Rishid's chest while the man was holding him in his arms.

"Master Malik, it's okay…" Rishid whispered to the boy.

"No it's not okay," Malik wailed. "He saw me with him! He'll never want me back!"

"Well…" Rishid looked unsure at Malik. "You shouldn't have cheated on him…"

Malik continued to sob in Rishid's chest, when the door slowly opened. Isis silently walked into the room.

"How did it go," asked Rishid softly.

Isis sighed. "I have to duel him in one week. He wants my Necklace."

Malik froze. "W-who?" he asked shakily.

"The Spirit of the Ring."

Malik sniffed, but somehow seemed a bit relieved. "You're Necklace, eh? You'll beat him, Isis. I'm here standing behind you."

Isis nodded. "Thank you, Malik. I don't know what I'd do without you."

She left the room and started preparing for the duel with Bakura.

On school

Throughout the week Joey had been avoiding Malik most off the time and after a while Malik gave up on trying to talk to the blond. He'd gotten the message from the pup and he wasn't some clingy bitch who'd beg to stay with someone.

But the rumours on school did reach everyone's ears. First there were these strange disappearances of Kaiba and Wheeler. When they came back, they didn't say a word about their disappearance and pretended like it had never even happened. And now those same two people - Kaiba and Wheeler - were constantly together, while they used to be arch enemies and were always as far away from each other as possible. Then there was this strange look-alike from Yugi, named Yami. And then there was ANOTHER disappearance, Marik Ishtaru. The last one hasn't come back since he suddenly vanished…

So anyway, during breaks our favourite friends sit separated in three groups. First, there was Yugi and Yami and their loyal group. Coming second, was Malik the loner, who still was not actually part of the friendship-cult. His yami, Marik won't count, because he hasn't been coming to school anymore. And last, the newest duo that had been formed, Wheeler and Kaiba.

The bell rang and Yami and Yugi and their friends walked to the cafeteria with Malik slacking behind them. They picked a table to sit around and started chatting, while Malik picked a book out of his back, tuned out everyone and started studying.

Joey followed Seto as the brunet picked out a table for the both of them. They sat down and ate their lunch in silence.

That was until Joey broke the silence. "Eh Kaiba, how's Mokuba doing?"

Seto sighed, but that was barely visible. "He's doing pretty well. He can take care of himself. Although, he's still afraid that every time I go to school, I might be away for good." He lifted his cup of coffee and took a sip.

"Mmm…" Joey mused. "Poor kid."

"So Wheeler," asked Seto casually. "How are you now?"

Joey's face faltered. Every time that Kaiba asked this question, it was about THAT night. "I'm okay, Kaiba," he said, trying to brush the brunet off.

But Kaiba isn't brushed off that easily. "You still think about it. Don't lie to me." Kaiba wore an expressionless mask.

Joey sighed. "Look Kaiba. This whole week… You were great to me. You showed me that you weren't the bastard that I always thought you were." A faint smile crept up Joey's face. "Really, once you put away that icy mask of yours, you can be the nicest person in the world."

Seto snorted. "Don't pull that bullshit on me. I'm still an icy bastard."

Joey grinned. "Yeah, keep telling yourself that, Kaiba. But…" Joey stopped for a moment before continuing. "I have to thank you for being there for me this whole week, but it's really over now."

Seto looked at him. "Really…?"

Joey nodded. "Really, I'm over it. I know people have to talk about their feelings instead of bottling it up, but the past needs to rest too, Kaiba."

Seto wasn't too sure about it. But he let Joey have his way. "If you're certain about it…"

"You're the one who keeps annoying me with it, Kaiba," the blond said while giving Kaiba a cheeky grin.

Seto chuckled lightly. "Whatever, pup."

Joey snorted indignantly "I'm not a dog , Kaiba." He smiled inwardly. 'I would have never known before but… Kaiba and I, we're acting like friends…'

"So Joey," Kaiba started. "how 'bout I find a nice person for you to date?"

Joey instantly snapped out of his thoughts. "Shut up, moneybags!" he yelled his cheeks a faint red.

Seto smirked. "Just to get your thoughts off of things."

Joey mumbled a few unmentionable things under his breath, feeling quite embarrassed. Until his mind lit up with an idea. An idea to pay Kaiba back for all these moments that the brunet had embarrassed him. He leaned over the table to pick up Seto's coffee.

Seto looked at Joey in surprise, wondering what the pup was planning to do.

"Kaiba…," Joey started and brought the cup off coffee to his lips. He took a little sip, before he continued. "how 'bout you take me out once for a date?"

Kaiba's jaw dropped.

The night before the duel starts, Bakura's household

Bakura sat on his bed and looked his cards over one more time, trying to think of something to improve his already perfect strategy.

Ryou knocked on the door and hesitantly opened it just a bit.

Bakura looked up. "You can come in, Ryou-kun."

Ryou opened the door wide. "I came to tell you that dinner is ready B-chan."

"I'm not hun-" Bakura's eyes went impossibly wide. "B-WHAT!" he practically screeched through the house.

"B-chan," Ryou repeated. He walked up to Bakura and bent himself over . "Or maybe Baku-chan suits you better," he purred into Bakura's right ear. He gave Bakura a little kiss on the cheek before walking off again, not even waiting to see Bakura's reaction.

(A/N: God, I think I made Ryou more dominant than Bakura!)

Bakura's reaction? His face went an interesting shade off- (Gets smacked by B-chan. Bakura: "Don't you dare say anything!")

At the hotel

It was now late at night and everyone from the family Ishtar was sound asleep. Though… two members of the Ishtar family were turning and tossing.

One was Malik. He turned and turned in his sleep. Flashes of what happened between Marik, Joey and him came and went. With a thump he woke up. Chills went up his spine when suddenly a voice whispered inside his head.

'This will be the last time you've ever hurt me, Malik…'

The second one was Isis, turning and tossing in her sleep. Her Necklace was once again glowing.

FLASHBACK

"Goodbye Malik," said Marik softly. "This will be the last time you ever see me again…" He closed his eyes and a trickle of water slipped down his cheek. Were they… tears? A smirk made itself on his face and he gave an empty laugh.

END FLASHBACK

FLASH FORWARD

Marik summoned the Shadow Realm and a Shadow Game started. He duelled against someone unknown, the person was standing in the dark shadows of the Shadow Realm mist flowing around him.

Marik… He was losing the duel. Each time that he was losing points, his body starting fading away with them. Fading and fading and fading…

(A/N: This fading is like what happened to Bakura in Battle City during his duel with Marik, with Malik on B-chan's side.)

END FLASH FORWARD

Isis woke up in cold sweat, her breathing labour.

The next day

Isis walked through the park. Although it hadn't been said that they would meet at the park, she knew this was the place. Call it intuition.

There stood Bakura leaning against a tree waiting for her. Malik's favourite place had turned into hell. Isis walked up to Bakura.

"So we meet again."

"Let the Shadow Game begin…"

STAY TUNED…