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What happened last time

"So we meet again."

"Let the Shadow Game begin…"

Back to the story

"Let the Shadow Game begin…"

Both Isis and Bakura drawled their cards. Bakura's Millennium Ring started to glow. He was about to summon the Shadow Realm…

When a familiar voice interrupted their duel. "B-chan stop!"

Ryou. Of course it was that annoying childish too-cute kid, Ryou. Bakura rolled his eyes and turned around to face his hikari. He glared angrily at the kid. Have the Gods left his side? Probably. "Do NOT call me B-chan!"

"B-chan, you're giving me the Ring back now," said Ryou and he stretched his arm out to the Thief.

"I repeat: 'Do NOT call me B-chan!'"

"But you didn't like Baku-chan," Ryou shot back

Isis stared at the scene before her in bewilderment. What the f- err… I mean, what in Ra and Osiris' name was going on here? B-chan? She stared as Bakura and Ryou, quarrelling with each other.

"B-chan, B-chan, B-CHAN!" Ryou yelled straight into Bakura's face.

"ARGH! Shut up! Ryou!"Bakura covered his ears with his hands to block out the constant 'B-chan' torture.

"No! I won't shut up! And you lied to me too! Yami's are not like animals, Yugi said so to me!"

Bakura tensed. Yugi, of course… who else. "Yugi! You believe YUGI instead of me. YOUR OWN YAMI."

"YES, I BELIEVE YUGI. B-CHAN!" Ryou stuck his tongue out at his yami.

Bakura twitched. "Say that again and I'll… I'll…"

Ryou cocked his eyebrow challenging Bakura. "You'll what…? Snow Bunny."

"ALRIGHT, THAT'S IT!" Bakura exploded. He lunged at Ryou, who stepped aside, letting his yami fall face flat on the ground. 'Gods,' thought Bakura. 'So embarrassing. And in front of the Priestess no less.' He still hadn't forgotten about her.

"And B-chan, you're coming to school with me," said Ryou in a final tone.

Bakura snorted, still on the ground. "No."

"I'll make you eat vegetables for a week. Snow Bunny."

Bakura gulped visibly. "Y-you wouldn't."

"Fine then, tonight will be tofu with-"

"Alright alright," Bakura quickly got up. "I'll go to school with you."

"And I want the Ring back."

Bakura hesitated for a moment. His Ring…? That meant that he had no control over the Shad-

"Tomatoes and-"

"Fine fine, here's the Ring." Bakura quickly shoved the Ring into Ryou's hands. 'Damn,' he thought. 'How can a cute and stupid hikari like Ryou be so awfully evil?'

Ryou put the Ring around his neck and turned to Isis. "B-chan can play Duel Monsters with you next week."

Isis only nodded, still not believing what she was seeing. The great King of Thieves controlled by the innocent sweet teenager Ryou Bakura?

Ryou took Bakura by his arm and dragged him away to school.

Then it sunk in to Isis.

"YES!" she yelled at the top of her lungs - awfully uncharacteristic for Isis, I know - and jumped into the sky, her left fist thrown in the air.

Ryou bought her a whole week!

On school

On school everyone's jaw dropped. Now Ryou had a look-alike too, just like Yugi. Ryou dragged Bakura through the halls, on their way passing Joey and Seto.

Joey's eyes popped out. Seto looked surprised at Bakura, but quickly fingered out what happened. He looked to his side and saw Joey pointing stupidly at Bakura's retreating back, mouth opening and closing and opening and closing and opening… Seto rolled his eyes and his fist connected with Joey's chin, making Joey shut his mouth for good.

Bakura and Ryou reached their classroom. More eyes popped out of their heads. Yugi and his friendship-cult all yelled: "OH NO, IT'S THE SPIRIT OF THE RING!"

Malik rolled his eyes. "Whatever," he muttered and kept on sulking, something he had been doing for the last week, ever since that night.

The rest of the class looked at Yugi and friends like they were aliens. They all blushed when they noticed and started to wish they were invisible. Much like when they found out that Marik Ishtaru was attending to their school.

The whole week was a torture Bakura week. Yugi's friends would throw papers and pencils to him, and without the Ring and Ryou around (who was always busy with stupid things like that damn art-project), Bakura was quite helpless. Ryou would constantly call him names like B-chan and Snow Bunny, driving him crazy. Thank Ra, had Ryou dropped Baku-chan.

On the bright side, he made an agreement with Ryou. In the duel with Isis, he would get his Ring back.

Today it was raining. Bakura went outside, so that he would be left alone by Yugi's torturous friends. And especially Yami. He bet the pharaoh was trying to kill him. He walked over to the friendship-cult's favourite spot outside, under the tree. He had sat on the tree once, spying on Malik. And then Ishtaru came over and dragged his hikari away. That hadn't been too long ago.

FLASHBACK

"You're the pharaoh," stated Malik.

Everyone looked at Malik, their jaws dropped to the ground. They quickly turned their heads towards Yami, ignoring the Tomb Keeper. "You're the pharaoh Isis is always talking about?"

Yami sweat dropped, but he did like all the attention. "Yeah, I was locked up in Yugi's Puzzle, but it was Isis who showed me how I could free myself."

Another pair of questions were fired towards Yami, until Marik stomped towards the group. The whole group jumped up turning their attention towards Marik. Marik began to speak. "Bitch, come here."

END FLASHBACK

Bakura grinned to himself. That had been quite funny. He looked up and something caught his eyes. Purple…

Bakura climbed into the tree almost slipping due to the rain. "Ishtaru…" He sat down on the branch next to Marik

Marik turned to look at him. "Bakura Ryou," he said, acknowledging his presence.

"Where have you been all the time," asked Bakura. "What have you been doing?"

Marik shrugged "I've been about everywhere, trying to improve my strategies for an upcoming duel."

Bakura nodded. "Just like myself…" he mumbled quietly, more to himself then to Marik.

Marik probably hadn't heard him, he was staring off in space again, his eyes empty, just like his life had become.

"Who're you going to duel, Ishtaru?"

"The pharaoh," was the short answer.

Bakura looked at Marik as if he were a pink flying pig. "You? Duel the pharaoh? He's got three God Cards. There's no way you'll ever beat him."

Marik shrugged again. "It's not important if I win or not."

Bakura stared a Marik in bewilderment. "WHAT."

Marik turned back to look Bakura in the eyes. "I came back to Domino City for revenge…"

"What about your hikari?" Bakura demanded.

Marik closed his eyes and slowly shook his head. "He doesn't want me near him…"

Bakura exploded. He reached out and smacked Marik across his face, forcing Marik to look at the side. He then backhanded Marik and the crazy Egyptian looked back straight into his eyes. "Do you give up just like that," hissed Bakura. He had held some respect for the Egyptian, but now…?

Marik's eyes became foggy. Bakura just stared, not sure what Ishtaru was about to do. Tears slipped out of Marik's eyes. And Bakura just stared. Was Marik crying in front of his face?

Marik didn't bother to wipe his tears away. "He said he hates me…" he whispered. He lowered his head into the crook of Bakura's neck and cried silently. Bakura let him cry.

'He's been broken by his own hikari… Do hikari's have that great powers? Are they so strong that they can break their yami?'

"Marik…" Bakura whispered. "Pull through. You'll win in the end."

The day of Bakura's duel, three days until Yami and Bakura's bet end

"Now, let the duel begin." Bakura didn't bother to make it a Shadow Game. He didn't have the time.

They drew their cards…

THANK YOU FOR READING. PLEASE, STAY TUNED…