I'm so effing sorry this has taken so long! I've fallen into a writing slump, it feels like. Either that, or my inspiration ran dry. Hopefully it'll come back soon.

Oh, and I'm probably going to go blind, too. And I need "major surgery". And I'm getting depressed again. And I had a mid-life crisis.

This has been such a fun year so far.

BUT ZOMFG, 19TH BIRTHDAY'S IN THREE MONTHS, I JUST RECENTLY GOT HOME FROM ANIME MATSURI LAST WEEK, MY GRANDFATHER AND AUNT ARE DYING, AND I CAN'T SEEM TO GET MY BRAIN TO WORK PROPERLY, WHOO! -throws confetti-

I know it's really lame, but Kaine, an internet friend of mine, and I made some really stupid videos before, during, and after Anime Matsuri. Maybe you'll laugh and kinda forgive me for being such a bad authoress...? I'm the holder of the camera, and I'm never in the videos! xD I'm in a few of the pictures, though... I made a really lame Kyou, and Kaine made a kick-ass Seto Kaiba and Pyramid Head. Next anime con, if I can get the costume in time, I'm going to go as trench-coat-donned Yami Bakura. Kukuku...

Oh, right. The video. Here. 8D (Take out the spaces. There's also an equals sign in-between the v and the JM. Man this website is getting annoying when it comes to what you can and can't post in chapters...)

http://you tube . com/ watch? v JMkzSmdz5wo

(In case you care, I'm the moron in the green wig in the first picture when the slideshow actually starts up.)

-coughs- Er... yeah. Hope the chapter is at least decent.

.: Chapter nineteen - Conflict of Interest :.

Truly, it was amazing what the imagination could do. Because certainly, certainly she had not heard the sound that was akin to someone being electrocuted. And certainly she had run into the wrong room on accident and was not seeing things correctly. Certainly her brother, his friends, and the three criminals had not just disappeared. Staring with wide blue eyes, Isis remained still, horrified and confused. No, this was Malik's room. This had always been his room, ever since they had moved from Egypt. This had been the room that she had seen the boy crying in earlier. This had been where her heart had broken watching him like that.

And now it was completely empty.

In fact, the entire apartment sounded empty – there was no other noises, save for her pounding heart and panting breaths. "Malik?" she asked, voice not but a whisper. "Yuugi?" he asked, her words raising in volume and pitch. "Ryou?"

She got no answer.

Frantically, she ran into the messy room, lifting up the covers to her younger brother's bed. Then she moved to grab a sock that had been thrown onto the floor, picking it up and staring frantically down at the spot underneath it. Hey, it wasn't really so farfetched, right? Plenty of things had gone missing in this room and they always ended up buried under something! So she just had to... had to keep looking! It was completely realistic that six people and a cat could get lost in this pig-sty!

Breathing now escalated to a line just under hyperventilation, the black-haired woman began, literally, tearing the room apart. But after fruitlessly searching, she finally give in to the realization that, no matter how many boxers and old shirts and pants she looked under, she would not find them here. Refusing to give up, however, Isis ran to check the other rooms in the small apartment.

After all, it wasn't as if they had just vanished into thin air.

Right?

---

As Otogi reached for the microphone to share his plan with the workers, there was an almost tangible mist of horrified silence that clouded the room, preventing coherent thought from being formed. No one, however, said Mariku's thoughts were ever coherent to begin with. He growled, his fangs bared and his shoulders locked in a position that spoke nothing but offensive and territorial language. "Mine!" he barked, startling Yami enough to jerk out of his trance and look to the blonde, and leapt forward, smashing into the ebony-haired man and knocking him completely off of his char. The thing that the short prince thought was the most satisfying was the loud crack! that was heard when Otogi's head hit the control panel as he collapsed under Mariku's sudden weight. The said Althasian wasted no time whatsoever in bounding off of the head scientist and out of the room entirely.

Yami shook his head, clearing it of the rather mutinous thoughts he was getting for his higher-up and turned, seeing the master behind it all (or, at least, the original plan) try to follow after Mariku, though he was much slower due to his age. The red-eyed male then came back to the hear and now. Malik! He quickly leaned over the electronic panel with all of its flashing lights and many buttons, eyes trained on the scene below. The Egyptian human was slowly losing his fight against the workers while Yuugi was pulling as hard as he could on his friend's arm, trying to get him away from what must have been monsters to them, but this sight didn't last long. Almost immediately, a new flash of bronze and gold entered his vision and slammed into all of the men, causing them to fall over into the chamber. Shaking the small bits of broken glass from his hair, Mariku stood up and began running in the opposite direction, and it took Yami a moment to realize that the other didn't look bigger – he had Malik slung over his shoulder and was making his get-away. He was out of sight, now, and the tri-hair-colored prince was at the doorway in less than a second, looking out into the small hallway and curling his head, seeing Mariku barreling towards him. If he hadn't pulled his head back in as quickly as he had, he most likely wouldn't still have it. After the two went by, Yami stepped out into the thin walkway, watching their retreating backs and hearing Malik screaming what could only have been a long string of nothing but profanity.

"Ma... Mariku!" he shouted, his feet feeling like they were glued to the ground, keeping him from chasing them. "Where are you going?!"

But he got no answer, though there wasn't much time for one as the old man came up behind him, demanding that he move. Normally, the shorter man would take to the order quickly, though this time, he paused, feeling a lump forming in his throat. Mariku had just broken quite a few rules and guidelines, possibly even laws. Hell, he just became pretty much a rebel, making off with the "enemy". If he got caught...

Turning his head back, he looked at his chief in the eyes, his expression both determined and solemn. "Let them go," he uttered, his voice quiet but firm. "They're not going to do anything." Though, in the back of his mind, he wondered why the spiky-haired blonde felt such a strong, protective, possessive urge towards his look-alike. It was obvious Malik did not feel the same, so it wasn't mutual friendship. What then? He was almost acting as if–

The prince's eyes widened. Oh, Ethle-he. Did Mariku really...? With a human...! The knot in his throat grew larger, and it was hard for him to swallow around it.

"What do you mean? He just–" the older male began, his cold blue eyes flashing, reminding Yami very much of someone else. But his thoughts were rudely interrupted by the group of workers who had been toppled like dominoes. And the red-eyed Althasian got the feeling that they weren't yelling because they were happy.

"Let us by! We have to stop him!"

Yami had never been so thankful that this hallway was so small.

---

Sugoroku had felt that he had spent quite enough time sitting in the car, since he had thought that he had made it clear as crystal that Yuugi was to be back as soon as he was done explaining things. He let out an irritated grumble, eyes turning towards the stairs that lead to the upper apartments. He was rather surprised when he saw the woman who was the "mother" of the Ishtar family come practically sprinting down the steps, throwing her head from side to side as if she were looking desperately for something that had only recently gotten away.

That wasn't a very good sign.

Feeling both curious and anxious towards the answer he would gain from his question, the old man tentively gripped the handle of the door, pulling it open and stepping out. His daughter gave him an odd look, wondering what he could possibly be doing, checking to see if her son and his friend were in view. When she saw that one blonde boy's sister, she frowned, her mouth instantly dropping open, but the door was shut on her before she could even begin to voice what was on her mind.

The elderly shop owner approached Isis, who, once she saw him, temporarily ceased her frantic searching, though her fingers were wringing at her gown. "Mutou-san," she said quickly, stepping towards him. "Did you see anyone leave the building?" she asked, not even bothering to think too hard on why the man was here (since she was far too distracted to remember that Yuugi and Ryou had obviously not walked there with a cat in a box), her eyes pleading for his answer. The shorter of the two was somewhat taken aback by her words, and he could feel his aged heart weaken and his hair turn greyer at the implications.

"Where's Yuugi?" he asked, his voice coming out a lot calmer than he felt.

It was then that the Egyptian woman let out a sound that wasn't very human. "They're gone! They ran into Malik's room and now they're suddenly just... gone!" She wasn't lucky enough to sound even slightly composed.

Reaching out with an attempt at reassuring the woman, or, at least, gain her attention, Sugoroku glanced around, as if making sure that no one had bolted in the nearby area. "Please, calm down, Isis!" he said, thankful that her wide eyes turned down to meet his own. "They couldn't have just disappeared – they're around here somewhere." Then he paused, his frown intensifying. "Why did they run? And who was apart of 'they'?" It didn't make sense that Yuugi would run. His grandson not only knew better than to sneak away without telling anyone, but it also was against the boy's morals. He knew it would worry people, and so, he always left a note. He could have been chasing after Malik, though why the blonde would up and run was what the elder didn't understand –

"'They' are Malik, Yuugi, Ryou, and three other men!" ...At least, she thought they were men. One had run by so quickly she couldn't quite tell, but she knew for a fact that Mariku... Her heart skipped a beat out of both the memory of how he had flirted with her, but also with fury at what he must have done to hurt her brother so badly he started acting the way he had.

The grey-haired grandfather froze, eyes wide with what could be called fear. "What?" he asked, knowing that it couldn't be, but at the same time fearing that it was...

"They looked... like the boys!" It was so odd to say such a thing, but now that she thought about it, that was the best way she could describe them.

A single word fell from Sugoroku's lips, both unexpectedly vulgar and summing up the situation rather well.

"...Fuck."

---

"Yami, if you do not step aside–"

"Not until you've listened to what I have to say!"

Such a loud and demanding outburst from the short prince was something that was uncommon, for it only came about when something was nearing the edges of being truly angry. He was growing tired of this mindless bickering, and fast. The group grew silent. "You're the ones who caused all of this in the first place!" Instantly noting the look that the man before him donned, the red-eyed Althasian shifted, speaking as if only to him but at the same time to the others as well. "Don't try to tell me that you wouldn't be scared if you had no idea what was going on and were in a place with technology you don't understand!"

It was then that something seemed to dawn on the chief, his icy eyes widened somewhat. "You pity them?"

Yami's face seemed to soften but a shadow came over it nonetheless. "It's not pity," he replied firmly.

"Yami, they are not like us–"

"But they are!" the shorter of the two snapped, interrupting his superior. "I spent time with them, I held conversations with them! You've just watched them! How can you possibly tell me I'm wrong when you know less than I do?" It came out sounding as if it were something similar to an insult, but that was not how the prince had meant it at all, though right now he was far too worked up to think of apologizing. "Now you let me by!"

With quite a few shoves and more effort than should have been necessary, the spiky-haired male broke his way through the congestion, the five beings behind him remaining nearly silent, some unsure what to say and others not knowing what to do. Finally, it was the oldest who spoke up. "What are you doing?" he asked, his mind still repeating the words that had just been spoken so emotionally and strongly. There had never been a time before then that Yami had spoken in an ill manner towards him, and he was startled by the sudden change. Had it been because of those humans? Or was it something more?

"I'm going to tell them what's going on."

"...But you don't have a translator with you."

"..."

Obviously, this put somewhat of a damper on his initial plan, and Yami paused, his feet ceasing their movement, his lips pursed and his eyes showing his irritation. Turning back around, he once more forced his way between the bodies, grunting as he felt his ribs creaking, taking in air graciously once he was able to do the glorious task of breathing. Without another word, he turned into the door he had originally come out of, the others following behind him. Well, it was better than standing in the hallway, was it not? There were two men in suits who had no masks on, but were part of the medical staff, kneeling down around the head scientist. They had been there the entire time, standing in the background in case something happened – which it had. Yami gave Otogi no sympathy, even after the pathetic groan heard from the ebony-haired man as he tried to wake up fully from his the knock on his head. The prince, seeming as if he didn't even notice the other's predicament, bent over, asking in a voice that was far more bold than one would normally talk to someone who could easily punish them, "Where are the translators?"

The scientist winced, never once opening his eyes, the sound causing his head to throb horribly. "Please keep your voice down!" one of the medical workers said to him in a whisper. "He has a concussion!"

Yami refrained from immediately hissing, "Good," instead repeating his question, just as loudly as the first time, if not moreso purposely. He felt a rather strong and protectiveurge towards Yuugi and his friends, regardless of how they felt in return, and this man had so foolishly ordered one to be killed, leaving all of them in fear without an explanation. "Otogi, where are the translators?"

"Ah, they're over there!" the other said, his speech desperate and sounding somewhat like whining as he pointed across the room, his eyelids clamped shut tightly, his face furrowed in pain. When he received some relief from his pounding head, Yami was going to pay for acting out like this, and so was Mariku, but right now, the green-eyed man could hardly think at all without feeling as if someone was slamming a knife into his skull repeatedly. He was then lifted to his feet, his body, for the most part, limp, as the two beside him carefully walked him to where they could properly take care of him. Yami glared at their retreating backs, moving over to where he had been directed, opening the compartment and reaching in, sifting through a few things before winding his fingers around the device he desired.

"You have no right to disrespect him like that," came the serious voice from behind him. "He was doing his job and what he thought was right."

The prince turned his hard gaze to his boss, feeling a prick in the back of his mind, trying to tell him to protect his job. He was just beginning to find the words that he wished to speak, but the taller interrupted. "I don't like how you're acting, and you're going to hurt yourself if you don't control whatever it is making you like this."

There was a pause, before the red orbs dropped to stare at the floor, the lids closing over them in submission. "Yes sir," Yami replied, his voice much softer than before. What good would it do if he got himself thrown out? There was a voice in the back of his mind spitting at him and calling him a coward, but he did his best to ignore it. But was this truly going to better him in the longrun? Was this for the best? That thought alone sent a chill down his spine and he wasn't sure why, and so he lashed out by slapping that silly voice away. "Now if I may," the red-eyed male said and turned without waiting for an answer. Why was this situation happening the way it was? Was he the one acting as strange as they were saying, or was it the other way around? He had only been gone a few days, and yet he could tell things had changed drastically...

He had absently already slipped part of the translator into his ear, adjusting it so that it would stay in its place, now moving to fiddle with the piece at his neck just under his jaw, mind tracking back in a distracted manner, trying to remember what the language setting for the humans had been. Oh, well. He'd just have to figure that out, wouldn't he?

Again, a strange sensation rushed over him, like a tingle of his limbs falling asleep. He felt... numb. Detached. Why? Was it because his mind was trying to sort things out? Or was it a way of his body coping with the shock of so many things happening at once?

Without giving him much time to continue thinking through his condition, Yami found himself at the doorway to the decontamination room. His eyes washed over the scene quickly, seeing Ryou still sitting against one of the walls with his hands over his ears, eyes barely open. Yuugi seemed to be doing better, though he also looked highly agitated, but the prince could make out an undercurrent of fear and concern in the boy's eyes. He was scared, but he was trying to hide it. The teen who looked similar to himself... he held strength, despite his childish looks and innocent front. And the Althasian could only pray that his spirit would not be lost throughout everything that was and would happen to him.

"Yuugi," he spoke softly, almost as if he were trying to apologize for everything in that one simple word. Said male didn't even blink, continuing to give him a rather disappointed glare. But that wouldn't stop him, no, he would make things right. He owed it to all of them – for in the end, it would benefit everyone, even if some were too stubborn or ignorant to realize it.

Fingers twitching over the knob on his neck, he heard a slight crackling of static, and then tried to communicate. "I need to know when you can understand me."

Instead of receiving no reply at all or a 'now I can,' Yuugi blurted out a rather rude greeting. "What," he questioned flatly, enough so that it was hardly a question at all. Sure, the taller male had realized that he had hurt the other, broken his trust, but this hit harder and proved that he had done a lot more damage than he had first estimated.

Blinking his eyes shut and sighing, Yami shook his head, his hand dropping down to his side and shifting, unsure of how to fix things. Could he at all? "You need an explanation," he said, finally turning his blood-colored eyes back to the other's angry grey. "I should have told you a long time ago, but I can't go back and change things." He suddenly paused before adding, almost to himself, "Well, I could, but I wouldn't be able to come back."

Yuugi, who had been holding his stare, faltered slightly, and now started to wonder if they had landed themselves in a looney bin. That would certainly explain why Mariku was apart of their group. His heart was still pounding, his adrenaline flooding through his system as he thought of his missing friend. But he had no idea where the spiky blonde had gone, and he knew that he would end up getting himself lost if he attempted to locate them... He would demand that Yami get Malik back later, because now, it seemed that he was finally going to get the full story on what was going on and why he and his companions had been kidnapped by these criminals. Of course, he was also still unnerved by the fact that they could very well kill him if he stepped out of line, but he wasn't just going to sit back and allow himself to be pushed around!

"Then just tell me," he said, his voice quite a bit more jittery than he was hoped it would be.

Great. That really made him sound intimidating, now didn't it?

But it seemed to jerk Yami from his thoughts, and the prince nodded, changing the weight on his legs. "Of course." Taking a breath, he finally began the tale that was long overdue. "My boss had been watching you–"

Wrong thing to say, because the color suddenly left Yuugi's face and in the background, Ryou, who had obviously not been blocking much out at all with his hands, turned his head slightly, looking quite disturbed.

"–not you specifically," the Althasian quickly added, knowing that even with such few words being said, he'd already messed up. "I mean..." But he couldn't seem to find the right track to be on. He shook his head and stepped backwards, leaning on the wall behind him, both of his hands lifting to covers his face and hopefully wipe away his sudden lack of eloquence. "Yuugi, we were trying to gather more information about your species. About humans. You're not on Earth anymore, and the self-righteous moron who's above me decided that you all aren't smart enough to understand this, and wouldn't let me tell you what I am now. I'm so sorry, Yuugi. I've messed up and I wish I could slap myself for what I've done to you and your friends, but right now, I'm trying to try to make my boss see that you and I aren't much different at all..." His run-on sentence wasn't exactly the most proper, but that didn't mean a thing at the moment. His gaze had left the two, and the prince only now realized it, and looked up, seeing an expression he couldn't read at all, but it seemed to be tightly connected with being disturbed.

Yuugi's mouth had come open, then closed, then open once more before he finally spat out the next few words, the first that came to his mind. "You're mad," he uttered, his voice shaking, much like his hands. "Look, we don't have any money, we don't know anything, and we don't want to be here with you and your group of psychos! Take us home! Make that maniac bring Malik back and let us go!"

Well, obviously this was going to be a lot harder than Yami had first anticipated. He could not find anything to say in reply, and his will was beginning to weigh down with all of the guilt and confusion and pity and everything else. His shoulders sagged and his head drooped, shaking back and forth. "I'm sorry you feel that way." A pause. "I'm not insane. I'm trying to help you." It was the first time in a long, long span that the red-eyed man's voice sounded broken. "Please let me help you, Yuugi. You have to listen to me."

Yuugi, who couldn't say exactly when his eyes had filled with tears, opened his mouth to continue lashing out, when there was a hand on his arm, and his head jerked around, settling on Ryou and he felt his muscles untense though only slightly. The pale teen's eyes said enough without words, before he, never once breaking his gaze with his shorter friend, spoke up. "Where are we?"

Yami felt some relief grasp his heart, that there was someone who would listen, someone who might be able to get Yuugi to do the same. "You're on Althasia. The workers took you in this room to cleanse your body and kill any germs or bacteria you might be carrying. The mist that was being sprayed was what was going to clean you. I should have told you sooner..."

The grandson of the game shop owner eyed his friend, wondering why he was giving into these people who were doing things that couldn't possibly be legal. But Ryou looked too distracted to notice this, his green orbs having wandered off while his mind did the same. "So you're aliens?"

Why was he so calm? Hadn't he been the one who had almost had a panic attack previously? The teen honestly couldn't answer that. Perhaps it was shock, but wasn't it best to just go along with things and perhaps dig out the truth behind the words and the actions along the way?

There was another pause, before the prince nodded. "Yes, I suppose you could say that we were."

Suddenly, the pale human gained a look of almost bitter humor. "So we're on your planet now? Yuugi, now we're aliens. This day is very weird..."

Yup. It was definitely shock, because now Ryou looked as though he were about to snap and start laughing like a mindless lunatic. Gripping his friend tightly, Yuugi tried to bring him back to reality – whatever the hell that was right now – and turned to Yami. "Where's Malik?" he asked, also too stunned to think of much else to say, much less hold onto his anger. No, there was plenty of time for that later. Later had so many things stocked up to it, didn't it? Later was going to be a busy time.

A shrug wasn't the best answer, however, though it was the universal one that needed no words to go with it. "Mariku 'rescued' him." But then what he'd said sunk in and Yami's eyes widened. "Gods, he really did rescue him." It once more came to him just what had transpired to cause him to finally make his way here to talk with the humans... But they didn't need to know exactly what had been about to happen. No, that could be withheld for the time being, if not completely. "He's fine. Mariku might be odd, but he isn't violent." Not usually, he added mentally. He does bite quite a bit, though...

Then, completely shattering his train of thought, the door to his side opened, and out stepped one of the men in suits, and then Yami suddenly realized that Bakura had been carted off through that door. "Bakura's sick," he said, mostly to himself. Turning to look at the two Earthlings, a desperate aura leaked off of him. The pale Althasian might be aggravating to be around, and he might gnaw on the prince's nerves every few minutes, and they might not always agree – or might always disagree, really – but Yami still cared for the other. "Bakura's sick," he repeated, this time louder, as if addressing the humans before him. Both of them stared at the red-eyed one before sharing a glance with each other briefly.

"I'm sorry?" Ryou murmured, unsure of what to reply with. Bakura had seemed fine only a few hours before. It couldn't be too bad. But then, Yuugi had said that Malik was "sick", but that had been a cover-up to something that had obviously emotionally traumatized him... He felt worry eat away at his heart, and it was easy to give into it, to get his mind off of other things. Perhaps if he distracted himself and gave all of this senseless information time to sink into his subconscious...?

"He got sick on Earth," Yami added, hoping that one of them would pick up on what he was hinting. He received blank looks. He sighed. "We know nothing about your illnesses, and our bodies have never been exposed to them." A continued blank look. A heavier sigh. "He could very well die."

A loud gulp was heard and Yuugi glanced to Ryou, seeing that the other was quite a bit paler than he usually was. "What do you want us to do?" the shorter asked, the undertone of his voice letting on that he was still not pleased with the situation.

"You know more about your world than we do." Now Yami, though understanding and usually patient, was starting to feel irritated. Could Yuugi not see that someone's life might be compromised, just because he was mad at the prince whose looks he shared? The boy was being overly stubborn and it was starting to get to be almost a bit much. Forgiveness had to be an option somewhere, and Yami had damn well gone out of his way to try to explain...

"Where is he?" broke the silence, Ryou stepping forward slightly, though one of his hands was fisted and pressed against his chest, a frown creasing his brow. True these men had proven themselves to be untrustworthy, and yes, it could very well be a plan to lure all of them away from each other for whatever sick and twisted reason, but Bakura... if he was really ill... no one deserved to be left alone to rot away like that. And Ryou had seen the other when he had his guard down, when he was asleep. He didn't look evil. Evil people looked evil all the time, but Bakura just looked... asleep. He looked like a normal person. Relaxed. Holding a pink, stuffed rabbit.

Perhaps that last bit didn't apply to everyone, but still.

Yami's harsher emotions washed away, though there was still a lingering residue left behind. "I'll get someone to show you where he is." And without looking, his hand shot out, grabbing the man as he was walking past, jerking him to stand beside Yami, which only made the prince look shorter than he was. With his free hand, the former alien removed the gadget from his throat and spoke, Yuugi and Ryou now being unable to pick up a single word of it.

"Show that one where you took Bakura."

The worker nodded, pointing at Ryou and motioning for the other to come with him, though, even behind the mask, he looked confused as to where everyone was and why the place looked like a wreck compared to what it had been when he'd left the room for only a few minutes. The green-eyed teen hesitantly moved forward, noting that Yuugi's hands were still wound around him. He gave a weak smile at his friend, and the tri-hair-colored human slowly let his fingers release the other's clothes. And off Ryou went, looking more nervous once he turned away, though from the back he seemed fine. With a rushing sound of air when the door was opened and closed, they were both gone, leaving Yuugi and Yami alone.

"So," the taller started after the lengthy pause, having reattached the electronic device to himself. "Would you let me walk you around? I'll answer any questions you have, and we'll try to sort this out."

"Go to Hell."

...This was going to be... a very long and bumpy road.

.: Chapter end :.

Bah. This chapter's choppy, the already out-of-character characters are even more out-of-character, and this took WAY too long to finish. I can only apologize immensely and hope that most of you are still with me.

And now that I've got this up and posted, I'm long overdue for a nap.

-Cecilia