KD Chapter IV: Miscellaneous Buys and More Bets

No, this couldn't be right... I had to be... A mistake! Yes! A mistake! But, no, his name was printed on it clearly. An April Fools joke, perhaps? No. That had past. Then, that only left one explanation and one suspect...

"BAKURA!"

Said person rose from his nap, his pure white hair lying on his head in a tangled mess.

"What the hell is wrong with you?" Bakura snarled, looking as if he might just kill Marik if he took even one step nearer.

Marik ignored his desire to back out of the room and run, screaming bloody-murder because of Bakura's death stare. Instead, he held a piece of paper in front of the yami's face and commanded sternly, "Explain for this."

Bakura clenched his teeth, wanting so badly to hurt the hakari and scare him into never waking him up again. But, no, that would go against their "deal". Restraining his urges, Bakura tried to skim over the paper and then stated, "Fruitcake, you know I can't read whatever gibberish this is in, right?"

Marik sighed and pulled the paper from in front of Bakura's face and held it tightly in his tan fingers, explaining, "It's a bill. For all the stuff you supposedly bought."

The spirit shrugged nonchalantly.

Marik interrogated straightforwardly, "Did you happen to find something by the name of a credit card, 'Kura?"

"What's it to you?" Bakura asked, not admitting to anything.

"So, you did," Marik translated. He held out his hand and ordered, "Give it here."

Bakura groaned. There was no way out. Plus, if he gave it over quickly, maybe Marik wouldn't count it as a strike… After all, Bakura didn't do anything wrong besides take it.

The thief pulled the card from his pocket and dropped it in the tombkeeper's hand.

Marik held up the card and inquired, "Do you know how this works?"

Bakura thought a moment. Truthfully, he didn't. He had just guessed how to use it. It's not like it came with directions. But, not wanting to admit his ignorance of the subject, he merely shrugged.

Sighing once more, Marik explained, "One uses a credit card for money. It's an effective way to have resources at your fingertips, able to buy anything anywhere." He leaned closer and whispered, "Like on the Internet, eh, Kitty?"

"Kitty" pouted and crossed his arms while he waited for Marik to finish explaining.

Marik cleared his throat and specified angrily, "When you use a credit card, you don't have to pay right away. But, you have to pay after. When you get the credit card bill."

Bakura's eyes widened. He stuttered, "You- you mean, you have to pay for the stuff you get with a credit card?"

Marik growled. "And more. Because, there's convenience fee for it. And, if we don't pay every cent we spend, we go into debt and become bankrupt."

All the big words confused Bakura, but he didn't have to reply.

Marik held up the paper and said, "Let's see what you bought, shall we?"

Bakura swallowed dryly.

"Hmmm... First thing you bought is a human hamster ball."

"I wanted to know what it was like to be a hamster..."

"Next, a fifty gallon fish tank and a brand-new fish rod to go with it."

"I could go fishing in the tank. Sounds like fun, right?"

Marik glared before continuing, "A golf cart."

"Golf carts are cool."

"A glass chess board?" Marik exclaimed, "Do you even play chess?"

"No, but somebody might."

"A duel disk. Well, that actually makes some sense..."

"Ya, my last one was stolen from me by the damn Pharaoh…"

"Confiscated," Marik corrected.

Bakura stuck his tongue out at the tombkeeper immaturely.

Marik resumed listing Bakura's purchases, saying, "A... Cat? You bought a kitten?"

"Secretly, I'm very lonely..."

Marik tried to conceal his smirk, but it came out and Bakura flicked Marik's arm.

Marik listed, "A copy of the painting 'Starry Night'?"

"The real one's not for sale apparently..."

"A popcorn maker."

"For movie night."

"The deed to a condo in Maui... I thought you were kidding!"

"I don't kid," Bakura answered, scowling.

"A bow and arrow?"

"Gotta target practice somehow. Got wanna get out of shape."

"A pair of hand-cuffs...?"

"... I rather not explain that one."

Marik shunned the disturbing mental pictures entering his mind and stated, "Snow cone machine."

"Who doesn't like a good snow cone?"

"And, to top it all off, some prime steaks."

"Yes. Can't live without my meat."

"Well," Marik glanced over the entire listed once more, reflecting, "That's about it." He rolled up the bill and tapped it on Bakura's head teasingly, saying, "I'm afraid this counts as another strike, 'Kura."

"What?" Bakura cried, standing up and swiping the paper from the Egyptian boy's hand, arguing, "But I didn't even know! It's not like you taught me about these demon credit cards!"

"You obviously knew enough about them to use them," Marik countered.

Bakura opposed, "Of course I did! All the freaking information is right on the card! I mean, seriously, if I was some kind of identity thief, I'd already own a house and car by now!"

"Those are the only things you didn't buy…" Marik muttered under his breath.

"Pretty much," Bakura shrugged, then found his anger again and questioned crossly, "Since it was an accident, why is it considered a strike?"

Marik snatched the bill back and pointed at the number at the bottom, explaining more furiously than Bakura was, "Because, you owe my family five-thousand dollars!"

The yami felt like fainting.

"Fi- five thousand?" Bakura stumbled to repeat, hardly over a whisper.

Marik nodded.

Bakura thought a moment then asked, "Can I still keep the stuff?"

"Ugh! You're impossible, Kitty!" Marik facepalmed.

Bakura acquired a smirk from this. He stated, "Damn right. And, don't you forget it."

Marik let out a sigh, trying to keep himself from going insane. He answered Bakura's previous question, saying, "We're going to try to return all we can. That should lower your bill quite a lot. But, the stuff we can't return, you'll have to pay for."

"Okay," Bakura decided to let it go, let his problems take care of themselves.

Marik was going to do the same. He guessed there was no point on dwelling on it… Right?

But, before he walked out of Bakura's room, he smiled and turned back to the spirit, musing aloud, "Wow, 'Kura, you've got two strikes already. And, how long has it been? A few days? I was kind of hoping that you'd last the week or maybe two, but no, it wasn't meant to be…"

Bakura's eye twitched.

Marik enjoyed this and continued, "Hmm… Poor Kitty… Gonna be shipped off to Ryou's already? That is so hard. I would have thought that the legendary Thief King would have at least lasted the rest of the week. But, the way I see it, you won't even last until the end of the day."

"Wanna bet?" Bakura exclaimed, provoked beyond repair.

"Sure," Marik replied easily, making Bakura realize he had just played into the tombkeeper's hand. He hummed and promised, "All right, if you last the rest of the week without getting your last strike, I'll give you an extra one. But, if you don't, you have to keep that cat you bought on eBay."

Bakura hissed, "I don't want a cat!"

"You bought it!" Marik countered.

The thief couldn't argue there.

"Fine," Bakura huffed, throwing himself onto his bed and throwing the sheet over his head, signifying that he wanted to be alone.

Marik nodded though Bakura couldn't see through his blankets. Nope, Bakura wouldn't last the week. He was sure of it. The only question was:

What kind of destruction would Bakura cause that would get him his last strike?

Author's Note: I already have the next chapter written. Should be up tomorrow. Please review! The reviews have all been awesome so far and I love you, guys! :)