A/N: The second chapter! A lot of stuff happens in this one but there isn't really almost any interaction between Bakura and Marik, sorry, but it's still important for the story even if it is a bit boring.

"You can never escape from me"

…………………………

Few days after the concert Marik woke up and found himself on the couch of the Ishtar family living room. He had a habit of sleepwalking so he didn't think much of it and just dragged his tired body to the kitchen in the hopes of breakfast. He found his brother there.

"Morning…" Marik greeted tiredly. Rishid looked at him with a weird expression.

"Slept well? I was just making lunch." Lunch? In the morning?

"You do know that it's already mid day, right?" asked the brother person.

"Yes I do, I just greeted you like that in hopes of messing with your head." After coffee you're already awake enough for sarcasm. The comment was ignored by the bald one who had gotten used to them.

A sound of the doorbell was heard. Rishid continued cooking and Marik was still drinking coffee, no one seemed to react to the doorbell in any way. Then the sound of someone coming in got some reaction.

"Shadi?"

"Who else?"

"He is still alive?"

"Yep"

After this colorful exchange between the brothers, the turban clad Egyptian walked in the kitchen.

"Hello! Oh coffee." Shadi got himself some coffee and sat down on the kitchen table.

This was all part of the morning routine: wake up, go to kitchen, find someone making breakfast/lunch/dinner, have coffee and make some for the intruder too. The intruder was always Shadi who liked to pop out from nowhere to visit them. He had this strange ability to get inside even if the door was locked.

"Hi Isizu!" that was the turban who had spotted the only female occupant of the house entering the kitchen.

"Hello Shadi. Morning Marik Smells good Rishid." She greeted quickly and stormed of again. It was a busy season and the museum where she worked was filled with people. Who would have thought that so many people wanted to spend their summer in a museum?

The kitchen was quiet again, everyone was just satisfied with the things they were doing so there was no need for conversation.

"I need a shower." Stated Marik who had finished his coffee and started to walk out of the kitchen. Shadi turned to speak to the cooking Rishid.

"You will never guess what happened at work today." The other bald Egyptian stayed silent and just listened.

"There were these really weird white haired brothers who ordered a home delivery" Marik, who had reached the door, stopped. White hair?

"The older tried to steal the food! He looked ready to kill me for it!" It was obvious that Shadi was really shocked because of what happened since he was yelling. The blonde one was just curios and amused. Could this be the guy from the concert?

"I'm so lucky the younger stopped him when he did! What weirdos." Shadi ended his outburst with a huf.

That has got to be the concert guy, what was his name? Bakura! How many weird, stealing, white haired people could possibly live in one city?

"The brothers… Did you happen to catch their names?" For some reason Marik just had to find out if he was right about the identity of the "weirdos". He didn't exactly know why but it felt important.

"You don't usually stop to ask the names of people who are trying to slit your throat open." Answered Shadi and looked at his cousin a bit strangely.

"Why you ask?" His eyes widened with realization. "They were someone you know? I should have guessed… you must know every weird person in the city by now."

The Ishtars had just moved to Domino from Egypt a few months ago and Marik had a talent, if you want to use that word, to run into the I-am-a-friggin-maniac type of people.

Rishid looked at the youngest Egyptian with worry.

"You know the person who tried to kill Shadi?"

"I know many people who would like to kill him, including myself"

"Marik…" Rishid said with I sigh. "Can't you just answer the question, seriously this time?"

"I was being serious" He indeed was serious about his answer but that wasn't the answer his older brother wanted to hear. Marik knew his family was worried about his 'original' friends and his sadistic ways but didn't they trust him? He knew what he was doing and could take care of himself! How old did they think he was? Five?

"I met someone at the concert you and Isizu sent me to. He matches the descriptions Shadi gave about the guy who tried to steal the food. I don't really know him. Satisfied?" he didn't wait for the answer "Good. I'm going to shower now, if you excuse me." With that he finally made his way out of the kitchen, leaving the confused Shadi and worried Rishid behind him.

…………………………….

The white haired brothers sat on their living room couch stomachs full of Egyptian cooking. That day Ryou was just too lazy to make them anything and Bakura was just…unable to cook at all, so they had decided to order their meal from the new Egyptian restaurant called The Ankh and Scale. The brothers had always had a fascination towards Egypt because their father worked there as an archeologist.

"Wow that was great! I'm so full!" said Ryou happily, then his expression turned into a more serious one.

"You didn't have to scare the delivery guy so badly though, now we'll never be able to order from there again"

"Tch, if you hadn't meddled we would've gotten free meals!"

"Maybe… but that wouldn't just be right"

Bakura ruffled his little brother's hair fondly.

"Little Ryou. Always so just and brave"

"Ouch, stop it!" Ryou ordered half-heartedly with a fake pout. "You're making fun of me again"

"That's what I do best, among many other things " The older said with pride, an arrogant trade marked smirk on his face.

"Haa haa, very funny" said the younger wryly "Now, oh mighty and all powerful, help me clean this mess" They had created quite a mess in the living room while eating and Ryou didn't like to see the small apartment all messy again.

"Yes ma'am!" Bakura saluted and helped his brother. Ryou just rolled his eyes; he had known his brother for so long that he had learned to ignore most of his stupid comments. He was just happy that when they were alone together Bakura could forget his evil bastard attitude and let his guard down. Too bad he didn't seem capable to do that with other people.

"Hey guess who the delivery guy reminded me of?" asked Ryou suddenly during cleaning. Bakura didn't like the voice his little brother was using; it was the voice Ryou used when he tried to sound innocent and casual, and was actually plotting something. Yes he could plot if he needed to.

"Who?" He didn't really want to know.

"Remember the boy we met at the concert?" Noooo! He had that glint in his eyes, Ryou's matchmaking glint! Please spare me!

Even though Bakura was now in slight panic inside on the outside he looked perfectly calm and just shrug his shoulders to tell Ryou that he had no idea who he was talking about.

"You don't remember?" It was obvious that Ryou didn't believe his brother was telling the truth, which he wasn't. Bakura did remember Marik. He was the smart-ass guy with lots of jewelry, and the almost gay clothing, from the hellish concert.

"Anyway" Ryou continued when Bakura clearly wasn't answering "He had the same tanned skin and accent. You think the boy was from Egypt too?"

"I don't care if he was or not and I don't want to talk about him."

"Who?"

"Marik"

The younger smiled. "I thought you didn't remember him" Well damn. It was clear now that he had thought his little bother too well.

This was the perfect opportunity for Bakura to leave Ryou clean the rest of the mess and storm to his room, muttering something about evil little brothers. He had no intentions to ever meet that golden boy again, but Ryou did have a history as Bakura's personal matchmaker. The little brother wanted the big brother to have someone in his life and who could blame him? It was just that the matchmaking attempts tended to end with tears even if they went well. Like that one time when Ryou decided that Anzu would be a good match… Don't even want to go there, that was just terrible.

So Ryou's matchmaking skills sucked but so did Bakura's attitude. He did not want anyone else in his life; little brother and the always-absent father were all the people he needed.

A knock was heard from the rooms' door and the smaller white haired one peeked in.

"I'm going grocery shopping. Anything you would like?" Yeah, I'd like you to leave me alone.

"Not really"

"Okay, I wont be gone long, bye!" And with that he was off. Ryou usually informed to his brother where he was going, when and with whom so that Bakura wouldn't worry. Worried Bakura was mad, rash and homicidal times ten and no one wanted that.

For some time he just laid on his bed watching the sealing, thinking and enjoying the fact that he got to be alone in the apartment for once. Someone always seemed to be there: little brother and/or his annoying friends, the police, that guy from local mental institution, pissed off neighbor, fireman, someone's lawyer, repair guy, psychiatrist and the list goes on.

After awhile he got bored and decided to go out. He got up and went through the living room to get to the door and to grab his keys and cell phone. Ryou had forgot his cell on the small coffee table as usual.

……………………………..

How dare they sent him shopping! Marik was a bit peeved about the fact that he had to go buy the ingredients for dinner. Rishid had decided to make something exotic sounding and since Isizu was busy, Shadi had to go back to the restaurant and Rishid himself had some preparations to do, Marik was the only one who could go to the local supermarket to get the ingredients needed.

The blond didn't like supermarkets; they were always filled with people who obviously thought that they were the only people on Earth, and the mothers! Did they have to bring all their screaming kids along?

He was scanning the shelves looking for the stuff in the shopping list when someone bumped into his back. He turned around to tell that someone to watch where he was going and met lots of white hair.

"Oh I'm so sorry! I didn't watch where I was going." The white haired head looked up at him and recognition lit the shorter teens face. "Marik! Hi, fancy meeting you here" he said with a smile. Wait a minute… That's the kid from the concert, Bakura's brother. Ryou was it?

"Hello Ryou. How are you?" Marik greeted back. What were the odds of them meeting in here?

"Good and you?" The kid was still smiling.

"Great" Is it just him or does this seem kind of awkward? Ryou was just smiling and looking at him, then to the shelves, now at him again, his shoes and then the boy started to play with the hem of his shirt. Marik wanted the silence to end, but he couldn't just leave: it was obvious that the kid had something he wanted to say to him.

"So… Ryou?" What could they talk about? Aha!

"How's your brother?" That question made the other one happy for some reason.

"I'm glad you asked!" Why was he so happy? "Bakura is fine. Say, would you like to come for dinner?" Dinner? They barely knew each other and Marik wanted to taste some of that food Rishid was planning to make.

"I'll pass, thanks"

"Okay, how about tea?" What was up with this kid? Well, on the other hand maybe that wasn't just a bad idea; if he went to have some tea then everyone would have to wait for their dinner and starve a bit. That'll teach them not to send him grocery shopping!

"Sure, tea sounds nice"

"Great!"

……………………………………

Bakura had walked around aimlessly and ended up in a park. The park was filled with couples enjoying the warmth of summer and each other. He seemed to be the only one in the entire park who still had his tongue inside his own mouth. A flash of loneliness went through him but then it was replaced by utter disgust. He decided to leave the park before all the lovey dovey couples made him sick.

The teen was exiting the park when his cell phone rang.

"What?" He answered the phone in his normal rude manner.

"Good evening. This is Toshiro Hirawa, a colleague of your father" spoke the voice Bakura didn't recognize. Father? What could he want?

"I'm sorry to inform you that an accident has occurred at the excavation site." An accident? The teen just listened as the voice continued.

"Maybe you should sit down" he was still unable to speak. If something had happened to father Ryou would be crushed.

"Hello? Are you still there?"

He let out a 'hm' to tell the other that he was still there. There was an empty park bench near so he sat down with a worried frown on his face.

"In the accident your father was hit by a falling piece of old stone pillar" Bakura could hear the person take a deep breath.

"I'm sorry" No… "We tried to take him to hospital but the site is far away from the nearest town, the stone hit him hard on the head… He didn't make it." Bakura only felt strangely numb when the words sank in.

"He is dead?" he managed to ask, he had to make sure that he had understood right.

"Yes, I'm sorry. We informed you first. Would you like me to call to your younger sibling too or will you tell him yourself?" inquired the person.

"I will tell him" he said andjusthung up.

How could something like this happen?

Bakura wasn't in very good terms with his father; he hated the man for leaving him and Ryou alone. The man sent them some money if they needed it and maybe wrote a few letters a year, but besides that it was as if the guy didn't exist. To Bakura he was just the guy they got the money from and the reason why Ryou had cried himself asleep for so long. But Ryou looked up to his father, loved him even after he abandoned them… He was always so happy when they got a letter from "daddy". Poor little Ryou would be crushed when he heard the news…

How could that bastard do this again? Abandon them and make Ryou miserable! Just like when he left to Egypt except that this time he was gone for good. He had always cared more about some fucking dirt and people who died ages ago than about his sons! And now Bakura had to brake the news to his little brother… How was he going to do it? How could his father leave him in this sort of situation? How could he do this to Ryou?

Somewhere in his rage filled mind, Bakura knew that it wasn't his father's fault. He had died and it had been an accident but Bakura didn't care. He started walking in the general direction of his home. The sooner Ryou found out the sooner he would begin to recover.

…………………………………

Ryou opened the door of the apartment for Marik and himself.

"Bakura! I'm back!" Called Ryou for his brother. No answer. The Egyptian felt a bit disappointed. The little brother was too polite and that freaked him out a bit; he wasn't used to such niceness.

"I guess he's not here… Make yourself at home while I take care of the groceries and make some tea" And with that Ryou disappeared to the kitchen.

Marik went to the living room and looked around. There was a TV in the corner, a couch opposite to it, a small coffee table in between and a large bookshelf filed with books. He walked to the bookshelf and discovered that most of the books were about Egypt. There was also a photo of three people. The smallest of the three was obviously Ryou, who sat on the shoulders of a man, smiling brightly and in front of them stood a younger version of Bakura. He had a happy smile on his face. Everyone in the picture looked so happy…

"Marik?" spoke Ryou's voice suddenly. He had walked in the living room with two cups of tea, placed them on the table and came to see what his quest was looking.

"That's the family photo." Ryou explained with a sad smile.

"The only prove there is that Bakura could actually smile…" His voice trailed of, as if remembering something long gone. The atmosphere in the room was really depressing and the silence almost unbearable.

"The man in the picture is your father?" The silence had got to end! At the question the white haired one snapped out of his walk down memory lane.

"Y-yes. He moved to Egypt sometime ago to work as an archeologist." Egypt huh? That explained all the books.

"Heh, what a go incidence: I'm from Egypt!" Marik exclaimed with as much cheeriness as he could muster to lighten the heavy mood. That seemed to work since Ryou's face lit up.

"Really?" he smiled at him "I suspected something like that but forgot to ask about it before." Was it really that obvious?

"You did?"

"Yes…" The other's smile came down a notch "Oh the tea is getting cold!" That was clearly a change of subject. Wonder why…

They sat down on the couch to drink their tea just when someone barged through the door. Ryou lifted his head and smiled at Bakura in a calm way. Did this guy barge through doors often?

"Welcome back! We were just having tea. Care to join us?" he asked his big brother who looked at him then at Marik. The look on his face told that he wasn't very pleased with what he saw.

"What the hell are you doing here?" Bakura's voice came out as a quiet snarl and his expression was weird: his face was twisted in rage but the eyes were empty. That was one of the scariest faces Marik had seen in his life and that was saying something.

The Egyptian looked at Ryou in hopes of some sort of explanation but his eyes were at Bakura and gave him a very worried look.

"I ran into Marik while shopping" the younger stated "Bakura… What's wrong?"

"You." Bakura was still looking at Marik as he spoke "Leave. Now. I need to talk with Ryou alone."

A/N: This is where I leave you! I don't like to kill anyone but I had to kill the father person for plot purposes.