A/N: Does anyone actually read the author's notes? Well anyway, this chapter made me a bit nervous: I felt like it has to be good so I re-wrote…some parts…a few times and I still think it's not good, maybe I'm just a bit too self critical -.-' (Or am I…?) Anyways: read, enjoy if you can, and Review :) :)
I'm trying to come up with a new, and better, summary but if any of you have any ideas I'd be happy to hear (more like read, actually) them!
The sounds of more people than usual echoed through the apartment. Well, they didn't really echo but they might as well be echoing since the sound was too loud anyway… Ryou's friends had concurred the living room, kitchen, Ryou's room and even the bathroom so the only non-friend-full -zone was the brooding albino's room and that is where he was located. It wasn't so bad, really… Unless of course he needed to eat or use the bathroom…
The little brother didn't bother him, he was smart enough not to, but the same could be said about the others.
As if on cue few of them barged in; it was the guy with stupid hair shaped like a cone and his idiot friend. Bakura glared at them with 'Fuck off or suffer' –glare but they obviously didn't heed his warning.
"And behind door number one" they stopped to snicker and Ryou yelled something at them which they seemed to wave off.
"And behind door number one" Bakura spoke with menace and both intruders snapped their attention at him. "Lays a choice; die or die painfully." Then to top that all up he gave his maniac grin. They looked ready to pee in their pants to his great amusement. Too bad that Ryou came to their rescue.
"Sorry about that," he shooed the two out "We were playing truth or dare and they were dared to come and annoy you." He gave a nervous laugh.
"Hmph! I don't even want to know what kind of idiot thought of that." Spat Bakura making the little brother flinch a bit.
"Sorry… I told them to leave you be…"
"I'm not mad at you!" Yelled the older in frustration then took a deep breath to calm down. "Although I should be; you invited them after all…"
"What do you have against them, anyway?" Questioned Ryou suddenly.
"You want me to write a list?" Answered the other wryly with a question.
Ryou sighed "No thanks, I'll just…leave. Do you want something? Food or-"
"No, if I'm hungry I can get my own food. You have as much fun as you can with those people." He really meant that with the best intentions; it was nice to know that Ryou could be happy. That may sound sappy but when you only have so little family left you want to take care of them and make sure nothing happens to them. And let's add the fact that Bakura was bit on the possessive side; Ryou was the one, and so far only, person he considered as one of his own and he took care of his own…
Ryou smiled at him "I will. You should do something fun too, you know."
"Like what?"
"Oh I don't know…" the younger trailed of a bit, as if thinking. "Go visit Marik. For example."
"I should have known you'd suggest that…" Honestly, why did he even ask?
"You don't like him? And here I thought that you two got along. Oh well… I just leave you alone then…" He left to join his friends without waiting for an answer.
Bakura had to admit that since the blond came along things had been more interesting and he did like him more than an average person, that wasn't much said because he mostly hated or just despised most people but at least life wasn't such a drag anymore. Maybe having a friend wouldn't be so bad after all…and he could always use Marik as an excuse to get out of the apartment anytime; Ryou would be happy that he got out instead of worrying about him doing something not so legal!
Speaking of getting out, Bakura decided to actually follow his little brother's suggestion and go give the Egyptian a visit. It's not like the blond seemed to mind people suddenly dropping by.
When quickly exiting the apartment he informed where he was going, Ryou beamed, and noticed that the gang was watching Sponge Bob The Movie… Bakura exited a little faster.
Walking down the street he saw a lot of people; gangs of similarly dressed teens, couples holding hands, busy people doing their jobs. Maybe he should get a job… No, actually he needed to get one since neither of them knew how long they could get by with just the money their father made, which wasn't a small amount but still… Some of the money would have to be used for the funeral too… Neither them wanted talk about that yet but they'd have to, eventually. And then there was school; they had summer break now but it would start at some point since nothing good ever lasts forever.
He was just by the park now. That same park had somehow become a place of importance; both times he had been there something that messed with his life had happened and there he was again, wondering how he should go with this visiting busyness. You see; paying someone a friendly visit was a new concept to Bakura, something he had no personal experience of. After walking around the park awhile he decided to just go and do whatever appeared to be the best course of action if someone was there in the first place. It wasn't a very detailed or brilliant plan but it was one that couldn't go wrong.
……………………………………..
What is going on? Who are you?
"Don't you recognize me? I'm you of course."
No! That's not possible. I'm me!
"Heh heh, I wouldn't lie to me now would I?"
SHUT UP! Let me out! Let me out, let me out LET ME OUT!
"Calm down. I'm only going to help you. Like last time, remember?"
Last…time?
"Yes. I'll help you, well me, to do things you want to do but are too afraid to. I can do everything you can't."
Help…me…? What do you mean? Help with what?
"…"
Answer me!
"Don't worry about a thing. Trust me."
Why should I?
"I helped you out with father, didn't I?"
……………………………………
Nearing the front door of the house the albino noted that it was awfully quiet and that the motorbike no longer had just a broken tire; it looked more banged up. A lone gnome he hadn't noticed last night stared at him with a creepy smile and he gave it a quick glare before reaching the door.
Bakura rang the doorbell and waited for someone to come and open the door. When no one came he ringed again. Again no answer. He figured that anyone wasn't home and turned to leave when he realized that the door was already open. Bakura had an aching feeling that he had seen this scene in a horror movie more than few times; the door magically opens and the person steps in, only to get brutally murdered by a guy with an axe/chain saw/ knife/ bare hands but lots of insanity or/and very sharp teeth/fingernails. Of course there wasn't really anything magical with the door being left open…
He turned to leave but then he spotted the creepy gnome again. It somehow managed to stare at him and smile its' smile that was supposed to say 'I'm a happy and kind little gnome' but instead seemed to be more of a 'I'm an insane little bastard with murderous intent' kind of smile. Needless to say that was pretty scary so Bakura decided to go inside after all. It was better to be a victim in a horror called Crazy Axe Murderer than in Revenge of The Gnomes, so to speak.
Once inside he started to look around, after all he had never been there before. The house had more space than he had used to but then again Marik did live with more people than he and, obviously, wealthier people. The teen entered the living room, which at first didn't seem to have anything interesting. Then he spotted a book on the floor near the far wall. It looked like it had been just tossed there but everything else in the room was neatly in place.
Bakura picked the book up and curiously read the summary in the back cover. It's said that curiosity killed the cat but, fortunately, it only managed to make the boy raise his eyebrow at the words: 'Steamy boyxboy action at the back stage'
"This summary sucks." He mumbled to himself before dropping the book back on the floor, vaguely wondering who had tossed it there.
There were stairs leading to the second floor and Bakura decided to inspect it as well. Why would he pass up a perfectly good chance to sneak around in some else's house without permission?
Reaching the top of the stairs he found that there were a few bedrooms and a bathroom. He went farer down the hallway when one of the doors burst open with enough force to push the albino against the opposite wall. He felt something sharp slice his cheek and heard a sharp thud noise when it hit the wall, just low enough not to slice his ear off. Bakura raised his hand to touch the cheek only to discover that it was bleeding before a blur of blond hair and purple cape pinned him to the wall.
"What the hell!" He heard himself yell then the pinned teen got a good look at his attacker for the first time. His eyes widened when he saw a familiar, but somehow unfamiliar, face that had an insane grin on.
"Marik?"
The grin widened. "Hello, Bakura." He greeted with a voice darker than the voice the other had got used to and leaned in.
"Wha-!"
A warm tongue licked the blood off from Bakura's cheek and the owner of said tongue made a 'mmm' noise.
"Delicious." He whispered, breath tickling the paler one's ear.
A sound of someone coming in and shouting "Marik? Are you home? Why is the door open?" distracted the blond and the albino took a chance to follow his self defend instinct. He kneed the strange new Marik to stomach, pushed him back to the room he had came from and shut the door. Then he pulled the knife off the wall and used it to lock the door from out side. Good thing that he was so handy with locks.
"Fucking shit…" He mumbled before sprinting down the stairs. Down stairs the teen collided with a rather tall and tanned bald man.
"Who are you and what are you doing in my house?" The man asked with surprising calmness.
"What the hell is wrong with Marik?" Bellowed the teen with not so surprising panic. This seemed to alarm the man as his expression changed and he spoke with worry.
"There's something wrong with him?"
"YES! He tried to- I don't know! And he had this dark voice and a frigging CAPE!"
The man's eyes went wide and he grabbed Bakura by his shoulders, giving him a slight shook
"Calm down! Tell me what happened. Where is Marik now?"
Before answering the pale boy took a breath to gather himself and his thoughts. It was not like he hadn't been attacked before, it was just shocking that the person he had almost come to consider as his friend had tried to either: a) kill him or b) rape him.
"Uh… He attacked me with a knife." Not to mention tongue… "I locked him upstairs."
The man looked more worried than before and sprung to action, sitting the teen on the bottom step and while digging out his cell phone gave Bakura a short explanation.
"Listen; Marik has a double personality disorder. He's dangerous and not his self. I'm calling Isizu to tell her what's going on. You… just stay put."
Bakura needed sometime to progress this new information so he actually stayed put and took time to think the new strange twist over. A question of why hadn't he found out sooner flashed through his mind. The answer was quite obvious; they had known each other for such a small time and he doubted that the other would go: 'Hey guess what? I have two personalities!' all of a sudden.
Soon after the phone call ended a woman glad in old Egyptian clothing barged in.
"Where is he? What happened? Who are you?" The last question was directed to the pale youth who now stood up, tired of sitting and people just asking questions.
"I never caught your names either!" He yelled in frustration and anger. "But let me guess; you're the older sister Isizu and you're the adopted older brother Rishid. Am I right?" The two changed glances.
"Yes, you are correct." Spoke Isizu. "You must be Bakura, we have… heard about you." Her tone was kind of cold as she said this making the albino wonder what, exactly, had they heard and from whom.
"My reputation precedes me." He stated wryly and she furrowed her eyebrows at the statement.
"It does… But we have no time to waste. Rishid, we still have the medicines from last time, don't we?"
"Yes, I go get them."
"Last time?" Questioned Bakura once the bald one had left.
The woman turned to him looking a bit distressed. "This has happened once before… A long time ago. The family doctor put him on medication and the other Marik went away… We thought that he was cured, we really hoped that…" She sighed and wiped her eyes. "I don't know what brought his other personality back but we still don't want to put him in an institution." Her voice and expression were determinate when she looked at the albino. That's when Rishid came back with the meds.
"Found them. How are we going to get him to take them?" He asked holding a bottle containing something that looked like pills.
"That does form a problem…" Mused Isizu.
Bakura had been silent, just looking at the siblings slightly under his brow. He had figured a way to get the pills down Marik's throat but was hesitant to put it into action. It would work if he was right, and he was always right, but whether or not it would work wasn't really the issue here…
"You…you still have a leaf in your hair."
"Are all your friends like that?" "They're not my friends."
"I didn't mean that! The part where you said I don't need a reason to come see you."
"Yes, you are. It's not like they can harm you, right? And if they try anything you can just…bite them."
"Shadi's scull is pretty thick. We should go check on it."
That's when he made his decision and finally fully understood: "What if you're the person whose company you don't want?"
"I have an idea." He spoke. "Give me those." Bakura took the pills from Rishid and started to head up stairs when Isizu suddenly reached out to grab his arm.
"It will not be easy and there is always a possibility that it may not work."
The teen pulled his arm off of her hold. "I know what I'm doing." As he turned again to go up the stairs he hoped that his last statement would be true.
Bakura didn't see it but Isizu's eyes softened. "Thank you and be careful."
Hah, careful, yeah right! He didn't need to be careful, he needed to be skillful like always. This was something he wanted to do; he actually wanted help. Is this what having a friend is like? If it was, he sure didn't want more friends; it was way too bothersome and confusing. Not to mention dangerous to your health…
A/N: Is it just me or is the story dragging itself forward very very slowly?
About school (in the fic and in real life): it will start in the fic eventually but I'm not going to write much about it. There are enough school fics already and, besides, I deal with school enough in real life, I do not want it in this fic too. My school is starting soon and that will affect to my update rate :( but no worries my loyal fans! I will continue to write this even though we get tons of homework -.-' And now when at this point where I'm almost obsessed with this I just have to keep writing!