A/N: This chapter is going to take you to the past! I'm really into flashbacks now for some odd reason and I thought that this was the best way to give you a more detailed idea of what happened in Marik's past (mostly what lead to his father's death). First I thought that I would do a long dialogue (or a monologue) but decided against it. As much as I enjoy writing dialogues, a flashback felt like a better option (and as I said; I'm into them now). But if you like dialogue better, no worries; there's plenty of that too in the future. I would like to write something with lots of dialogue and maybe flashbacks… Just so I don't stuff this fic too full :) but I can't start a new ongoing fic now because of the lack of time so maybe I'll do a one-shot (again).

There is a line of bold dots like this ………………………………….. in this chapter. It means: End of flashback, Time skip and a Scene change, all in one.

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"Happy Birthday little brother!" Ishizu greeted as she came to get Marik from school. She and Rishid had decided that she would pick the boy up and then they would take him to eat and do other things the young Marik considered fun as a B-day present.

Marik's features lit up at the sight of his sister and a wide smile adored his face.

"Hey sis! I've been waiting whole day! We are going, right?"

Ishizu laughed a bit at his excited voice and patted the birthday boy on the head. "Of course we are." She assured. "We just have to go home first to get some stuff and Rishid."

"Yay! Lets go!" The boy shouted and started running down the way home, his sister soon running after him.

"Wait up!"

They had to walk the way home because the buss drivers were on strike and their father was at work, he drove the only car they got.

The way home took through the bustling city and would have been a bit dangerous for little children to walk alone; there were all sorts of people living in the city after all. They walked hand in hand, quickly through the masses of people.

"Where are you taking me today, sis?" Asked the boy with his apparently permanent smile on his face.

"Well, first we are going to somewhere to eat and then" She paused and smiled back at the boy "it's up to you."

"We can go to anywhere I want?" He questioned excitedly.

"Yes… But we are not leaving the country or anything like that."

"That's ok! I already know where I want to go!" He did have a place in mind that he wanted to go together with his family… Though his father was always busy somewhere else so he would just go with his siblings. Apparently Ishizu had seen his smile fade just a bit because she glanced at him worriedly.

"Marik? Father can't come with us… But I'm sure he would love to if he had the time." The last part was added quickly and with some over used reassurance. "And I'm sure that you have loads of fun with Rishid and me. We don't need him, right?"

The blond boy gave a small nod. He still whished that his father would come… And that he would like his son, even just a bit. Is that too much to ask? It was, at least if you asked Mr. Ishtar. After his wife's death many years ago he had drowned himself with work; always working, hardly paying his children much attention, never at home and sober almost as often…As the oldest of the children, Rishid had took the position of father and mother, along with caring older brother and guardian. He grew apart of the others his age because of his responsibility to take care of the younger siblings and he had to grow up faster than most. Not related by blood but still important part of the family.

"Hey, cheer up little brother." Ishizu said to the sad boy. "You can't be down on your birthday."

"Okay…" Marik said and lifted his head to crack a smile at his sister. "We're having fun today and worry later!" He declared, both gaining back most of their previous cheerfulness. It was a beautiful day after all, not a day you wish to spend worrying about anything.

The house was only a few blocks away. The siblings walked down the sunny street, chatting happily. They made more plans for the day and tried to decide if they should take Shadi along or not. Eventually they decided against it; if he wanted to join them he would just pop out from somewhere anyway.

Nearing their home the two noticed that the car was parked on the driveway. That was odd because their father was supposed to be at work.

"Look sis! It's father's car! Hey maybe he wants to wish me happy birthday!" Marik said, excitement and hopefulness in his voice, and tucked his sister's hand to make her walk faster. The sister had her doubts about that but she didn't want to bring her brother down so she just went along.

Almost at the door Ishizu smelled smoke; something was burning that wasn't supposed to.

"Marik stay here." She told and ran to the door, quickly going inside.

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Marik remembered most of that what happened that day now. As the memories flowed in his conscious mind he realized the reason he hadn't want to remember them in the first place; people tend to forget things that are traumatizing enough, it's a defense mechanism of the mind. It's supposed to protect you but now it failed him when he needed it the most. The shadow of his other self still lurked somewhere; he could feel it. Ishizu told that the medication would keep him away, if that was the case the meds weren't working as good as he would have liked them to.

They did have a talk, a conversation, which should have made things clear, a conversation that should have taken place long time ago. Their will to help and protect him had back fired it seemed… He wasn't angry with them; he had been at first, though. Yelling and throwing things ensued but that was to vent out the anger and frustration, not to cause any bodily harm.

The night was starting to fall when his siblings had finally agreed to let him be…

He had been saved, what bothered him was that he hadn't been able to save himself. He had needed someone else to do it. He had been helpless… But in the same time it was good to know that there was someone you could, maybe, lean on. Maybe, if you needed someone like that. Marik snorted to himself; he wasn't that weak. It was not like he was going to run to his newly discovered friend whenever he faced trouble. He was not like that anymore.

But… Did Bakura have the right to know about the past? He kind of did… now that he knew this much already… Ishizu didn't really seem to like him though. It was something about suspecting the albino's motives… The blond didn't know what there was to suspect in the first place but it might just be his sister's protectiveness speaking.

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Marik didn't want to be left behind, not after he saw Rishid come and hastily greet his sister by the door before disappearing inside. He run after them and quickly slipped in the house.

He should have listened to his sister.

His sister and brother were standing in the doorway to the living room, looking at something with shocked expressions. In the middle of the room was a fire, like a campfire. He could hear cracking sounds from the flames. Behind the fire stood a man, who the boy soon recognized as his father. His face was twisted in almost deranged expression as he watched the flames burn the objects. One of them, he noticed, seemed to be some sort of postcard; the picture of a red motorbike was almost too burned to recognize.

A sudden shout broke the near silence. "Father! What are you doing?" It was the frightened cry of Ishizu, who was first to get her voice back. Mr. Ishtar looked at her as if just noticing that he wasn't alone in the room.

"What does it look like you stupid girl?" He asked harshly.

"But… But those were-." She stammered glancing between the flames and their father who just looked at her coldly.

"Yes, that little brat doesn't deserve them. You" he pointed at Marik who had gone unnoticed by the others "don't deserve them."

The older sibling turned at him, surprised to see him standing there, little behind them, eyes wide and mouth slightly open from shock.

"That's right" the man behind the fire spoke cruelly "watch your precious presents burn."

The blond boy gasped and his eyes filled with tears. As the question why ringed through his head, he vaguely realized that Ishizu was trying to comfort him. He thought that his father didn't hate him this much, sure he had changed when mother died but…The red motorbike card had burned to ashes when Marik's vision went black and his conscious fated.

"Happy Birthday…"

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This was just great… A letter from Egypt, from father's colleagues, told that the albino brother's dad could not, for some reason, be moved from the country. That meant that the funeral had to be kept in Egypt, which meant that they'd have to go all the way there to participate. The man's friends and colleagues had promised to take care of the arrangements so they didn't have to worry about that.

"I'm sure that's what dad would have wanted…" Ryou said, voice sad and distant.

It was fairly early in the morning when they had realized that they got mail. It was only a few days after "the incident" with Marik. Ryou didn't have the full idea of what happened; Bakura thought that it was best if he didn't know.

"I mean" the more sad boy continued "he always liked it there…"

"Yeah… But we have to go aaalll the way over there just because they couldn't get the man's corpse over here." Not the best thing to say; Ryou looked like he had just been hit.

"Have you no respect!" He almost yelled, tears now beginning to fall. "I can't believe you would say such a thing! He was your father too, you know…"

It was rare to hear the gentle boy yell, or almost yell, and it took the older by surprise. He didn't know what to say. What could he say?

"Ryou…" Bakura started but the rest of that sentence refused to come out. The little brother waived his other hand as a sign that he didn't need to continue, while the other hand moved to rub his temples as he let out a heavy sigh.

"….It's ok… I'll just… make breakfast." And with that the boy disappeared to the kitchen.

It was often like that; Bakura had some trouble getting the little words of 'I'm sorry' out of his mouth but Ryou understood if he was sorry and was ready to forgive him.

The older considered if he should help Ryou but decided against it; it would be done much faster and safer without him.

"Breakfast!" Ryou called from the kitchen and the other was there in an instant, already hungry.

"I made porridge." The boy stated and handed a plateful to the other who made a face at it.

"I hate porridge."

Ryou just smiled faintly to his brother who started eating anyway. "But it's so healthy."

"Everything healthy tastes like sh-." The brother started with his mouth full.

"Bakura! Please don't use foul language in the table and don't speak with your mouth full." Instructed Ryou calmly. The instructed one took another spoonful. "Yes mother." He said porridge in his mouth and the other rolled his eyes.

"Pig."

"Wimp."

"Lazy slob."

"Geek."

"Idiot."

"Girl."

"Hey that was uncalled for!" Exclaimed Ryou, feign hurt. "I'm a boy, you know."

"Oh really? Haven't noticed." Older continued to tease. The teasing was cut short when he found porridge on his face.

The "girl" was grinning in a surprisingly Bakura like way. "Served you right."

He was about to avenge his face but found that he had already eaten all his food. "Damn you, Ryou!"

"Porridge is good for you!" The damned one made a beeline to his room, away from Bakura's revenging range, calling after him to do the dishes.

At first the albino considered not washing the dishes as a payback for Ryou's little trick but then he noticed that his favorite mug was among them. On the mug read: 'You can borrow this mug but then, I will have to kill you'. So he decided to do the dishes. It was actually kind of relaxing and calming… The warm water and your own wondering thoughts…

After washing his mug, Bakura vaguely wondered why was he still washing. It was probably because of the calming effect. He needed that; it was like therapy without the annoying therapist. Even if he didn't admit it, the stuff that took place just few days ago had been unnerving. His… friend… had transformed to something, no, someone else. Marik said that last time he had done something terrible… Why did the other personality come back now of all times? It obviously had disappeared for a quit long time with the medication and all that. So what had trigged it to rise again?

Bakura knew that there was something they, mainly Marik, wasn't telling him. Well, more that just something; a lot of things… Like what happened last time and… Why the hell had he licked him, not to mention kissed him back? Sure he hadn't been himself but the albino's gut instinct told that the actual Marik might have an idea of why.

All the dishwashing, pondering and dwelling had led the teen into some sort of conclusion, or theory might be a better word for it.

The last time someone had most likely died. Maybe a parent, the Egyptian family seemed to lack both parents or maybe it had been some other person close to them. Why else would've Marik reacted so strongly to the memory? Also, that kind of personality disorder needed something to be developed; it wasn't like 'snap, you have two personalities'. Well, he might have been born with it but that was somehow unlikely. So something had made it develop and most likely that same something had caused it to surface.

But what had happened this time? Had someone perhaps made the Egyptian some injustice or something similar to what had been done last time? As far as Bakura knew no one had died this time. The only one the other Marik had attacked was him… He hadn't done anything, had he? No… But the so-called attack wasn't meant to kill…

Bakura lifted his hand to touch the small scar the knife had left on his cheek. He was determined to find out what was going on with his Egyptian. Whatever it was, he was pretty sure it had something to do with him. Maybe it had something to do with that motorcycle too… The image of the broken vehicle had just formed itself in his mind, along with the book he had found on the floor at the Ishtar home. What did it have to do with this anyway?

Frowning in deep thought, he dried his hands slowly and carefully, finally realizing to wipe the porridge of his face too. Done with the dishes, finally. There had been surprisingly much to wash but he had barely noticed it so wrapped up in his thoughts. Now that the dirty dishes were gone and he had some kind of idea what might be happening, he slowly returned to the reality.

Surprisingly, the first thought to pop in his mind after his return to the real life was: Had he referred to Marik as 'his Egyptian'?

Bakura felt like letting out a maniacal laugh would be a good idea, that or hitting himself. That was just stupid! What kind of thought was that anyway? No way he had-! Had he? No. He needed to take a walk. The whole thinking progress and all the weird mental images… Need to get out and clear his mind was growing stronger and he practically ran out of the small apartment.

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A/N: Maybe a tad bit short… But I already have a quite clear idea of what will happen in the next chapter. No promises that it will be up faster because of all the exams coming. Dare I even mention the Finnish projects I have to do? I believe I just did… Originally I was going to make this chapter more angsty than it is but I realized that I can't write that so I just had to cheer it up a bit with some lighter stuff. Let's face it; I can't write full angst. I can write serious crap, dramatic crap, fluff, some wanna-be humor and apparently deep stuff also. When it comes to angst and inner torment, I can't do much of that or it comes out as short and not so good. I think I could pull off sap if I wanted but what is it with angst?

Anyways… Push the nice purple button and review :)