'Study time, recreational time, lesson time, lunch, free time, creative time...' Bakura read the day's schedule with disinterest. It almost sounded like how a kindergartener's day might play out. The Brit could recall not being very fond of school. He would probably skip most of optional periods.
Setting down the slip of paper, he picked up something much more favorable to read, which he had saved for that morning: Marik's pamphlet on 'Bucket Lists'. Wasting no time, he began reading.
'A bucket list is a list of things you want to accomplish before you die,' the first line told him. He went on reading what the first page had to tell him about any people being able to focus better with a visual list, and determination and the like. As he was reading, the main objective on his mind was to figure out why Marik had given this to him, and the first page wasn't giving him any answers. He went on to the next page.
This one was much less text-heavy. The sub-header said 'How to Write a Bucket List'. He skipped this part in favor of something much more interesting further down on the page. Two columns of blank lines had been left, presumably for the reader to use for their own Bucket Lists, and if Bakura was remembering correctly from the few times he had seen Marik's handwriting, it looked like the Egyptian boy had already started his list. The Brit quickly looked over to what had been written.
1. Get out of this damn place
2. Go back to Egypt, at least for a little while
3. Become a psychologist and do social experiments with people
4. Learn to make a really good cake
5. Make a friend
After reading the list, he went back and read it again, more slowly. The implications of each one intrigued him. The one that caught his attention most at first glace, however, was the last one, because it had a red checkmark next to it. None of the others did. He could only assume that meant it was the only one on the list that Marik had completely so far.
Silently, Bakura went through a mental list of who this friend could be, and came up with...nothing. Granted, he had no idea when the list was written, but he had never seen Marik talking with any other patients besides himself. He supposed it was possible that hewas the friend being referred to, but that seemed unlikely. He couldn't have been very entertaining in his current state.
Resolving to investigate later, he looked over the other things on the list again, and realized that he couldn't get an even close to full story on them without asking Marik himself about them. The first was fairly self-explanatory; he obviously didn't enjoy being at the institution, and was possibly being forced to be there. The others, though, Bakura had no clue about.
He wasn't going to be able to get any farther on his own, and he needed to leave soon if he was going to make it in time for breakfast, so he abandoned the papers on his bedside table and left the room.
Before Bakura got a chance to even get in line for his meal he was being flagged down by Marik, sitting at a table for two. He walked over and took a seat.
"Morning! I got you a tray already," Marik said, surprisingly cheerful considering his mood yesterday.
"How did you know I'd even be coming for breakfast?" the Brit asked, but took the tray anyway and began eating without a thought. "For that matter, what are you doing here? You don't usually eat here." He had no idea where the boy dideat, but he almost never saw him in the cafeteria.
Marik shrugged. "Lucky guess?"
Bakura looked at him for a moment, then continued eating.
The Egyptian paused before speaking again. "...Are you okay? You seemed sort of...out of it yesterday."
The Brit could only guess he was referring to their conversation last night. "I'm fine," he said. "I was fine yesterday."
Marik frowned pointedly. "You were saying weird things yesterday," he insisted.
Bakura continued forking food into his mouth. It wasn't particularly appetizing, but it could have been worse. Better to get it over with quickly than to let it become a long, drawn out ordeal. "I don't believe I was," he replied between bites. He really just wanted to ask about the things on Marik's bucket list, but if the boy was worried then changing the subject suddenly would probably do nothing but convince him he was right.
"You were," Marik repeated and gripped his fork, annoyance and frustration quickly seeping into his voice.
Bakura could see where this was most likely to end up, but that still didn't keep him from replying. He wasn't sure what else to say. "I think you're overreacting," he stated.
Suddenly the Brit realized it probably would have been better to just stay silent. Marik's face became icy, and in a few fluid motions he stood up, knocking his chair to the ground, grabbed the edges of the small table, and flipped the whole thing over so that it lay on it's face on the ground next to them, trays and all. The rest of the room became completely silent as all eyes were on the two of them, but the only thing that Bakura noticed was the desperate rage in Marik's eyes.
The Egyptian glared at him for a few more seconds before finally turning and stomping out of the room. Bakura as well as almost everyone else stared after him as he left, more than one person trying to figure out what had just taken place. For Bakura, the question was much more urgent. Without Marik one of his main sources of information would be cut off, and he would be placed at a severe disadvantage. His own approach apparently hadn't worked, so he would need help. Quietly, after a few more moments of shocked silence, the Brit stood, dropped his fork on the ground with the table and trays, and exited the room himself. He had almost finished eating anyway.
"Hello, Bakura! You're a bit early," the study time teacher greeted as he strode into the room. He was early; half an hour at least.
"Did that kid return the eye book?" was his reply.
"Yes, it's right over there on the shelf! The green one," she said cheerfully, then went back to her papers at her desk.
Bakura's partial color-blindness seemed to be growing more problematic. He was sure that, if possible, it would be downright annoying. It was almost as if everyone was plotting to use all the colors that he still couldn't see. This was irrational, he knew, but he couldn't help considering it. Nevertheless, it wasn't hard to find the book he was looking for, and he hoped that it would give him some answers on his vision.
He sat down, but didn't get the chance to even open the book before something else caught his attention. The snobby guy suddenly walked over to the teacher deliberately, slamming the door behind him. Bakura opened his book and pretended to be reading instead of listening in on the conversation that would follow.
"Good morning, Mr. Kaiba," the teacher greeted pleasantly.
"I've decided I would like to be released now," he said bluntly.
She kept on smiling. "I'm afraid that isn't possible at the moment," she said, mock regret in her voice. "You haven't finished with your time rehabilitating yet. You aren't ready to go back to the outside world."
"I'm more than ready to go back to the outside world," he informed. "I know what I need to know, and anything else I can figure out later. I have a company to run."
The teacher frowned slightly. "I'm sorry, but you really do need to complete the course, for your own safety and for the safety of everyone around you," she argued.
"How long will that take?"
"It all depends on the individual."
"I don't have time for that," he stated. Suddenly he switched approaches. "I wasn't asking your permission, I was informing you of my decision. I suppose I'll have to speak with one of your higher-ups."
She grimaced. "I wish I could tell you otherwise, but anyone you talk to will give you the same answer," she assured him. Realizing he was getting nowhere, the man promptly turned around and left the room, again slamming the door behind him.
Once he was gone the teacher sighed and leaned back in her chair, looking at the ceiling for a moment. She glanced over in Bakura's direction, suddenly realizing that he had probably been listening to the entire thing. "I really wish all of this wasn't necessary, but we're just trying to make the rest of your lives go smoother," she sighed.
"...hn." He paused. The more he heard about all of this the less he wanted to trust the staff members. "I got Marik mad at me," he finally said.
The teacher smiled slightly and sat up straight, going for her papers again. "Maybe you should apologize," she said, and began working.
"...maybe."
The next break he got, Bakura took out his philosophy book and parked himself on one of the commonroom's couches, pen at hand. He began writing notes about information he had gleaned from the short conversation between the teacher and 'Mr. Kaiba'. The more he thought about it, the more the place was starting to sound like a prison.
Once he had done that, he took a few moments to look through the few things he had written so far. There wasn't much, so he decided to write down what had happened with Marik. After that he stopped again, and thought about the problem. Would Marik stay mad? What was he even mad about, exactly? The Brit had obviously done something to offend him, but wasn't clear on what. Maybe the whole thing would blow over by itself and he wouldn't have to worry about it.
Just then Marik walked through the room. Bakura watched. The Egyptian only glanced at him once, gave him a dirty look for a split second, and looked away again. Evidently, things weren't just going to fix themselves.
A/N: Why are all my chapters so short? This is just awful. I'll try to make the next one longer! (And when I go back and edit the whole thing I'll probably switch some things around to make it seem less tiny.)
Well, here is the fifth chapter! I told my friend (Who helped me a lot with getting my butt into gear to actually write this! Thank you Bunny! (oh man I don't even know if you have a ff.n account that is also awful!)) that there would be some actual thiefshipping in this chapter. I lied. Sorry. Everything will be fixed next chapter, though! And then we can move onto some more exciting things! C8
And now for some shameless plugging!
1) Livejournal. My name is Quasiroyale. Add me!
2) Tumblr! My personal account is on my profile, and I do a bunch of derping and throwing around ideas there (Yugioh!Clue is going to be a thing, I will make sure of it), but I'm also doing a cool college AU on another blog, which is going to be like platonic Thiefshipping but it'll also have some cool side pairings like Deathshipping, and I'm willing to take suggestions on other pairings! The url is dominouniversity[dot]tumblr[dot]com for those interested! C:
That's everything, I think. It's almost like the author notes are half the size of the chapter. That's sad. :'D Thank you very much for reading and reviewing! I can't convey my gratitude through simple text! C'8