The X-Effect
- ThiefShipping: Yami Bakura x Malik -
- DeathShipping: Yami Mariku x Ryou -
Hey everyone! Sorry for a bit of a longer delay this round. I tried to make up for it with length. I have been so cosmically busy with graduation and getting the house cleaned up. But it's over with, and here I am yet again, on summer vacation and with plenty more time to write!
I'm hoping things will pick up more, and the ~relationships~ can begin to develop. Or not. You know. I take awhile to get around to that sort of thing. Anyway, I won't keep you…
Chapter 4: Striving for Routine
A week went by before anyone really noticed— everything was calm, uneventful, and, dare say, "normal."
The Ishtar twins were finally beginning to better assimilate, although Mariku's consistent struggle with Japanese was becoming more and more apparent as the days went on. He mixed up words so often now that sometimes he'd just stop talking completely, pretending to be mute for however long he decided to mope for. Malik would yell at him in a bizarre mix of Arabic and Japanese, and eventually Mariku would snap and start spewing retorts back in his own interesting mix. Every now and then he would catch Malik slipping up, which he would get a good kick out of and make sure to parade it around for a few minutes. Ryou and Bakura stayed mercifully out of it.
The strains of friendship were also becoming just as obvious as Mariku's problems with Japanese. While he and Bakura were getting along decently (according to them, anyway— to any other eye it seemed like they were enemies with the way they bickered and fought, hitting each other as much as they could in gym and outside of it) and having their bouts of fun playing pranks and tricks, the chapter was different for him and Malik.
Bakura and Malik grew increasingly tense with each other. While the pale boy's fights with the other Ishtar twin were actually vaguely "playful" and in the end they walked away knowing the other wasn't mad, his fights with Malik were a totally new story in itself.
Often times, Mariku would catch his friend after school just to ask "what in hell did you say to piss the brat off this time?" because, really, it was sometimes for the stupidest things and Mariku knew that better than anyone. One time Bakura had merely commented (snidely) on how Malik should really wear more than just one necklace every single day— the Egyptian had been angry for hours.
Ryou had tried the first few times to resolve the fights and help the two make-up, but after many failed attempts he just gave up and stayed out of it. He discovered that, soon enough, Malik got over it and all was right with the world. No apologies were needed, not like they'd ever be muttered anyway.
Speaking of Ryou and Malik, those two had become basically best friends within the short 5-day period. They were almost always at each others' sides, laughing about inside jokes or studying for the classes they had together. In some way, they were becoming inseparable.
Although despite the fact that the younger two were growing close, there was something about Malik (and occasionally Mariku, as well) that Ryou couldn't place, and it greatly bothered him.
The weird way he reacted sometimes perturbed him— from the way his face would just fall into a blank stare, a stone cold expression, to the way he flinched at or got angry from a lot of forms of contact.
Secretly, Ryou was worried.
Was something going on now, or had something happened long ago? He wasn't sure. He wanted to ask, to see if he could help, but at the same time he didn't want to pry. He resolved to never question it. It was probably best, even though it just gnawed further on his mind.
On Friday, the day when normally Bakura was forced to hang with his twin's friends (oh so affectionately dubbed the "friendship troupe"), the older white-haired boy was actually pleased (shocker, right) to notice that Ryou, instead, had gone directly into class because Malik was in there already. Ryou would've rather hung out with him instead.
Bakura opted to ignore the other two and talk to Mariku, who was fuming about some sort of thing he got in trouble for at home. The Egyptian kept saying how pissed off his (older) brother had been and that his sister had hit him with the dishtowel. Apparently she got mad about "stupid things" often and the dishtowel was her favourite weapon of choice for. Mariku never said just what he did.
Normal enough, Bakura guessed. Normal enough.
Math class went by slower than usual.
The teacher dragged on and on about the lesson and its notes. By the time they got their homework with 10 minutes left in class, Bakura was pretty positive his brain was fried. Mariku, who only managed to understand about half the lesson (in a bad combination of having problems translating the Japanese and math just plain sucking), was even worse off. He was staring at his messy page of notes with a concentrated but befuddled expression, hand absently entwined in his bangs as he slumped in his desk.
Malik eventually noticed the silent struggle as he peered over to his twin.
"Want me to help you later?" He offered, although it was hard to ignore the slight annoyance in his voice.
Mariku only frowned, eyes still trained to the paper. "Yes. Not with this." He finally flopped back into his seat, groaning with his head back and hands over his eyes. "Brother, I loathe Japanese," he whined. "The structure, the words, the infractions—"
"Inflections."
"Whatever!" Mariku let out an angry snort, crossing his arms like a pouting kid. His twin was proving the point without even realizing it (or maybe he did, he was diabolical like that after all). "It's annoying. As if I already didn't have enough trouble in school," he grumbled bitterly. "Let me die now. Save the trouble."
Malik rolled his eyes. "Dramatic, much? You'll live. You just need to study more. I'll help, okay?" He offered once more.
"Fine."
The conversation sort of died then. Ryou quietly worked on his homework while Malik attempted to do his, but with Mariku continually poking him (or, eventually after getting no response, Bakura) for help, it was a difficult task. Bakura just watched them, unable to decide if he was amused (when it was Malik being bothered) or irritated (when he was getting bothered). He didn't feel like doing his homework anyway, though.
Lunch ended up arriving quickly.
Malik, who had gotten into the habit of packing and bringing a lunch for he and Mariku to share, would always walk to the cafeteria with Ryou and his twin in tow. Bakura was usually behind them, quietly staying out of the conversation he didn't care to partake in.
The group of four sat down at the lunch table. Ryou smiled at Jounouchi and Yugi, who were already there, before returning his gaze to his Egyptian friend. The others that normally sat at the table slowly arrived, Kaiba being the last one to "grace them" with his presence.
"So," Ryou began, "have any plans for the week-end, Malik-kun?" He asked curiously, smiling as he absently unpacked his bag lunch. Bakura hadn't brought his today, nor did he have any money, so after mooching money from Yugi he was up and buying lunch with Jounouchi in tow.
Malik shook his head. "Not really. I'm going to go through some boxes that are still packed up, see if I can't find a few things I'm missing."
"Boxes… Aren't they in the basement?" Mariku questioned absently, raising a brow as he did quick glance to his brother with his eyes.
"I think."
"I'll get them for you. Remind me later." Mariku snatched one of the forks that was lying beside the plastic container and jabbed it into the fruit inside it. "I can't find some of my shirts, speaking of that. Think they're down there?" He gnawed the fruit almost violently.
Malik contemplated for a moment. "Mm… Brother might have thrown them out. I'm not sure. I didn't pack the clothes. Ask Sister when she gets home, she might know."
"Might as well. I hope he didn't," the older Egyptian added with pursed lips. "Anyway, what are you even missing?"
"A few things. Like… Well, remember that lamp that had been in our living room back home?" Malik made a bizarre hand-motion, one that seemed to be mimicking the shade of the lamp or something. "I wanted it for the nightstand in the bedroom. The purple one that had a huge chip in it for some reason."
Mariku frowned, looking almost distressed for the briefest moment. "I think I know which one you mean," he said slowly. His twin noticed the odd reaction and raised a brow, silently asking what was wrong, but Mariku said nothing about it. The look, in both his face and eyes, was gone. "I'll help you look," he resolved with a shrug.
Ryou suddenly piped up, smiling. "So, are you all situated in your home yet?"
The younger Egyptian smiled a bit. "Oh. Yeah." Malik nodded, absently taking a bite into his apple. He chewed and swallowed before speaking again. "We moved in a week before we came to school, so now it's just finding the odds and ends that are still packed."
Mariku was snickering. "Like the silverware?" he provided with a grin. Malik scowled. He wasn't as amused.
"I still say you sold it all," he said dryly, his eyes narrowing.
"Yeah, yeah, just like I supposedly sold your stupid bicycle."
Bakura and Jounouchi returned with their lunch-trays at that moment, giving each other a rare look of equal confusion before sitting down. The twins didn't notice as they kept arguing. Malik was still seething.
"You did sell it! I'm still waiting for a new one, you psycho!"
"If you get a bike, we'll be forced to share and I know you'll want purple—"
"There is nothing wrong with the colour purple!"
"Oh no, of course not— if you're a girl!"
Jounouchi decided to give his input at that moment, glancing over with a raised eyebrow and a mouthful of food. "You gushz shure do fiht a lot," he remarked with a nod or two. Tristan cast a glance to him, sweatdropping.
Mariku furrowed his eyebrows, looking irritated as he frowned. "Okay, uh," he held a hand up in a 'wait a minute' gesture. "I can barely understand Japanese itself, let alone Japanese spoken through…" he crinkled his nose, "… through spit food and a full mouth."
The golden haired boy swallowed messily, choking a bit from the motion. Yugi slapped his friend's back a few times, worried, but Jounouchi only guzzled some of his water down, coughing once, before he started to laugh. Yugi visibly relaxed as Jounouchi grinned, "Sorry 'bout that, man! I said: you guys sure do fight a lot," he repeated easily with another laugh. "Get into a lot of trouble, don't cha, Mariku?"
Muttering in Arabic (something that sounded vaguely like 'whoever the hell said you could use my name so lightly' and 'no respect whatsoever' to Malik's ears) before actually responding, Mariku just rolled his eyes. "Sure."
Honda laughed. "So, been adjusting okay and all that, Ishtar?" He looked at Mariku as he said it, but the elder twin could tell it was more so directed at them both.
"I guess," he replied absently. He glanced at Malik, as if waiting for him to disagree— the younger twin said nothing and Mariku decided the conversation was done with. He stabbed with his fork at the fruit in the bowl (which Malik had almost possessively, dammit he needed to share Malik was getting as bad as he was), absently gnawing it before his eyes lit up. He pointed frantically to his twin, who gave him an odd look as he waited for the blonde to swallow (Malik was thankful his brother had some scrap of table manners, no pun intended). After one more moment of eye rolling and chewing, Mariku burst out with: "I made the lacrosse team!"
Malik was silent, gaping slightly. "You made the what team? Are you serious?"
Bakura burst out laughing, ignoring the glare-pout Ryou sent him. Anzu, who had been talking to Yugi, looked over with a raised eyebrow with the star-haired boy's expression looking eerily similar. Honda and Jounouchi were silent, while Kaiba was just watching the group with silent apprehension. Mariku scowled at them all before turning his attention to his twin.
"Yes, I said lacrosse and yes, I'm serious," he repeated with a huff. "What's the big deal? It's actually incredibly violent!" His eyes lit up again at that, a malicious smirk striking across his face. Malik only rolled his eyes.
"That would explain it," he murmured. "So the other day you stayed after school for that, then."
Kaiba, for one of the first times Mariku had heard him speak, added his own input: "Lacrosse doesn't start until spring, Ishtar," he said crassly and although he looked like he was glaring, it was really just how his face always was— sour and annoyed at the world.
"Bzzt, wrong!" Mariku closed one eye as he waved a hand, grinning triumphantly. "They have a fall team, actually, and one for spring too!" He stuck his tongue out childishly.
Kaiba narrowed his eyes but said nothing in retort.
Jounouchi snickered, "Well, then, congrats on that, Mariku!" He gave the boy a thumbs-up and a grin. "When were try-outs? I thought I saw a poster for 'em on Wednesday."
"Yeah, they were Wednesday. Found out who got in today," Mariku nodded absently. Having a sudden mood-swing, he looked like he was bored of the entire subject already. Malik, not surprised, only shoved the food at his brother to get his attention back to a different subject before he started contemplating murder or something. Mariku wasted no time digging into the fruit greedily, Malik rolling his eyes in slight disgust.
"You eat like a horse," he commented absently. Mariku shot him a glare and shoved his brother's shoulder. Malik just glared back. "It's true."
"… Moving on," Ryou urged quietly, laughing a bit. The twins fought more than he and Bakura did. "Congratulations on making the team, Ishtar-san."
The elder Egyptian pursed his lips semi-moodily. "Mariku. Not Ishtar-san." He shook his head, biting back some other thought it seemed, before letting out a sigh. He still sounded bored as he mumbled: "Thanks."
"You're welcome." Ryou was smiling now. Mariku regarded him with little interest, continuing to stab his fork (he refused to touch chopsticks, even though Ishizu enjoyed them and Malik liked them, too) into the fruit almost murderously. Malik cast a wary gaze his twin's way, but said nothing.
The conversation died. The "friendship troupe" conversed with each other and included the Ishtar twins as much as they could— but Mariku was silent, seemingly upset or mildly furious, and Malik gave short answers. In the end, after not getting far at all, they stopped trying.
Lunch came and went just like school came and went. Eventually, the day had come and gone as well.
(-)
It bothered Bakura.
It bothered him like not much else ever had, and rarely anything plagued his mind as much as this did now. He hated it.
Ever since Ryou brought up the fact that Malik— or, namely, both of the twins in general— acted strange sometimes, it was almost all Bakura could think about. He felt like an undercover detective (although "Detective Bakura" didn't have a very good ring to it, maybe "Private Eye Bakura" instead). He observed the Egyptians' every movement. Timed their responses. Monitored their reactions.
Every now and then, something would flicker— an emotion would be set across the violet orbs of either twin and then, as fast as it came, it was gone. Was it bizarre? Only sort of. After all, Ryou was like that sometimes, even. A pass of panic or bitterness would show, and then it was smothered like a candlewick. After all, who didn't have skeletons in their closet?
The thing was that Bakura and Ryou had only one skeleton— but the Ishtar twins? They might as well have an entire mausoleum's worth.
There was more than one, more than two even, and Bakura intended to find out. How? He wasn't sure yet. He'd find out, though. He was sure of that at the very least. Ryou knew no more than he did, or if he knew he just wouldn't tell. Any pressure to ask the Ishtar twins something or if Ryou knew anything was dismissed. The fair-haired boy would easily change the subject, pleasantly almost, and smile in that same soft puppy-dog manner. 'It'd be best not to ask them anything,' he'd say. Why Bakura would listen he'd never know.
Sometimes, he hated his twin… but only sometimes.
"Bakura?"
He was snapped from his thoughts. He blinked a few times, registering where exactly he was— their house, in the desk, in a chair, in his room. It was sort of late— like maybe 8:30PM or so. Someone was talking to him.
Glancing behind himself, his eyes met an emerald blue-green gaze porcelain skin framed by striking white—his mother. "Hm?"
Their mother smiled sweetly. "The phone rang— it's for you, shockingly." She laughed a bit and held out the white and slightly beaten up device, even though the boy was completely across the room. Bakura raised a brow and pushed away from his desk. He didn't argue with his mother because, well, it was true. Who actually called for him and not Ryou? Barely anyone called for Ryou, even.
"Well, that's… weird," he remarked obviously, walking over to her and taking the phone delicately. He always felt like he'd break her, even though she was strong. "Thanks, kaasan…" He absently put the phone to his ear as she left, his lips pursed. "Bakura speaking."
['Your number is incredibly hard to find, I hope you know!']
That voice. Bakura furrowed his brows, racking his mind for a moment. It was whiny, but not nasally. Sort of deep. The Japanese wasn't very good.
Oh.
Wait.
"… Mariku? Why the hell are you calling— wait how in hell did you even get my number?"
['Phone-books are cool once you know how to use them. Rishid bought one for us. It's neat.']
"… We're in the phone-book?" Bakura muttered and paused before shaking his head. Whatever. "Ishtar, was this your entire purpose for calling? To tell me you learned how to use a bloody phone-book and make me aware of our existence in such?"
['Sort of! I— Meh, hold on.'] The voice was suddenly muffled. Bakura raised a brow again, hearing some sort of shout from Mariku and someone snapping a reply in the distance. After a moment, Mariku's voice returned with a sigh. ['Don't ask. Anyway, I had a question for you, actually.']
"… Okay," Bakura agreed reluctantly, wondering just what was so important that the Egyptian had to look up his number to call him instead of just wait until tomorrow. "I can't promise I'll answer even if I know, though…" he muttered awkwardly. Mariku didn't seem phased.
['Yuh. That's fine. I wanted to ask if Malik's been acting funny around you, or…'] There was hesitation. It was the briefest moment, but Bakura caught it. ['Or if Ryou has said anything about him.']
"Funny, huh?" He remarked thoughtfully. "No, not particularly." Bakura absently sat back down at his desk, balancing his pencil between his fingers and fiddling with it. "Ryou's thrown these thoughts to you, as well, I'm assuming?"
['No, but I picked up on it. I think he just worries about my brother too much, honestly.']
There was a confidence in Mariku's voice that Bakura was sure wasn't present on his face on the other line.
['I would've spoke to him rather than you, but I thought it'd be a bad idea.'] He paused for a moment. ['Malik told me, so I know I sort of intimidate him. That's the word, right? Intimidate? Meh. Well, I don't mean to. It's always been that way, honestly: I intimidate everyone. That's why I asked for you, instead.'] Another pause. ['I have to wonder, however, how your mother specifically knew I wanted you, and not Ryou. Because I said your last name since I don't know your first, which you should really tell me sometime… but that's beside the point, I guess. Cloudy, just do me a favour? Relay this to the creampuff for me.']
Bakura almost shrugged before realizing that, obviously, Mariku wouldn't have seen it anyway. "Don't call him 'creampuff,' you ass," he chided aimlessly. "But sure, whatever, I'll tell him… So the brat's fine, huh? I didn't figure anything unusual, but my brother's a worrier. He always has been." Bakura twirled the pencil absently, gazing idly at the desk. "So you honestly don't know why you intimidate him."
['I sense the protectiveness coming through. Cloudy, I haven't done a thing— well, to him anyway. I'm not sure he was around to see that one, but I did get into a bit of a fight.']
Bakura smirked. "Oh, really now. Verbal or fist?"
['Verbal. I tried to make it fist-oriented but a teacher broke it up right before I managed a punch.'] A heavy sigh. ['Regardless. Cloudy, promise, I haven't done anything to Ryou and I'm sure I won't ever. He… sort of reminds me of somebody I once knew…'] Mariku trailed off almost thoughtfully, seeming to reminisce for a moment. ['The kid seems incredible fragile. Is he made of glass?']
"He might as well be."
['True enough, I guess. Ah. Well, my sister's yelling for me to go to dinner. Catch ya. Bye.'] He hung up without waiting for a response.
Bakura snorted in amusement ("where in hell did he get the phrase 'catch ya' from?") but clicked the handset off as he ambled to the kitchen to replace it in its cradle. His mother was absently cutting up some sort of vegetables, but he didn't really care for them. He was a meat type. They all knew that.
When he clunked the phone down and back into its proper place, the fair-haired woman turned her head slightly to look at her eldest son as he sat down at the table idly. "So, Ishtar-san was it?" She began placidly. "I've heard Ryou bring the name up once or twice, but I think it was the other one. Twins, are they? New?"
Bakura let out a "mhm" of agreement but didn't add much. He didn't see the need to. While their mother was easy going, she wasn't always easy to talk to. The way she responded would sometimes vaguely remind Bakura of himself, just in a slightly more polite manner. She was loving, though, don't get him wrong— just it wasn't expressed as thoroughly, it seemed.
"His accent's noticeable, and his Japanese could use some work," she commented to continue the conversation. She was used to Bakura not contributing much, if anything. "He seems pleasant enough, though."
"I guess so," Bakura agreed, but inwardly he was laughing his ass off— Mariku? Pleasant? He doubted the Egyptian could even put up a fake front of pleasantry, let alone one of actuality.
"You might want to tell him to watch the genders of what he says, though," Michie continued with a shrug. She finished cutting the vegetables and was dumping them into a large bowl. "He's using mostly male ones, but a few female words and such slipped out."
Bakura snorted, an amused smirk finding its way onto his lips. "And here I thought his brother was the feminine one."
His mother turned around with her own smirk, waggling the spatula she held at him. "Hey now. Behave."
(-)
"Hey, I'm home from work!" Mariku announced loudly as he shut the door and messily hung up his coat. "Shift lasted later than usual, no thanks to Takanaka (1)…" He paused, glancing around with half-lidded and bored eyes. The TV was on, but muted and idly playing some sort of romantic drama (he assumed). Raising an eyebrow, the spiky-haired boy took a few steps in looking, around curiously. "Uh, Ishizu? Mal? You home?"
"Kitchen!" Malik shouted out of his brother's range of sight. "I'm making dinner… Ishizu's in a meeting, so she won't be home until later. What time is it now? I can't see the clock."
"Err…" Mariku hesitated as he wandered into the small kitchen area, scratching his head. "Like, 8 or something?"
"You really did get a late shift, huh," the younger twin commented with a nod. "Hopefully you can get off earlier tomorrow or something."
"Hopefully," Mariku agreed as he sat down at the table. "Lacrosse and work might intervene a few times, but…" He chuckled. "I'll skip work, yeah? Call in sick or something."
"You really shouldn't," Malik sighed, turning around to lean his weight on the counter. The water wasn't boiling yet. "That would get you into trouble with our boss…"
"Could he really fire us?" The spiky-haired Egyptian leaned back contemplatively, putting a finger to his lips. "Eh, don't answer that, he totally could. Hey, was 'intervene' the right word?"
"What?" Malik thought back a moment. "Oh. No, not really but it's not too bad, I guess. Better in the context would've been 'interfere.'"
"Oh."
The younger twin smiled softly. "You're getting better, though… Hey, did you want carrots?"
"Random," Mariku commented with a raised brow, "but no thanks."
The other Egyptian only shrugged. "Okay." He turned towards the fridge and got out a few bags of vegetables he had bought earlier that week. He slid the cutting board out from the drawer, grabbed a knife, and started to dice up the various vegetables. The water was almost done boiling.
Mariku was silent for a moment, just watching him with an air of boredom. After a few more seconds, he suddenly had an idea. "Hey, Rishid got us that phone-book for practice or something like it... do you think Cloudy's number is in it?"
"... Yes, Bakura's number is probably in it," Malik repeated back with a roll of his eyes. He really didn't like the nickname the older white-haired twin had acquired from his twin but he didn't feel like arguing against it. It was mostly just stupid to him, but Mariku was a stupid person so Malik supposed he should've seen it coming. "Why? You hate talking on the phone."
"True, but…" Mariku trailed off with a shrug and got up. "Where is it? Our bedroom still?"
His twin nodded and the Egyptian wandered off to get it. He lugged it back to the table and dropped it down, opening it and slowly going through the numbers and names, finger pressed to the page and trailing down and across the ink. He was moving his lips as he attempted to read out the kanji and katakana that was hard to recognize.
"A… ki… nan… su," he murmured one of the names after long pauses in-between syllables. It wasn't close to what he wanted. He flitted through a couple pages and moved them out of his way until he found the "BA" area a few pages away. Malik had to help him, correcting his reading as he did— and point out he was in the "BUSINESS" section rather than "PERSONAL."
"Baku… Ta? No? Ryo?" Mariku frowned. The last kanji had too many meanings for him. His mind was starting to scatter— were any of those even actually the reading? "Ugh. Malik, I don't know," the spiky-haired boy pointed to the name he struggled to read. Malik glanced over.
"The second kanji isn't 'ta' or 'no'. 'Ta' looks like…" Malik snatched the pencil off the table and drew on the nearby notebook paper. Once he was done, he turned it around to show it to his brother and pointed to it with the eraser. "Like this. See? Slightly different. The top part is meant to represent a home, I heard. And, uh, 'no' looks like this… See? A bit different and it has another kanji meshed in by it, sort of."
"Well that's confusing…" Mariku remarked bitterly, scowling at the phone-book with annoyance (2).
Malik shrugged. "Can be. Anyway, the kanji's read as a lot of things but in this case… yeah, I'm pretty sure it's 'ra'." Malik nodded as if to reassure himself. "First name says … Michie, I think? Yeah. Michie. Bakura Michie (3)," he tested the name out a few times. It was a female name, he guessed, so it had to be their mother. Why it wasn't their father, he wasn't sure— but it wasn't uncommon for divorce and separations and such. After all, they didn't have a mother or a father anymore, so it was best to not assume. Regardless, he pushed the thought aside. "It looks like the same way Ryou writes it, so it's more than likely them. Why are you calling him, anyway? You never told me."
"I want to ask Cloudy somethin'," the elder twin replied as he grabbed the phone from its wall cradle, dialing the number carefully before scuttling off to his (and Malik's— but details, details) room. It rang a few times and he coughed, nervous on the phone, but finally someone picked up— a woman.
['Hello, Bakura residence. Michie speaking.']
Mariku took a breath. Hopefully he'd remember the right words to use. That whole 'different words for the phone' wasn't something normal for him.
"Hello." ('It's moshi moshi right? That's how to say 'hello' on the phone?') "My name is Ishtar Mariku… I am, uh, looking for…" Shit. Shit. Bakura never said his first name, what the hell should he say— "…my classmate, er, Bakura-k-kun," he said hesitantly after fumbling over the ending. "Is he there?"
Damn.
Was "–kun" a good idea? No. Probably not at all. He would probably get handed off to Ryou instead. Why did he use "-kun" in the first place anyway? He hated that tag, it drove him nuts because it sounded too "cutesy" and… blegh. He should've used "-san," or just left off the suffix in general. Well, if all else failed, he would just have to clarify that he didn't mean Ryou if he ended up speaking to him anyway. He probably should say that now before she asked.
But to Mariku's surprise, the woman asked for no clarification.
['Oh, yes, he is. Hang on a moment, Ishtar-san. I'll go get him.']
Mariku let out the breath of air he didn't realize he was holding. Even though, really, he wanted to talk to Ryou about a certain matter, he felt like he really just… couldn't. Bakura was a more obvious choice to him, even though he was the ruder of the two white-haired boys. He would listen to what Mariku wanted to say without interrupting or attempting to "figure him out." That was all he wanted at the moment: someone to just listen. Mariku didn't want to accuse anyone or upset Ryou and if he ended up talking to the said boy, he knew he would.
Hopefully he would get given to the right twin…
['Bakura speaking.']
Bingo.
"Your number is incredibly hard to find, I hope you know!"
The conversation continued from there.
Malik had interrupted once to make sure his twin wasn't doing anything stupid. Mariku snapped he was simply asking the fair-haired boy about something, personal, excuse me, I am on the phone, and Malik fought back the urge to snort. He found that incredibly laughable because Mariku never did anything without much of an ulterior motive and to ask someone something personal? It wasn't up his alley at all (unless, of course, he gained something from it). Bakura was no better, he was sure, and Malik doubted that the older boy would even listen to the 'personal' question anyway.
To say Bakura reminded Malik of his twin would've been an understatement.
He left eventually, waving a hand in dismissal. Malik didn't care.
Mariku eventually was able to ask Bakura if he thought Malik was acting weird. It sounded like the other boy didn't have a clue but, obviously, Ryou had brought it up with him. Bakura himself didn't notice anything. That was good because, really, it was cuttingly obvious that Malik reacted badly to certain things and especially certain forms of contact.
It wasn't like Malik was awful at hiding things, because he wasn't; he just let his eyes show too much at times even if he wasn't aware of it. Maybe it was mostly his subtle flinches. Or it could've been his bizarre reactions. Mariku wasn't sure. What he did know was that Ryou picked up on something (something better left buried) and hopefully, after this talk, it would get put to rest… if Bakura actually relayed it to him, anyway.
Something nagged him, though, besides his concerns about his little brother— and that was the whole "intimidation of Ryou" thing.
Malik had offhandedly told him one day about how Ryou was uncomfortable around the twin, that wasn't a lie. However, the rest was. He knew why he was intimidating— it was all in how he looked and by "looked," he wasn't thinking of clothing.
It was his eyes.
His eyes were always hard, distrusting, and threatening because if he softened up too much, it put him in a defenseless position and then his brother would end up hurt. It happened once. It would never happen again, as far as he would know and be aware of. There was a distinct barrier always up, even if he smiled. The violet irises never varied from that cold appearance. He couldn't afford to.
How did this involve Ryou? It was simple: Ryou judged people by their eyes. Mariku knew that almost instantly upon meeting him. Certain people judge others in certain ways even if they refused to admit it or even do so unconsciously— some went by hair, some by clothes, and others by personality. Few did it by eyes, and Ryou was one of those people.
Mariku's eyes were very different from Malik's. He showed much more of his inner thoughts than his brother did, and he almost always had. It was something that told them apart even when they were small children. It worried Mariku, honestly, because despite knowing his "baby brother" could handle himself he always had that nagging thought that, what if, he wasn't the only one who could see right through him?
In the end, despite all his internal conflicts and worries about his twin, Mariku found himself growing panicked about someone else.
That person was Ryou.
Thoughts kept flitting through his head of him one day accidentally hitting Ryou by some weird chance and the boy simply shattering— was it an odd thought? Not really for Mariku's mind where the land of bizarre thoughts was never a place rarely trekked, but it was enough to disturb him. He didn't like the mental image and, really, it made his stomach churn in disgust. It didn't help that Bakura agreed with him.
Mariku felt pressured after that. He pretended Ishizu had called for him, which obviously was impossible seeing as she wouldn't be home until late into the night that might as well have been daybreak, and ended the conversation quickly as he could. He hung up without another word.
Yeah, he was slightly concerned.
It wouldn't have been the first time he'd broken someone.
AUTHOR NOTES:
(1) Random name for a random OC. Takanaka will show up in later chapters, more than likely! He's not much a fan of the Egyptian twins though, let's say that much.
(2) I'll lose my non-Japanese speaking readers here and long before, more than likely. Bakura's name is composed in Japanese like this: 獏 良 . That last kanji is a kicker, so I can understand Mariku's frustration with it. With two strokes, or 食 , it suddenly because "ta" which is used in the Japanese verb "tabemasu" or "to eat." It can also look very eerily similar to 飲 or "no," which is used in "nomimasu", or "to drink." Luckily Bakura's first kanji is really only read as "baku" with "myaku" popping up in traditional Chinese readings.
Back to "良:" … it really can be said MANY ways: ryou, ryo, yoi, ii, ji, tsukasa, naga, makoto, yoshi, rou and, of course, ra. It's one of those "different pronunciations with different readings" things— there's the On, Kun, and Nanori ways of reading it. Annoying, huh? No wonder Mariku has so much trouble.
(3) I'm not really good with names, haha. Uhm, I went with "Michie" for their mother's name since I couldn't remember/find hers if she was ever given a canon one. I remember Amane's name being mentioned but, eh. If she has one and anybody knows, shoot it to me. Otherwise, Michie it is…
And that's that. Oooh, foreshadowiingggg! Just what was Mariku talking about? Any ideas? HMM.
And gosh, I was so frustrated! I had this chapter all nice and edited and then BAM. My browser died (because I edit once in a word document and re-edit in the doc manager) and I lost it all.
I still think what I had typed first, even though I don't fully remember it, was better… Anyway, I'm sorry I took so long on this. I got distracted with a lot of real-life stuff… hopefully the next update won't take so long!
Read & Review & Critique please! Always greatly appreciated. You know the drill by now with flames, yes?
Anyway, UNTIL NEXT TIME! [skips off]