"Akia, wake up, time for school," Yugi called out to his sister.

"Five more minutes..." She whined.

"You stayed up way too late again, didn't you?" The boy sighed.

No response. Akia had fallen back to sleep. Ever since Marik left, Akia had been staying up late talking to him. Considering the time difference of seven hours that Japan had in advance over Egypt, it was always her that sacrificed her sleeping time, since she had school in the morning. He had also shared with her that he had started attending school as well, which was a very exciting experience for him. This also meant that they could only start talking when it was 4PM in Egypt, which was 11PM in Japan. They would video chat into the late hours of the night for Akia, with Marik feeling extremely guilty about how tired she always looked. However, their little video dates every night were what was keeping her going. It was the one thing she looked forward to. It's only been a month since his departure and since the start of the new semester and Akia was already feeling the physical strain from not sleeping enough.

"Akia, I'll drag you out of bed if I have to. Our new homeroom teacher is not as nice as the last one. If you're late too often, he might make you repeat the year," Yugi warned Akia sternly.

The black-haired girl's eyes lazily opened. "Coming..." She mumbled as she got out of bed with a lot of difficulty. She got ready for school, applying a little bit of concealer under her eyes to hide her deepening dark circles. It didn't hide the drowsiness from her gaze.

"Good morning you two," their grandfather greeted them as they came down. "Nice to see that Akia hasn't been late once since the beginning of the new semester. Good job, Yugi!"

"What about congratulating me for getting out of bed?" Akia retorted.

"You look very tired, though, Akia. You should sleep earlier," Sugoroku commented. "Have a nice day you two."

The twins left home and joined with Anzu who was waiting for them outside as per their usual routine to walk to school together.

"Good morning, Yugi, Akia!" She greeted them cheerfully.

"Good morning, Anzu!" Yugi replied with the same enthusiasm.

"'Morning..." Akia mumbled, dazed from her lack of sleep.

"I know I've been saying this almost every day lately, but you should really get some sleep, Akia..." Anzu told her.

"I would if I didn't have school," the red-eyed girl joked.

"I meant at night," Anzu giggled at her joke.

"It's the only time I can talk with Marik. I'm not cutting that time with him. If it costs me a little sleep, then so be it," Akia stated.

Yugi sighed in resignation, knowing that nothing would change her mind about this. He was just really worried about how more and more exhausted she'd been every day. She'd drop things, forget what she was saying, leave stuff behind, do worse at school and many more things. He didn't know how far it would go or how long this was going to last, but he hoped something would happen before his sister got seriously hurt.

Jounouchi and Honda joined up with them on the way to school.

"Red Eyes, your eyes are more red than usual. Stop flirting with your boyfriend and get some sleep," Jounouchi reprimanded her.

"Not gonna happen," Akia retorted.

"Akia's more stubborn than you, Jounouchi. Don't expect her to actually listen," Honda teased.

The black-haired girl stuck out her tongue at his comment and smirked. When they arrived at school, Otogi said his good mornings to them before heading to his class. A lot of the other students would go up to them as well to greet both her and Yugi, considering how the latter was the winner of Battle City and how Akia was getting more and more popular among the boys at her school. Her display of skills that was shown all over the city got her a ton of fans. She couldn't be bothered to give them much attention though, considering how sleepy she was.

As Akia sat at her desk, she saw Bakura walking her way. She let out a sigh, knowing exactly what was coming.

"Good morning, Akia-chan," he greeted her with a concerned smile.

"Good morning, Ryou," she replied with half a smile.

"You're looking more and more tired by the day..."

"Don't start..."

"I'm just saying that maybe he's not thinking of your well-being. He lets you stay up late every night, taking advantage of how much you miss him..."

"Why do you keep placing all the blame on him? Do you think I'm a child who can't think for herself? If anything, I'm the one who insists every night to talk longer while he tries to get me to go to sleep, so don't give me that crap," Akia snapped back. Her fuse was way shorter than usual with how exhausted she'd been. She instantly regretted it though when she saw Bakura's hurt expression. "I'm sorry... This whole situation is just really getting to me. I know you're only saying this because you're worried about me."

"Mainly yes," Bakura sighed and patted her head. "Also I think I'd be a much better boyfriend to you than him."

"You've made those thoughts quite clear in the past month," now it was her turn to sigh. "But I've made it quite clear that I only want Marik."

"I know. I'm slowly starting to move on," Bakura admitted.

"Someone else is catching your eye?" The red-eyed girl inquired.

"Maybe."

"Well, I wish you luck with your new mystery girl," Akia grinned.

The bell rang, signalling the start of class. Everyone went back to their seats as the teacher entered. Akia tried her best not to fall asleep, since she'd been warned before about it. This teacher was definitely not going to let her off the hook like the last one, to her dismay. Every time she felt herself doze off, she'd pinch her hand.

By the end of the day, Akia was even more exhausted than the morning. She was zoning out on the way home that she almost went the wrong way if it weren't for her brother dragging her along.

As soon as she got home, she set her alarm to ring in two hours and collapsed on her bed, planning to nap a little before getting on with her school work.

She jolted up when her alarm rang, feeling as though it went off almost as soon as she laid her head on the pillow. Looking at the time, however, she confirmed that it had been two hours.

"Akia, Yugi! Dinner is ready!" The twins' mother called.

Akia changed out of her school uniform and washed her face with cold water to chase away the drowsiness before going to eat supper with her family.

When that was over, the red-eyed girl headed straight to her room and started cramming all of her school work as quickly as she could so that she would be available in time for her daily video chat with Marik.

When 11PM hit, the video chat application on her computer rang. Akia quickly answered and Marik's face filled her screen.

"Babyy!" Akia called out with a smile.

"How's my beautiful queen doing?" Marik asked with a grin.

"Still missing you..." She whined.

"I miss you too. More than I could express it with words."

"How was school?"

"It's still very different from what I was used to before, being home-schooled by my family, but I'm enjoying it. Catching up with the curriculum was the most annoying part of it all, but now I feel like I'm up to speed. What about you? You're looking even more tired than yesterday..."

"I'm fine, don't worry. It's just that the current teacher won't let me sleep in class, haha."

Even though Akia laughed, Marik's face was riddled with worry. "Babe, you really need to sleep earlier."

"But I want to talk to you more..."

"I know... Me too I'd love it if we could just talk and talk for ages, but not at the detriment of your health."

"We have this talk every night, Marik. I don't want to keep wasting our time on this discussion..." Akia sighed.

"I just worry about you, princess."

"I know you do, my king," she smiled dreamily at him.

"Well, at least you'll be sleeping well in the next few days."

There was a moment of silence before Akia raised an eyebrow, feeling a bit worried about what he was about to say. "What do you mean...?"

"I'm going to be away for a few days. There's a ritual that I must perform as the head of the Tomb Guardians and I won't have access to the outside world for a bit."

"Oh, I see... How many days are we talking?" Akia inquired.

"About a week. So you better rest up during that time," Marik replied.

"Alright..." The red-eyed girl mumbled.

"Promise me."

"I promise."

Her heart squeezed uncomfortably at the thought of not having contact with Marik for a whole week, but she knew it was his responsibility as the head of his family to attend to all of their rituals and traditions.

"Other than these bad news, there's this movie that I've been dying to watch, but I'm holding off on it because I know you'd love it," Akia said.

"Is it that new fantasy romance movie where the main character is a spirit hunter who's also looking for his long lost love?" Marik inquired.

"That's the one!"

"Well, you're in luck, because... I have it downloaded on my computer now."

"No way! You did?! So we can watch it tonight?" Akia excitedly squealed.

"Yeah, we definitely can! Wanna grab some snacks or popcorn for a proper movie night? Even though it's still bright outside for me." Marik looked at the time on his end and saw it was now 5PM, which meant it was midnight at Akia's. The movie was about two hours long. If he got her to promise to go to sleep right after the movie ended, then it'd be 2AM for her. Usually, she'd be in bed not before 3AM, so he hoped this would help her sleep earlier.

"I'll be right back!" Akia jumped out of her seat, feeling suddenly invigorated from the anticipation.

She came back with a few sweets and bottle of Calpis to accompany her in her movie viewing.

"Before we start, you have to promise to go straight to bed after the movie is over," Marik told her.

"What? But this will be our last night talking until you come back from your ritual thing..." Akia tried arguing.

"And we will talk more when I'm back, but if you want to watch this movie, then you will go to sleep as soon as it's over. Deal?"

"...Fine..." The red-eyed girl pouted.

"Good girl," he teased, causing her to involuntarily smile so she huffed to cover up her grin.

They both got comfortable as the movie started, Marik already digging into his popcorn.

"Is there butter in that?" Akia asked.

"Yeah, it's my cheat day," he replied.

"I thought yesterday was your cheat day," she giggled.

"I can have more than one!" He chuckled back.

As the movie played, they would both comment on the plot, and daydream about the romantic scenes.

"I wonder how it would feel to kiss underwater," Akia commented. "Can they actually use each other's breaths as oxygen?"

"I'm down to try. It would be also an excuse to see you in a swimsuit," Marik replied with a sly smile.

"I need to buy myself a swimsuit, then. The only one I have is the school one."

"I bet you still look good in that."

"You say that about everything I wear."

"Because it's true."

Akia giggled and they kept watching the movie. When the credits rolled, she yawned. "Well, that was pretty fun."

"Not a bad movie. Watching it with you made it ten times better, though," Marik added. "Now, go get ready for sleep, princess."

"Hmm... I will... Can I get a kiss from my king?" Akia asked in a cute voice.

Marik blew her a kiss and she did the same.

"Goodnight, my goddess. Sweet dreams," he winked.

"Goodnight. I'll miss you a lot... Even more than I already miss you..."

"I'll miss you a lot too. I'll contact you as soon as I am able, though."

They said their goodbyes once more and ended their video chat. Akia went to brush her teeth and collapsed on her bed right after. She had a dreamless night, considering how tired she'd been.