Here's the next chapter :) Hope you guys like it!

-Lauren

x.x.x

Marik awoke to the aroma of coffee. Immediately he sat up, as the sun creeping in through the windows warmed him.

'Got breakfast,' said Bakura, stepping out of the shadows to face Marik. 'I hope you like Bacon and Egg McMuffins.'

For an ancient Egyptian spirit, Bakura had really embraced fast food.

All the better for Marik, though. He ate the McMuffin ravenously and gulped down the coffee, feeling rejuvenated.

'Can you get up?' asked Bakura.

'I don't know,' said Marik. He was propping himself up by his hands. He attempted to get up, using the weight of one leg, but he faltered and fell back on his ass.

'You're useless,' said Bakura. 'Your ankle had better just be twisted, I can't wait ages for this to heal.'

'Well it's not really my fault, is it?' Marik snapped. 'Anyway there's nothing I can do about it now.'

'Well we're not hanging out in this dump just because you twisted your ankle,' said Bakura. 'Here, get up,' he said, offering Marik his hand. Marik wanted to slap it away, but he knew that getting up on his own was near impossible. He allowed Bakura to pull him up.

Bakura took Marik's arm and slung it around his own shoulder.

'Look, you just limp and I'll carry the rest of your weight,' said Bakura gruffly.

'Where are we going?' Marik asked.

'To the doctor's,' said Bakura. 'To see how long it will take to heal, and maybe get some crutches.'

'Oh,' said Marik. 'And how are you going to explain all these damn bruises?'

A smirk spread slowly across Bakura's face. Marik had a sense that he was not going to like this.

'Experiments of a... sexual nature,' Bakura said evilly.

'HELL NO!' Marik protested, but Bakura was already dragging him towards the train station.

x.x.x

As they approached the outside of the doctor's office, Bakura slung an arm around Marik's shoulders.

'I AM NOT PRETENDING TO BE YOUR BOYFRIEN–' Marik roared, but immediately shut up as Bakura pushed open the door to the clinic.

Bakura helped Marik limp over to the receptionist's desk.

'Are you, um, Mr Ishtar?' the receptionist asked.

'Yes,' Marik said.

'Okay, Dr Mizuya will only be a few minutes, please take a seat.'

Marik limped back over to the seats and sat down next to a stack of trashy, glossy magazines. The other patients in the surgery tried to avoid Marik's gaze but he knew they were all staring at his bruised body. Marik cursed Bakura. How long would these bruises take to heal?

'Hey, this girl's tan looks like yours,' commented Bakura, pointing to a particularly unflattering picture of Ashlee Simpson with a spray tan.

'At least I'm not a bloody pasty,' Marik spat back.

'Mr Ishtar?' asked the receptionist, interrupting their bitch session.

'Yes,' said Marik. Together they limped to the doctor's office, where a very surprised Dr Mizuya met the two.

The doctor was lost for words, and obviously didn't know where to start, simply looking Marik up and down, confusion writ clear across his face.

'I'm here about my ankle,' said Marik.

'Right, right,' said Dr Mizuya, slightly shaken. 'Can you lift your leg up for me?'

Marik did as asked, and the doctor unwrapped the bandages around his ankle. Bakura was sitting in the corner on a chair, crossing his arms and looking bored.

'Ah, it seems you've simply twisted it. In a couple of days, it should be fine. Just keep it bandaged up.'

'Thank you,' said Marik, nodding at the doctor.

'Um, I can't help asking about these wounds...' said the doctor, indicating to Marik's bare arms. Marik heard Bakura clear his throat, but Marik cut in quickly.

'I had an accident on my motorbike,' Marik said hastily.

The doctor nodded.

'Well it looks like someone's disinfected the wounds for you,' Bakura coughed from his place in the corner, 'which is good. Is the motorbike accident how you twisted your ankle?'

'Yeah,' lied Marik.

'Well, you're lucky you didn't get a concussion to your head, by the severity of the wounds.' Bakura coughed again.

'Yeah,' agreed Marik.

'Anyway, here's some extra bandages, and a pair of crutches so you can get around in the time being,' said the doctor, handing Marik the bandages and crutches, 'you should be fine in the next two or three days.'

They left the doctor's office and when they were outside, Bakura spoke up.

'Did you hear that? Severity of the wounds,' he said proudly.

'You're pleased with yourself?' Sicko,' said Marik distastefully. 'Where are we going now, anyway? I'm sick of hiding out in that old warehouse.'

'Well, if you lock yourself in your room and refuse to let Ishizu in, she may not notice that you're black and blue all over,' said Bakura.

'That's not helpful,' said Marik. 'I could tell her that I fell over,' Marik suggested.

'You did fall over,' Bakura pointed out. Marik scowled.

'You're really not helping,' Marik complained.

'Oh, I have an idea,' said Bakura, gleefully. He had an evil glint in his eyes, and Marik didn't like it.

Ten minutes later, Bakura returned with a can of spray on tan.

'No. Way,' said Marik firmly.

'As if you don't use this rubbish anyway,' Bakura said.

'I will have you know that my skin is 100% natural!' Marik argued angrily.

'You're such a bloody girl, Marik. You should be on one of those beauty ads. This tan is 100% natural!' drawled Bakura. 'Oh come on.' He shook the can, and smiled at Marik. 'Ready?' he asked.

Marik sighed and closed his eyes.

'Don't get any on my clothes,' he warned. The spray hit him like the cold sea spray, Marik tried to sit still but it was an incredibly uncomfortable experience.

'Okay... almost done,' said Bakura. 'There.'

Marik opened his eyes. His skin was a ridiculous shade of orange – his eyes widened in horror. He looked like an Oompa Loompa!

'Oh come on,' said Bakura, 'it hardly looks any different to what your skin was before.'

'Urgh,' said Marik. 'I really really hate you.'

x.x.x

'How was your stay at Yugi's?' Ishizu asked Marik. Marik felt jittery. Surely his sister would notice that his skin was bright orange... to his surprise, Ishizu didn't even blink an eyelid.

'It was fine,' said Marik, putting on a fake smile. Bakura was upstairs, in Marik's room. Marik felt wary of leaving Bakura alone in his room, but he couldn't help it. Bakura was probably going through his stuff at this very moment – and stealing stuff, as well. He was a thief, after all.

'That's good,' said Ishizu. 'Yugi's such a nice boy. What did you two get up to?'

What was this, an interrogation? Oh, whoops sis, I meant I was with Bakura, we stole $100,000 from some guys who held up a bank, and we slept in some abandoned warehouse and I twisted my ankle. Marik sighed.

Luckily Marik was sitting down and had removed the bandages, so Ishizu wouldn't notice his twisted ankle.

'Just played some Duel Monsters, did some homework, that kind of stuff,' said Marik casually.

'Okay. Marik, I think I'll be out tonight, I'm going to be visiting a friend, I'll be back sometime tomorrow. Is that ok?' Ishizu said.

'Of course,' said Marik. 'Why do you have to ask for my permission?'

'Just cause you're my little brother, and I'm meant to be looking after you,' said Ishizu, smiling.

'I can look after myself,' Marik said, smiling back at his big sister.

When Ishizu left, Marik breathed a sigh of relief. He waited for the solid clunk of the front door being closed, waited a few more seconds for safety, then called out –

'BAKURA!'

Bakura descended the stairs with an almighty smirk painted across his face. Marik was uneasy – whenever Bakura was happy with himself, something bad was bound to have happened.

'Here are your crutches, Mr Paralympics,' said Bakura, handing over the crutches. Marik grunted and snatched them from Bakura, standing up and hopping over.

'What are you so happy about?' Marik asked, suspicious.

'Nothing in particular,' lied Bakura. Marik was sure that Bakura was up to something, now. 'Did you tell your darling sister about your "school trip"?'

'No,' said Marik. 'By the way, when are we leaving exactly? You know we have to book tickets ahead of time.'

'Oh? And whose credit card were you planning to do that with?' Bakura said sarcastically. 'Look, we can't book them ahead of time. We just have to get to the airport, change the money, buy the tickets from the airport, and head out of there.'

'We might not get a flight,' Marik warned.

'We will get a flight,' said Bakura.

'So when are we leaving?' Marik snapped, irritated.

'Whenever you like,' said Bakura. 'Sometime in the next week.'

'You expect me to break the news to Ishizu and take off a few days later?' Marik asked incredulously.

'Well, yeah,' said Bakura.

'No way,' said Marik. 'She won't buy it. Give her at least a week to take in the information.'

'We can't be wasting time,' snapped Bakura.

'Well, if you want me to say "hey Ishizu by the way I'm leaving for Egypt tomorrow", we'll be wasting a hell of a lot of time because then I won't have her permission to go, and no bloody bomb is going to change that fact!' argued Marik. Bakura groaned.

'Fine. You tell her this week, then a week from then, we leave,' Bakura said, sighing.

The silent irritation that was oozing from Marik was interrupted by the phone ringing. Marik jumped up, and picked up the phone. Bakura sidled over, leaning in to listen to the conversation.

'Hello?' Marik asked, in a cool, pleasant voice. It was not riddled with irritation, as Marik's voice so often was when he talked to Bakura. Bakura noticed the change, and was intrigued.

'Hi Marik,' said the light voice.

'Oh, Yugi, hi!' said Marik, with high-pitched enthusiasm that made Bakura flinch.

'How are you?' asked Yugi sweetly.

'I'm fine thanks,' said Marik, smiling. Bakura's eyebrows rose. This was very odd behaviour for Marik.

'I just called because Ishizu called me earlier to ask whether you had left my house yet,' said Yugi airily. Marik's smile quickly dissolved. He pulled the phone away, covered the mouthpiece, and hissed,

'SHIT!'

Bakura smirked.

'Um, Marik?' asked Yugi.

'Yep?' said Marik innocently, snapping back into good boy mode.

'I told her that you had left already. Did you say you were at my house to cover for something?'

Marik breathed a sigh of relief. So Yugi did have some brains.

'Yes, yes, I did. Thanks heaps, Yugi.'

'That's alright, Marik,' said Yugi. 'What were you covering for, by the way?'

'Um...' Marik hesitated. He wasn't good at coming up with lies on the spot.

'You were on a date,' suggested Bakura softly.

'I-I was on a date,' said Marik quickly.

'An overnight date?' Yugi asked.

'Well, you know me,' said Marik cheekily.

'Really?' asked Yugi naively, giggling.

'Yeah,' said Marik, his eyes glinting with mischief.

'Who was it?' asked Yugi.

'Nobody you know,' Marik said evasively. 'Oh and Yugi?'

'Yes Marik?'

'I'm probably going away the week after next, if Ishizu rings you, just confirm that I did in fact leave.'

'What's up, Marik?' Yugi, for all his naivety, realised that something was not quite right.

'Nothing, I'm just going away for a bit, that's all,' said Marik, trying to sound calm, but Bakura was glaring at him.

'How long will you be gone?' Yugi asked.

'A couple of weeks?' Marik said hesitantly. He was trying to be as vague as possible – who knows where Bakura's Egyptian adventure would take them?

'Ok, sure. Reckon we can meet up before you leave?' Yugi asked sweetly.

'Sure thing,' said Marik, smiling. 'Anyway, I've got to go. I'll talk to you later!'

'Bye Marik!'

As soon as Marik hung up the phone, he breathed a deep sigh of relief. He turned around to find Bakura with a look of absolute disgust on his face. Bakura crossed his arms and frowned at Marik.

'What?' Marik asked innocently.

'You're sickening,' said Bakura. 'You're friends with Yugi and his gang now, and you're turning into one of them. You sound like you're one of Yugi's bloody sidekicks.'

'Oh come on,' said Marik, the smile he had put on for Yugi dissolving immediately. Bakura noticed the "pretty boy" Marik disappearing and being replaced with the face of the evil Marik he knew so well, and smirked a little. 'I have to be nice to them. You know, I'm the evil villain reformed.'

'Well you're doing a pretty good job of it,' said Bakura. 'Could have fooled me.'

'Give it a break,' said Marik, sighing. Being with Bakura 24/7 was wearing his patience thin. Nobody else managed to annoy Marik as effectively and effortlessly as Bakura did. Bakura had perfected it to an art, really.

'So what are we doing tonight?' Bakura asked, flopping down on Marik's couch and resting his hands behind his head.

'"We" are not doing anything,' said Marik, huffy. 'You're going to leave. I'm going to relax, watch some TV, have some instant noodles for dinner.'

'Trying to get rid of me, are you?' asked Bakura cheekily.

'Yes, I am,' said Marik, sighing. He was too tired to try and lie to Bakura.

'Alright then,' said Bakura, shrugging. Marik stared at Bakura quizzically. Had Bakura really agreed so easily? Marik had expected a couple of cutting remarks, possibly escalating into a heated argument, and by that time, Marik would have given up and just turned on the TV, turned up the volume and ignored Bakura. But now Bakura was giving in? Good, thought Marik, less work for me.

Bakura stood up, and started to put his joggers back on at the front door. Marik watched him, puzzled. Bakura looked almost... belligerent? Just like a normal teenager. (A very handsome one, but a normal teen nonetheless. Not a crazy evil spirit that was a couple of thousand years old and very possibly was hell bent on destroying the world.)

'Will you come back tomorrow?' Marik couldn't help asking, as he unlocked the door for Bakura. He was thrown by how easily it had been to get rid of Bakura.

'Do you want me back tomorrow?' asked Bakura. Marik was absolutely gobsmacked. For the first time... well, ever, Bakura had spoken without even the slightest hint of sarcasm, derision or mockery. Was this Ryou in disguise, Marik wondered?

'Uh...' Marik wasn't sure if he wanted Bakura back or not. It would be nice to have the thief out of his hair for a couple of days. 'Nope. I'll ring you when Ishizu says that I can go to Egypt.'

'Sure,' said Bakura, shrugging again.

Bakura was walking out of the house, and Marik was utterly confused. And then, Bakura turned around, smirked at Marik, all the evilness returning to his face, and Bakura winked.

Marik shook his head and shut the door. Bakura was a mystery, alright.

Marik limped back to the couch, lay down and turned on the TV, ready to relax for the first time in weeks. The TV was disappointing, however. There were only a couple of things on at the moment – one channel had a Japanese soap opera on (the acting was painful to watch), another had a romantic drama on (Marik cringed at the main heroine pulling the "damsel in distress" act after she had tripped over), there was a boring show about antiques (some old woman was talking about how valuable some old vase was, Marik yawned and switched the channel), there was a kids cartoon (Marik actually didn't understand what was going on – there was a blue dog and a purple dinosaur and a pink parrot and a yellow cat...) and the Hungarian news.

Hm. Marik turned off the TV and closed his eyes, wanting to go to sleep. But thoughts ran rampant in his mind, and he couldn't settle. Bakura had been awfully strange. Marik supposed there was a reason, but he could not quite work it out. Marik wondered why Ishizu was out for the night. Marik wrote himself a note to remind himself to ring Yugi back. He would have to see Yugi before he left for Egypt. Marik couldn't work out whether he was friends with Yugi or not. A lot of it was pretending – Marik knew that he would never be one of the "good guys", but he also didn't consider himself as evil. He had thrown off the cloak of evil when his dark side had left.

But have I really left you? a voice said.

Marik jumped out of his seat and screamed. He looked around, panicked – had he just heard his Yami speaking? No, he thought, that was nonsense. Yami Marik had disappeared when he had given the Millennium Rod away. He tried to shake himself out of it. It had just been a voice in his head...

I was just a "voice in your head" right before I took over, too, taunted the voice.

Marik jumped up and shook his head. He wasn't going to be scared by these crazy delusions. He got his crutches, and proceeded to climb the stairs to take a shower. He got into the bathroom, stripped in a matter of seconds, chucking his clothes on the floor haphazardly, and turned the shower onto full blast. A nice blast of hot water would clear his thoughts and relax him. Marik waited a few seconds for the water to heat up, then stepped inside.

Marik immediately jumped back out of the shower. The water was icy cold! He shivered and shook his head. The water wasn't ready. He waited a little longer, then dipped his hand in. Marik pulled his hand out of the water stream immediately. It was still cold! Someone must have turned off his hot water system! Now Marik was drenched, cold, and had to head round to the backyard to turn the bloody hot water on. Marik reached over for a towel, but to his surprise, found none. The towel rack was empty.

And right above the rack, on the wall, was a small note in messy handwriting.

"Love, Bakura" the note read.

'FUCK YOU, BAKURA!' Marik shouted, to the empty bathroom.

'When?' a husky voice called. Marik whipped around to find none other than Bakura standing in the doorway. Bakura was just messing with him... and that's why Bakura had been so cheerful as he left!

'You – I – GET OUT! I'M NOT WEARING ANYTHING!' Marik shouted, flustered.

'Oh, that I can see,' said Bakura, smirking, looking Marik up and down.

'GET OUT!' Marik yelled, gathering his clothes and holding them up to shield himself.

Bakura chuckled, and Marik felt intense rage run through him. Bakura was absolutely infuriating!

'You can't get rid of me, Marik,' said Bakura, blowing Marik a kiss as he walked out of the bathroom. Marik slammed the door and swore loudly.

x.x.x