A/N: I forgot to mention that this fanfic will be updated on Fridays weekly. I'm sorry if my writing seems off, I'm not feeling well with my English Class's grade being like a noose around my neck. I hope you enjoy this chapter. If I'm writing horribly, someone tell me.

It's a little bit short. I apologize.

Chapter 02

"Bakura, we're going shopping for groceries," Ryou called out to the other, who was lying on the couch channel surfing.. What else would the ex-spirit of the ring do on a Saturday?

Marik and Yugi needed the trip, even though it was just a simple trip to the store. Yugi was crying all night about how much of a jerk Yami could be, while Marik was trying to calm him down. The Egyptian lacked social skills however, since he was trapped in a tomb for most of his life, so his attempts actually made things worse. Ryou had to suggest that they go to the grocery store, as he lacked the foods that the others actually liked, and he also needed to buy more meat since Bakura and Akefia loved their beef to death.

"Whatever," Bakura answered, and then he was switched with the child instantly, since Kefie wanted to wave good-bye to the others before they left. The other didn't stop there as he grabbed the remote, and changed the channel to Malik's favorite, filled with cliché, gorey, horror movies.

"Huh, this is actually pretty good," Bakura said to the little boy as he sat next to Kefie. It wasn't really sitting, since he was a spirit without a physical form when not taking control of the small body, but Bakura felt more comfortable with pretending to sit down than to float around the other.

"Malik showed me this," Akefia said, using Malik's actual name for once. Bakura didn't notice it at first, but then the Spirit of the Ring had the realization that Kefie actually pronounced the name perfectly fine.

"You just said Malik," the other said, backing away from Akefia. "Since when could you pronounce his name? I thought you said that it was too hard to say that name."

"No, it's really easy!" Kefie said as he looked at the other. He smiled innocently, but Bakura saw past the sweetness and realize that the other probably did have a little bit in common with him, though he constantly denied it whenever Ryou brought it up. "I say Mama, 'cause it's funny!"

"Okay, then…Can you pronounce Marik?" Bakura asked.

The other nodded.

"Yami?"

Another nod came from the young boy.

"How about Ryou?"

"R-Ryuuuu?" Akefia said in a shaky tone. He shook his head. "Too hard, Bakura."

"Of course his name is too hard for you to pronounce, and yet you can pronounce Marik and Malik, just fine even though they sound alike," Bakura said with crossed arms. He sighed as he noticed that the other actually pronounced his name, rather than calling him names or Kura. He tried to focus on the movie to get that internal frustration, but then the door bell rang.

Taking over Akefia's body, Bakura walked over to the door. He jumped up to try and see who was on the other side, but he was short. He would have just gotten fed up with the whole thing and went back to watch the movie, but the person kept ringing the door bell over and over, until Bakura's head felt like it was going to implode with anger. He grabbed the handle of the door and unlocked it, to be only smacked in the face with the door.

"Marik! Where are you?" the familiar, psychotic voice called out as he entered the house. Though it was rare to see the two together without a Hikari present, Yami had followed him inside as well, since he was curious about how Yugi didn't return home the night before.

"He's not here!" Bakura shouted, rubbing his face. He was lucky that his nose wasn't broken from the impact, but he had to suffer with the blood dripping from it. He covered his face and went into the kitchen for a napkin to wipe his nose with.

"Where is he? Are you hiding him from me, Bakura?" Malik asked as he went into the kitchen.

Yami simply looked around for Yugi in the oddest places, such as under the couch and in the cupboards. Of course, he still had enough sense to look into places that Yugi would actually fit in, but when that failed, he started to get desperate.

"Of course not," Bakura answered as he finished wiping his nose. "He's shopping with Ryou in some grocery store. You actually just missed him."

"Come on, Pharaoh. Let's go get them," Malik said as he stopped the other's search, which was getting stranger by the second. Bakura shook his head with a smile and a soft chuckle. This caused the psycho to turn around to look at the short, white haired boy. "What are you laughing at?"

"Nothing, nothing. Go on your fruitless journey to find your Hikaris," the ex-Spirit of the Ring replied as he went into the living room to continue watching that horror movie. He frowned as he noticed that one of the characters had exploded for no apparent reason. Of course, there could have been a reason, but he probably missed it while he was getting the door.

"What do you suggest we do then?" Yami asked, annoyed with the other. He didn't like how Bakura acted all high and mighty, but he didn't say anything as he also had an ego. He was just happy that their egos couldn't possibly even match Kaiba's, even when they were added together.

"Since they stayed over here last night, why don't you just stay here until they get back?" Bakura asked, before he laughed at how a woman's body was being stabbed by her cousin. He never removed his eyes from the screen.

"That sounds like a great idea," Malik said with a smirk, as he was itching to duel Bakura into another Shadow Realm. This could kill two birds with one stone, but then Kefie had taken over and hugged him.

"Mama's going to play with me?" Akefia asked innocently as he clung onto the shirt that Malik was wearing. He was standing on the couch, just so he could match the other's height. Malik tried to get Kefie off him by stepping away from the furniture to make the young boy lose his footing, but the other was just as persistent as Bakura and stayed attached to Malik's shirt. Yami smiled silently at this, and helped Malik get Akefia off his shirt.

Malik wanted to say no to the young boy, but he stared at them with those warm, chocolaty-colored eyes. It made him melt into the palms of Akefia's hands. He nodded, giving the other the reply that he had been waiting for.

Yami sighed and closed the front door that was still ajar from Malik's burst-in. If Akefia didn't prove that he was a separate identity from Bakura, then the Pharaoh would accuse the ex-Spirit of the Ring of brainwashing Malik.

"Kefie isn't as manipulating as the Spirit of the Ring," Yami would tell himself under his breath. In the back of his mind, the memory of Bakura's explanation about how Akefia was merely the part of his soul that was extracted during the ritual replayed. If Kefie was a part of Bakura, then he could be considered as evil as the Spirit of the Ring, but Yami wouldn't believe that this boy with a mind that matched his body would ever be like that. "He's only 4. Remember that."

When Ryou came back with the others, the sun was setting. Bakura looked out of the window to see the three walk up to the front door, while Malik and Yami were busy with a poker game. Silently, the short boy was glad that it wasn't a strip poker game. He did not need to see what was under either of the two's clothes.

The door bell rung, and Malik went for the door right away. He swung the door wide open, surprising Marik. It wasn't even a good surprise. The other backed away as if he had saw a ghost and grabbed Yugi's arm, as he knew that Yami had a high possibility of being with Malik inside of Ryou's house.

"Who let you in?" Ryou asked, not pleased at all by the surprise. He was certainly more calm the other two, but coming home to see Malik's face was not what he was expecting. He was looking forward to a hug from the young boy that he was actually happy to share a house with.

"Bakura let me in, of course," the other answered the snowy-white haired boy. He shoved Ryou off to the side so he could get to Marik, which wasn't the brightest of ideas, as there was an evil aura around the Brit. "What's wrong with you?"

"Get out of my house," Ryou demanded. "I don't need any more drama in my house. Come back in a week or so."

Malik laughed. He wasn't simply going to comply with Ryou's demand. The Egyptain was stronger than Ryou would ever be physically, and frankly, Ryou wasn't threatening at all. Unfortunately, due to his underestimation of Ryou, he found himself locked outside of the house. It was true that the shorter boy had less brawn than Malik, but Ryou was more brains than brawn to begin with. The Brit had taken Marik and Yugi inside along with the bags of groceries. He locked the door, leaving Malik outside on the front porch.

"Hey! Let me in," Malik shouted out, but Ryou pretended not to hear the other's protests.

"Do I have to leave too?" Yami asked as he pointed at himself, blinking. He didn't expect this type of reaction out of Ryou.

"As long as you don't bother Yugi and Marik," Ryou said as he carried the bags with the eggs and milk gently. He motioned for the other two to grab the bags that were on the ground. Placing the groceries on the counter, Ryou turned around to the others and smiled sweetly.

"What do you want for dinner?" Ryou asked.

Bakura stared at the boy that used to be his host. Though he had spent his time with Ryou for years, it really seemed that he did not know anything about the boy at all. He decided to take the time that he was stuck in Akefia's small body to analyze Ryou's behavior some more.

Marik looked at Ryou as if he was crazy. He couldn't get his mind off of how his other half was on the other side of the door, banging so hard that some would think the door would break under pressure. Yugi was also too uncomfortable to reply, as Yami was staring intently at him. Ryou noticed this and shrugged. He was happy that the other two were being quiet for once. He commenced working on the dinner.

"Come on, someone just let me in!" Malik shouted out. Bakura was tempted to do that to see how Marik would react, but at the same time, he didn't want to do anything like that since Ryou was the one that was making his dinner. "Bakura! Hell, even Yami, let me in!"

No one answered. There was no talking amongst the four that were all staring at the front door. Ryou was too busy focusing on dinner for his guests and Akefia. Soon, not even the sound of Malik pounding the door was heard. A couple minutes past in an awkward silence before Bakura had switched with Akefia.

"Mama, I'll let you inside," Kefie declared as he ran over to the door before Ryou could protest. He unlocked the door and opened it to see that there was no Malik on the other side. "Mama?"

"Kefie, please close the door," Ryou said nicely to the small child. "You're letting in a draft."

Ryou was telling the truth, since the spring air was creeping into house from the opened entrance. But Akefia hesitated, looking around for the psychotic man that was usually his baby sitter. He went over to the bushes to check for the other, but he wasn't there. There was no evidence that Malik was even there. Kefie frowned and turned around as a shiver ran up his spine. He needed to get out of the chilly February air.

When the little boy went in, Malik popped out of nowhere and rushed in before Ryou could shut him out. He smiled in satisfaction as he noted that he scared Kefie really badly. The little boy had his eyes wide open and looked like he was going to get a heart attack. His mouth was gaping like a fish.

"Didn't I tell you to get out of my house?" Ryou asked.

"I did," the other said with an evil smirk. "And then I came back in."

Ryou looked at the other and shook his head. He got more ingredients so he had enough to feed Malik, as he was not be leaving the house anytime soon. He only hoped the other would

"Why did you throw a bottle at me?" Malik asked as he clung onto his other half. "You could have killed me with that."

"You wouldn't have died," Marik stated as he tried to weasel his way out of Malik's clutches. He hissed as if his skin was hurting from being in contact with his other half. Bakura shook his head lightly at this action, as it made Marik seem like a kitty.

"But it still hurt," the other would whine, even though honestly he didn't care for the fact that it did indeed hurt him. He cared more about the reason Marik found it necessary to toss objects toward his direction. He wasn't happy to find that the other chose to ignore him.

Yami wasn't having any more luck than Marik did.

Akefia looked at the two, and decided to make a move to clear this awkward silence by hanging onto Marik's shirt. He tugged hard so that Malik would remove his attention from Marik and place it on the youngster. Kefie opened his arms and made a motion that told the other that the boy wanted to be picked up.

"Aren't you a little too old for that?" Malik asked, but he was answered with a pout. He sighed and picked up the little kid into his arms.

"But Mama is so tall," Kefie said brightly, cheering up the other slightly. Ryou looked at Kefie, at the sound of his voice, and found a smile coming onto his face. Even though he didn't find the other's company pleasurable in any shape or form, Kefie did. He found himself glad that he didn't kick the other out again, even if it meant that he would hear complaints from Marik later on.

"Tell me what's wrong," Yami said, getting too close for Yugi's comfort. He was still persistently bothering the other for an explanation to the sudden change of attitude. Ryou was about to intervene, but Yugi's defense fell apart first.

"Do you even know what day it is?" Yugi asked, trying to avoid any and all eye contact. He wished that the bitterness wasn't showing in his voice as he waited for the other to reply.

"A Thursday?" the other asked, not understanding the point of the question. The reason simply slipped over his head. Yugi sighed out of frustration. He wanted to yell at the other, but he was Yugi, not Marik. He wasn't supposed to selfishly want Yami to remember one special day. He was supposed to forgive him, so he simply stormed to the bathroom to get a nice cold splash of water.

Ryou shook his head at Yami.

"What?" the Pharaoh would ask, but he would have no response from the others. He didn't even get a comment from Malik, who had no clue what Yugi was talking about either.

"Just,... don't talk Pharaoh," Bakura suggested. "That would sure to improve your relationship with that ex-vessel of yours since you don't think before you talk."