Bakura had eventually come to bed the night before, but he'd slept all the way on the very edge of his side, putting as much distance as possible between himself and Marik. When Marik woke up the next morning, Bakura was already up, preparing breakfast for himself in the kitchen.

When Marik came out into the kitchen, he said good morning to Bakura, but Bakura only made a "hmph" sound in response and then turned back to the stove. Marik decided not to prod, and set about making his own breakfast. Eventually, they sat down across from each other to eat, but Bakura remained terse and distant throughout the meal. Whether it was because Bakura still felt awkward about what had happened the previous night, or because he was still upset about having to give up the Ring, or a combination of both, Marik couldn't say. Either way, Marik felt the best thing to do was to just get out of the house for a while and give Bakura some time.

It was Saturday, so he had no particular place to be, but he figured he was about due for a visit to Rishid and Ishizu. They didn't even know yet that Marik had all the tokens he needed for the tournament, and would therefore definitely be competing in the finals in two weeks. Marik figured they'd be happy to hear about it.

So, once breakfast was done and Marik had thrown their dishes in the sink, he said to Bakura, "Well, it's been a while since I've visited my brother and sister. I'm going to get a shower and then go over there. I'll be back this evening at the latest."

Bakura only grunted in response.

The visit was a good chance for Marik to catch up with his siblings. Ishizu made a great home-cooked warah enab, and the moment Marik walked into their apartment, the scent of carrots and basmati brown rice engulfed him. They sat at the kitchen table, eating the grape leaf-clad meal, and caught up.

"I have some great news," Marik started, and both Rishid and Ishizu's eyes were upon him. "I've managed to collect enough tokens to participate in the finals."

"That's wonderful!" Ishizu beamed.

"Well done, Marik," Rishid said, giving him an appraising look.

Marik smiled. "I think I have a good chance at winning this tournament. I've been practicing quite a bit."

He left out the part where his practicing included betting on card games for sex. And the fact that he hadn't gotten any of the tokens by legal means.

"If I'm not mistaken, the finals start in exactly two weeks, on a Saturday," Ishizu said. "And Sunday will be the day the top two finalists compete for the championship title."

Marik nodded. So he would definitely be competing in the tournament on Saturday. He just had to make sure he was good enough to make it to Sunday.

After the meal, the three spent the rest of the afternoon chatting and catching up on more frivolous things.

When Marik got home, Bakura did seem a bit calmer. It was around dinner time, so Marik cooked a meal for both of them, and they chatted easily as they ate. Once they were done and Marik had washed up the dishes, Marik headed off to the living room, and Bakura automatically followed.

Marik was in the mood to play a game, but he was getting a little tired of Duel Monsters, and besides, he wasn't quite sure that Bakura would be open to betting at the moment. So instead, he suggested they play a video game. Bakura wasn't too familiar with video games, but he got into it quickly, and only griped a little when Marik beat him in the end.

After the video games, Bakura did feel more good-natured. But when they got into bed that night, he still edged toward one side of the bed, as he had the previous night. There was a strange, suffocating feeling in his chest. As if he wanted to lay closer to Marik, but couldn't allow himself.

Suddenly, he felt the bed shift and heard the covers rustle. When Bakura turned to look in the soft glow of the nightlight, he saw that Marik had curled up closer to him.

"Marik?" Bakura asked.

Marik peered at him with one eye open, edging even closer until Bakura's back was flush against Marik's front. There was nothing sexual about the gesture, though. Marik's arms wrapped loosely around Bakura's waist, and he pressed his face into Bakura's hair.

"Something wrong?" Marik asked.

But Bakura already knew what Marik was doing. He was trying to diffuse the awkwardness that had developed between them last night. It would be very much in Bakura's nature to disentangle himself from Marik's arms and put some distance between them, but he couldn't do it. Marik's breath was hot against his neck, and his body was wrapped so warmly around Bakura's, that it felt wrong to break this.

Instead, Bakura twisted around in Marik's arms until they were face to face, and he could examine each sand-colored hair strand and each silt-colored fleck in his irises. Marik wrapped his arms tighter around Bakura, and at that touch, something dropped to the pit of Bakura's stomach. That feeling of breathlessness returned, and his face flushed.

He pulled Marik's face toward him and pressed their lips together.

Just once.

It was a tight-lipped kiss that made Bakura yearn for more, to entangle himself in this comfort and warmth that was purely Marik, but he stopped himself. Abruptly, he released Marik's face and pulled back. Marik gave him a perplexed look, but Bakura wasn't about to explain his actions to him.

Instead, Bakura drew Marik toward himself, interweaving their arms and legs together, and closed his eyes as if to go to sleep.

But even long after Marik's breath had evened out, and the boy was fast asleep, Bakura's gaze still swept over Marik's features. He wanted to lose himself in this- whatever this was- but he needed to guard himself. Shortly, the tournament would come to an end, and Bakura had promised to leave.

And he was not backing down on that promise.

The next morning, Bakura awoke to find himself in a tangle of blankets, but Marik was nowhere nearby.

He stepped into the kitchen and found him already setting breakfast on the table.

"Morning," Marik said, looking cheerful.

Bakura merely nodded and dug into the food appreciatively.

"I was thinking," Marik started, digging into his own plate. "I need to get more practice before the tournament finals start, and I only have two weeks left. Wanna play a card game after breakfast?"

"Sure."

Marik hesitated for a moment. "Wanna bet?"

Bakura smirked. "Yeah, let's do the usual."

After clearing out the dishes, they set up their card decks and began the game. As with all their games, they both started out strong, but it was clear that halfway through the duel, Marik had gotten the upper hand. Bakura was looking down a bleak field with only one monster on his side, and three about to obliterate a good chunk of his life points, when they suddenly heard the front door swing open.

"What-" Bakura started, looking up.

Both immediately jumped from the kitchen table, but before Bakura could run into Marik's bedroom, Ishizu walked into the kitchen.

"Oh, Marik, I didn't know you had company-" Ishizu started. She cut her sentence off as she saw the shocked, guilty looks on the faces of both Marik and the one standing across from him at the table- they looked as though they'd been caught at something, though they weren't doing anything wrong that Ishizu could see. Then she noticed that the white haired one had sharp facial features, and didn't look quite like- she stepped back and gave a little gasp. "Marik, that's- that's not Ryou, is it?"

Marik sighed. There was no point in denying it. Ishizu knew that Ryou had already gone home, and it was pretty clear who Bakura was. "No. It's Bakura," he admitted. "The spirit of the Ring. In his own body now."

Ishizu looked like her eyes were about to pop out of her head. "How?" was all she could think to ask.

Marik shrugged and tried to think quickly. He obviously couldn't admit that he'd stolen the Ring from the dig site months ago and brought Bakura back with a spell. "Well, we don't really know," he finally said. "He just kind of turned up right after I found the Ring a few days ago. I guess unearthing it brought him back somehow."

"But why is he here?" Ishizu asked helplessly. Her head was swimming.

"He didn't really have anyplace else to go," Marik said. "He's never really had any friends besides me."

"And you're- you're letting him stay here?" asked Ishizu. She lowered her voice. "Marik, he's- he's a murderer."

"So am I," Marik pointed out. "But he's not like that anymore. He was seeking vengeance before, but that's all done now. He truly just wants to live a normal life, now that he has the chance."

"Well," Bakura cut in, "if you two are going to talk about me like I'm not here, I guess I might as well not be." With that, he stalked back to the bedroom and slammed the door.

Ishizu winced. "I'm sorry I- I seem to have offended your...friend."

Marik waved it off. "Don't worry about it, Sister. He's easily offended."

Ishizu paused for a moment, looking as if she was trying to decide whether she should speak or not. Finally, she said, "I trust you, Marik. If you say he's changed, then I believe you. And it's nice that you're trying to help him, but..."

"But what?"

"Well, have you thought of how this would look for you?" asked Ishizu. "Associating with someone with the...reputation that Bakura has? You've come so far in these last few months, gaining the respect and admiration of the people at the museum...if they found out about this..."

"How would they find out?" asked Marik. "Are you going to tell them?"

"Of course not!" Ishizu said, looking affronted. "But this isn't the sort of thing you can keep secret forever. Don't you think someone besides myself will eventually see him?"

"It isn't forever," Marik assured her. "He's just staying here for a little bit, while he figures out what to do next. And he's been helping me practice for the tournament. As soon as the tournament is over, he'll be moving on."

Ishizu nodded solemnly with acceptance. "Alright, Marik. I truly hope this doesn't turn out badly for you."

"Don't worry, Sister," Marik said. "By the way...what were you rushing over here to tell me?"

"Well, it hardly seems so important now," Ishizu said, letting out a nervous laugh. "But I just wanted to tell you that the officials called me today and informed me that they've decided to close the museum during the weekend of the tournament finals. We have shortened hours on the weekend anyway, and many of the officials are interested in attending the tournament, so they've decided that after closing on Friday evening, we won't open up again until Monday morning."

"Ah," said Marik, not really understanding her point. "That's interesting."

"You see, Marik, many of the officials will be attending the tournament finals, so they'll see you competing. I thought it would be good for you."

"Oh!" said Marik, understanding lighting his face. "Well, that's great news. I hope to make them proud."

"I'm sure you will," said Ishizu. "And I'm proud of you for making it into the finals. It's a real accomplishment."

"Thank you, Sister." Marik felt a twinge of guilt. After all, he hadn't done anything at all to get into the finals, aside from sit back and let Bakura cheat for him by stealing tokens.

There was a moment of awkward silence.

"Well," Ishizu finally said, "I feel I should be going."

"Well, thank you for stopping by and letting me know about this, Sister," said Marik.

Ishizu nodded, and Marik walked her to the door. Soon after the door clicked closed, Bakura came back out of the bedroom.

"Well, I guess it's a good thing I'm leaving after the tournament," Bakura said with no preamble. "Your sister trusts you, but she's not stupid. As soon as the Ring goes missing, she's going to suspect it was me."

Marik nodded numbly and said nothing, letting this information sink in.

"And I bet she'd turn me in right away, too," Bakura continued. "She'd probably think she was saving you from a bad influence and protecting your reputation by getting me away from you."

"Maybe," Marik said. "But still, I'm sure she wouldn't divulge my involvement with you to anyone. She wouldn't ruin my reputation like that."

"And that's all that matters," said Bakura bitterly. After a pause, he said, "Of course, this new information does make our plan more complicated."

Marik looked up sharply. "What are you talking about?"

"Why, your precious reputation, of course," Bakura said. "You remember our plan for your alibi, don't you? I was going to steal the Ring while you were at the finals. If the museum was open on that day as usual, and I stole the Ring while the officials were there, they'd realize it was missing fairly quickly, so they'd have a pretty solid time frame for when it was stolen, and they'd know you were at the tournament during that time."

"But since the museum will be closed all weekend..." Marik said, slowly realizing.

"Yeah," said Bakura. "They probably won't even know the Ring is missing until Monday morning. So as far as they'll know, the Ring could have been stolen any time between Friday evening and Monday morning. But you'll only be at the tournament during the day on Saturday and Sunday. You won't have an alibi for every moment of the weekend."

Marik thought for a moment. "Well...what if I stayed the weekend with Rishid and Ishizu? Made sure I was with them every minute?"

"Oh, because that won't look suspicious," Bakura said, rolling his eyes. "You never stay the weekend with them. Then, suddenly, on the one weekend you stay with them, the Ring goes missing? And Ishizu knows I'm here, and that I'm staying with you? It will look like exactly what it is- you trying to establish an alibi. Everyone will think you were in on the theft."

"Damn it," said Marik. For a moment he was silent, deep in thought. Finally, he said, "Well, OK, I know you've been planning to leave as soon as the tournament is over, but what if you stayed just a little longer? What if you stayed until the dig is finished and Yugi goes home? Then you could steal the Ring and switch it with another fake, and they wouldn't even know the real Ring is gone, and there would be no one around to figure out it was a fake."

Bakura seemed to consider this for a moment, but then shook his head. "Someone would figure it out eventually. Probably Yugi. You think he'll never come back here and visit the museum? Since the items are apparently so important to him, I'm sure he'll be around sometimes."

"But by the time they figure it out..."

"By the time they figure it out, it will leave an even wider window of time for when the Ring could have been stolen," said Bakura. "Your alibi would be completely shot. Ryou's, too, probably. After all, he was here for almost a whole day after you gave the real Ring to the officials. For all they know, that could have been the day he stole the Ring back and replaced it with a fake. And they'll probably consider that, since they know he's given them a fake before."

"Fuck," said Marik. "I wouldn't want to drag Ryou back into this."

"You'd look highly suspicious, too," Bakura said. "Considering the fact that everyone knows you were staying with the guy who already gave them a fake once before, and now Ishizu knows that I'm here."

"Well, do you have any ideas?" Marik asked. "You seem to be really good at shooting down whatever I come up with, but I don't see you offering anything yourself."

"You're lucky I'm even willing to help you at all," Bakura snarled. "Your damned reputation really isn't my problem. I've already given up the Ring so that you and Ryou don't get in trouble. I've done enough."

Marik heaved a sigh and ran his hands through his hair in frustration. "Come on, Bakura. I know you think it's stupid that I'm trying to get my reputation back, but do you really want to see me thrown in jail for a crime you committed? Or get Ryou back into trouble, after all he's done for us?"

"Not particularly," said Bakura. "So if you come up with a workable plan, let me know, and I'll go along with it. But that's as far as it goes. All I care about is getting the Ring back and safely getting the hell out of here with it. The Ring is my top priority, just like your reputation is your top priority. So I'm sure you can relate."

Marik dropped his head into his hands, trying to keep his anger at bay. He needed to think. For a while, there was silence as Marik considered things. Eventually, he said, "OK, OK. How about this? I know you can easily avoid the security cameras, but what if you don't? What if you let yourself be seen stealing-"

"Oh, fuck you, Marik!" Bakura cut him off. "Do you really think I want the world having video evidence that I'm back, and that I stole the Ring? Seriously, I should just leave you to hang. The fact that the museum will be closed actually makes my job easier, if I'm not worried about your alibi. Nobody will be there, so I won't have to worry about avoiding any of the workers, and since the theft won't be discovered for a while, it'll give me extra time to get out of here before they can tell Yugi about the theft and have him tell them whether the Ring is still in the area."

"No, no, wait, I wasn't saying that," Marik said. "You don't have to show your face at all. You can wear a hood or whatever. The important thing is just the camera seeing someone stealing the Ring. There will be a timestamp, so they'll know the exact time it was stolen, so it will be easy for anyone to create an alibi for that time. And they won't go through all the security footage until Monday when they find out the Ring is gone, so you'll still have your head start on getting away from here, and out of Yugi's range."

Bakura crossed his arms over his chest and gave Marik an irritable look. Finally, he said, "Alright. I guess I see no problem with that."

Marik calmed slightly. "So, I guess everything is going to work out."

"Yeah. Everything's just perfect."

Marik winced at Bakura's sarcastic tone. "I'll try to stick up for you with Ishizu," he offered. "I'll tell her you left before the tournament even started because you were done helping me practice and that you couldn't have committed the theft. Maybe I'll even be able to convince her not to tell everyone you're back."

"Like I said, it's a good thing I'm leaving after this tournament," Bakura said. "At least you'll be able to honestly tell Ishizu that I'm gone and that you have no idea where I am. And Yugi will be able to confirm that the Ring is nowhere in the area, so she'll know you're telling the truth."

"Yeah," said Marik dully. Then he was quiet for a while as he absorbed everything. It was a solid plan- it would keep all three of them safe. But it meant that Bakura could definitely never set foot in Luxor again. Especially if Ishizu suspected him, which she would- Bakura would truly need to completely disappear. Bakura had said that even Marik wouldn't know where he was. Marik supposed that made sense- as long as Marik was living here, working at the museum, with Ishizu knowing that Bakura was back, any contact he had with Bakura might be risky for both of them. But...still.

"You don't seem too happy," Bakura said, cutting into Marik's thoughts. "Why is that? You've known I was leaving as soon as the tournament was done for quite a while. Nothing's changed."

"I'm not-" Marik faltered. "I'm not upset about you leaving."

"Of course you're not," said Bakura, a bitter edge to his voice. "You should be overjoyed, then. Not sitting there looking like you're moping. After all, you figured out a way to protect your precious reputation, and soon, you'll never again have to worry about your dealings with me threatening your public image, since I'll be out of your life forever."

"Bakura, please stop," said Marik, his fingers going to his temples as a feeling of unfocused distress began to overwhelm him. This entire conversation was going downhill fast. Not that it had been a particularly pleasant conversation to begin with. Eventually, Marik managed to clear his mind, and he raised his head and looked Bakura in the eyes. "There's no reason to snap at me. If I remember correctly, you leaving here was your idea in the first place. You knew this was coming as much as I did."

"I know, I just didn't think you'd let-" Bakura suddenly cut himself off, and Marik gave him a sharp look of surprise.

"Didn't think I'd what?" Marik asked.

"Didn't think you'd let yourself become such an asshole about it," Bakura finished vehemently. "Anyway, I'm done with this. Can you please leave and go do something else? I want to watch TV. By myself. How long has it been since you bothered with your school work, anyway?"

"Fine," said Marik, suddenly feeling very tired in both body and spirit. He didn't want to argue anymore. "Whatever you want. I guess I do have some homework I could be doing."

Marik walked away. They didn't speak to each other for the rest of the day. That night, Bakura chose to bed down on the couch, so the two slept in separate rooms for the first time in a very long while.

AN: So, you know how if you go into the legacy story stats it tells you how many hits each chapter of a fic has? And the first chapter always has the most hits by far because a lot of people just click through the first chapter to get to the newest one. And usually, earlier chapters will have more hits than later ones- like, chapter 2 will have the second-most hits, and chapter 3 will have the third most, etc. Anyway, in this fic, chapter 10 has like, WAY more hits than any other chapter except for the first. So, point being...I guess you guys really like chapter 10?

So thanks for reading, please review! We really love and appreciate all your reviews! Oh, and we're almost done, we've determined that there will be a total of 30 chapters for this fic.