"Bakuuuraaa, how much longer will it be until we find the trail?"

Bakura sighed. "I don't know, Marik." Bakura had initially been walking with Marik supported on his shoulder, but after a few hours of hopping on one foot, Marik had somehow convinced Bakura to let him ride on his shoulders. There had been no sign of the path, only trees. The sun was beginning to set, painting the sky with vivid hues of red and orange. "Well, can we at least take a break? I'm tired."

"Oh, you're tired. Well, by all means, you deserve a rest," Bakura grumbled. He stopped and squatted down, allowing Marik to climb off his back and sit before Bakura sat down himself. They both leaned against a nearby tree. Marik yawned and closed his eyes sleepily.

"Marik… I get the feeling that we're not going to find the class before nightfall."

Marik's eyes shot open. "What?! We have to, Bakura. We can't stay outside all night."

"Last time I checked, that's the definition of camping."

"Ok, fine, but where are we going to sleep? What if we freeze to death?"

"Why, we're going to sleep on the luxury beds offered at the hotel run by fairies."

"Really?"

"No."

"…Oh."

"As for freezing to death," Bakura continued, standing and stretching his arms over his head, "It would be in our best interest to build a fire. You stay here while I go collect wood."

"No, wait, let me come with you!" Marik retorted, pushing himself to stand on one foot with the help of the tree.

"Why are you so eager to be helpful all of a sudden?"

"Well, it's certainly not because I'm scared to be alone in the wilderness, if that's what you're implying!"

Bakura chuckled and let Marik wrap an arm around his shoulder. "Alright, you big baby."

"I'm not a baby!"

"Whatever you say, Honey."

Marik growled, but he allowed Bakura to lead him into a thick concentration of trees. Marik managed to find a large branch to use as a crutch so he could hobble around without Bakura's help. They both stayed within a small area, throwing branches into a pile.

As Bakura leaned down to pluck one particular branch from a pile of leaves, he was startled to find that it moved. The 'branch' wriggled around, turning to face Bakura with beady eyes and a flicking tongue. Bakura cautiously took a step back.

"OH MY RA BAKURA, WATCH OUT!"

Bakura jumped, surprised by Marik's sudden outburst. Scared by Bakura's sudden movement, the snake lunged for his leg and sunk its fangs through his pants into his lower leg. Bakura hissed and grabbed the snake, ripping it from his leg and flinging it far away into the trees.

Marik was at Bakura's side in an instant, hurling himself at Bakura's feet. "Marik, what the bloody hell are you doing?!"

Marik glanced up at Bakura as he rolled Bakura's pant leg up, clearly panicked. "Don't worry, I'll suck the poison out."

"No, Marik, it wasn't-"

Bakura was cut off when Marik snatched his leg and latched his mouth around the bite, sucking hard. Bakura let out a low groan, in spite of himself, as he felt Marik's warm, moist mouth on his leg. Marik sucked for a few moments, spat, then latched onto the wound again.

"Marik…" Bakura bit his lip, stopping another moan as well as trying to resist the urge to thrust at Marik. "Marik, that was a corn snake. It isn't- AH!- It isn't venomous."

Marik spat again. "Better safe than sorry, Kura." Apparently, Marik had come to be suspicious of any snake after countless attacks from his father's snake, Cornelius. When Marik seemed convinced that there were no more traces of 'poison,' Marik pulled Bakura's pants back down. He used the stick that he had dropped to the side to push himself to his feet again and casually shuffled to the large pile of wood. "Well, come on, Fluffy. The fire isn't going to light itself."

Bakura shook his head, trying to get over his shock, before joining Marik. He pulled out his pocket knife and held it in the sun's fading rays, reflecting the light onto the wood. Slowly, smoke began to rise from the pile before a small spark ignited, and a tiny fire dancing on the wood. Bakura kneeled and blew on the flame, letting it grow larger. After Marik threw some dead leaves on the pile according to Bakura's instruction, they had a modest fire burning. The two partners sat down by it, admiring their handiwork. Of course, with Marik around, the comforting silence other than the crackling of the fire ended quickly. A loud gurgle resounded from the pit of Marik's gut.

Bakura turned to Marik, smiling amusedly at the light blush dusting Marik's cheeks, clearly visible in the light of the fire. "What was that noise, Marik?"

Marik groaned. "What do you think, Kura? We haven't eaten since lunch."

"I'll take care of that." Bakura looked up into the trees, squinting to see with the limited amount of daylight. He twirled his pocket knife in one hand absentmindedly. Suddenly, his eyes lit up, and with the same accuracy that he had employed when they had been shooting arrows, he pitched his knife high into a tree. Once again, a small object fell from among the branches. Bakura stood to retrieve his kill, which turned out to be a squirrel.

Marik wrinkled his nose as Bakura pulled the knife from the squirrel's chest and instead impaled it with a stick. "You aren't really going to eat that vermin, are you?"

Bakura shrugged as he held his squirrel out over the fire. "Why not? At least I'm cooking it. Want one?"

Marik shook his head, looking away from the gruesome image of the squirrel burning. Once Bakura believed his squirrel to be fully roasted, his turned his back to Marik so he could eat it without disgusting him. Predictably, the tiny creature had little meat to offer, but it was enough to satisfy Bakura for the time.

"How's your squirrel?" Marik asked, still refusing to watch the savage display.

"There isn't much to eat, but the flavor isn't bad." Having finished his meager meal, he tossed the carcass carelessly over his shoulder.

"Have you ever eaten a squirrel before?"

"Actually, one time, I-"

Marik whipped his head around and stared at Bakura with horror. "Oh frig, you totally have eaten squirrels before haven't you?! You could have told me that before I kissed you! I could get rabies or something!"

"Squirrels don't carry rabies."

"Well, I could catch whatever other diseases those rodents carry."

Bakura rolled his eyes once again before scooting to sit closer to Marik. "I can assure you that I don't carry any diseases Marik. Well, maybe a mental disease, but no diseases that you could catch from just a kiss."

"Speaking of kissing…"

"Ugh, what is it, Marik?"

"Are you disappointed that you didn't get to kiss Yami while we were playing Spin the Bottle?"

Bakura blinked, his expression blank. He stared into Marik's eyes, watching the flames dance in his glowing orbs, trying to find a sense of jest. However, Marik just stared back at him, his face serious.

"Marik, what the devil do you mean?"

Marik huffed, facing the fire. "Oh, come on, Bakura. I know that you have a crush on Yami. It all makes sense. His melodious solo when we randomly decided to sing Come Sail Away, his tight, leather pants that you wanted to get into so badly, and, frig, he even has the purple eyes. Face it, Bakura, you've been a closet darkshipper this whole time."

Bakura was silent for several seconds before he threw his head back in a round of psychotic laughter. Marik glared at him. "I'm serious, Bakura! You don't have to feel embarrassed. It's OK to admit that you like him."

Bakura chuckled quietly, still trying to regain control. "Marik, I swear, by Slifer The Executive Producer, that I don't 'like' the pharaoh, in any sense of the word."

"Are you sure? There's no need to lie about it."

"I'm telling the truth this time, Marik."

Marik gave a sigh of relief. "Oh, thank Ra! For a second there, I thought that I would have to kill you to put you out of your misery or something."

"Well, we certainly can't have that."

Marik leaned back casually, supporting his weight on his hands. "So, who do you really like?"

"Marik…"

"Is it Yugi? His voice isn't nearly as pleasant as Yami's, but he still has the purple eyes."

"No."

"It couldn't be Melvin, could it? Bakura, I know that he's nearly as attractive as me, and therefore quite hard to resist, but it's clear that he likes your hikari."

Bakura closed his eyes and rubbed his fingertips on his temple, trying to relieve his growing headache. "Marik, I already told you that it isn't anyone you know."

Marik stuck out his bottom lip in a cute pout, but he conceded. "Alright, but you've got to introduce me to this crush of yours sometime. I'd love to meet him."

"Oh, I'm sure you would," Bakura said simply. In the midst of their conversation, the pair had failed to notice the sky growing dark, and not just from the setting of the sun. A drop of water suddenly slid down Bakura's nose.

"Oh, Bugger," Bakura growled. The trees would not provide sufficient cover for their fire. Soon, they would be left without a source of light or heat.

"Oh frig, is it raining?" Marik asked, peering up at the starless night sky.

"No duh, you wanker, why else would we be getting wet?"

"Well, there's no need to be snappy. What are we going to do?"

Bakura turned his head, scanning his surroundings. "Well, if we backed up a little bit, those trees might be able to provide partial cover for us. I don't think there's enough room to save part of the fire, though."

Bakura walked while Marik scooted backwards on his bottom to a cluster of trees a few feet away. They both leaned back against a particularly large trunk. A few stray raindrops passed through the leaves and landed on the pair. Luckily, it was a gentle rain, not a storm.

Marik shivered, pulling his legs up to his chest and resting his chin on his knees. Bakura noticed Marik's discomfort and pulled his long coat off, draping it over both of their heads. "My coat isn't waterproof, but it is water resistant."

Marik smiled appreciatively at Bakura before turning his eyes back to the fire. They dozed in and out of consciousness, watching the dying fire and listening to the quiet rain. At one point, Marik's head lolled onto Bakura's shoulder, but he quickly woke and shot his head back up. Bakura ignored the gesture, too sleepy to respond.

"Bakura…"

"Hm?"

"Do you think we'll ever find the class?"

"Yes, Marik, we'll find the class eventually." Marik shifted closer to Bakura, yawning.

"Bakura?"

"Yes?"

"What if we get eaten by some forest creature?"

"We won't get eaten. I'll challenge anything that threatens us to a shadow game." This time, Bakura yawned. Marik leaned his head onto Bakura's shoulder again.

"Bakura?"

"What, Marik?"

"You don't think I'm getting fat, do you?"

"No, honey. Now please, go to sleep." He subconsciously wrapped an arm around Marik's waist, pulling him closer. Marik nuzzled into his neck, smiling.

"Night, Fluffy."

This was the last thing Bakura remembered hearing before he drifted into sleep. He woke up the next morning with the sun in his face once again. His body felt sore from sleeping on the hard ground all night. He made an effort to sit up before he noticed an unfamiliar weight on his body. Bakura turned his head to find the sleeping face of Marik, his head resting in the crook of Bakura's neck and his arm draped over Bakura's chest. Bakura smiled serenely, happy that Marik's drowsiness had apparently caused him to forget that sleeping with another man could be considered gay. Bakura stretched his arms (one of which was under Marik) and legs. It wasn't until he took a deep breath of morning air that he noticed something unusual. He wrinkled his nose, wondering what could cause the air to smell so foul. Taking another sniff, he suddenly tensed, as he recognized the pungent odor. Without moving, he let his eyes dart quickly about, before they landed on a furry creature a few feet away from Marik and himself. Inspecting the squirrel carcass that Bakura had so nonchalantly discarded was a skunk.