A/N: I love this chapter, it's definitely one of my favourites. Is it bad that I like all the badass characters? Well, Marik get's to seem semi-sweet this chapter! Also, I used the word 'Nani' in this chapter which is Japanese for 'what'. I just really like using that word for some reason.

Note for those who haven't read/watched "Season 0": Marik isn't in "Season 0" so even though I put him in this story I tried to make him as much like the Marik from the other Yu-Gi-Oh seasons, but I totally made up his past. Once again, he's not an evil tomb-keeper bent on taking over the world!

Disclaimer: Not Mine, nor do I even own any dark chocolate...I wish!

Marik watched uncertainly as she warmed up on the other side of the room. They had just finished practicing so it was really unnecessary but she always took good care of her body despite his brutal criticism of the way she treated it.

Today she had barely spared him a glance and he wondered if he had pushed her one step too far the other day. He had never seen her so angry or so embarrassed as when he had corrected her in front of that teacher.

He recognized the man with strange hair as Mutou-san, he was the new TA who was working for Masahashi-sensei and he looked remarkably similar to Mutou Yuugi so he assumed they were related. She certainly seemed to have feelings for him and she did say she had an after school commitment with him...he sighed.

He wished he could build bonds as easily as she evidently could. Many people were jealous of his dancing but that was nothing compared to the jealousy he felt for someone like her. She was talented, beautiful, self-confident despite what others said about her, and sociable.

He could never be like someone as pleasant as her, not after all the mistakes he had made in his past.

Shaking off his emotional moment he crossed the room towards her. These emotions were useless, dance was all he was good at, so that was what he would focus on whether she could forgive him or not.

"Anzu-san, are you ready to begin?" He asked formally, more out of politeness then anything else and she barely glanced over her shoulder at him. "Anzu-san" –

"No." Her answer cut him off from repeating his request as she continued stretching. "I'm finished cooling down and I want to take a break before we start again," She continued with a final stretch before standing up, a pleasant smile on her face.

What? She was...cooling down?

"We have a commitment," He said, fumbling for words in the face of her denial, not sure what to say.

"Yes, and I will stand by that. First I want to take a break and I am going to take a break. Understood?" She asked and he nodded hesitantly, not sure what else to say to her suddenly rebellious attitude. Walking to the centre of the room she sat down with a contented sigh.

"It feels good to relax...are you going to join me?" She asked and he was startled to hear that she had even thought about including him in her little 'break'. It was clear she didn't like him, especially after yesterday.

Giving her a quizzical look he said, "I was going to begin practicing."

"That will be hard," She commented with a small smirk, patting the ground beside her and he had to admit she was right. Practice room three was just that –a practice room, mostly used for storage with only a little clear space that was reflected by the mirrors on all sides.

"Anzu-san, I don't understand why you're being so difficult," He asked irritably, with a frown. Her attitude was going to be a serious problem if it persisted.

"I just want to talk, for five minutes. Just five," She pleaded and he sighed, running a hand through the layers of his neat white-blond hair. It stood out against his tan skin tone which she had noted along with the strange shape of those violet-blue eyes.

Crossing the room he sat down, black tights stretching comfortably over his muscles as he crossed his legs, folding his well toned arms over his muscle shirt impatiently. His posture was so rigid she thought he might snap at any second.

"So?" He asked, expression cool.

"So far all the decisions that have been made have been completely one sided," She said, heading right into the fray. He opened his mouth to protest but she raised a hand, halting him.

"I went along with it up until now," She continued, "Because I didn't want to be on bad terms with you. I've realize we sort of are already on bad terms though...so I want to learn more about you. I can't dance with you without feeling awkward and it's hard to be gracious when you're so critical, whether I deserve it or not. All I know about you at this point is what I've experienced so far and what other people say which is even less attractive then what I've already gathered. I wanted to give you a chance to put some words in, in your defense," She said all this in a confident straightforward voice.

She had practiced the speech in her room this morning until she thought she had it just right. Not particularly polite, then again, he wasn't particularly polite either.

"I suppose I can see the...value...in that. What do you want to know?" He asked, sounding strained and uncomfortable for the first time. She noted quickly that despite his overwhelming knowledge and confidence in dance he didn't seem to have a clue what to do in a social arrangement.

She supposed she shouldn't be surprised, she'd never seen him talk to any of the guys during class and despite the rumours she'd never seen him so much as say hi to girl, let along flirt. Heck, he didn't even change while the guys were in the room! Though he did say that was about his reputation...

Collecting her thoughts she cleared her throat slightly then asked, "What's your favorite color?" He nearly fell over; looking shocked as his mouth fell open slightly. She resisted a laugh at his expression, reminding herself that this wasn't about revenge. After all she had reacted similarly when Mutou-san tried it.

"Um...I suppose I've never really thought about it before..." He said, giving her a strange look.

"Mine is crimson," She replied happily and he nodded cautiously, not sure if he was supposed to care but it wouldn't hurt to sate her sudden insanity.

"What's your favourite class?" She persisted and he shrugged, looking away a little. "I don't have a favourite. I don't really like any of them," He said and she frowned.

"How can you not like any of your classes?" She asked dubiously and he glanced at her only in short glances, gaze darting away again quickly. There was something about the way he was acting but she couldn't quite place it...

"I told you, my reputation makes people uncomfortable around me. I screwed up in the past and my mistakes haunt me even at a different school," He shifted, still not fully meeting her gaze.

"What, man-whore? People call me a slut all the time and it doesn't stop me from making friends," She replied, unfazed by the topic though he looked even more uncomfortable if possible.

"Things are different for me," He replied quietly. She wanted to press but knew that would be taking it too far. These questions were supposed to be random, to find out more about him not about his past.

"So...what do you do after school?" He gave her a look like it should be obvious. "Other than dance," She clarified with an eye-roll.

"I work," He replied calmly.

"Where?" She fired back immediately.

"A dance studio downtown in the evenings and in a diner after school." She tried not to laugh as she pictured him in an apron holding a tray of fries with a cheesy logo across his shirt. Raising a hand to her trembling lips she tried to stop it, she really did but a small giggle escaped.

"What?" He asked defensively and she clamped down on the laughter quickly.

"N-nothing," She stammered. "Do you live with" –

"My parents are dead, my brother has his own place, and my sister is also working to help afford the apartment," He answered mechanically before she could even ask. She blinked, and considered apologizing but the blank look on his face as he avoided her gaze told her not to.

"What's your favourite type of flower?" She asked instead, naming the first thing that came to mind and he stared at her disbelievingly, gaze boring into her face. When she didn't give in he looked away again, that expression returned. Why couldn't she name it?

"That's a girly question," He mumbled and suddenly she realized what it was.

Shyness! He was shy! That explained why he was so awkward and why he never talked to anyone and...well just about all of his social strangeness.

"You're shy!" She blurted and the tan skin on his cheeks reddened a little.

"Sure..." He said, obviously not sure how to respond at all. She started giggling again and he looked annoyed as well as embarrassed now.

"There's nothing wrong with being shy you know, everyone just thinks your anti-social because you're so serious," She told him kindly and he just looked at her warily.

"But really, what's your favorite flower?"

"I-I don't know," He stammered and she narrowed her eyes.

"You're lying," She accused, staring him down in what she hoped was an intimidating way. Hey, this was turning out to be sort of fun!

"Blue Singapore orchids," He said with a sigh, looking almost relieved to have that out for a moment before closing his expression again. "Happy?" He grumbled and she simply looked curious.

"Why?" She asked simply, ignoring his small complaint. He glanced at the clock desperately. It had to have been five minutes by now!

"Because, they're exquisitely unique in their beauty, and they remind me of Ishizu," He finally said. "She's my sister," He added quickly seeing where she would go with that. He didn't want her to think he was in love with his sister or something.

"Can we dance now?" He pleaded as he saw her revving up for another question and she smiled then nodded agreeably, jumping to her feet. "I'm not going to be less critical if that's what you expect," He warned as he rose his feet lithely with the form of a true dancer. She just rolled her amber eyes, equally unique in her own way he had noticed.

"I wouldn't have asked you to be my partner if I thought we couldn't be friends without compromising our work," She replied and he was taken aback by her use of the word 'friends'. She wanted to be his...friend?

Was she having mood swings? He supposed it wasn't so bad for them to be 'friends' as long as she knew he wouldn't go easy on her because of that, and it wasn't like she didn't already know how shy he was at times while demanding at others. Truly it was he who knew little about her.

"Anzu-san, may I ask a question?" He asked hesitantly and she nodded, already stretching to warm up again. "Yesterday, that was Mutou-san who came in, who I assume is your tutor," He said, the troubling observations he had made surfacing. She froze a little then nodded again, only strengthening his suspicion.

"When you saw him you were distracted but you danced better after you saw him then you did before. You stopped repeating steps and you didn't hold back. That was when you strained your back to, even though he clearly has no training in dance," She almost protested but managed to hold it in.

After all, he had even said himself that to his untrained eyes it looked phenomenal. She flushed at the thought, holding in her giddy feelings.

"I would have thought a none-competitive audience would distract you from dancing your best, not made you dance better. Why is that?" He asked and she switched positions with a small shrug.

"I have a learning disorder; it's called Executive Functions Disorder. Like have all the pieces of the puzzle but not being able to put them together...anyways the classes it affects me in are math and science so he's been tutoring me. When you work with someone every day after school it's hard not to become friends," She said, shooting him a small smile that he wasn't sure how to take. Still he had to ask...

"Are you in love with Mutou-san?" He asked innocently and she lost balance, hitting the ground firmly. He watched her reaction with concern, reaching to help her up but she scrambled to her feet quickly, cheeks burning.

That was so embarrassing! How had he even guessed her feelings so quickly?

"I wouldn't call it love," She said, clearly embarrassed by the observation. "I think...to be honest..." She looked at him again, as though measuring something, then away again. "I think I used to know him," She said softly, obviously afraid of what he would think. Marik lowered his leg from where he had been holding it in a stretch, giving her a curious look despite himself.

"Like in a previous life?" She just looked confused by that. "I'm Egyptian, I was raised with many strange beliefs compared to most people," He muttered and she nodded, looking fascinated.

"Well...it's more like...well...it's a long story," She said lamely with a sigh.

"We don't have time for a long story right now," He said and she nodded, not arguing with him on that.

"I do...like him...maybe just a little," She said, looking at him again as she stood up. He was surprised at her honesty. Maybe she really did want to be more than just dance partners. He approved of that to some degree; after all, trust was the most important thing in partnerships.

"You should be careful then," He advised wisely and she smiled, more grateful that he didn't mock her than anything else. She hadn't imagined herself telling anyone about her feelings, maybe Miho and Yuugi but definitely not Marik!

"You're a lot nicer then I thought you were," She said cheerfully and he looked away, not sure how to respond. To be fair she doubted he got many people telling him that he was 'nice'. That wasn't quite the right word though, he wasn't particularly nice, he was more like dark chocolate. He was semi-sweet.

"Just one last question," She said quickly as he crossed to the stereo. He sighed, running his hand through his hair then nodded, figuring one last inane question wouldn't hurt. "Well...I just kind of was wondering...are you gay?"

If he had been stretching he definitely would have fallen over and as it was he stumbled over his own feet, no small matter for such an accomplished dancer as himself.

"N-Nani! What makes you think...why...how is that relevant?" He asked, and she couldn't help laughing at the shaken expression on his face along with a cute blush that splashed his cheeks, making him look like, well, like a normal embarrassed guy.

"Well everyone says you're a man-whore but I've never seen you even talk to a girl before, plus you always wait to change until everyone else is gone..." She prodded curiously and he slowly gained his composer back, blush still evident on his tan skin though he looked less shocked.

"I wait because I don't want to make anyone uncomfortable. You're not the only to think I am...attracted to men," the words were so awkward coming out of his mouth that she was tempted to comment on how cute he was but something told her that wouldn't go down well.

"So are you?"

"Am I what?"

"Gay! It's not like I'm going to tell anyone, I'm just curious."

"I..." He started then stopped, looking at her warily. Her expression only showed innocent curiosity, nothing malicious or vengeful he could see and he was practiced in having angry people after him.

"I have no real...preference. I suppose you would call it 'bisexual'," He said ruefully and she just smiled though she looked a little surprised as well.

"Hm...Never would have though you actually would swing that way," She said thoughtfully.

"Nani? Then why did you even ask?" He demanded, flushing again and she just laughed.

"I told you who I liked didn't I? Besides, I was curious!"

A/N: I was laughing the whole time I wrote this chapter, it was so much fun. I hope people enjoyed! Also, look up a picture of a blue singapore orchid on google images if you want to know what they look like, they're soo pretty! Please leave a review; they're really inspiring!

Here's a preview for the next chapter:

"Why would I tell him? Anzu, you can trust me," He told her with a sweet smile and she sighed in relief. Yuugi was all milk chocolate, 100% pure hearted sugar.

"Besides," He continued flippantly, "I'm sure he already knows."

Maybe he wasn't that sweet after all.

Yuugi gets some love next chapter! Can anyone tell I'm craving chocolate?