Disclaimers: Yu-Gi-Oh belongs to Kazuki Takahashi, and any other items mentioned in this belong to their respective owners.

Credits: Usagi-Squared wrote this, and we both made the idea for the fanfiction

Broken ribs or not, Bakura was still Bakura. In the few moments that Atem had decided to leave them be, the pair on the ground sat up, Bakura holding Malik rather possessively as he smirked at the bird. "Ah... 'Pharaoh;," he said with a sarcastic, if not somewhat charming drawl. "And to whom do I owe this 'great honor' of seeing you again?"

The bird blinked, scratching his cheek. Aside from Zorc, he hadn't been called pharaoh for a very, very long time to say the least... And while he expected it from Zorc (The demon was fairly set on the whole 'kill the pharaoh' thing, so he didn't think that Zorc would bother with his name)...

He supposed he should have expected it from him, but nonetheless, he shook his head. "Ah... Besides Zorc, I haven't been called 'pharaoh' in over three thousand years... My name is Atem, Bakura. Whether you call me by it is your choice, but please; that is all I am."

The thief snickered, before breaking into a laugh. "Please, I know full well you haven't been Pharaoh for a while now- you should know me well enough to know that I'm screwing with your tiny mind." Malik smirked at that comment, joining Bakura in the sniggering as Atem continued to scratch his cheek.

"Perhaps so but I hadn't thought you ever bothered with learning my name..." He laughed nervously, resisting the urge to curse Bakura's name as he glanced down at Ryou. The boy was fiddling with his robes, but otherwise silent. Blinking, he turned back to Bakura. "Er... Pardon?"

Bakura rolled his eyes. "I said, 'you obviously don't remember that you used your name to seal Zorc away'. I might have been sealed after your time Pharaoh, but living with that pathetic excuse of a worm for 3000 plus years tends to get certain facts nailed into your mind. Your name being one of them."

The bird blinked again; he'd been about to mention that he hadn't sealed Bakura, but it just occurred to him that for once, the thief hadn't blamed him. It was a nice change. Ryou cleared his throat, grabbing the attention of the others. "Ahm... Atem? Do you think we could go back now?"

Another blink. "Right... But first..." He took a seat, bringing him much closer to the level of the others in terms of height. "Before we go in, I need to warn you two," he said as he pointed at Ryou and Malik, "Of the drawbacks to having traveled in here."

"What?" Malik frowned, glaring at the bird while Ryou blinked and paled. "Drawbacks? And you couldn't have told us this before?"

Bakura merely crossed his arms, smirking slightly. "Oh, I'm sure it isn't anything fatal..." The smirk quickly became very, very threatening, and Atem suppressed a shudder. "Right, 'Pharaoh'?"

"Stop calling me pharaoh," he muttered, before shaking off the fear. "And no, nothing fatal. The fact is, given the amount of time we've spent here, the both of you will likely need to sleep for... Quite a while to say the least."

Beside him, Ryou blinked. "Is that all? That doesn't sound too bad..."

Atem scratched his cheek. "I wasn't done... Besides the exhaustion, Bakura will still need a body..."

"Of course... Because you couldn't have prepared that before hand, could you Pharaoh?"

He rolled his eyes, holding a hand to the side as he ignored the thief's comment. "SEN!" The familiar tear in the realm appeared, this time opening not to a flowing curtain of shadows, but a distorted view of the kitchen where Atem's body was still slumped. "After you," He said as he stepped back, Ryou eagerly hopping through to the other side. He was followed by Malik, partially supporting Bakura as the thief scoffed.

"Is that your body in there?" He turned to Atem with a grin, stepping into the 'gate'. "The afterlife wasn't good to you, was it?"

Atem gritted his teeth. "Bakura..."

The thief laughed, before hopping through the gate and leaving the bird to follow after. Said bird quickly retreated to his own body, stretching his arms with a crack before turning to the others.

Ryou, as it seemed, had already left the room. "...Where did Ryou-"

Malik smirked. "As soon as I got in, he said he took off for bed, saying this was all too much for him." The smirk became a grin, and he laughed before being cut off by a yawn. Before anyone said anything on this however, he took a seat and crossed his arms. "I'm good until this evening myself..."

"Pfft..." Bakura also took a seat, an interesting sight given that he was currently a mostly translucent spirit. "He's just a pansy... Almost cried when I tried taking over his body for the first time." He gave a vulpine grin, crossing his legs and arms. "It was actually quite amusing."

Atem, still the tallest in the room, merely blinked as he took a seat himself. "I thought that was Zorc's doing..."

The thief rolled his eyes. "Please, while I couldn't well control my actions, I was still completely aware of what was going on." He gained a rather dark expression, his grin having faded long ago.

"Ahn..." Atem coughed, pulling the attention back to him before continuing. "Right... I need both you and Malik to listen carefully as I explain the ritual we can use to get you a body."

Though Malik nodded, Bakura merely raised an eyebrow. "Rituals pharaoh? That sounds a little beyond your comfort zone..." He grinned. "I like it."

The teen scratched his cheek, chuckling nervously. "I thought you might..."

"Hey, Atem." He turned as Malik addressed him, blinking. "How do you know all this anyways," he said with a slight frown, "I mean... You didn't know all this in the past did you?"

Another blink, as the subject of the question gained a notably blank and innocent expression. Bakura also turned to the former pharaoh, frowning slightly as both he and Malik waited for the response. "Ah... You see... The Gods of Egypt tend to spend a lot of time in the fields... And the God of Wisdom had a habit of making lectures..." As he spoke, he appeared to be bowing his head lower and lower with embarrassment. Needless to say, the sight was amusing Bakura to no end, though the thief decided to finish the answer for him.

"And I suppose that if 'Heaven' is divided at all like duel monster cards, those lectures ended up in your general direction most of the time, didn't they."

Bakura smirked as Atem turned to him, nodding. "Ah... Yes. Thoth has the head of an Ibis, so he spent a fair amount of time on the isle set apart for flight attributed Kas..." He coughed, shaking his head slightly as he crossed his arms. "Back on subject... Listen close; under normal circumstances, the Akh, or the intellect and cunning of a soul, would separate to forge a path from the corpse to the afterlife. This path would allow the Ka and the Ba, the body and life energy, to meet with it there. The rest of the soul, the Ib, Ren, and Sheut (Shadow, Bakura told Malik, who then glared and said he knew that), would have to travel on their own to meet with and recombine with the other half of the soul."

The others nodded slightly, Malik glancing at Bakura before the thief spoke. "But let me guess; the Shadow Realm provides a bit of a problem doesn't it?"

He nodded. "Correct; when you were 'killed' in the Shadow Realm, your soul was split into all of its pieces, and divided across the realm. Your Akh, requiring a connection with a fragment of the soul, found solace in your Ka. After that, it subconsciously led your body to whatever fragments remained." The teen turned to Malik, smiling lightly. "That 'child' we saw that Bakura's Akh and Ka chased was likely the Sheut. The body cannot live without a shadow, which provides a balance of sorts for the soul- an equal division between light and dark, instinct and thought, as well as anything that our hearts have long since forgotten."

Bakura smirked. "Well... I suppose that explains how I successfully recognized names before I regained my own, now doesn't it." He turned to Atem, frowning lightly. "What does annoy me however, is that you're explaining this to someone who already knew these facts. Get to the point Pharaoh, before I become tempted to strangle you."

"Well, I doubt you could-" Atem gulped at the look that the thief sent to him, coughing nervously as he continued again. "In any case... We are going to utilize this connection to create a solid body. Since the path between the soul and the body was not formed properly, we will have to essentially force a new path; by tearing your Akh from your soul and placing it in the body created by the ritual. After that the rest of your soul will follow to rejoin the Akh in the body, making the soul whole again but, and I cannot stress this enough, if anything interrupts this process," he said as he took a glance at Malik, "Your Akh could be damaged; a process that could very well leave you mentally disabled."

Malik scowled. "Why are you looking at me? I'm not going to screw up something this important!"

He blinked. "I never said you would; I was about to say that I'll need you to distract Rishid or anyone else who stops by during the procedure." Ignoring the steady pair of glares he was getting with slight difficulty, he coughed and continued. "Now then... All the materials I need," he said as he stood up to grab a slip of paper from the fridge's notepad, "Will be written on this." He grabbed the pen, returning to the table before starting to write.

It was quickly snatched by Malik with a frown, Bakura looking over the teen's shoulder. The thief looked over the poor attempts at kanji with distaste. "Really Pharaoh, did you never assume control during a class? Your writing is absolutely pathetic."

The teen scratched his head. "Um..."

Malik rolled his eyes, taking the pen from him and preparing to write. "I'll make the list, just tell us what we need."

"Right." Atem nodded, before rattling off the ingredients. "Besides writing chalk to make the proper seal, I will also need the following to make a body. 35 liters of water, 20 kilograms of carbon, 4 liters of ammonia, 1.5 kilograms of lime, 800 grams of phosphorus, 250 grams of salt, 100 grams of saltpeter-"

The blond put up a hand, frowning. "What's saltpeter?"

Bakura answered for him. "Potassium nitrate. Also known as solid nitrogen; something I picked up on from Ryou's chemistry classes." He narrowed his eyes, suspicion evident on his mostly invisible face. "Just what kind of ritual is this..."

He ignored the pair, continuing on as Malik scrambled to continue writing. "80 grams of sulfur, 7.5 grams of fluorine, 5 grams of iron, 3 grams of silicon, and lastly a medium to small sized animal. Preferably a mammal." The teen looked at the others, adding one last comment. "Save for the last one, we could likely find all of those at either a Warehouse or a Hardware store..."

Across from him, Malik was rubbing his head with a groan. "There's no way I have the money for all that..." Beside him, Bakura laughed.

"Ah, but Malik, surely you remember just who it is you're doing this for? As the King of Thieves, I will gladly steal all of this. It is, after all, for my body..." He grinned, Malik staring at him before the thief turned to Atem. Face still bearing a sarcastic smirk, he crossed his arms. "Of course... It depends on if it would be alright with the 'virtuous Pharaoh'."

Atem appeared to distinctly attempting to ignore the last comment against him, instead leaning his head on one hand in thought. "You make a good point actually... In the state you are in now, possessing and purchasing the materials using their money would be incredibly easy." Whether it was because technically nothing was being stolen (save identity), or because the thief wasn't stealing from Atem himself, the others had to wonder why his morals had taken a nose dive in this particular situation. Perhaps it was just a matter of the 'lesser of two evils'... Whatever the other 'evil' was at least.

"Hn..." He thought about it a minute, the blond blinking just a few times as he considered Atem's morals. They must have been very... Different in the past. Then again, these were thief and an ex-pharaoh who had mastered Shadow Games. So morals probably weren't that high. "Okay..."

Bakura clapped his hands together, an odd disembodied sound being made as he grinned. "Wonderful! While your sudden change of heart in the matter astounds me, I think I'll quite enjoy this 'excursion'..."

Atem stood up, nodding. "In any case, I'll prepare the rest of the ritual; remember, any animal is fine, but it should preferably be a mammal... And... Alive." He seemed to have a bit of trouble stomaching that; the former pharaoh was just slightly pale as he pushed his chair in and left to do just as he'd said.

The remaining two watched, before Bakura chuckled. "I think I rather enjoy this 'new' Pharaoh... Atem was it?" The other blinked, staring at Bakura as the 'ghost' continued grinning. Before he said anything however, the thief gave a mock bow and vanished from sight. "See you in a bit..."

Cairo was a large city, by any standards. It spanned out a fair distance from both sides of the Nile river that it banked on, and stood out in the middle of the desert like a throbbing, red thump on Ryou's body. That, or the young woman that Bakura was currently considering on using to do his 'theft'.

They were on the outskirts at the moment; a place that was best for both warehouse stores containing chemicals and people seeking to leave town. And at this moment, the fairly attractive looking woman was looking like an impressive candidate for 'identity theft'. Not to mention card debt. He smirked, floating behind the blond before 'stepping in'.

To the outside world, the woman seemed to stumble slightly, stumbling on the heels she wore before straightening up with blank eyes and an eerie grin. The expression vanished however, in lieu of a slightly more hidden image. Tossing the hair that had fallen in 'her' face back, Bakura tested his control of the large breasted woman's body before turning to the jeep she'd been about to enter. A rental? He smirked, chuckling to himself as the vehicle hummed to life and he took the wheel. He felt oddly ridiculous in this body; this must have been what a transvestite felt like. Backing up the jeep, he headed off for the Warehouse he'd spotted earlier. The sooner this was done, the better; this body was a tight fit.

The building itself wasn't too far away. Entering the store, it was even easier to find a store employee to con into being the 'mule'. "Excuse me," he heard himself say with the woman's surprisingly (or unsurprisingly) sultry voice. "This is my first time in this store, so I need a little help finding everything I need..." The young man he was speaking to quickly nodded with wide eyes before being handed a list, which Bakura quickly wrote out while speaking.

"Er... This looks kinda sketchy..."

Bakura- The woman rather, frowned, crossing 'her' arms with a slight pout. "Oh? So then you won't help me? If I don't bring all of this in for the college, I'll probably fail the class..." Inwardly he scowled; while using the body like this was handy, it was also rather sickening. But unfortunately, even he couldn't get out of this place with all that was on the list. Besides... It was an oddly pleasing thing, using another person's money to by things while not being chased for once. Though he probably wouldn't do this again... Being challenged was where all the fun was.

Still, he thought as the boy quickly nodded again and began leading him to the supplies, stealing AND putting people in debt; pure gold.

It took an hour and a half of walking in those painful heels before Bakura finally had everything. Handing the card over from the woman's purse, he briefly wondered how women of today could stand shoes like these. Not to mention clothes like these. The shirt this body was wearing was barely closed at the front with laces, and the skirt could barely be called that. Taking the card back as the fairly high sum of money was removed for the charges, he watched as a few other young (male) employees helped to load everything into a nearby truck.

"You sure this is your vehicle miss?" Of course it wasn't, Bakura mentally shouted, what kind of woman wearing these clothes drove a worn down truck?

Regardless, the facade held firm. "Of course... Thanks so much for helping me with these things. You've been a big help," the body drawled out. It wasn't likely that either of the employees had heard it though, as they were still staring at the breasts. Once Bakura stopped speaking however, they quickly left back into the store, going beet red.

He turned to the door, opening it as he rolled his eyes. Really, didn't people have the sense to lock their doors? As he considered how he was going to hot-wire the truck, a loud cackling bark was heard from behind. It was also accompanied by a loud and pained shout. "Ach! Not again!"

Bakura turned, raising an eyebrow as a vendor pulling a food cart began chasing after a clearly malnourished jackal. "Get back here you mutt!" The jackal pointedly ignored the vendor, instead making off with his food before skidding to a halt in front of a grinning woman.

"Now there you are..." Bakura smirked, an expression that was quite out of place on the woman's face. The jackal whined, unable to move as it dropped the food he was carrying and took a cautionary sniff. Its fur bristled, but his fear prevented it from growling. The woman smelled... Dead. Like a corpse, and like darkness itself. Another whine was given, before it was pulled into the truck by the scruff of its neck. "You're just in time- I was about to leave." Bakura's grin widened as he hopped in the truck, slamming the door shut and locking the whining animal in.

After a few minutes of fiddling with the wires, the truck started up with a loud hum, Bakura's grin remaining unchanged. He looked over at the jackal as he backed the vehicle out, his grin quickly becoming more threatening than before. "If you try anything at all, then so help me you'll be my next dinner." The jackal gave an audible gulp and another whine, somehow knowing that he meant it.

Keeping silent for the rest of the drive, it took about fifteen minutes more to return to Malik's home. Grabbing the jackal by the scruff again, Bakura stopped the engine and hopped out of the truck, before heading to the front door.

As the bell rang, Atem looked up from where he was sitting in the living room. "I'll get it Malik," he said as he got up, the blond looking up from his motorcycle magazine with a bored expression.

"Alright..." It was probably Bakura anyways really.

Atem opened the door, his smile vanishing as he raised an eyebrow. "...Mai?"

Oh was that who he was possessing, Bakura thought to himself as the jackal continued whining. Hiding a smirk, he decided to play along. Pulling a fairly seductive smirk, 'Mai' leaned forwards against Atem, letting 'her'self in before speaking. "Oh my Yugi... You've gotten so... 'big'..." Watching as the former pharaoh went beet red at those words, 'she' came closer. "How have you been these last few years?"

He swallowed, before looking at the jackal that the woman still gripped and then at the truck outside. "...Bakura," he said with a nervous and fairly exasperated tone. "Why did you pick a woman?"

Malik came over at that moment, looking at the two and connecting the dots before bursting into laughter. "Oh my... You possessed HER?"

The 'woman' merely looked amused, before turning to Atem. "Now really Pharaoh, how else did you expect me to get any of these chemicals? These," he said as he pointed to the breasts with his free hand, "Made things much easier, I assure you." He dragged the jackal forward, passing it to Atem.

The teen merely shook his head before the absolute absurdity of the situation finally hit, and he burst into a fit of laughter. The jackal hung slightly from his arms, looking around in confusion as Atem continued shaking his head. "Dear Ra... Ignoring the fact that you managed to find Mai in Eygpt of all places, I can't wait to see her expression when she comes back in control..."

Bakura smirked, crossing the body's arms. "Well then, why bother waiting?" He promtly flung himself out of the body, materializing near Malik as the teen continued to choke and hold his stomach. Atem, however, quickly stopped laughing as the now dizzy Mai stumbled and looked around disoriented.

"Ugh... What? The woman looked around, frowning as she stared at Atem. "Where am I..." Blinking a few times, her frown deepened. "Wait, Yugi..?" Malik continued to laugh as Atem hurriedly attempted to stop laughing.

Regaining his composure, the taller sighed, shaking his head. "No... You've confused me with someone else..." Though height and tans aside, he could see where the severely confused Mai was getting those thoughts. But really, his hair was even too long to stand up now, there was no reason to insist on it right?

Mai seemed to think so, as the woman crossed her arms. "Really? I don't know what's with the costume and tan hun, but I have to say, it was about time you grew up Yugi..." She gave a wink, smiling. "You look good... Though I have to question your choice in company..." She looked at Malik from the corner of her eye, the former tomb keeper scowling.

One could essentially see, and ignore, the clouds of gloom that were swimming around Atem's head at the moment. "I'm not Yugi..." Sighing, he attempted to hand the jackal over to Malik. "I need to get my things from the truck..."

The blond blinked, calming down almost instantly as he took the fairly submissive animal in his arms with a guilt-ed expression. Turning to Mai, he bit his lip. "I think you should wait in another room for a moment... We'll explain later, alright?" His voice was uncharacteristically quiet, a fact that Mai quickly picked up on. Nodding, the woman left to find somewhere else to sit, though not before giving the teen a rather skeptical glance.

He sighed as she left, watching as Atem came in with the large tank of water and one of the bags from the truck. "Oh..." He blinked, looking at Malik and Bakura. "Where did you send her?"

"Out," he said as he jerked his head. "Told her we'd explain everything later." He followed Atem to the room they'd cleared for the ritual, dropping the jackal down before leaving to grab everything else. As Atem pulled out the chalk and began marking the floor with hieroglyphs, he raised an eyebrow at what Bakura was doing to keep the jackal in the room.

Said jackal was currently huddled in the corner as Bakura's spirit grinned ominously at it- he soon stopped however, as Malik dropped the rest of the materials in the room. Atem turned from his mostly finished 'circle', getting up to grab the materials. "Thank you. ...Make sure no one comes near the room, understand?"

Malik nodded, ducking out of the room. "Right- Good luck, alright?" He looked over to Bakura, who gave a confident smirk in return. Smiling back (albeit more nervously it seemed), he closed the door.

"Alright then..." Atem carefully unwrapped each of the ingredients after finishing his circle, placing each part in a specific location. Walking over to the jackal and pulling it into the center, he looked over at Bakura's spirit. "I'll need you to stand at the very edge of the circle, on the eastern point." He gestured over to the proper side, the spirit nodding with still slightly narrowed eyes before doing so. Walking to the opposite side, Atem pulled out the 'soul release' card again before casting it upon himself.

Body collapsing to the ground, the bird shook himself a little before cracking his knuckles and beginning. Slowly, he knelt down, hands together in a folded position as his wings spread to surround the circle and Bakura in an almost protective cocoon. "Spirits," he began in Egyptian, eyes closed as a few thin tendrils of light filled the circle. "Gods and Goddesses of those who inhabit the Fields of Aaru, who guard the 21 gates of Duat, and who judge the souls of the living with the honored scales... We ask of you a favor."

Bakura listened carefully, remaining silent as Atem spoke. The bird's hands slowly came apart as the objects around the circle began to glow. It was dim at first, a pale, whitish hue that quickly intensified into a blinding glare. Beams of energy and light both shot from the glowing piles, striking the now howling jackal as it as well began to glow. The howling increased in volume, the light becoming so bright that the center of the circle was completely unseen. And then Bakura stopped listening.

Across from him, Atem's hands suddenly reached forwards, as if to grab something. Bakura choked, clutching his chest as he felt something, some part of him wrenched from his control. The spirit froze. Atem's fist began to clench, the jackal's cries cutting abruptly with a pathetic whine as he felt that part of his soul continue to snap. Finally, the bird's fist closed completely, and he pulled his arm back. From his soul, a string of color was pulled, tearing from the body as it was pulled into the center of the room.

The swirling 'mass' hovered at the center of the room, Atem's raised fist remaining stationary for a moment as the light in the middle began to clear. With a jerk, the bird brought his hand down, slamming into the ground as the Akh above plummeted into the center. A body became visible, limbs flung upwards by the force of entry. They spasm-ed, the light continuing to fade as the Akh attempted to solidify the 'bridge', before finally, it dimmed and stopped. In the center of the room, a healthy, nude copy of Bakura's body from the past lay prone and unconscious.

Bakura's soul itself, however, still stood on the other end, silent. Without the Akh, there was no will, even with a personality and a shadow. As it stood, Atem motioned to the center, his eyes still shut as his head remained bowed to the ground. "Bakura," he said, and the soul merely stared with recognition. "Move forwards, and with your left arm, touch the body's face."

The soul remained silent, but slowly moved forwards. It was a robotic gait, painfully emotionless with the loss of the ability to think. His hand reached out, face blank as he placed it on the body's face...

Immediately, Bakura's soul was absorbed into the body, whatever light still glowing on the body vanishing completely. Atem, his eyes still closed, stepped back into his own before turning his head away. "...Bakura?" He listened as the body in the room took a gasp of breath, breathing erratically a few moments before it calmed to a steady rate. "...How do you feel?"

He was silent for a moment, clenching and un-clenching his fists before grinning as he stood up. "How do I feel? This is the best I've felt in three millennia!"

"Ah, good." Bakura blinked, noting just now that the teen was currently facing away and slightly red. "I should get the clothes Malik and I found for you now though..."

Bakura laughed at the teen's reaction, crossing his arms. "Really," he said, "We're both men aren't we? Unless there's something that you never told your kingdom, Atem."

He blinked, sputtering slightly as he missed the use of his name. "Per-Perhaps so, but I still have some respect for people's privacy!" He quickly headed for the door, still a violent shade of red. "I'm getting your clothes!" With that, he left, Bakura still laughing before the white haired teen took a seat against the wall.

It took only a few moments; the clothes were tossed in, Atem coming in and shutting the door as he averted his eyes with a blush again. "We didn't know what sort of clothing you'd like... So we opted to alter a few of Rishid's to match your old ones."

The thief picked them up, studying the still black robes. They were certainly similar to his old ones in terms of style; he supposed that the colour was due to the lack of dye, or bleach however. "Hn, fine by me." He put the robes on, examining himself before smirking at Atem. "Not really my colour, but they'll do for now. And you can look by the way, I won't bite... Much."

Atem turned around, laughing exasperatingly at Bakura's sinister looking grin before shaking his head. "Haha... Well, in any case, I need to clean all this up," he said as he grabbed a sponge he'd left in the room. "You should probably let Malik know that you're ready now." The teen smiled, walking over to the far side of the room to scrub the chalk off the floor.

He did not do this for long however, as the silence that settled told him fairly quickly that Bakura was not leaving. He turned, blinking as he looked over at the thief. Bakura was currently leaning against the door, biting his lip with an oddly ponderous look in his eyes. Worry, as well, was evident, and rather than leaving he turned to face Atem with a frown.

"Bakura?" Atem stood, frowning slightly. "You aren't leaving..? I assumed you would want to let the others know." Others, of course, meaning Malik (possibly Ryou, though he doubted it but...). Getting no answer for the first few seconds, he returned to scrubbing, pausing when the thief finally did speak.

"...When Malik and I joined up, we became close." The former pharaoh raised an eyebrow, not turning as the thief continued. It was a little uncharacteristic, for the thief to be saying these things to him... But he listened nonetheless. "But as you know, a majority of my actions were controlled by Zorc at the time. You know, as does Ryou I would assume, that this means I am quite different from what most have gotten from me." He frowned, staring at the ground. "But what I don't know is how those perspectives will change. Particularly Malik's."

He stood up again, the sponge on the floor as he turned to Bakura with a somewhat blank expression on his face. It betrayed his surprise- was Bakura essentially asking him a question on relationships? But he decided to attempt to answer anyways. "If you'll take my opinion on this... I would say that it wouldn't change. If anything," he added with a smile. "I would say that he would be more than pleased now that it is only you, and not a you controlled by another being."

Bakura shrugged, grunting slightly before answering. "It's strange... I feel like there should be something there but I just feel..." Another shrug, before he uncrossed his arms and got off the wall. "Weird." He opened the door, walking out without a glance back at Atem. "See you in a bit, Atem."

"Hn?" As the door shut, the teen scratched his cheek, blinking a few times. "Did he just call me... By my name?" There was a ringing sound, and Atem turned to the phone in the room with a jolt. "Really, I'll never get all of this cleaned up..." He walked over to it, mentally telling himself that soon enough, things would be 'normal' again. Staring at the phone with a hand above it, he froze. What happened if it was someone he knew... The teen shook his head, grabbing it. His voice and Yugi's voice were two very different things. Besides, the chances of it being someone like Joey were- "Moshi Moshi, Ishtar residence." Wait, why would someone calling here that wasn't from Japan know Japanese. He tensed slightly as he realized his mistake, before holding back a surprised choke as the voice on the other end answered.

"Yo! 'S Joey! Who is this?" The familiar voice of Yugi's best friend came over the other end, a few other voices slightly audible in the background. Oh dear.. Oh dear dear dear...

"Ah... Housekeeping," he said, mentally kicking himself for lying to one of the people closest to his modern day counterpart. "Do you wish to speak with Malik?" With luck, Joey would be fooled- he didn't want anyone to realize just who he was quite yet. Mai would have to know of course, thanks to Bakura, but if he could just delay the storm that would be caused once Malik's involvement in the event was revealed...

There was a pause on the other end, and some muttering before Joey spoke. "Huh. Tha's weird, didn' know that Malik had a housekeepa' from J'pan. Ah well. Tell Malik that Joey an' the others are on their way over! We decided tah come before the exchange started! Twen'y, thirty minutes, all righ'?" With that, the accented teen hung up, Atem slowly replacing the phone with pale and shaking hands.

"A... A few minutes..?" There was only one thing to say in a situation such as this.

They were screwed.

AN: OH, poor poor Mai... If there is any confusion, don't be afraid to leave a comment/review to ask!

R&R