AN: Wow, another update! Holidays are so productive! Be prepared for a lot of fluff! :P It's time to get things going.

Enjoy chapter 7!

CHAPTER VII
Unwilling Affection

I sat down at his dark mahogany armchair with deep purple upholstery after he led me into his quarters to calm me down. My breath was still heavy after that encounter with Ilias, who was now doomed to rot in the depths of the shadow realm for eternity. Still I had no idea how Ilias could think that I had some kind of romantic interests in him. I nodded and smiled thankfully as Marik handed me a cup of freshly brewed lotus flower tee.

"Drink, it will ease your nerves." Marik said in his typical controlling tone. I took a careful sip of the hot beverage like he said. "That bastard has got too far."

"Thank you for…helping me." I said wearily and glanced up at him. It was so awkward to talk to him again after he ignored me during the last couple of days. "I'm sorry."

Marik's left brow shot up as he stared down at me. "Sorry? For what?" He asked in disbelief.

"I don't know… Maybe because you lost another one of your servants because of me." Nervously I bit my lip and took another sip of the delicious tea.

Marik leaned against his mahogany desk beside me, half sitting on it. "Ilias' misbehaviour isn't your fault. Besides that there's no space for perverted, uncontrolled fool in my ranks. Don't apologise for that."

I let out a sigh. "Thanks again though." Marik's blood was still boiling - I could sense his inner fury although he tried to look calm and cool. "How did you know that Ilias tried to do… you know." I asked.

Marik looked down at me from the corner if his lavender eyes. "All of my servants are connected through a mind link with me, you know that. His thoughts were so loud and disgusting that I couldn't overhear them."

"So you read his mind and knew that he was forcing himself on me?" I said with a low voice.

Marik nodded. "Yes. Bless Ra that the millennium rod allows me to control and read my slaves minds, otherwise it could have gotten worse for you." He explained. With that silence filled the space between us. I didn't know what to say more. The fact that he didn't ignore me anymore felt so awkward. Mentally I asked myself if he thought and felt the same. Was there something true to Odion's words? He knows Marik all too well - he couldn't be completely wrong.

An endless minute passed by before I gathered all my courage and could finally manage to ask him about what tied up my mind since that dinner we had a few days ago. But I needed to know why he treated me so differently and I needed to know it now.

"Marik, do you mind when I ask you something?" I asked insecurely.

His piercing lavender eyes blinked at me. "Ask." He commanded with his usual, stern tone.

"Did I say or do anything wrong?" I pressed out and balled my fists nervously.

Marik crossed his arms in front of his chest almost defensively at my question. "What do you mean?" I knew that he knew what I meant with my question. Marik was far too smart for playing dumb.

"You ignored me since we came back from that dinner. Why?" I dug deeper.

Silence, the longer it lasted the more my eyebrows rose in curiosity. I noticed how his piano thin fingers stiffened.

"I got a lot of work to do lately. Finding out all the secret abilities of The Winged Dragon of Ra was quite time-consuming." Marik said dryly and I could feel the unease that started to flood his features, even if he tried to make it less obvious. He was literally the godfather of deceiving people, but not me. I knew him for so long.

A sigh left my throat and I stood up from where I sat, looking at him as he tried to avoid my gaze. "Why does that sound like a feeble excuse to me?" I murmured. "Is it because of that one moment in the elevator?"

"That has nothing to do with it." Marik said short and crisp as his lavender glance met mine. "It's like I said, I've been very busy."

I rolled my eyes in annoyance. "Marik, I know you long enough to know that you're hiding something from me." My heart was beating a million miles a minute - I knew I was walking on thin ice. But what kinds of consequences would I have to face? He was already ignoring me; so there was nothing to loose. I decided to take another step on the thin ice. "You know that you can talk to me about everything - like you did before." I lifted my arm to lay my hand on his shoulder gently, but before my palm reached his he packed me by my wrist to stop me. I blinked at him in puzzlement.

"Don't. Touch. Me." Marik hissed and glared at me and then let go of my wrist.

"But…" I stammered in confusion when he cut me off again.

"Enough." He said. "Are we finished now?" Marik asked dismissively. This was the final straw for me and my hands formed into tight fists in anger.

"WHY ARE YOU DOING THIS!? WHAT THE HELL IS WRONG WITH YOU!?" I bursted out. His violet eyes shot wide open at my yelling. "Why are you acting like a total ass towards me!? I would understand if I knew what I did wrong!"

"Jesara, I -" Marik spoke up, but this time it was my turn to cut him off so impolitely.

"Whatever! This won't lead to anything. Thanks for helping me earlier. Good night." I spat almost shouting and stormed out of his quarters, the door slammed shut behind me. As I stood on the corridor in front of Marik's room I saw Odion and another servant carrying away Ilias' lifeless body. Odion't olive eyes stared at me. He didn't need to say a word to me to know what he thought. His gaze said it all.

I turned on heel and went off in the other direction.

xx

The chilly night air of Egypt filled my lungs as I stepped outside on the rooftop of our headquarter and took a deep, long breath. It was a wonderful, calm night and not a single cloud covered the deep blue sky and its thousands of shining stars. The moonlight was bright enough to paint a wonderful contrast onto the sandy dunes that laid in front of me like an ocean. This was just the right place for me to calm my nerves after what happened with Ilias and my argument with Marik.

With a sigh I sat down on the cold concrete floor and crossed my legs. I stared up into the sky and sat in silence, listening to the calmness of the night that seemed like a melancholic song to me. It was like balsam to my soul. 'I wished Marik wouldn't have changed so much. Where did his gentle heart go?' I questioned myself mentally while my eyes followed the blinking light of an airplane crossing the night sky. Since his initiation as a tomb keeper so much bitterness overshadowed his once so innocent and kind soul. It hurt a little that he became somehow so distant to me although we literally lived next-door to each other. After all those years and all that we've been through his behaviour towards me was so confusing. On one day he calls me his wife and the next day he acted like I was nothing more than just one of his servants. I highly doubted the sincerity in what he had said to me in that elevator now. With a sigh I pushed the thought aside and just blamed his mood-changes on puberty. A single tear ran down my cheek and left a black trace of my smudged eyeliner on it. I didn't know why I cried or where that dull pain in my chest came from, but his behaviour hurt me more than I thought it would. I remembered how he once cared about me; now it felt like it all faded away with all the good in him.

x flashback x

Slowly I opened my eyes and my vision was blurry. My body was trembling from the cold and still I felt like burning in flames at the same time. All I remembered was that I felt so sick lately, but now I felt a bit better. How long did I sleep? Somehow I lost every track of time.

"Ishizu! Odion! She's awake! Jesara just woke up!" A familiar voice shouted. It took me a second to realise it was Marik's young voice. "How are you?"

I moaned from the headache that still tortured me. "How long did I sleep? What is going on, Marik?" My blurry eyes looked up at him. As my vision got sharper I saw that there were tears gathering in the corners of his violet eyes. Then I saw how Ishizu and Odion stormed into my room.

"Oh Ra, the medicine worked." Ishizu said and exhaled in relief.

"You passed out because of your high fever. Marik and Ishizu sneaked out to the outside world to get you some modern medicine to treat you with. Otherwise you may haven't made it through the night." Odion explained and drew closer to the bed were I was laying.

"B-but that's against the holy rules of the clan." I stuttered still weak from the sickness.

"I would never accept to loose you because of dumb rules, Jesara. But don't ever tell father that I've left the tomb." Marik said with a thankful smile, tears of joy ran down his tanned cheeks. "I was so afraid you could die."

He laid his hand on mine and I smiled at him. "Didn't I promise you to never leave your side? Come what may? You won't get rid of me so easily." I snickered slightly at him. I wished I was already strong enough to lift myself up to hug him, but my features still felt so weak. But then I noticed that something was missing. "M-Marik… where is that ring of yours?"

His smile faded into a more weary expression. He pursed his lips in shame. "We couldn't afford the medicine we needed and I decided to pay with the ring. I'm sorry, but I promise you to get it back soon."

"Oh Marik…" I sighed and smiled at him; never did I expect someone doing something so kind and selfless for me.

But where did that kindness go…?

x end flashback x

"You will catch a cold up here." I cringed as a familiar voice behind me startled me out if my thoughts. I glanced back over my shoulder to be met by cold lavender irises and platinum blonde hair glowing in the blue darkness of the night.

"As if that would bother you at all." I said dryly almost whispering and glanced back up into the sky.

His calculated footsteps met my ears as he came closer and I heard him letting out a loud sigh. His presence made my flesh crawl. After our argument his company was the last thing I was wishing for. "This space is already occupied… if you don't mind."

Marik sat down right beside me and elegantly rested his elbows on his knees. I could feel how his icy glance rested on me, but I avoided his gaze. "Jesara, I'm sorry."

His apology surprised me and my amber-olive eyes looked at him beside my in puzzlement. "What did you say?" I asked in case my ears had just failed me.

"I said I'm sorry." He repeated again. There was a little hint of a smile drawn to his lips. But this time it wasn't that sly, arrogant smirk - this one was gentle and just like the one smile I knew from the times when we were younger.

"For what?" I wrinkled my brow in curiosity.

"Do you really need to ask? I shouldn't have treated you like I did lately." Marik said gently.

"And why did you do that anyway?" I nibbled on my bottom lip nervously as my pulse picked up pace. He knew that I was still angry about him and his behaviour.

Marik turned a little more to me so that he was directly facing me. My eyes stared into his, not sure about what to expect. But maybe I would get an answer to my question this time.

"You wanted to know why I call you my wife while I broke with every single of our other ancient traditions." Marik said using air signs for better emphasis. "The answer I gave you was the truth, but with those words spoken I hated myself for it."

Marik's explanation left me staring at him with my mouth slightly agape. 'What is that supposed to mean?' I questioned myself half-panicking.

"Choosing a wife for the son to continue the holy blood line of our clan is also one of those traditions. I didn't lie that you are one of the best things that happened to me in the life I hated so much. But after that I realised that it was my fathers will to feel like that about you and… for Ra's sake…" His hands formed into fists in his lap. "I didn't want my father to have a win in just one single of his stupid plans for me. I remembered when I vowed it to myself that he won't ever have his will… even after his death."

"Marik, what do you want to say with that?" I asked under my breath. His explanation confused me in every single way possible. I swallowed hard.

"What I want to say is that I didn't want it to be true that my father gets his will. That's why I tried to steer clear of you and ignored you since that confession of mine. You didn't do anything wrong. It was just me trying to run away from my own feelings for you because of him." Marik explained and stared into my eyes with such an intensity that goosebumps flooded every inch of my body. "I realised that I lost control about it and you know very well that losing control isn't my style in any way. I hope you understand what I try to say."

His words left me speechless and still I wasn't able to get the meaning of them. Feelings? For me? Now Odion's words from earlier made sense to me - oh how right he was. Why didn't I see that earlier? "Oh…" That was all I could add to it. I senses my cheeks bleeding into a deep shade of red and my heart pounding wildly against my chest. I knew how much Marik hated his father and it was his will that we got married as children. What he said made total sense. And I had no idea what to say now.

After a few seconds of silence Marik stood up and stretched his hand out to me to help me up. Without hesitating I accepted his hand and I let him help me up to my feet. "It's late. You should go and get some sleep now before you really do catch a cold outside here." Marik said softly as he stared down at me with that warming smile that was so rare to be seen nowadays.

I nodded slightly, but I couldn't stop my eyes from travelling from his lavender eyes down to his lips and back again and again. I swallowed. All I could hear was the wind breezing over the desert dunes, our breaths and my heart pounding wildly. Suddenly I felt that irresistible urge to do something I never did before, but my courage failed me bitterly. We never stared into each others eyes with such an intensity - it was like the world around us didn't exist.

"I should have done that earlier in that Ra damned elevator." Marik said under his breath and I didn't know what he meant by that in the first place… until he cupped my cheeks with his soft hands and closed every distance between us when he gently laid his lips on mine. I hesitated to move my lips against his, nor my body in any way - I had no idea how this was working. So I let him and the soft touch of his mouth on mine guide the way and closed my eyes. His thumbs stroked gentle across my cheeks as he pulled me closer to him. It took me a literal eternity to realise what was happening here between us - it felt so unreal, but so overwhelming good to share that first kiss with him.

Our kiss deepened and I never wanted it to end. His hands then travelled down the frames of my body until they rested on my waist. I laid my right hand on his chest to feel his heart beating wildly against his ribcage - just like mine. My other hand travelled up to his neck as I rose to my tiptoes. I enjoyed every split second of it.

As our lips separated our noses touched and his forehead rested on mine. My breath was heavy from that exciting encounter of our mouths and mine still craved for more. Both of us didn't dare to say a word for a second. This was so overwhelming new to both of us. A little smile played on my lips as I carefully licked them to absorb even the tiniest trace of his taste left on them.

"What is happening here right now, Marik?" I murmured under breath with my eyes still closed. I felt so save in his embrace.

"Shh." His index finger met my lips just like a feather. "We don't need words for it." And again he pulled me into another kiss while the moon seemed to shine just for us.

AN: Hope you enjoyed the lots of fluff here and I hope I didn't mess up with writing Marik here. But this is the way I imagine him to give in to what he feels, especially to what his father had planned for him.

And now: Review!