Author's Note: I really have nothing to say, so I won't hold you up.

Chapter 7

For a moment, Marik couldn't even remember what class she was in. History… Math… Science… Yes, it was definitely science! They were studying some bored monk who played around with plants and math equations. No wonder she had mistaken it for history or math; this met somewhere in between.

Deeper into Marik's defense, she was a little distracted. Somewhere, walking around in broad daylight, there was the person whom had cursed Bakura and his guardian. Marik wondered what they were doing right now… Drinking tea? Picking up their kids from school? Cursing more people? The latter was probably closest, but it still did not excuse the fact that the perpetrator was free while Bakura was forever punished for a crime he did not commit.

Well… Okay, so maybe he did commit it. Marik had finally gotten Bakura to tell her the whole story of how he had acquired the curse, and Marik's suspicions of him being guilty of some kind of misdeed had been confirmed. Regardless, Bakura had been of a "young-ish" age (in his exact words), and therefore, he should not have been penalized so harshly.

Right? Right.

Marik laid her head on her desk and closed her eyes. After a few minutes, she opened them back up, fully expecting nothing to have changed.

Such was not the case.

"That…! That idiot!"

Bakura, sitting on the roof across from outside the window of her science class, seemed to receive her shock and anger before even she did. He turned his attention from the ground below to Marik and waved to her in a way that was meant to be entirely sarcastic.

"Go away," Marik mouthed to Bakura, her fury seeping into her expression slowly.

Bakura was far enough away to ignore the emotion for the most part, and he shook his head childishly.

"Do it," Marik mouthed again.

Another shake of the head.

"Bakura."

Another shake.

"GO AWAY!"

"Miss Ishtar."

Damn it. I said that last one out loud, didn't I? Marik glanced up as innocently as she could and asked the teacher softly, "Yes?"

The science teacher was glaring at her over his prescription glasses but inquired rather calmly, "Would you perhaps like to take a moment outside to collect your thoughts?"

"Um… Yes." Marik gathered up her things (seeing how class was almost over) and walked out, avoiding eye contact with her curious fellow students.

As soon as the classroom door swung closed behind her, Marik slung her backpack over her shoulder and marched out of the building. Outside, she scanned the roof until she locked in on Bakura.

"Well, I hope you're happy with yourself!" Marik called up to Bakura, her nose still scrunched with anger. "You got me kicked out of Biology, you know!"

From his perch up atop the roof, Bakura sung back, "I would be happy if I could be." He prowled down to the very edge of the top of the building, hung his legs over the side, and peered down at Marik defiantly.

Marik growled slightly at his quip. After a moment though, she sighed and decided to give up on chastising him further. "How did you even get here anyway?" she questioned him tiredly.

Bakura pointed behind him and reported, "There's a ladder over there. It's not rocket science."

Marik clarified, "I'm not asking about how you got on the roof, Bakura. I'm asking how you got here."

"Oh, I'm sorry. I had simply assumed that you've been in a health class—"

"School! How the hell did you get to my school?" Marik lost her patience, but with Bakura being so impudent, how could she not?

"Your school? I took Shadi's car, obviously."

"Oh… Well… Go away."

Bakura blinked a couple times, as if Marik had suddenly started speaking in another language. After a moment of silence, the boy turned around, disappeared, and then reappeared on the ground, having climbed the ladder on the other side of he building. He sauntered up to Marik and took her head in his hands. Before she could react, he then pressed his forehead to hers, making Marik's face raise about four hundred degrees.

"Wha-wha-what are you doing?" Marik stuttered, trying but failing to squirm out of Bakura's grasp.

"Shush," Bakura hissed, not moving an inch. "I'm trying to concentrate. Uh-huh… Uh-huh… Uh-huh…" he mumbled, sounding much like a doctor diagnosing a problem. "Yes, I thought that was it. So I wasn't mistaken after all."

"Do you mind telling me what the hell you're doing?" Marik was doing her very best to keep the panic out of her voice, but judging by the fact that Bakura was as shaky as she was, she could guess it was most likely in vain.

Only after what seemed like an eternity did Bakura remove his forehead from hers to sigh. "As I thought, as I thought… I didn't want to believe it when I felt it, but now I know that it is certainly the truth." Coldly, Bakura glowered at Marik (which would have been intimidating had he not still been shaking as badly as Marik) and announced, "You clearly felt contempt for me when you told me to 'go away.'"

"I didn't—!"

"Oh, but you did. You absolutely cannot fool my curse." Bakura turned his face away from Marik and raised his voice slightly as he described, "I'd be so hurt right now if I actually could be. My nonexistent feelings are crushed. You obviously don't want me to bother you while you're at school."

"I-I never said that!"

"You told me to 'go away,' did you not?" Bakura was looking as confused as Marik, but he undoubtedly had a method in all the ridiculousness he was saying. "I guess you really don't like me. Or maybe… Yes, maybe you are ashamed of me."

"But..."

"No. Don't speak." Bakura pushed his finger to Marik's lips, her face raising another few degrees at the gesture. "You'll only damage my nonexistent feelings even further—which, quite honestly, wouldn't do anything, because they don't exist. But you get the point."

Marik reached up and pulled Bakura's hand away from her face. She was fuming now again and was vaguely surprised Bakura wasn't claiming a headache. All the same, she barked, "Listen here, Bakura. So, yeah, maybe you're right in that I don't think it's smart for you to come find me at school. But it's not that I resent you! It's because I think you're going to get stranded in a crowd of people and get overwhelmed." Marik's tone lowered substantially, whispering the next part: "So, please, don't come find me at school. I'm afraid you'll get trapped. And what will I be able to do? Probably nothing if you really screw up. Do you understand, Bakura?"

Bakura contemplated this, staring at Marik for a long time. Then, slowly, he edged closer and closer to her until, without warning, he pulled her into a hug.

The blush in Marik's face was back. "Wha-wha-wha—?"

"Shush," Bakura said again, and he placed his forehead on Marik's neck. "Uh-huh… Yes… Yes, that is what I think it is."

"What is it now?"

"It's concern." Bakura lifted his eye back up to meet her gaze and graced her with what would have been a wicked grin had he not been intercepting Marik's puzzlement. "Real, true, honest-to-goodness concern. Oh, it's a wonderful emotion. Then, you really must not harbor any contempt for me."

"That's what I've been saying the entire time, isn't i—?"

"I'm so touched." Bakura squeezed the Ishtar, and this hug was a more typical one and less of a "I'm-trying-to-analyze-the-emotion-you're-feeling" one.

Marik squirmed, attempting to wriggle away. But it was only done half-heartedly, as the hug from Bakura was kind of nice, even if it was under confusing circumstances. Still, she mumbled, "Why are you hugging me again?"

"The concern you're giving off is overwhelming; I'm afraid it cannot be helped."

Marik pouted at this, secretly disappointed that the curse appeared to be the only factor in this spontaneous act of affection.

Bakura added suddenly, "Although… You're not… uncomfortable."

It took Marik a moment to realize that he was trying to compliment her, but when she did, she deadpanned rather harshly, "Are you sure you're not just saying this because you're enjoying this 'concern' feeling a little too much?"

Bakura promptly let go, and Marik had to sway a bit back and forth to regain her balance. "You'll never know," he chimed, not lapping up Marik's "concern" any longer.

Marik missed the warmth of the hug immediately, but she did everything possible to display the opposite. "Well… I didn't even want to know. So go away now."

Bakura raised an eyebrow at this, but the bizarre emotion radiating from her could not be further investigated due to a school bell ringing in the distance.

Marik flinched at it (making Bakura as well) and cursed under her breath. "See, Bakura? This is exactly why you shouldn't come to my school."

"They're just depraved teenagers, not cops. Let's not go crazy now."

"Do you understand nothing?" Marik snapped, pushing Bakura away from the school's general direction. "What are you doing? Come on, Bakura! You have to leave!"

Bakura, not at all helping Marik and instead wearing his shoes into the concrete to slow her progress, glanced back at her and bartered, "Sure, I'll go. But will you come visit me after school?"

"Yes! I promise! Just go!"

As soon as Marik agreed, Bakura lifted his feet and strolled away in the course she had been pushing him. "After school!" he called behind him, his voice losing emotion the farther he strayed from Marik. "You'll remember?"

Marik sighed, shaking her head at Bakura as he receded into the distance. I have a feeling he is walking as slow as possible just to get on my nerves, she thought grudgingly, warily gazing around at the students as they filled the school courtyard around her.

"Hey, who was that?"

Marik squeaked and then glared at the right hand that had dropped on her shoulder. "Just… Just Ryou," she excused smartly. Considering how alike they looked, Marik figured Melvin would buy it.

The other twin narrowed his eyes, examining Bakura as he continued to traverse to the school parking lot. "Oh… Oh, yeah. Jeez, you think I would have recognized him." He grinned broadly at Marik. "I mean, how many people honestly look like that?"

"Not many," Marik muttered, releasing a breath she had not realized she had been holding.

"By the way," Melvin transitioned, "I have some bad news."

"How bad are we talking about here?"

Melvin grew solemn, which answered her question fully. "Odion called and told me Ishizu would be back today," he informed gravely.

"Today? Did he say a time?"

Cautiously, Melvin responded, "No, which means she could already be back right now."

"There's…" Marik swallowed. "There's no point worrying about what we don't know." She fiddled with a strand of her blonde hair. "Let's just get back to class already. We can deal with problems as they arise."

"If you say so," he replied, getting a head start back.

-transition-

Marik's POV:

When Ishizu returns from a trip, our home is very quiet. She usually has terrible headaches due to overuse of magic ability; therefore, she retires straight away into her bedroom and lies down with an ice pack across her forehead.

"Couldn't find a single thing." Ishizu was ransacking her suitcase as she said this, and she searched rather blindly because of the ice pack over her eyes. Her hand bumbled about in the bag without any dexterity, and she had little success. "Such a pain. The Ring had me walking in circles every day."

"That must have been so hard for you," I told her softly. My comment was not genuine in the least, but by now, I knew what she wanted to hear.

"Yes, well, I hope you appreciate all these pains I go through for you. Without me, you wouldn't be any closer to leading the clan, and I—Ah-ha!" Ishizu had found the painkillers, evidently, and speedily swallowed a couple of them. That quieted her for a few moments. Then, she nestled herself into her bed and closed her eyes under the ice pack. "Honestly though," she hissed sharply, "what would you do without me?"

"I don't know, Ishizu," I replied. This one wasn't a complete lie, actually. I didn't really know what I would do. I'd be too happy to think for a while, after all.

Ishizu instantly chastised, "Marik, please. Don't you remember what I said? You don't not know. You simply—"

"—don't want to remember. Yes, Ishizu, I got it." I could not help but finish her sentence for her. I knew that doing so would get me on her bad side quickly, but my temper did not want to cooperate with my logic.

Ishizu stirred slightly, her lips thinning into a thoroughly unamused line. "I see… Well, if you want to talk so badly, how about you tell me about what you have been up to since I've been gone, hmm?"

"Uh…" Smooth, Marik. "Just… school. And I've been… going places lately." Wow, I'm an idiot.

"Going places?" My sister's curiosity had been piqued, and I spied her eyebrows raise acutely. "Where to, pray tell?"

"My friend Ryou's place," I lied. I had luckily answered fast enough and yet slow enough not to raise suspicion.

"Ryou… huh?"

"Yeah. You've met him once I believe," I informed her matter-of-factly. "You know… He's the white-haired one with the accent."

"White-haired… Accent… Oh, the foreign one. Yes, that's right." Ishizu rolled on her side, meaning she had to manually hold the ice pack to her head now. "His appearance brings up a… a terrible memory."

"Really?" I should have dropped the subject, but I stupidly persisted. "What kind of memory?"

Ishizu lifted the ice pack up, the full power of her glare hitting me like a slap to the face.

I knew it. Wrong move.

"Don't make me remember such dreadful things," she ordered. Dropping the ice pack again, Ishizu gestured to the door. "I need my rest. Leave me, Marik."

"Yes, Sister." I hoped adding "sister" might cushion me asking her unpleasant questions. It seemed to. I watched the tension leave her body. But it could have been her simply falling asleep…

Nonetheless, I crept out of her room and closed the door daintily behind me.

"She asleep?" Melvin was leaning against the wall a few doors down. He had been hiding from Ishizu the entire time, because Ishizu doesn't like to see him at all, let alone on a day she has a headache.

"I think so." I shook my head, a headache of my own lingering on the edges of my mind. "She didn't talk to me nearly as long as she usually does. She is probably really tired."

"Good," Melvin scoffed. "Searching for more Millennium Items in this region is pointless. She goes on fool's errands and then expects us to cater to her every whim?"

"Mostly me," I corrected, brushing past him to make my way down the hallway.

"Well… Still!"

I rolled my eyes and picked up my backpack from beside the door. This made Melvin apprehensive (for good reason), and he inquired, "You're leaving? Are you insane? You know Ishizu is going to be pissed if she wakes up and finds you're not here!"

"She's not going to wake up," I assured, smirking impishly. "I swapped her painkillers with sleeping pills when she threw her stuff at me earlier."

Melvin blinked, registering this. "Oh… Good call."

"Yep." I tossed my backpack over my shoulder and announced, "Well, I'm off." I then instructed carefully, "If for some odd reason Ishizu does wake up, stay out of her sight. Promise?"

"Yeah, yeah," Melvin grumbled, slinking away. I hoped he really had heard me, because an Ishizu with a headache, no knowledge of where I am, and Melvin all coming together would be an absolute disaster. I would sooner want to survive through an apocalypse, and I think Melvin, despite his casualness, was truly aware of that.

Author's Note: Whelp, there you have it. Thanks for sticking with the story. Have a good week, and please review if you get the chance.