AN: Hooray I'm back in town!

And still no update on a main story...but I can post this! It actually did pretty well on deviant art so I figure it's safe to post here.

I DO NOT OWN LION-MARIK. That is, once again, KitsuneKittis' idea and I still think you should look her up on deviant art. I also don't own Yu-Gi-Oh but you knew that.

I also don't own Winnie-The-Pooh but I might own the idea in this story...maybe...it's been bouncing around in my head XD No worries though, I have two pages of SideQuest typed up so far. I almost had a full chapter and scrapped it before I left town because I decided that the scene I was building up to was too soon. I'll add it later and it'll be awesome. What will be in the chapter is something I was going to push off for another chapter of two but you know what, it'll be fine :3

Anyway, posting this made for an excuse to update you on stuff. Like that I got to bottle-feed mah two-week-old nephew, was "wined and dined" (well, minus the wine since we don't drink XD) by my boyfriend, and I got to see Toy Story 3, which I highly recommend seeing. So I had a fun weekend, hope you all did the same.

Well, fun except for the bus ride to and from Florida. I was dead tired yesterday and for half of today. Which means I probably won't do any more writing tonight. But I get off work pretty early in the afternoon tomorrow so hopefully I can focus more on my stories and less on other distracting things XD

Enjoy! :3

Marik woke from a pre-lunch cat-nap in his favorite tree to find he was somewhere else entirely. The tanned lion looked around the unfamiliar woods below him before hopping down from his perch and landing on something soft that made a startled "ouch" noise.

"O-oh n-n-no!" another voice cried. The lion first looked to see what he had landed on and was startled to find a familiar face.

"Oh bother," the young man muttered. He wore a yellow, over-stuffed bear suit with a red shirt, a padded hood pulled up around his face, sand-blond bangs poking out from under the hood. "Marik why do you always do that? Could you...oh...you aren't Marik," the blond man finally noticed, tilting his head.

"Oh d-d-d-dear dear, Malik, are you o-o-o-k?" the other man asked coming into view and fidgeting nervously. He, too, was a familiar face wearing a strange animal suit: a pink piglet wearing a red striped top with a food pulled up so the only his face and bangs were visible.

"Malik? Ryou?" the lion wondered, rubbing his eyes. When their appearances didn't change, he tried pinching himself.

"Could you please get off of me mister Marik-looking-person?" Malik asked. "You're sitting on my tummy."

"Eh...er...yeah..." Marik replied, getting off and helping the other man to his feet.

"That's better," the bear-suited man sighed, dusting himself off. "Now then...um...who are you?"

"My...name is Marik," the lion replied.

"Oh?" Malik raised a brow, folding one arm over his chest and raising the other hand to his temple, tapping his lightly.

"O-o-o-h d-d-dear me oh my, he does l-look like Marik," Ryou stammered.

"And he pounces like Marik too," Malik hummed, tapping his temple a bit more firmly.

"Ex-excuse me, M-marik," Ryou began, shyly looking up at the lion. "Wh-where did you come from?"

"The Nightmare Circus...where am I now? And who are you?" Marik asked, trying to remain calm. 'How many portals to other worlds does Akefia have?'

"O-oh! H-how rude of us," Ryou smiled. "M-my name is Ryou but everyone calls me P-p-piglet. And th-this is my best friend, M-malik the P-pooh. And this is the Hundred Acre Woods. But I've never h-heard of a circus around here...Have you Malik?"

"No...No I think we'd have remembered hearing of that," Malik shook his head and lowered his arms. "But it sounds like something a certain rabbit might know about. Come on Marik-number-two! Let's go ask him!"

Both Malik and Ryou grabbed the lion's arms, half dragging half leading him along a dirt path. Marik sighed, deciding that it would probably be the fastest way home.

After walking for a while the trio heard shouting and colorful swearing.

"Sounds like Marik-number-one is bothering Bakura again," Malik laughed.

"O-oh d-d-dear," Ryou whimpered. "We sh-should hurry then before they do-" he lowered his voice to a whisper "-you know what."

"What?" Marik asked, but the pair released him and ran on ahead. When the lion caught up he saw a small vegetable garden, several of the plants ripped form the ground and thrown around, a wheel barrow upturned, and Malik and Ryou trying to keep two others separated.

"You fucking cat, I'll rip that tail off and stuff it so far up your ass-" the Bakura-look-alike was shouting. He was a padded suit as well but instead of a hood he only wore a headband with long rabbit ears on it. He held a rake in one hand and shook it threateningly, Ryou attached to his other arm and trying desperately to hold him back.

"Oh Baku-bunny, you always say the kinkiest things!" his look-alike crowed, happily keeping his distance. He wore an orange and black tiger suit and a head band with matching ears.

"I'm not a bunny you bloody twat!" Bakura growled, wrenching his arm loose and charging at tiger-suited Marik. "I'm going to fuck you with the business end of this rake!"

"Oh Baku, you know I'm not a masochist," tiger-Marik grinned, easily escaping Malik and meeting Bakura half-way, dodging the rake and grabbing the handle. "But you are."

"If you think you're getting anywhere near me for the next month-"

"Um...guys?" Malik called, trying to get their attention.

"If you think you could keep me away from that ass-"

"P-p-please s-st-stop, w-we have a p-problem a-and need help," Ryou tried, hovering nervously behind Bakura.

The tanned lion sighed, rubbing the back of his head and contemplating his options when another, familiar voice boomed "What's going on over here?"

"Oh fuck it's Akefia," Bakura cried, running for a door that lead into a hill. The stopped when a knife struck him in the back and laid still.

"Deal with you in a minute," the voice said again. An Akefia look-alike appeared hearing a tight red shirt with white trim and a pair of black jeans. "What's going on here?"

"Nothing boss," tiger-Marik purred, moving to sit at Akefia's feet innocently. He yelped as he was kicked.

"Malik, where's my honey?" the tan man demanded.

Ryou hid behind Malik, who cringed and was trying to hide behind the wheelbarrow. "I...um..." he trailed off, ducking down as Akefia stormed closer.

"You fucking ate my honey again didn't you?" Akefia growled, kicking the wheelbarrow aside and grabbing Malik by the front of his bear suit. "What did I tell you last time?"

"I...forget..." Malik confessed, squirming and grabbing at the hand that held him. His efforts were doubled when a knife appeared in the other man's hand. "W-wait! I'll get you more!"

"Too late for that, runt," Akefia growled, slashing the belly of the bear suit open.

The lion found himself unable to move as the scene played out before him: the Akefia look-alike grinned madly as he ripped the stuffing out of Malik's bear suit before throwing him to the ground where he laid motionless among the mounds of white, fluffy "blood", Ryou crying beside him. Tiger-Marik had gone to Bakura's side and removed the knife from his back, which seemed to instantly heal the pale rabbit, and the pair disappeared through the door.

The Akefia turned to look at Marik, eying him for a moment before stalking closer, knife in hand. "What are you looking at kitty cat? I think it's time for you to go."

Marik jerked awake, inadvertently falling out of his tree. He laid on his back for a moment before dragging himself to his feet, groaning and rubbing his head. Something hit him on the head and he whirled around, growling and ready to fight. When he didn't see anyone there, he looked down at what had hit him: a children's story book he had found and had been flipping through before falling asleep.