MBP: I really like this... the ideas that come to you in the worst of places...

Rini: Oh, you were at the grandparents house today, weren't you?MBP: Yeah... and then I realized... I had read a really good fanfic with a style like this, written by Sailor Ra, which inspired this formatting, and I remembered my own story for SA, which made me think of the alphabet... which brought this to life!

Kio: ...MBP, do you like this pairing?

MBP: YES! TRAGEDYSHIPPING FOREVER! ...Except when its Staffshipping...

Kio: A special thanks to Mamoru4ever for helping come up with some of the words, and the title of the story...

MBP: THANK YOU! SO SO SO SO SO SO SO SO MUCH!

Rini: Yeah yeah... hope you all enjoy! MBP doesn't own anything!

Dare I Say...

Marik will look at Amane Bakura, and there are twenty-six words that always seem to run through his head, though not always at the same time, and not always every time. But at some time when he's around her, there are some things he can't help but see.

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Apple: Amane has a certain scent that captivates Marik's scent, like green apple bubble bath. Like she had sat in an apple orchard and the scent of fresh apples had collected around her, to grace her wherever she went. Whatever it was, it never failed to make Marik's senses go crazy, until he felt he could lose himself in just her scent.

Brother: Marik just couldn't get away from the fact that no matter how hard he tried, he couldn't get a moment alone with Amane. Because her crazy brother, Bakura, who he called a best friend, was an over-protective maniac. So, no matter how often he found time to be around the girl of his dreams, he never could quite get the time to tell her exactly how he felt. All because her brother had to be insane.

Car: Marik had never realized what fear was. He had never realized exactly how much fear could seep into a body, freeze the limbs, cause the heart to stop, just as it began to speed up into an uncontrollable rate. He hadn't realized what true terror was... until the accident. Until the news came that Amane Bakura had gotten into a tragic accident, and was still in the Emergency Room, in critical condition. Then... he realized exactly what fear was.

Darkness: Darkness was never a part of Amane. She was bright, and full of light, but Marik... Marik was dark. His entire being, his entire soul was covered in darkness. He knew being around her would corrupt her... destroy who she was... but the dark side of him didn't care. He wouldn't care... and in the end... neither would Amane. Amane was light... and that same light shone through the dark to him.

Endings: Marik wasn't sure about endings. They always seemed depressing to him. But to Amane, each ending was the beginning of a brand-new story. Each ending, good or bad, only opened the way to a new beginning. And he wanted her to keep believing that.

Future: No matter how hard Marik looked, there was no future for him and Amane. Not with her crazy psychotic brother always around. But being around her made him want to work towards creating a future for them... despite having Bakura want to kill him everyday.

Giving: Amane was a giving soul. She gave money to the poor, gave smiles to those having a bad day, gave love to her friends and family, and gave her heart to those undeserving of her. Which certainly did not explain why she didn't give it to Marik. He certainly thought of how he could never deserve her in a thousand years. Even with her giving soul, maybe she could never give him the one thing he truly wanted from her.

Hospital: He hated hospitals. Amane continued to find her way into them. Whether it was the horrible accident, or just being ill, or because one of their idiot friends got themselves hurt, somehow or another, Amane went to a hospital at least once a month. And no matter how much he hated hospitals, he would always go to be by her side.

Insist: Amane was not normally persistent. Normally, she was a follower, always obeying someone else. But there was one thing she would insist on. And there was nothing Marik could do about it, even if he disagreed with her. Amane, the non-insistent gentle girl, would absolutely refuse to back down from the idea that vanilla was better than chocolate. Marik couldn't look at the girl eat ice cream and not think of it.

Joke: Jokes. A lot of the things Marik said to Amane were jokes, he could admit that. But then there were things that weren't jokes that everyone treated like jokes. Like when his tongue slipped and he said he would be hurt every time Amane was, and everyone thought that he was trying to use it as a line to seduce the poor, innocent Bakura sister. Okay, maybe that was partly it... But not everything he said and did to Amane was a joke!

Kiss: By all that was good and holy in the world, Marik wanted to kiss Amane until she could no longer think and only wanted him. However, with Bakura watching his every move, that didn't look to be happening anytime soon. But a boy could always dream, and that's exactly what Marik did. At the same time, he was plotting to get Bakura out of the way for at least an hour in the near future...

Love: Marik could love the girl. He could feel it with every particle of his existence. It wasn't lust, because he didn't want her body, no matter how beautiful she was. It wasn't a crush, because he knew that if he lost her, he'd be broken forever, not just for a week until the next girl came along. It wasn't like a sister, because he was sure no brother wanted to make sure his sister was holding onto him and kissing him as if there was no one else in the world to see, and it was the last time they'd ever see each other. It was love, because Marik was willing to give her time and freedom, just as long as she was happy.

Memory: Somehow, Amane could remember everything, from the time Marik was still the annoying little brat in preschool that stole people's cookies, to the more recent time he and Bakura got drunk in the living room and was caught by Mahado. And for some reason, Marik forgot everything but the scenes that had Amane smiling at him.

New: It was all new. Marik wasn't sure how to go about this. He had been with girls before, dating, the like. But... Amane was the one, the girl of his dreams, and he had no clue on how to tell her. Thankfully, he wasn't the only one. Amane sat next to him, blushing as she tried to get her own stammering confession out of her mouth.

Open: Amane was an open person, spilling all her secrets to the first kind person she saw. Marik was not an open person. He preferred his secrets, well... secret. But, some way or another, Amane pulled those secrets out of him, and knocked all the walls down.

Purity: Marik had never seen a girl more pure than Amane. Her body had no blemishes that he could see, and that wasn't much because of psycho Bakura. Her eyes shone with an unhindered light as she smiled at him, and her soul had no sign of darkness or hate in it. In comparison, Marik was a dark blot on humanity... but Amane's purity overpowered his darkness, and he felt whole once they were together once more.

Quest: Marik wasn't sure what he was doing here, in an old antique store, looking for an old locket that no one in this time and age was going to appreciate. Scratch that, he did know. Amane's birthday was coming up, and he knew of her love of antiques. Hell, all Bakura's loved old things, and that was no secret. Marik just had never made it a personal quest to find something personal and... antique-ish for them... until Amane.

Romantic: Marik would never be classified as a romantic. He preferred things simple. Guy likes girl, guy tells girl, girl falls into guys arms. Too bad Amane was such a hopeless romantic, it made things difficult. And unfortunately for Marik, loving her was turning him into just as much a hopeless romantic as her.

Shy: Marik had a hard time getting past Amane's shyness. He thought it was cute, and adorable, and that was too much. He had enough of a time trying to stop from touching her as it was, without the overwhelming urge to protect the shy girl from the world. He was also macho enough to be glad that she was shy enough to want him to protect her.

Touch: He wanted to touch her. Not inappropriately, but just to touch her. A casual hug, holding her hands, chastely touching his lips to hers... but stupid Bakura was always around with a large kitchen knife, ready to cut off an important piece of male anatomy if he tried. But even so... would one touch be so bad?

Umbrella: Marik liked umbrellas. They reminded him of one of the few times he and Amane got a chance to be alone. Rainy day, after school, and Bakura was home sick with a cold, with Ryou to look after her. And without a crazy older brother to remind her, Amane had forgotten her... drum roll please... yes, her umbrella. So, gentleman like he was, Marik had offered to share. And gratefully, Amane had accepted. Marik had gone rather slowly, using the excuse that sharing an umbrella made him move slow, and got a little closer than he needed to keep them both covered. But hey... what else could you expect from him when he was alone with the perfect girl?

Visions: Amane often stared into space just enough to make Marik think she was seeing the future. All he hoped was that she was seeing them together in the future, for a very long time. Marik didn't believe in that future-seeing stuff anyways. He preferred to make his own future... and he'd make sure it had Amane in it, no matter what.

Wolf: Amane was just so innocent, she was like a little girl, or a princess in one of those fairy tales she had been so crazy about. Just thinking about that made Marik feel like the big bad wolf, going after the girl to devour her.

X-Ray: Marik really hated hospitals. He was sure he'd mentioned it. It was probably why when he had to go get an x-ray, no one else went with him because he'd complain the entire time. No one but Amane. It was worth the trip to the hospital, and the pain, just to see Amane turn red and stare when he had to take off his shirt. Maybe x-rays weren't so bad after all...

Yours: If anyone asked Marik who he belonged to, he'd probably beat your ass and make sure you couldn't speak or move for the next seventeen years. If Amane asked the same question, he'd give her an answer: "Yours."

Zebra: Amane loved zebras. She loved them just because no one could tell her if they were white with black stripes, or black with white stripes. The mystery behind them intrigued her, and they were easily her favorite animal in the world. Marik could always smile, because even if she never noticed, the animal wore both colors, complete opposites, but they were joined so well. Just like the pair of them managed to fit together so well, even if they were so different.

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Marik looked at his girlfriend and smiled at the girl. The words ran through his head as she sang the alphabet to a group of pre-schoolers that she wanted to volunteer for. She finished and smiled brightly at Marik, blushing with pleasure. He waited until the pre-schoolers left and then went and whispered in her ear.

"Want to hear my form of the alphabet?"

MBP: Yay for Tragedyshipping! Go MarikxAmane!

Rini: Okay... she's not normally the hyper one... that's my job!

Kio: I think she took it Onee-chan...

MBP: REVIEW PLEASE! I KNOW THE BUTTONS THERE! PRESS IT!

Rini: MBP, did you get sugar? Or was that clam chowder drugged or something?

MBP: None of the above! But really people, it's almost Christmas for me, and even if you don't celebrate Christmas, you should make a nice long review telling me if you like this or not an early Christmas gift! XD

Rini: Okay, you need to rest now... *escorts MBP away*

Kio: Um... alright... Jaa nee everyone!