"Bitch."

"Motherfucker."

"Arsehole."

"What the fuck man, are you British?"

"Shut your yapping, you bloody bint! Shut your face before I make you."

"It's shut up, not shut your face! You're far too British to be cool!"

"Fucking wanker! How dare you call me that, tart? You're the one who needs mental help, damned Yankee!"

Ryou laughed a little. At least it seemed that his brother was no better off. High school was tough for everyone, but especially so for Bakura and Ryou. They were from the U.K. and needless to say their accents either bought Ryou love or made Bakura a target.

"I'd like it if you shoved your ego up your punk ass!" Bakura finished, looking rather irritated that the gang member he'd been riled up against had given in so quickly.

"Calm down, we haven't even gotten to the first bell yet!" Ryou protested. He really wished his brother would wind down and be more carefree, but obviously that wasn't happening any time soon.

"Well he was a bloody cunt."

Ryou couldn't really deny that. The tall man had been calling them queer for their outlandish long white hair. Well Bakura really didn't have to be so mean about it, he could just take it laying down…

Since when has Bakura ever taken anything laying down? Ryou sighed.

Ever since they had gotten full use of their "powers" life had been like this. Bakura couldn't make new friends, Ryou was too shy to talk to anyone but his brother and not even him sometimes. Just because their powers had matured. Bakura was all powerful… while Ryou had an unforgivable curse.

Bakura could control various things and read minds. Telekinesis, mind control, mind reading, soul swapping, that sort of thing. It was the most powerful thing Bakura could've gotten. It was a true superpower out of superpowers. It was the number one most desirable power. And Bakura hadn't even figured it out to the full extent.

While Ryou had the least desirable curse. He was cursed to 'die' every night until he could not keep breathing anymore. Each time it was harder to start breathing again… Even with this, Ryou wouldn't admit that he was jealous of his brother. He couldn't be jealous of him.

Bakura had life tough with his power. Most people had just been scared that he'd use it. Most people then knew that he would in fact use it and would no longer get close. Ryou sighed. People liked him and showered him in sympathy and love.

Yet Ryou wanted his brother to have to die every night instead... instead of being able to read minds and control objects half way across the room. But Ryou couldn't voice these thoughts. They were too wrong for him even to consider. For him to want his brother in his place and him in his brother's place.

Ryou already knew that Bakura would be friendless. Ryou knew he'd have the most devoted and kind friends in the school. He already knew this, but he wanted to switch places with his brother.

The guilt from thinking this sort of thing almost choked him. His curse, his brother had always helped with his curse. He'd made Ryou tea and breakfast everyday since it'd started, used his powers to calm his breathing and even do some of his chores if the night had been especially rough.

Sometimes Ryou wanted to be, just physically be, Bakura. Even though Bakura could swap their souls, he'd also swap their powers and curses at the same time, so the notion was rather stupid, but Ryou just wanted to look like his brother, who was so much stronger than him. There was no way Bakura could take his place, even if they swapped bodies.

Ryou turned his mind back to what he was doing. Oh yeah, he had classes. Most everyone here at Domino High had some sort of power, so the classes were made for training and controlling those powers. And then everyone else who didn't have a power, had a curse, and attended classes on how to survive their irremovable curse and how to live around it.

It was mostly for prevention of the making of super villains. Already, Ryou was scared that his brother was being watched for that very thing. With someone so utterly powerful, wouldn't becoming a super villain be so terribly easy? With his temper and hatred of people, Ryou had to admit that his brother might have truly founded suspicions against him.

First class of the day. Ryou sighed. Maybe he wouldn't be so scared if he had a class with Bakura, one at least. But he didn't have a power to restrain, he had a curse to survive. Sometimes he didn't think he would be able to fully recover from the last night's attack before he settled down for another.

He tugged open the door to his classroom nervously. He certainly wasn't late, but he wasn't early either. Ryou was greeted with many cheery faces and loud batter. Good, something to drown out his thoughts with.

"…Hey, 'sup! Freshman!" A friendly voice greeted him. And now it had started. Everyone would start to love him and cuddle him. Ryou smiled brilliantly, despite how he felt inside.

"It's nice to meet you! My name is Ryou Touzuko. I hope we can all be friends." Of course we will be… Ryou continued smiling.

All of the girls in the classroom jumped out of their seats and surrounded him with questions and their obvious adoration.

"Please please please can I be your girlfriend?" One pleaded.

"NO! He wants to go out with me, you slut!" yelled another.

"Now, now girls. I am sorry, but my brother will kill me if he finds out I fancy one of you." He knew he was an obvious flirt, and he didn't really mind that they all squeed and giggled at his every word.

The first person he spoke to when he entered the room crossed his arms. "The transfer student is our friend now. I called him before you ridiculous girls." He said, in… a Brooklyn accent?

"Yes, yes." Ryou flashed another sweet smile. "I really should sit down over there. Excuse me, misses."

Ryou plodded over to his new seat. Everyone here already knew most of each other just from their middle school. Ryou had been a 1000+ miles away from them. If he friended one, he friended their friends as well. Instantaneous popularity without even having to try… it didn't even matter if he'd be friends with all of them in a few bare seconds normally.

Convenient to find out who could be a possible candidate for a friend for Bakura. He did this at every school. Find loads of friends, just to see which ones would even tolerate his brother in the slightest.

"The name's Joey, by the way. I'm half Japanese, so my full name's Jounouchi, but I'm used to being called Joey now all my buds. Last name's Wheeler, by the way."

"Ah…" Ryou smiled. Kind, but rather stupid and irritating. This type of person wouldn't let Bakura destroy their morals by constant taunting, and would react in anger and indifference. A good friend for Ryou, then…

"So you have a brother? Is he cute like you, or is he nothing like?" Joey stared at the teacher with his mouth slightly open. He probably didn't even know what he was saying right then.

And holy shit did that teacher have huge breasts. Ryou politely looked away, which is more than could be said for Joey. He was full out staring at them.

"My name is Mai Valentine. Call me nothing but Mai and I won't wring any of your necks! Okay, so today's lesson…" Ryou stopped paying attention.

She wasn't the type of person Bakura would stand to be in the same room with. As usual, Bakura fit no one in the room.

"…So if everyone could come up and show me your curse?"

Ryou had a miniature panic attack. He didn't want to fall asleep only to die, in front of an entire class.

"And if your curse takes a while to manifest, then get started early. First up… We have Atem-" Mai was cut off by a snort.

"Name's Yami. Call me nothing but and I won't report you to the principal for having inappropriate clothing." A wildly spiky haired boy called from the back. Mai glared.

"Your curse, then Yami?" She prodded. He walked up to the front of the room and pulled out a pyramid hanging from around his neck.

He pressed it to his lips, and his soul got sucked out of his body. The body screamed, starting to try and destroy things, anything. Mai shoved the pyramid back to his mouth in a fluid movement.

"Destruction, loss of soul. How fitting." Mai snorted. She tapped her attendance list again before looking at the next name.

Ryou knew that it would be a long time before he was called. He waited out a few others, most sprouting tentacles or acne from strange locations. And then it was Joey's turn.

He grinned at the class before his facial features melted right off. Mai screamed loudly as his unconscious body hit the floor. His face stayed that way, melted and ageless.

And then it reverted. Ryou squeezed his eyes shut. People could force their curses to appear? Ryou had no control over his… He guessed that was what he was going to learn.

Almost everyone he knew had already gone by now… he appeared to by one of the last to have to get up and demonstrate. Oh… if Mai had screamed for Joey, what would she do if she saw him start to die? He didn't want to have to demonstrate.

"Ryou Touzuko? If you're ready, please come up and demonstrate your curse."

He walked up and bowed. "I apologize for the length of time…" Good thing he had his knockout pills. Or else it'd take him forever to actually fall asleep. He took the pill with a sour expression, closing his eyes. It didn't take as long as he thought, as he drifted off to unconsciousness.

The choking started.

Mai started screaming as he clawed at his neck, crying for air. His eyes rolled back and Ryou started screaming himself. The entire classroom jumped up in terror.

His face must be turning blue, his fingers were numb, he felt like he was being crushed by a heavy force…

The door slammed open. "WHAT THE FUCK RYOU? I KNOW THE RULES STATE YOU HAVE TO DEMONSTRATE YOUR CURSE BUT YOU COULD'VE MADE ME BE THERE!" Bakura screamed.

The air simmered with energy as Ryou felt the comforting presence of his brother's powers. It helped him come back to consciousness. It made him to open his eyes and fight the curse. The pressure on his throat forcibly eased up, as he came back to consciousness. Mai stared openly at the brothers.

Bakura ran over to Ryou, helping him up into a better breathing position. He glared at the rest of the class openly.

"I'm sorry…" Ryou panted. "It wasn't even that bad an attack."

Bakura's now red eyes made Ryou shut his mouth quickly. "You never make him show you that ever again, not without me around." He hissed.

Mai nodded mutely before suggesting, "Why don't you take him to the nurse's office… What's your name?"

Ryou coughed a little. "'Kura-kun, introduce yourself kindly to Mai."

Bakura narrowed his eyes. "My name is Bakura Touzuko, and Ryou is my little brother."

It wasn't kind, but it was the best Ryou knew that the albino would give the rest of them. He smiled. "Thank you, 'Kura."

Bakura looked away and snorted, before slinging Ryou over his shoulder like a sack of potatoes and walking out of the room.

Bakura knew when he'd heard his brother screaming that something was wrong. He didn't think that Ryou would've been stupid enough to display his curse without him around.

But no, of course Ryou had to go and be tough. Bakura snorted as he walked back into his class. He would be in a lot of trouble for that, he knew it. But no one should have to force his little brother in letting something attempt to kill him.

The classroom door was far too easy to open, in his opinion. The teacher glared at him openly. Not only had he interrupted his class but Bakura had even run out on them and ignored their calls when he'd heard the screaming.

Bakura knew they wouldn't understand. He knew he'd be a load of trouble. He honestly didn't care.

"Care to explain where you've been?" The teacher snapped. Bakura flipped him off and sat down lazily into his chair.

"How dare you address the teacher like that! Mr. Sato is a good teacher!" A short boy with tri-colored hair spoke up. His bangs were blonde, the rest a brightly colored black and purple mess from where Bakura was sitting.

"If he's going to be an arse for my behavior, then I have every right." Bakura put his feet on the chair in front of him, relaxing into his chair.

"You didn't even ask to excuse yourself! What did you even run out for, the bathroom?" He shot back with even more spite. Bakura frowned. Was he the only one who heard the screaming? His brother had been dying, for fuck's sake!

"I heard my little brother screaming, or are all of you DEAF?" He shouted, hopping up from his lazy position in the chair.

The kid froze. "Your little brother is one of the cursed?" He asked tentatively.

"Yeah, got a problem with it?" Bakura sneered. The kid raised up his hands in defense of himself.

"I didn't think- I'm sorry… we're all used to the screaming by now. You don't come from around here, do you?"

"No." Bakura snorted, returning to his seat. The teacher decided it was time for him to take action. He tapped the board harshly.

"Attention. In this class you are here to learn all about your power and help us discover how you will best help society in general. If we could all continue with demonstrations of your unique powers, I'd appreciate it." He said sternly.

Hm… demonstrations, huh? Bakura snorted. It must almost be his turn. For some reason he didn't want to show off all he could do. He should underplay his powers, hide them. Maybe then he wouldn't be so intimidating… It was what Ryou always wanted him to do, but he usually thought honesty was the best policy. Maybe Ryou was right for once.

Maybe someone would want to be weak Bakura's friend. Bakura was far too strong to have equals anyways.

"Okay, Yugi. It's your turn to display your power. Please step up." The teacher directed. Apparently they were only on Mutou, then. Bakura had some time to wait.

Yugi smiled and the whole room was filled with the golden light of his transformation. A screen appeared behind him, showing what… stats? Like for a video game?

"Anyone care to play against the 'King of Games'?" Yugi said, almost in another, entirely different voice.

Bakura smirked. So this one's power was basically being a genius, plotting out moves and quick understanding. Yet it was limited to… games. It required a transformation into the state, however, which probably was physically exhausting.

Everything faded back, and Yugi looked absolutely exhausted from using his powers for barely that. Bakura smirked. Of course he was right, when wasn't he?

"Thank you, Yugi. Next is… Anzu?" The teacher directed the girl up to the front of the classroom. She gave both Yugi and the teacher a charming smile.

She disgusted Bakura. He sneered at her. He bet her powers were really weak.

Bakura zoned out for the next few. Anzu could control a bit of time, making things speed up. But only on certain objects, of a certain caliber and density. In other words, she could barely speed up time on pebbles. Weak. Someone named Tristan had bursts of super strength, again lame. A Miho girl was lucky. A Otogi person had powers of seduction, which absolutely disgusted Bakura even if he did have to have some respect for the man. He didn't even have to try to look good. Bakura had 20 mins tops to make himself look presentable.

A Serenity girl had the ability to have laser beams shot from her eyes and even though it was powerful, she couldn't see otherwise. If she wasn't shooting lasers out of her eyes, she was blind. Powerful and weak at the same time. She probably hadn't even seen her family other than out of the corner of her eyes.

"Bakura Touzuko." The teacher announced with annoyance. Everyone looked eager to watch as his powers didn't match up with his behavior. He wanted to show them, show them he was twice as strong as they ever would be, that he kept his little brother alive every night when he was screaming to die. But no one wanted to see Bakura strong.

They wanted to see him weak, someone they could relate to and be just like them.

He walked up to the front of the room. He wanted to cry out from frustration, but he held it in. People wanted to see him fail, wanted him to hide his true self, then he would.

He closed his eyes, faked an expression that made him look like he was really trying, and he let a cup wobble slowly into the air, as he really had to try. He sucked in a large gasp, and the cup crashed down after only a few inches of air.

He pretended to pant afterwards. They all looked happy, like the albino had proved them right and that he wasn't strong. Even the teacher looked satisfied. Bakura wanted to cry more than ever. They looked as if they were bragging. See? They said, He isn't strong anymore. We could take him easy!

He walked back to his chair, sitting down. Everyone believed him. Why did it hurt so much?

Ryou went back to class and everyone beamed at him. There was pity in the girl's eyes and respect in the boys.

"Hey Ryou! Your curse must mean you're super tough to fight that! I just have my face melt occasionally and pass out! But no, you are cursed to start to die! I can't believe it, you look so soft and gentle!" Joey cheered.

"Thanks, Joey. What did Bakura say while I was out? I wasn't entirely there when he was talking to the teacher."

"You mean that guy with the white hair who looked exactly like you? Yeah, just that you weren't allowed to fall asleep without him there. I can see why he freaked though, I really thought you were going to die."

So do I, Joey. I always think it'll win every time I fall asleep. I think it will win over me and I'll succumb to the darkness. Ryou smiled back.

"I'm sorry for the commotion, I didn't mean to cause such a fuss." He said. Mai looked at him with a smile. Joey grinned.

"Don't worry, it's almost lunch and I can introduce you to all my friends! They're super cool! Wait until you meet them all." Of course. More people to evaluate to see who had the potential to tolerate Bakura. Certainly no one else with a curse would, not with his powers.

Hopefully Joey's friends wouldn't all be hopeless.

They walked to the lunchroom with Joey's mouth going nonstop. Ryou was surprised to notice that Yami followed them silently. Joey followed Ryou's gaze before quickly answering his question.

"Yami's boyfriend sits with us. It's too sad that they can't get past themselves. I swear, matching hairstyles? And they can't even kiss, unless Yami wants to get his soul sucked out."

"Oh… that's too bad then. Say, do you mind once I get to the lunch room if I can find my brother?"

"Oh yeah, that Bakura guy!" Joey confirmed. "He scares me but I suppose you are family. Sure, go talk to him if you want."

Ryou smiled. Joey was nice, and Yami didn't seem bad either. But he highly doubted Bakura would get along with any of them.

The so called gang that Ryou was introduced to consisted of only a few people, but tables were long, so more people managed to squeeze themselves in.

Yami's boyfriend was a sweetheart named Yugi, who was a power holder. Then there was Joey's close friend Tristan. They both apparently came from Japan, along with another girl named Anzu. However when Ryou asked her name, she referred to herself as Tea Gardener instead of her Japanese name Anzu. Apparently they were interchangeable.

There was a Ryuji Otogi, who referred to himself as Duke Devlin when asked, for no apparent reason to Ryou. There was also Miho, who was sweet and a darling girl who had a huge apparent crush on Tristan. Serenity, Joey's sister, apparently, had a Japanese name also. Shizuka, it seemed. It surprised him how many Japanese kids there were here. Birds of a feather flock together, huh…

Ryou introduced himself quickly and painlessly. "I'm Ryou Touzuko."

"Touzuko? There's a Touzuko in our classes! He's a real asshole, is he your brother?" Tea exclaimed after hearing his last name. "He looks a lot like you too! I bet you two are brothers!"

"We're twins." Ryou explained. And that they were, but if anyone asked they'd merely go as brothers. A whole 12 minutes made them apart. And anyway, they were supposed to be triplets, but the third died when they were little. Being called 'twins' reminded them that they had lost their brother.

Akefia had been normal, but he had been precious to the both of them. Once he died, Bakura went out of control. Because Bakura blamed himself for Akefia's death. He certainly hadn't killed their brother, but Bakura felt somehow responsible for the oldest triplet's death.

"Oh, that's cool. Fraternal or Identical? I'm guessing Identical, from how you look!" Yugi said with a happy smile. Ryou smiled back.

"Actually, we're fraternal." Ryou corrected. "We have very different features that most people don't go and look at."

Their noses, for instance. Ryou's was upturned and snubby, while Bakura's was longer and gave off a more regal sort of appearance. Their eyes were another feature of theirs that was difference. His were rounded, while Bakura had almond eyes.

Their cheekbones were different places. Bakura's were high, but his cheeks were full so it didn't give him a hollowed look. Ryou's however, were slightly lower on his face and gave him a childish appearance.

Ryou's eyebrows were a little misshapen and thin, while Bakura's were regally arched and slightly thicker.

Their eye color was the most vibrant of all of their changes. Bakura's eyes were a reddish brown, almost a magma pool on his face. They were intense, and they only started to look more of a natural brown color if he was really happy. Ryou's were a light and bright oak brown, which was more hazelnut than brown when he was in a good mood.

"I guess there are obvious differences in personality." Joey glanced over towards the table that Bakura was sitting at alone. As usual. It seemed like the usual crowd had abandoned him.

Ryou frowned. "Why can't he ever make his own friends?"

Yugi looked at him curiously. "He doesn't have friends? That's a terrible thing to have to go through!" Yami nodded in agreement. Ryou sighed.

"Every year it's the same! He is asked to show off and of course he does! Can't he stuff his ego into his body and not let it seep out once in a while? It's not like he's impressing anybody." Ryou felt terrible for saying this but he couldn't stop himself. He got up, excused himself from the table, and stormed over to his brother.

"What, Ryou?" Bakura absently mindedly removed the ice cubes in his drink. Monster energy, Ryou was sure of it. It smelled of sugar and caffeine.

Where he got it, Ryou had no clue. They owned absolutely no monsters and neither did anyone they knew. Ryou decided to speak up. "Where'd you get that?"

Bad intro. He knew it but he had to start a conversation before demanding it go somewhere.

"I picked it up. Vending machines, and all that." In other words, it was stolen. Ryou gritted his teeth in frustration.

"Why the hell are you sitting alone? Why couldn't you stop bragging about-"

"Ryou, I DID! I did this time! I hid it. Ask any of my classmates over there. They don't think I can do anything." Ryou froze up. Bakura almost sounded… hurt? But his classmates shouldn't even have anything against him… what was going on here?

Maybe… Ryou had been blind all this time. No, it couldn't be. Whenever he'd asked they always said that he was a show off, that he was scary because he was too powerful, but if Bakura hadn't shown off, then why didn't they gradually learn to like him? Ryou knew it had to be Bakura's powers that scared off other kids. If it was Bakura himself then Bakura would be alone… forever.

"I'm sorry… Just keep trying this time! I'm sure someone will realize you're worthy of their time-" Ryou was interrupted.

"They should be worthy of my time. I'm better than they are." Ryou winced as Bakura took a giant bite of his sandwich and chewed it with a snobbish look on his face.

There was nothing else he really could say… Ryou gave up and walked back over to Joey and his friends. "He's being stubborn."

"I think you should really stay away from him… He's probably dangerous." Miho suggested, before Tristan clarified for her that they were twins. She blushed bright red. "I'm sorry, Ryou! I didn't mean anything by it!"

Of course… Ryou smiled and forgave her in an instant. Maybe if Bakura smiled more, then he'd make more friends.

A year and a semester later...

Ryou looked at the familiar school. He smiled brightly. Bakura scowled somewhere behind him. They were back from winter break already. They were both sophomores, and halfway through 10th grade already.

Ryou couldn't say he'd had much improvement in many of his classes other than his core ones. Bakura was still failing every class until the last minute, somehow managing top marks on his midterms and finals and passing with an A in some type of miracle.

Bakura was still hiding his powers. He didn't say much, he did however make it very clear that the school was very much under his control and always would be until he graduated. The teachers turned a blind eye to most of his activities there. Smoking in the bathroom, say. Or on the roof, which was off-limits to the students after one of the students had jumped off in a blind fit of his curse.

Ryou had managed to befriend the entire school. Everyone knew him, his name, his curse, and to stay the fuck away from his brother. Even the usual bullies knew that they would have to stay away from him and everything ran smoothly under Bakura's justice system. Those who disobeyed didn't come back quite the same.

Ryou watched Yugi give a quick kiss on the cheek to Yami before they split for their classes. How cute… even with Tea's amiable attempts to go out with one of the two, (she didn't seem to be picky about which one) they were still going strong.

Yami waved to Bakura and they started to walk together to their first class of the new year. 2011 seemed like a far away mystery, but here it was, 2011 already.

"Have you heard of the new kids? One of 'em's Pyrokinetic and the other seems to be Hydrokinetic, or whatever. Apparently they're transfers from Egypt." Yami mentioned, mainly so they could small talk on their way across the snowy campus. Ryou lit up. New kids!

They never had new kids! Maybe, just maybe, could his heart even dare to hope…? Bakura might find a friend in one of them! Yami didn't seem to know why he was so excited but he grinned back.

"Both powers, so we won't be seeing much of them, but I'm sure I can introduce them to you at lunch. Yugi saw them earlier and said they looked rather eccentric though. I think what he really meant to saw was bat shit insane, but… He's far too nice to say that about anyone." Yami's cheeks turned a little pink at the thought of his cute little boyfriend.

Ryou smiled. Insane was good. Bakura couldn't get along with normal people at all, so insane was prolly right up the boy's alley.

"I can't wait to see them-" And Ryou's wish was granted. Two noticeably tan boys were standing in the snow glaring openly at each other. One's hands were coated in fire, the other's were filled with snowballs.

Ryou stopped and openly gaped at the two of them. To be able to control their powers to such an extent… The only other person he'd seen to developed in the power region was Bakura, and Bakura was going against the school rules and practicing his powers alone. Since the school couldn't learn his true powers, he had no other option really.

The one covered in snow and was laughing rather sadistically had spiky blonde hair and dark maroon eyes. Maybe maroon was stretching the color. It was a dark purple with red. He was tall, slim, and had a slightly muscular chest. He was wearing a black hoodie, tan cargo pants that hung dangerously low on his hips, and Ryou blushed just by looking at him.

The other one held the title of far more attractive, however. Even if his heart rate didn't speed up like with the other brother, the one with fire coating his hands had a confident smirk and the most beautiful body Ryou'd ever seen.

His eyes were amethyst, his hair a softer platinum blonde that flowed barely to his shoulders, and his figure was shorter and leaner than his brother's. And his skin was a bronze shade only slightly darker than the golden accessories that adorned his ears, his arms, and his neck. He was wearing a black undershirt and a lavender colored hoodie that had golden chains hanging on the front. He was also wearing a pair of modest black cargos not unlike his brothers.

Ryou couldn't stop staring.

"That's them, then. That one does look dangerous." Yami motioned to the one with the fire coating his hands. "The other one doesn't seem to be displaying his powers but he also seems pretty psychotic."

Ryou nodded in mute agreement. How did these two manage to be so attractive? Maybe it was because they were so foreign in the white and grey backdrop.

Yami forcibly tugged Ryou the rest of the way to class, even though Ryou wanted to run back and watch the two play in the snow, or whatever they'd been doing when Ryou had seen them. Ryou felt a little guilt that he felt attracted to the one with the carefree smirk and the eyes that promised loss and pain for the triumphed.

'I wonder what Bakura will think of them…' Ryou pressed his pale lips together in thought. They seemed eccentric, for lack of a better word. Yugi had summed them up quite well, actually.

"I can't wait to see if I have Mr. Mitarashi again this semester. He was good at figuring out which object I'd accidentally kissed and getting my soul back into my body." Yami filled up the awkward silence the only way he could think of, meaningless conversation. He was acting like an idiot he knew, but he didn't want to admit it.

"Mr. Mitarashi was a good teacher, yes, but he was too kind to me. He never wanted to me experiment with my curse, even if Bakura was there for moral support." Ryou smiled gently. The man was a good man, but Ryou needed a tougher teacher to learn how to fight back.

Yami ruffled his hair. "Stay strong. You'll need it."

As much as Bakura loved new kids, he didn't. He didn't like them interrupting the balance he'd created with his precious time. But they would reduce everything to chaos and more effort would have to be put into the whole thing. After a week the new kid stops being new and then no one would want to talk to them outside of their social circle.

Bakura liked ruling over the school with an iron fist. If he had nothing but that, he'd probably be happy. But he wanted to be up at the top, not at the bottom. Always up at the top.

He casually put up his feet in his new desk. He never lasted with a teacher long. No matter what he said or did they wouldn't like him anyways. Just like with every student. Even the ones who thought his brother was an angel and could in no way be related to anything rude or mean hated him.

"Welcome back. We're proud to say we have new students here at Domino High!" The teacher cheered. What was her name again? Mrs. Hinata, or something.

The new students walked in and Bakura rolled his eyes. Of course. Tanned skin, beautiful exotic looks, everything he'd heard they'd be. He tried to ignore them, but the girls had already started fawning over them. Or more precisely one of them.

"Isn't he just the cutest thing, standing there with that innocent smile right behind is big old brother! Ha ha ha…" Girls were annoying. Bakura hated females for all they were worth. Men weren't much better, really.

All the people of the world should die. Except for Bakura. Bakura would then rule everything with an iron fist.

He watched the taller one glare at everyone who was talking before starting to introduce himself and his brother. "My name is Marikuu Ishtar. And this bitchy one is my little bro Malik." He pointed with his thumb towards his look-alike. "But mini-me is a grade ahead and will kick your asses on all the exams, so don't even think about saying anything."

Malik cleared his throat. "And this douche is stupid as hell, so don't bother with him and his overly large ego. Do we need to demonstrate our powers now, or later?"

The teacher sighed at the vulgar language, but even she was amused by the two of them. Ugh, they were like Ryou. Everyone wanted to be their friend already. Bakura felt a bit of jealousy form in his heart, but he smashed it to bits before he had to acknowledge he was a bit jealous.

"Sure, Malik. Why don't you two do just that? We usually all demonstrate freshman year, but as you're new transfers, it'd be nice if the class knew them." The teacher said, sugary sweet.

Bakura watched in mild interest as Marikuu gathered water from the air and played with it, making it dance around the room. Then he dumped it on the floor in a splat. And picked it back up again, sprinkling it over the class. Everyone laughed at his childish display before Malik shoved his showoff brother aside.

Bakura paid more attention this time, mainly because this one actually had brains in his skull and the other seemed unsurprisingly dimwitted. From what he'd seen so far anyway.

Malik's fingertips lit on fire. Hm… opposite powers. Sorta like him and Ryou, Bakura might've even stretched. Only Bakura had the ultimate power, while Ryou had the ultimate curse.

Malik finished off his show by eating the fire and letting his stay lit in his throat, making it glow red from the inside in a gruesome way before swallowing and putting it out. His entire body wasn't immune to the fire, Bakura was guessing. His finger tips were slightly singed and he made a face as if he'd been slightly burned by his show afterwards.

Bakura didn't know why this made him like the other brother even more than Marikuu, but it did. Bakura almost let himself smile lazily watching the Malik stick out his tongue at Marikuu. But he caught himself.

He couldn't open up to anyone. They'd get hurt. He didn't need friends if all he was going to do was get mad and use his powers recklessly around them. He always did… He'd never had someone talk to him for more than 4 minutes without him subtly using his powers to convince them to leave before he snapped and used them in a more vicious fashion.

Mariku took the empty seat next to Bakura's. All the seats around Bakura were empty. Everyone wanted to stay one desk away, and there the only open spots were the 5 that surrounded his. He even had a window seat, so he was on the edge of a row leaving off another 3 possible desk spots that would've been vacated. And of course the seat in front of Bakura had soon been filled with Malik.

"Hey, pretty boy." Oh fuck why had Bakura said that? He'd just been thinking it, but it wasn't supposed to come out. Whatever… "Move. That seat is reserved for my feet."

Mariku growled at the whole thing. Bakura resisted the urge to roll his eyes. He wasn't even bullying the kid, he was telling him to move in a rude but civilized manner. Bakura fucking ran the school. What he said went. That was just how it goes.

"Mariku, Mariku… I'm not a dog on a leash, I can bite back." Malik patted his brother on the arm before addressing Bakura. "Well if that's the case, why don't you move one seat back, so that your feet can have their own spot? I wasn't aware that your feet had some sort of disease that makes them want to enroll in a high school; must be really miserable."

"You're not funny. You do know that, right? I'll let you know when I'm insulted." Bakura smirked back. Oh he loved a challenge.

"Yes, because it's just my goal in life to find ways to insult you, fluffy. Now turn around, get over your PMS, and I'll let your feet rest on the back of my chair if they must." Malik smiled brightly. Bakura huffed.

He admitted that he'd lost. Entirely, and utterly lost. Mariku snickered when Bakura didn't throw a comeback. Bakura gave him the stink eye.

"So for improvement exams… Bakura, if you'd please come up and show us the results of your supposed winter break studying." Mrs. Hinata said. Oh dear god how much he hated her at the moment.

"Yeah, yeah. Improvement." An improvement exam was to see how much you'd gotten better of a period of time. Winter and spring break were favorites for these to pop up.

What had he gotten done on his last improvement exam? Did the cup hover 6 or 7 inches, and move back and worth, or was it only 5? Bakura decided if it could hover 8 inches and move back and forth, it was enough of an improvement. His 'weak' telekinesis powers were sickening, but he had to keep up the façade because it was too late to change and say it had all been a joke.

As funny and true that was… Ryou would hate him if he caused a scene.

He pretended to focus really hard and almost as easily as a flick of his finger did the cup wobble up and side to side. It went as far away as the edge of the teachers desk before settling back down with a clang. If anything, the acting was harder than that.

"Teach, is that how examinations usually work? Use the least amount of your power while pretending you're using all of your strength? That seems easy!" Mariku commented offhandedly. Bakura's eyes widened. How did this guy know?

"What?" the teacher's eyes grew impossibly large. Bakura scowled.

"You don't know that! I'm trying my hardest!" He retorted. Because there was no way those kids could figure out that he was lying, they couldn't force him to use his powers.

Mariku grinned at the challenge. "Are you saying that I'm lying? I'm monitoring your heartbeat, and your bodily fluids. Whatever you're doing right now is no challenge for you."

Bakura frowned. "You're right. It's gotten a bit easy, but it does seem to be the extent of my powers."

"You're lying!" Malik spoke up this time. "If something's easy then you can always improve! You're just lazy!"

Bakura walked off the stage. He walked by the brothers and glared at the both of them. "Don't say anything else and I won't be forced to show you what I really can do…" He hissed as quietly as he could to the two of them before sitting down in his desk.

Ryou wasn't expecting Bakura to pull him behind the school building for a talk during lunch. But Bakura was his brother, he had to listen to what he had to say before running back to his little friends.

"Those two new kids are dangerous. They saw through my act. I can't get revealed to the school… I'll be expelled at worst, hated at best. And they'd hate you too."

Holy cow! Bakura was serious. They needed a plan, but what? What was best anyway? Ryou tried to calm his racing mind.

"Those new kids… those new kids are a giant pain. I'd beat them up, but I don't think that's what they're after revealing me to the teacher like that… They don't want a fight, that is." Bakura sat down and took a bite out of his sandwich.

Ryou was about to speak before he was interrupted.

"We don't want a fight. He's more of curious at the moment. And we already knew to watch out for you, Bakura." Mariku said, coming from no where with his tag-along little brother. Ryou gave them a weak smile.

"Curious? Curious of what? What my power is, why we're here, what Ryou's curse is?" Bakura snapped back, taking a defensive position.

"Well yeah, your power. Mostly your power. Why would we want to know about the cute one's curse?" Mariku smiled mysteriously. Ryou flushed bright red and Bakura only scowled more.

"Because his curse is the most powerful possible. You've seen my power, it's just a bit of telekinesis, nothing more."

Ryou felt his smile falter. Telekinesis and nothing more? Oh no, Bakura had so much more than that… he had everything. Ryou beat down the jealousy that never really left him alone.

"Most powerful curse? That's Death itself! Do you really have to die every night?" Malik this time. His amethyst eyes showed curiosity for the albino he'd hardly even met.

"Well yeah but Bakura always helps me out afterwards and I'm pretty sturdy now. The attacks are getting better." Ryou smiled cheerfully, despite the tough subject. They wouldn't understand. Only Bakura even thought he could understand and even he couldn't.

"I'm so sorry… I never thought that it could be such a bad curse… I really am sorry…" Malik gave the tiniest supportive smile back. Ryou didn't appreciate the gesture any more than he was willing to, but it still felt good to think that even a random stranger felt pity for him and was willing to be his friend.

"I honestly don't give a damn about the little shit. I want to see the extent of your powers! I don't care about your wimpy little brother or his fucking curse!" Mariku snarled.

Bakura's eye twitched at those words. NO ONE called Ryou a little shit. Let alone this bastard.

"I will fight you without using a shred of my power! And I will win!" Bakura snarled. "If you want to fight, you're on!"

Mariku started pulling water out of the air just as a show, like a matador waving around his red flag. Ryou gasped as his mouth went dry.

Mariku winked at him suggestively before turning back to Bakura. "You might as well give up, I can dehydrate your little brother in seconds."

Bakura snarled, feral. "Fight me without cheating, you fucking bastard! Use your powers on me or I'll use mine on your little brother as well."

Malik raised a blonde eyebrow. "Are you going to fight or not? There's nothing a little Telekinesis can do to me."

Oh how wrong you are, Malik. Ryou winced before deciding. "Bakura! He wants to know your powers. Just show him! There's no need to fight!" And there wasn't. Ryou was fine, so was Malik. Mariku hadn't hurt Ryou at all, and Bakura had nothing against Malik. If they didn't tell anyone, there was no harm.

"Well, only if they agree to my terms." Bakura listened to his brother, who was usually the voice of reason. "First, they can't tell anyone. Or inform anyone, in any way. They are the only ones allowed to know or share the knowledge with."

"Agreed." Malik said before his brother could deny anything. Mariku wanted a fight, but Malik knew that it was a foolish maneuver. Not if they wanted to really see Bakura's powers.

"Next thing, is that they can't touch or mess with either of us afterwards. Go behind our backs and trick us into something." Bakura held up two fingers. One might've thought it was a peace sign had he not been talking about rules.

"Malik, we can't promise that!" Mariku whined but Malik sent him a glare that shut his mouth.

"We can. We will not go behind your backs and trick you. We won't mess with you in any way." Malik brushed white blonde locks out of his eyes, which were fixated on Bakura's with intensity.

"Malik!" Mariku whined. Ryou was wondering why Mariku seemed so hell bent on that rule. Why was he so against not tricking them? Because he himself was nothing but a liar and a cheat? Or because the two of them already had plans. Plans to cheat, trick, and deceive?

"And one last thing. You will die if you break any of the rules. One will be forced to kill the other. That is your payment." Bakura smirked. Mariku seemed dead serious about rejecting this deal.

"When will this deal become absolute?" Malik asked suddenly. It did seem suspicious to Ryou, but he had no right to talk. Malik was a very secretive person, from what he'd seen so far. For him to be asking so many questions meant that they were probably planning something.

"The moment you said you'd agree to do them. You've already agreed to the first two, once you agree to the third it's absolute." Bakura glared at Malik, trying to see the loophole that Malik had found. The first rule might've been a trick, but the second was not, because it sealed off all trick-doing. "But for good measure, you have to repeat that you will obey all rules after you've agreed to the last one."

"Of course, of course. We agree." Malik said suddenly, a smile adorning his attractive features. "To obey all rules absolutely. We will not trick you, everything will be clear and you can walk right out of our plans whenever you'd like, unless you let yourselves become tricked. We will not tell, we will let you speak your secrets. We will kill each other if the rule is broken, but after one is dead, the other can of course bring them back."

"So you are planning something." was the reply that Bakura spit back. "What do you need my powers for?"

"That's none of your business. Your little rules don't make me tell you anything. I can't lie, however." Malik smirked. "Why don't we do this after school, we've spent enough time chatting. It's been nice to meet you, Bakura… Ryou."

"See ya suckers!" Mariku stuck his tongue out at Bakura, both of them leaving right as the bell rang. Ryou sighed. No lunch for him…

And that is the beginning of my story. As usual, it won't ever update. There is no updating schedule to follow. Sorry. Maybe in a month or more you'll have a new chapter. Maybe sooner. I don't know, I'm just posting this to shits and giggles. Will be rated M later, but for now it's just T.