Abandonment, chapter 7

Akari woke up the next morning totally exhausted. Looking to her right she saw someone out of the corner of her eye, staring at her. She guessed this was what woke her up. It was her brother, Bakura. 1

"How the hell did you get in the house?"2

"Your fiancee let me in."3

Akari mumbled angrily under her breath and got up out of bed. 4

"How long have you been sitting there for?"5

"Two hours, Marik let me in and showed me to your room. He didn't seem surprised to see me. He only asked that I not wake you."6

"Hmph. Lot of good that does me. What have you come here for... to try to talk me out of marrying him?"7

"Not at all. I wanted to see how you were doing. I was worried sick when I heard that you got kicked out as well. You do take after me don't you, lil' sis."8

"I am no way like you at all. You got kicked out because you were found having sex in your bedroom."9

"Oh. And why were you kicked out?"10

"Because our parents didn't approve of Mar."11

"So isn't that the same thing almost?"12

"Your confusing me. It isn't the same at all."13

Bakura smirked. "My poor naive sister, do you think our parents wouldn't have found out about your fiancee. And I hope your not intending to kick me out right now for what I just called you. I'm only trying to look out for you, you know. Besides, I'm happy that you found someone who can love you like you love them."14

"You're avoiding the answer to the statement I just told you."15

"No, I'm not. Our parents didn't approve of the girl I was with. So they kicked me out. You don't seem to understand much."16

Akari was getting pissed off, her brother was starting to get on her nerves. Bakura could see it too. He always liked pissing off his sister. Well, not really. Suddenly Marik walked into the room.17

"Is everything all right in here? I can sense a little tension between you two."18

"Everything's fine, Marik. Akari's just, how would you put it, confused."19

"I am not confused. I'm reaching my anger point. Why did you keep the real reason you were kicked out of the house from me. You could have warned me ahead of time that our parents never liked who we chose for relationships."20

Marik at this point was so confused he left the room, leaving them to deal with the current issue.21

"Because you had to find out the hard way. You were always so attached to mom and dad. You were their favorite. They were always cooing over you. You could say I let fate come to pass."22

"But 'Kura, that wasn't fair. And even when I did get kicked out you didn't even come to look for me."23

"Akari, I did. I looked all over the place."24

"'Kura, you got excellent tracking abilities, like Mar. How could you not find me."25

"That's just it, Akari. My abilities weren't working. I knew Marik's were , so I called him and asked him to help. By what he told me you were barely alive when he found you."26

Akari's eyes went wide at hearing this, and sat down on the bed. She had almost died. She was never exactly told how bad off she had been. Mar wouldn't even tell her.27

"Bakura, can I talk to you for a minute," Marik said popping his head in the door.28

"Sure."29

Bakura stepped out into the hall and turned to Marik. "What's up?"30

"You just told her something that I have been avoiding to tell her for three months since the accident."31

Bakura looked confused. "Why?"32

"Look back into the room and look at her reaction to what you just said."33

Bakura did, and he saw a devastated look on her face. "Shit."34

"Yeah, now she's going to be depressed for the next couple of weeks. Maybe longer."35

"It's not going to affect the wedding is it?"36

"It just may."37

Bakura put his face in his hand and shook his head. "Stupid, stupid, stupid. What do we do?"38

"Let me handle it. Go into the kitchen."39

Bakura nodded and headed to the kitchen while Marik went into the room and sat down next to Akari and forced her to look at him. "Akari?" Not even a glimmer in the eyes. Akari was not listening to him. He tapped the side of her face with his fingertips a couple of times. "Akari. Look at me, please." 40

Still no answer. "Shit. It's worse than I thought it would be."41

A shiver went through Akari's body and she leaned into Marik's chest. "Mar-mar." There was a shakiness in her voice, like she was freezing cold. 42

"Akari? What's wrong?" Marik felt her skin, it was cold as ice. "Shit, she's reliving that night. But that wouldn't make her skin turn cold. Bakura! Get in here!"43

Bakura heard Marik from the kitchen and ran to the room. "What's wrong?"44

"I don't know. It seems she's reliving that night. Her skin is cold as ice and she's not responding to anything I say to her."45

"Get some blankets around her, NOW! Marik you need to keep talking to her. She's not reliving it, she's shutting down."46

"What! What do you mean?"47

"It's sorta like sleep mode. And no, it's not hibernation. It's different with her. She can stay asleep for hours on end, but hear everything that's going on. Her senses don't shut down, just her body. She can still hear you. Talk to her."48

"Akari? Akari, Listen to me. You're going to be all right." Marik turned to Bakura as he returned with blankets from his room and the closet in the hallway. "Marik lean back into the couch, and put her head on your lap. I'll put the blankets on her. I don't know how long this will last. The most it has ever lasted was two days. During that time it was usually me who watched over her. But I think this time it should be you."49

Marik did as asked and laid her head on his lap, and Bakura put both blankets, plus her own, on top of her. "That should be good. If you don't mind, I'm going to stay here for the next couple of days to make sure that she's going to be all right. I don't know what will happen if she's stays in this state for too long. It will also help you because you won't be able to move, with her on your lap. I will make you food every now and then. All she needs right now is for you to be near her. That might help her to come out of it quicker, but I don't know."50

"She's going to need to eat, too." Marik said.51

"When she's in this state, she doesn't need to eat. Her body provides her with food. It's weird, I know. And don't ask me what her body provides for her, because I don't know."52

It turned out that Akari was out for a maximum of 4 days. Bakura was surprised it lasted that long. It had never been that long before. Bakura left after Akari was back to her normal self. And Marik took over from there.