Open Doors

Part 5: A Visit To The Shadow Realm

"You have a mission," Koenma simply said.

Malik noted the silence and rolled his eyes.

"Start talking before I let your ass spend one night in the shadow realm!" he said threatening Koenma. He was willing to do it. He could feel the shadows being a little restless. Koenma paled a little.

"Uh…yeah…well…" he was too nervous to speak. Malik rolled his eyes.

"Just give the info on this guy and we'll handle the rest toddler. I'm tired of hearing you saying those sissies use when they're sacred."

Malik walked up to him and grabbed the folder in his hand and flipped through it. He noticed the surprised stares he was getting but he acted oblivious to it. He was rather disappointed that this demon was easy enough. He didn't even need a monster to do this! He dropped the folder on the table.

"I could kill him with my eyes closed! Where do these demons come from?" Malik said sitting back down.

"What?! We could barely beat this guy! He's an S-class youkai, how can you beat him?!" Kuwabara exclaimed. Malik was now annoyed.

"What do you think Koinu? If you want I could make you experience it first hand. Never mind, the reaper wouldn't be having fun at all. You'll be in your tomb in no time. Maybe this demon would satisfy him. He seems promising. The reaper always likes a good chase."

"You're saying I can't run?" Kuwabara began, slowly begging for a fight, at least in Malik's opinion.

"No, I know you can run. You just can't run long enough. You're so like the stupid mutt back where I live. If only he wasn't together with Kaiba I'd rip his soul apart myself! But then the stupid pharaoh had to intervene. The tomb robber and I were having such fun until we had to send the happy trio back to the real world. Those were the days. That is until the creepy item guard, Shadi, offered us a proposition. I wondered why the hell did I accept from that guy. He even said that there was a side affect. Now I have to worry about my darker half taking control of me. Now shut up! And drop dead before I make you!"

Cricket chirp.

"Woohoo! Way to go Malik!" Kori interrupted the sacred silence.

"Stupid Kori, had to go ruin my moment of experiencing some silence around here with the koinu around." Malik muttered under his breath. Kurama, with his talented hearing, heard every bit. He chuckled a little. Yuusuke looked at his lover confused. Kurama shook his head, telling him it was nothing. Yuusuke frowned. Kurama rolled his eyes and whispered to him what he heard. Malik noticed the exchange and looked at them simply saying, 'You two are weird for having a silent conversation'.

"You're paranoid every time you pull out your item at us and threaten to send us to the shadow realm," Yuusuke responded.

"Thank you, thank you, I'm living up to my Psycho license," Malik said doing a small bow. Then he looked like he remembered something.

"I just realized."

"What?" Kori asked raising a questioning brow.

"My psycho license expires in a few days. I wonder how long have I been here."

"A couple of months and a few days from what you told me," Kori responded to his question.

"Great. I wonder how long I've been gone in my world. I hope my sister didn't kill Ryou yet. Although considering she's really nice to others, besides me, she must've kept him alive for a while. She's probably attempting murder on him right now but then the tomb robber won't let her do that. But I doubt he's even a match for her since she could see the future should she want to."

"Okay you mention all these names and yet you never tell us what they're like," Yuusuke asked.

"Oh you wanna really know?" all of them nodded their heads eagerly, except Kuwabara, Hiei, and Genkai. Genkai was also curious yet she never showed it, same with Hiei.

"Story time gather round."

"Just get to the point, blondie." Kori stated still miffed by the kiddy comment.

"Well aren't we antsy today. Okay then the leader of our little gang is Yugi Mouto. Holder of the Sennen Puzzle and The King of Games. Though he always says never call them that. But he is. Not even I could win a game against him. He's as tall as Hiei even has spiked up hair that is so natural. Three colors too except they are magenta, black, and blond with violet eyes. If dragon boy over there wasn't so serious all the time he could be like Yugi, make anyone do anything he wants with just one look. You should see how many times I fell for it!

Next is Ryou Bakura. Holder of the Sennen Ring. He may look innocent and naïve but trust me his temper is worse than a woman pregnant. He has platinum white hair and brown eyes. You guys should've been there when this woman mistook him for a girl. That was so hilarious. He threw a fit! Now that I think about it kitsune, you'd be him if it weren't for that youko side of yours, although his predicament is most like you.

Then there's Seto Kaiba. He's as serious as Hiei but he's very rich. He took control of his company about when he was probably twelve or something. He has brown hair and blue eyes. He's only nice to his little brother Mokuba. The little hellion that already knows how to blackmail since his brother took over the company. I wonder where he learned how to do that, oh well. There's also the happy trio, which I will not go into because they are not worth it because they are annoying as hell and I don't think the pharaoh would deny me into sending them to the shadow realm.

There's my sister, Isis, and her girlfriend Mai Valentine. Mai is wicked. Never mess with her. My sister the same. If you piss her off she'll attempt to torture you until you pass out. Rashid, my brother. He's sorta like a bodyguard. He's the only one nice to me in that familiy."

"So who's this pharaoh and tomb robber you keep referring to?" Yuusuke asked.

"I was just getting to that, demon lord, be patient. Anyways, the Sennen items had spirits from ancient Egypt resting in them. Yugi had the pharaoh's spirit, otherwise known as Yami. He looked almost like Yugi except taller, red eyes, and more serious looking. He's so obsessed with leather; actually I think both of them are. Never try to harm Yugi or he will really destroy your mind with the 'mind crush' of his. He now has his own body so it'll be even worse when he finds out.

Then Ryou has the ring with the tomb robber. Known as Bakura, The King of Thieves. He prefers to be called that but no one ever does. He looks like Ryou except his hair is flared out and his eyes are colder and taller. He will not hesitate to kill you. He'll go through with it without delays. If you harm Ryou he'll just kill you after he takes any precious belongings that can be used as money. Heck he robbed Kaiba of about one million dollars. Since it was a dare and billionaire boy is loaded we decided it would be fun.

I think that's it. No, wait, there's the Sennen item guard, Shadi. Creepy guy that looks at you like he's some sort of lifeless doll. He creeps me out."

Kurama looked thoughtful at the information. They were interesting.

"I've got to meet this Bakura. He sounds interesting. I wonder how he stole one million dollars," Kurama commented.

"Is that the youko or the human talking?" Yuusuke questioned.

"It's how you want it to be."

"Just like Ryou and Bakura. Ryou would always be the calm one and Bakura was always the horny one. Only when he isn't taking his medication. Oh how he stole a million is when he jacked Kaiba's credit card and spent it to by a new house. Now the five of us live in the same house. Though I'm feeling kinda left out when I hear them screaming at night."

"What do you mean by that?" Kori asked.

"What do you think I meant?"

"Oh," Kori simply said, then, "Oh!" she said realizing what he meant.

"Yes, oh," Malik stated sarcastically.

* * *

The five of them, Malik, Hiei, Yuusuke, Kurama, and Kuwabara were in Makai. Malik was at the end because he didn't know this place very well. He was fascinated by his surroundings, though he would not want to live here. As he noticed the surroundings didn't seem as threatening as Koenma described it. They seem to accept him and were too afraid to jump out and try to kill him. He smirked. He sensed demons coming.

"Hey, we've got company," he stated as several demons jumped out surrounding them. Malik rolled his eyes.

"Oh please. Don't they like to make their entrances grand? Let see, I think the Man-Eater Bug and Kuribo would do the job." As he said that an over grown insect and a small little furry creature, that looked like it couldn't hurt a fly, appeared out of nowhere and began attacking. Malik used the multiply card making the Kuribo multiply faster than rabbits and acted like bombs. Kuribo self-destructs on contact. He was going to worship the pharaoh and kiss the tomb robber's feet for this miracle. He dusted off his hands.

"Okay that didn't need any work at all. C'mon let's go," Malik said walking forward with a surprised group following. He sighed in happiness as he heard the screams of the demons they left behind ten steps away.

"I never heard something like that in ages since I controlled the Ghouls."

"Ghouls? What's that? Some ghost or something?" Kuwabara asked.

"Nothing, it was just a group of people I controlled when I wanted the pharaoh's power. But then Marik has to take control and attempt to kill everyone. I'm lucky he's just a distant voice now. Heck he's telling me to let him send the guy to the shadow realm. Though I don't know why. He usually wants me battered and beaten before I could send anyone to the shadow realm. I never know what goes through that head of his."

"You're crazy."

"Thank you. I'll take it as a compliment."

They walked for a few more minutes and made it in front of the place they were supposed to meet this 'S-class' youkai. Malik took one look at the place and rolled his eyes. This place was smaller than the pharaoh's palace. How the hell was this 'guy' so great? Malik went ahead and knocked on the door, like a polite person would do.

"What are you doing?" Yuusuke asked in surprise.

"What does it look like? I'm knocking," Malik answered, "Yo! Is anyone home? I do not wish to be rude and break the door down."

'Ryou must be rubbing off on me,' he thought. He's being polite for Ra's sake.

Then the door opened. No one greeted them. Malik walked inside taking the invitation. When he noticed that no one was following he looked at the other's confused faces. He sighed exasperated.

"Fine then. If you don't want to come I guess I have the pleasure to destroy that demon myself. Wait for me out here." He said then continued walking while footsteps hurried to catch up with him. He smirked. "Wise up and decided to join me eh?"

"No, we just wanted to see how you are actually going to kill this demon," Kurama said grinning mischievously. Malik smirked.

"Curiosity killed the cat," he sang.

"I'm a fox, it's a natural reaction to be curious."

"Really? Well then you've come to the right person."

The five of them made it to the top after battling some demons on the way there. Yuusuke and Kuwabara stayed behind to take care of the excess demons. Kurama tagged along because he wanted to see how Malik deals with the demon. Hiei tagged along because he promised his sister that the blond won't die. He had to make sure of that.

"Ah, I see you've made it here detectives," the demon, Namida, said. He wasn't all that impressive. So Malik just got to the point.

"I'm just here to kill you, the detectives are only here for the ride, and I'm not a detective since the wimp Koenma is such a baby. I came here of my own free will." The demon was surprised but quickly regained his composure.

"So how do you want to settle this? There's no use in running when the competition looks promising."

"Indeed. How about we settle this to a shadow game? The loser gets their soul ripped apart." Malik said as purple mists surrounded them. The Reikai Tantei were also included and looked around in awe. Kuwabara was just scared shitless. The place wasn't all that welcoming. It seemed it wanted to kill them for even entering.

"One of you tries to run into this void and you will never come out. I will not exhaust myself trying to find one of you, got it?" Malik said talking to the four comrades. They shook their heads nodding yes. Malik then turned to his opponent.

"This will be a fun game. See this?" he said producing a bomb from nowhere, "It's a lifeline. The person holding this bomb last when the timer runs out is the loser. Automatic loss for any cheats. Game?"

"Try your best," the demon said trying not to sound nervous. This realm scared him.

"Alright then. See this deck? We're going to use it. Person with the lowest attack points loses and gets the bomb. We'll continue this until the timer runs out. Ready? Oh and whoever has the highest attack gets to keep it for the next draw. It'll be one minute and it'll start now.

Malik drew first. He got the Kuribo and cursed. His opponent got a higher attack so the bomb scooted to his side.

Next he drew something lower still. He looked to see twenty seconds left. He needed the Winged Dragon of Ra to win this. He grasped the card and looked at it. It wasn't the winged dragon but it was higher than his opponent. The bomb was placed on his opponent's side. It takes the bomb exactly five seconds to go to the other side. Malik looked at the clock. One second.

TING!

"Sorry you lose. Bai-bai!" Malik said happily as the bomb exploded up in the demons face making him disappear. Then the five of them were back in the demon's place.

"You know for a second there, I thought I was going to lose."

"Of course you were. Hiei and I helped you," Kurama said smirking. Malik's eyes bugged out.

"What do you mean helped? If you both helped, why didn't the bomb explode on my side?"

"Because you didn't know it."

"Oh."

The five of them made it back into Genkai's temple without a scratch. Of course the credit should be given to Hiei because without moving real quick Malik would've never survived.

Malik immediately went to the room he was sharing with Yukina. Of course people are into the thing about not moving in with their boy/girlfriends. Well this defies those rules. They are not together, period! He was lucky the make-inu didn't know about it.

He sighed and shut the door. Big mistake. Someone grabbed him from behind and clamped a hand over his mouth, silencing him from calling someone else. He was dragged over to the futon and placed roughly down with him facing his attacker. He gasped.

"Hello, Malik. Long time no see."

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Kinshin: There's part five already! I'm kinda updating faster now. But anyways thanks for the visits and reviews!

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