Chapter 20

Bakura didn't think it was strange that Marik and the Ringleader were nowhere to be found. The two stars of the show often disappeared for long periods of time with no explaination, the Ringleader in particular. The lion liked to hide places and jump out at people, while their King liked to be alone when he wasn't tormenting them. All the white haired knife thrower had to do was keep a look out for either of them in case they decided to jump him while he wasn't paying attention.

But what he did find strange was that Akefia's hat was lying on the ground at the base of Marik's favourite perching place and that there were no screams of pain or sounds of a whip crack to indicate the lion was being punished for toying with the top hat. Bakura picked up the red accessory and thought it was best to put it back in the Ringleader's dressing room lest they all be punished for desecrating his beloved hat.

Another curious thing the red-eyed man found right next to the discarded hat was Marik's collar, the same shade of red the Ringleader wore. Bakura hated to think what his co-worker and boss were up to so he just picked it up and ran over to the Ringleader's trailer, which was suspiciously decorated with red splattered outside but no one ever dared to question it. The door was open, which was another strange thing Bakura found. "Curiouser and curiouser." The pale knife thrower found himself saying, looking around the dressing room for any signs of a fight or... other activities. Nothing.

He couldn't lock the door on his way out as only Akefia had the key to his trailer and refused to let anyone else have a spare. Bakura was pretty sure Marik knew where one would be hidden but he wasn't anywhere in sight. With over three hours to kill before their next show, the man just wandered around in search for the two missing circus workers. He should've been practising his knife throws on the civillian they'd caught snooping in one of the few female's trailers on the lot, but his curiosity as to the whereabouts of Marik and Akefia were stronger than the urge to terrify the trespasser.

"Hey, Malik, you seen the King and his pet anywhere?" Bakura called in on the blonde dancer, not knocking on the door at all and instead just barging right on in. Luckily Malik had only been sat watching TV while drinking hot chocolate.

"No, they've not been gone long though." Malik commented, staring at his supposed friend. "Why are you worried? That's not like you."

"I wouldn't be except I found the King's hat near Marik's favouritte tree and didn't hear any whip cracks." Bakura told him, leaning on the doorframe with his arm folded across his chest. "Then I found Marik's collar nearby. He's not allowed to take that thing off. And to top it all off the King's dressing room door was open."

"What? Seriously?" Malik blinked a little in confusion, sitting up from his slouched position on his sofa. "Open open or just unlocked?"

"Actually open." The white haired man told him, a small knot forming in his stomach with slight worry. "He never leaves his bloody door open. It's always triple bolted and booby-trapped."

"You take another look around his room, I'll get Ryou and we'll search the compound." Malik offered as he stood up, putting his mug on the table nearby and grabbing his jacket from the back of the chair. "I doubt there's anything wrong but its fucking suspicious."

"Tell me about it." Bakura agreed, leading the way out of the trailer, arms still crossed.

Bakura had been at the circus nearly as long as Marik had, and knew quite a lot about their 'master'. Not everything, but enough to know when something was wrong, or at least not quite right. He'd been at the circus for at least five years, having been recruited when he was younger because Akefia happened to notice his talent with knives. Bakura grinned inwardly at the memory. He'd been on the run from the police after throwing two draggers into the back of a jewellers while making his escape with three diamond necklaces. Akefia had offered to help him in exchange for his employment at the circus. At first, Bakura would admit to not being overly thrilled with the idea, but the sirens nearby had quickly made his decision.

Overall he'd say it took around two months for him to fully appreciate that opportunity that the Ring King had given him. He could throw knives at people and not get in trouble for it. Hell, he even got paid to do it, which was a wonderful bonus. Bakura was the first to say that he and Akefia had a love-hate relationship. They would argue and fight and torment each other but the bottom line was if Bakura was in trouble he knew he could count on the Ringleader to bail him out (and complain about it later, but that wasn't the point).

He climbed back up the steps to Akefia's trailer, waving a small 'see you later' to the tanned dancer that skipped over the Ryou's own room. The door was still open, indicating the Ringleader hadn't been back at all in the minute or two it had taken to go and tell Malik what was wrong. The white haired knife thrower carefully walked across the floor to the table where he'd left the top hat, cautious incase there were any traps around. He never could trust Akefia fully, if he was honest. He managed to make it to the table and pick up the hat without any problems, and he examined the thing for any sort of sign of what happened to the two missing people.

Bakura completely didn't expect to be pulled sharply by some unseen force into the dark depths of the hat.