Disclaimer: I don't own Yu-Gi-Oh. I own Tabitha, though…so she has an excuse for being evil. XD

A/N: Mosi mosi!! I'm back to dabbling in the YGO fandom..not something I expected…-grin-Anyway, this fic is dedicated to Always a Bookworm (read her stories!!!), because she was the one who requested another YGO fic..and kept me in the fandom almost singlehandedly.

So, after staring at a blank page for an hour, I came up with this. XD Hope you like it!

IMPORTANT: In this fic, Ryo and Bakura have separate bodies. Don't ask why. They just do.

The Joys of Pet Ownership: Chapter One

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Bakura had been tempted to send his hikari to the Shadow Realm before; nobody would deny that.

But before, it had been different. It had always been about staying in control. Making it crystal clear who was the 'boss', for lack of a better term, in their situation. But never before had he considered sending Ryo to the Shadows out of..frustration. Clean and simple frustration.

"Absolutely not," the thief snarled after a long pause. "Get rid of it."

Ryo frowned. "It's my house," he pointed out. "I have every right to a pet."

A pet. Yes, a pet. As in, the tiny ball of fluff currently nestled in Ryo's arms. He had apparently found the kitten, a miniscule tabby, during his walk home from school. The thing had no collar and the rain was pouring down, so naturally Ryo—disgusting do-gooder that he was—had picked it up and brought it home with him.

"I live here too," was Bakura's growled reply. "No cats."

Ryo rolled his eyes. "When I suggested getting a tarantula about a month ago-jokingly, I might add-you were all for it," he stated.

"Of course," Bakura responded, smirking. "Tarantulas are hairier than most dogs, have an abnormal amount of eyes and legs, fangs, and scare the living hell out of just about everybody. That is a pet. Sniveling little puffballs like that revolting thing in your arms are not pets." He sent the kitten a glare of disgust. "If it can't kill, bite, or at least send someone running for their lives, then what's the point?"

His hikari gave him a scathing look. "You might find this hard to believe, but not everyone wants an animal equipped with every dangerous asset possible."

"Why the hell not?" Bakura retorted incredulously.

Ryo sighed. "This is ridiculous. I'm keeping Tabitha, and that's that."

The thief almost choked on his own spit. "Tabitha?" he repeated, revolted. "You named it?!"

"She's a she, not an it," Ryo corrected him matter-of-factly. "And yes, I did. We couldn't just keep calling her 'fluffball', could we?"

"We? We?! Forget it. I don't want a cat in the house," Bakura snapped, wincing mentally at how..childish his voice sounded.

"I don't particularly care," Ryo responded sweetly. "Seeing as it's my house. I'm keeping her, so you might as well get used to it." And he retreated before a meltdown could ensue.

Bakura actually felt his eye twitching, but kept his mouth shut.

He was going about this the wrong way. Why was he getting so work up over a…a cream puff? He had to look at this differently. The kitten was beneath his notice! He wasn't going to let something so insignificant irk him.

Oh, no. The thing might as well not exist for all the attention he was going to pay it.

TBC

A/N: I'm already having too much fun with this story. XD