A/N

Note: This oneshotter written for Ayumu, known as Ayumu-Sakuraba, as her X-mas present. Thanks for being such a wonderful friend and amazing artist! You're an awesome Hikari!

Note2: To everyone who's read my stories, I wish you all a merry X-mas and happy holidays! You guys are the best!

JUST FOR KICKS

Ryou sighed for what seemed like the thousandth time and raised a hand to scratch his head. A moment later, he shifted again and looked up at the clock, squinting to read it from his distance. 'Twenty minutes to go...' He observed, feeling a momentary relief to find that a half hour had gone by almost painlessly. Somewhere seemingly far off, a teacher's voice droned on and his brain registered it on some level.

So far, so good...but, he didn't let himself celebrate yet. An entire twenty minutes had yet to go by, and Ryou knew that anything could happen. Especially with a certain someone in a bad mood currently stewing in the back of his mind...It would be best to draw the least amount of attention to himself in the time left.

'You learn quickly...' A deep voice chuckled in the back of his mind and Ryou couldn't help the shiver that ran up his spine. Why was it that he had such a restless darker half? He prayed feverishly that his yami wouldn't do anything Ryou would regret later.

When five minutes passed with no other response from Bakura, Ryou allowed himself to relax slightly and tune back into the lecture his teacher was giving. 'Fifteen more minutes and the school day's over. Just fifteen. More. Minutes.'

"- and if I ever see any such conduct again, Jounouchi, you'll find yourself paying another visit to the superintendent's office faster that you can blink."

Oh. Ryou blinked and allowed his attention to unfocus a little bit. So Jounouchi was in trouble again; no surprise. A movement out of the corner of his eye caught his attention and he turned to see Seto smack himself in the forehead and then bury his face in his hands.

Ryou couldn't help the grin that surfaced. 'Poor Seto has to deal with this every day. I wonder how long he has to wait until Jou gets out of detention, eh Yami?'

He only got a grunt in reply, but he could tell that Bakura was amused.

Ryou scanned the room, looking for his other friends, and saw Yuugi sitting with his dark half in the desks in one of the corners of the room. Somehow, they'd managed to move those desks without the teacher noticing and were engaging in the very activity that had gotten Jou in trouble in the first place. Then again, she was too busy giving Jou a lecture on "the benefits of using common sense."

Yami had only recently gotten his own body and separated from Yuugi when they'd discovered the Chaos magic. The couple had volunteered to test run being separated, and so far, seeing as everything seemed normal, Bakura was going to get his own body next. That is, if Ryou managed to make it out of class with his reputation intact.

He glanced at the clock again. 'What? Only two minutes have gone by?' He questioned incredulously. Ryou sighed again, and glanced behind him to meet Malik's eye. They exchanged knowing looks- for who else would know what it's like to deal with a problematic yami?- before Malik's eyes unfocused, a tell-tale sign that he was having a conversation with his dark side.

Ryou felt like sighing again, but he managed to hold it back. And then he felt what he'd been dreading the entire day. Bakura had finally had enough of his boredom.

'Surprise,' Bakura spoke lightly, a fact that was made almost humorous when the next second he slammed the door to Ryou's soul room closed and severed all ties that he had to his own body. As far as the spirit of the ring was concerned, it was time to play.

And Bakura was infamous for his expertise in wreaking havoc and mayhem, in any situation. He turned quietly in his seat, conscious of Malik's questioning gaze on him. For once, he was grateful for that teacher's ceaseless blabbering; it kept the attention of the rest of the class and more freedom for what he had in mind.

As his crimson eyes flashed across Malik's for a moment, Bakura felt rather than saw Marik switch places with his lighter half. He also didn't need to look to know that Yami was giving them a questioning glance.

'If you know what you're looking for, it's not that hard to sense us switching places- Damnit, don't look so smug, Yami.' Bakura thought crossly. It seemed that Yami had taken it upon himself to keep both him and Marik out of trouble of late, and Bakura had, had enough.

Marik tapped him on the shoulder then, and brought Bakura's attention back to their teacher, who'd finished her tirade on Jou's behavior and had moved on to disruptive students in general. But that wasn't what brought a feral grin to his lips; it was the fact that she was across from the door and facing away from the class, reading off her large poster: "Classroom Conduct: A Friendly Guide".

From his soul room, Ryou couldn't help by snort. 'Friendly guide, my butt. That thing is bigger than I am.'

'That it is, hikari,' Bakura agreed. 'Now shut it, this is a delicate operation.'

Ryou hitched his breath, more out of habit than actual need, as Bakura suddenly stood up, Marik a moment after him. That got the class' attention. Both waited for the explosion they knew was coming from Yami- who's sense of right and wrong sometimes bordered on insanity- but it never came. They glanced over to see Yami regarding them coolly, his arms around his hikari, and feet propped up on the desk in front of him.

Bakura raised an eyebrow in question.

'Well, well. The Pharaoh's finally seeing the light. Does this mean we have his blessing?' He spoke half to himself, half to Ryou.

Yami replied with a nod of acquiescence. Marik just rolled his eyes at their show of dramatics and continued walking out the door, Bakura following after. The rest of the class, those who were still awake enough to pay attention, were silent during the whole exchange, desperate for anything to escape the doom of boredom they were experiencing. So when the two teens walked out that door, the rest of the students couldn't help but feel disappointed that the show was over.

Five of the longest minutes known to man passed in silence as everyone struggled to stay awake and the teacher all but disappeared, her voice growing faint as she walked into the connecting storage room and moved away.

And then...

The fire alarms went off in great, big flashes of light and deafening sound. Everyone covered their ears in pain and some added their colorful curses to the foray. Some students had stood up, but most had remained seated during the first few moments. Now, suddenly everyone was jumping up from their chairs and running around the room, voicing their thoughts in any volume possible, especially Jounouchi. Seto buried his face in his hands again.

And all the while, Yami sat in the corner of the room, Yuugi in his arms, calmly surveying the chaos in its entirety. Then, he began to laugh, deep, full chuckles that rumbled through his chest and then moved to Yuugi.

"So why exactly did you let those two leave, Yami?" Yuugi asked, knowing of course that the fire alarms had been set off by two certain Egyptians.

"Just for kicks, Aibou." Yami replied, grinning and tightening his hold on his hikari. "Just for kicks."

-Fin-