Sorry for making everyone wait so long for this chapter, I hope its worth your much appreciated patience.

thankyou to everyone who reviewed, and well...heck, thanks to everyone who read chapter 1. Anyway, heres chapter 2

warning: the yaoi hinting gets slightly higher here....though its still just hinting. Characters may also be OC at parts...I apologise, as my intentions are to keep them as in character as possible.

disclaimer: I do not own yugioh or any of its characters.

CHAPTER 2:

The loud ring of the bell....the echoed groans of relief....the scraping of chair legs on the concrete floor....the bang of numerous doors flying open.... and the roaring tidal wave of people piling out into the hall....

Another school day had finally come to an end, and the students were discussing excitedly their plans for the weekend.

Yami stretched over the back of his seat, grabbed his bag, and headed out of the room once the usual rush of students had disappeared, making it safe to stand up. The last class had been maths....Yami's least favourite subject. It wasn't that he was bad at it, but solving equations just didn't have the enjoyment that solving problems in dueling did. At least the teacher was nice. Because of this, Yami had allowed his thoughts to travel back to the dream he had that morning, and those thoughts continued as he left the classroom, his feet following a familar path.

However, its not like his legs could tell when sudden obstacles poped up in their path...

"OOF!!"

Yami and the other student both fell backwards.

"Watch it!!"

Having fallen off his dream cloud, and back into the present,Yami looked up, and groaned inwardly. Of all the people he could have bumped into, why did it have to be him??

He watched as a boy his own age, but of much greater height crouched in front of himself to collect his fallen items. He had to be 6 foot something, there was no argument. His body was rather slim, but with his height, it only served to give him an elegant appearance, and Yami knew for a fact that there was alot more power in that body than one might think at first. His head was crowned by short, smooth, brown hair, but once again, it was the eyes that caught Yami's interest. They were sharp and ice blue, and cold enough to make even the school's meanest teachers shiver. But Yami felt no fear to these eyes, or their owner, the ice blue contrasting his own crimson red. It was like a battle of the elements.

Yami began collecting his own belongings, his eyes never leaving that of his greatest rival, in dueling, and on the 'list'.

Seto Kaiba.

"I suggest you take your own advice, and 'watch it!', Kaiba…" Yami replied with the same coldness.

The only response he received was a loud 'HMPH!' as the taller boy stood, and continued down the hall, seemingly oblivious to the pack of infatuated girls trailing a few metres behind him.

"Man, that Seto Kaiba, thinks he owns the joint!" Jou said as he & Honda walked up, Malik quietly trailing close behind them, "wouldn't hurt him to watch out for others occasionally now would it??"

"Neither of us were watching." Yami replied shortly as he stood and threw his bag back over his shoulder.

" come on Yami, you don't have to defend that guy." Honda said.

"I'm not defending anyone. But I'm also not getting into a fight over something so trivial." Was Yami's answer.

" Yami!"

Yami just smiled lightly, and looked around to see Yugi racing up the hall towards him, a tall boy with long white hair running behind him. For a moment, Yami almost mistaked the boy for Bakura, but then shook his head at his mistake. It was Ryou, Bakura's hikari. The two were complete opposites in personality. Where Bakura was feirce and cold, Ryou was incredibly sweet and kind, and rather shy. like Yugi, Ryou had an adorable face with a pair of puppy eyes that could melt just about any heart if they looked sad.

" Hey Yami, Ryou and I are going to the library to work on that english assignment, you want to come?" Yugi practically chirped.

" Not to study I don't.." Yami answered looking away.

Yugi's sweet smile was replaced by a frown.

"Yami, you know if you don't start an assignment straight away, that you end up leaving it till the last minute!"

"We just have to write a poem about somewhere special to us...I doubt that will take very long to do..." Yami replied, giving Yugi a bored look.

" Thats not the point yami!" Yugi retorted.

"Can't you lot ever be quiet!?"

Everyone looked around, except for Ryou, who frowned in annoyance at the cold voice, before finally turning to face Bakura as he strolled up. The taller boy returned the frown, and didn't at all try to hide the fact that he was annoyed about something.

" We weren't making that much noise...you just have a problem with people being cheerful." Ryou replied with a coldness that didn't suit him.

" And just what was it you were discussing Hikari?" Bakura replied shortly, his eyes narrowing slightly.

Hikari? oh dear...he was definately angry about something. In the past he'd always refered to Ryou as hikari...but now days he only used it if he was in a really aggressive mood.

"Just that I will be going to the library with Yugi to study this afternoon." Ryou stated in a way that could only be meant to say 'So there!'.

Bakura's face didn't even twitch, and yet if eyes could make sound, his would surely be growling...very loudly.

Ryou didn't miss this, as his own usually gentle eyes darkened.

"Problem with that?"

"Oh no Hikari..." Bakura spat back, " except that I don't remember you asking to go."

"Back off Bakura! Since when does he need YOUR permission to do anything!?" Jounichi suddenly jumped in, his fist clenched.

It was actually frightening how swiftly Bakura's gaze moved to Jou, and if it was actually possible, Yami could have sworn his eyes got even darker.

"Stay out of it Katsuya...." He literally growled.

"Or what...?" Jou challenged, smirking, standing relaxed, as if he really didn't care.

THAT seemed to push Bakura off the edge.

The Taller boy suddenly undid his jacket...in record time none the less...and pulled it open. Yami gasped as he saw hanging around Bakura's neck was the sennen ring itself. Clearly he'd been wrong when he'd assumed Bakura had stopped wearing it ages ago.

Even Jou lost his smirked and frowned in concern. Whilst he may not have understood the power of the sennen items, he did know just how dangerous they could be.

"PUT THAT AWAY!!!"

The tension was cracked slightly as Ryou suddenly stepped between Bakura and Jou, his arms raised infront of Jou, and his angry gaze locked to Bakura, whose own anger was being interupted by suprise.

" I said put that away!!" Ryou repeated loudly, " I told you not to bring that thing here anymore! now put it away!!"

Yami felt a twinge in his own heart, but didn't let it show on his face. The sennen ring had been what brought Ryou and Bakura together in the first place. It was a bond they could share with no one else. Yami knew so, because he shared the sennen puzzle with Yugi. It to, had brought them together. For Ryou to simply call it a 'thing', actually hurt, even if Yami himself wasn't part of that particular bond.

Bakura's expression didn't seem to be able to choose between anger or shock, and wound up as something in between. He held Ryou's gaze for some time, the two staring each other down,not even blinking. The tension had filled the air to the point it actually seemed hard to breath, before Bakura quite suddenly turned, and stormed past them, without a word or second glance.

The silence between the whole group didn't leave until the tension dissolved from the air, and Ryou suddenly looked around to them, his innocent smile back, as if nothing had happened.

"Sorry for the fuss. Now, whos coming to the library?"

" I just remembered I have some important erans to run around town." Yami instantly put in, not at all trying to hide the light sarcasm, though he wondered if anyone had noticed the slight anger in his voice.

"Yami...." Yugi began, the scolding tone returning.

" Oh what a coincidence...so do I!." Malik suddenly interupted, moving over to Yami, also with a light sarcasm in his voice.

The two smirked at each other.

"Well then, we should really get busy..." Yami said tilting his head back, throwing just a hint of flirt into his tone.

"Hmm, yes, we wouldn't want to leave such important stuff too late, now would we?" Malik replied, returning the small flirt.

Before Yugi could get another word in, the two laughed, and raced off down the hall.

"Seriously...IS there something going on between those two?" Honda muttered.

"You would think that." Yugi replied, frowning as he watched his dark half run off.

****

People were probably staring at them and raising eyebrows, but that didn't matter.

Neither Yami nor Malik cared what others thought as they raced down the street, laughing their heads off. They didn't stop until they reached the main shopping area in town, and collapse on a bench to catch their breath. They DID manage to get their breathing back to normal....however...the moment they looked back to each other, the grins returned, followed quickly by more laughter. The two struggled to stop just so that they could breathe, though malik slipping off the bench with a loud yelp certainly didn't help Yami, who then lost his own balance, and slipped off aswell, causing malik to practically be pinned down by laughter. Finally after what really must have been a good few minutes, the laughter ran out, and the egyptian pair just laid where they were, unable to move for atleast another minute or two, before with loud groans caused by their now aching stomachs, they hulled themselves up, and made their way into the shops together.

****

"You know Malik..." Yami spoke to catch his friend's attention.

The other boy oblidged, looking up from where he'd been trying to build a mini city with his fries.

"I have to say...I fear we may be turning into a right pair of girls." Yami stated, amused by his friend's confused and slightly startled look.

"What? Just because we'd rather look at the other boys in the change rooms instead of the girls at the beach?" Malik finally replied, returning a slight smirk.

"Tsk! hardly!" Yami said, rolling his eyes. " I was more refering to....running around town yelling our heads off...rolling around on the ground in public, laughing until our sides are about to burst...." He began, before reaching under the table, and bringing out a shopping bag, " shopping....and for clothes none the less!"

"And the most shocking part of all..." Malik began, and raised his drink, " Drinking strawberry milkshakes!"

"Nooooo!!" Yami cried quietly in mock horror, " Not the dreaded PINK drink!"

"Yes! haha! fear the barbie pink drink!" Malik chuckled, playing along, and pretended to wave the drink threateningly at Yami.

"YOINK!" Yami cheered in victory, as he snatched the milkshake right from Malik's hand, and took a huge mouthful.

"HEEEY!!!" Malik cried out in real shock.

He suddenly returned the favour by grabbing Yami's drink, and gulping half of it down. However, his eyes widdened, as he began choking and spluttering, and dropped the drink on the table.

"Discusting!! How can you stand that artifical banana flavour!!??" Malik cried, his hands around his throat.

Yami just laughed once more as Malik pretened to choke like the milkshake was poison, and dropped to the ground, squirming.

"Ok ok, point made, now get up and stop making an ass of yourself." Yami mused, rolling his eyes once more.

"Fine, but in return for taking my drink, you have to come with me for my last job." Malik replied, standing back up.

"Hey, you already took half of my drink in return." Yami replied calmly, before glancing to the spilt drink on the table, " make that most of it.."

"Yeah, but only you got enjoyment out of it." Malik retorted as he grabbed his bag, " now come on, theres one really important thing left to do today."

Yami sighed and grabbed his stuff, and followed Malik to the exit.

"So what IS this big important task?"

He felt an anxious twinge in his stomach as Malik suddenly smirked around at him.

"Your gonna help me pick out my sister's birthday present."

****

Yami was certain he was going to swear out loud if Malik took one more minute to pick just one peice of jewelery!

'All these things are fancy enough to suit his sister's taste anyway. Just grab something and lets go already!' He yelled mentally.

As he looked back around, he was pleased to see Malik FINALLY at the counter, paying for whatever overpriced bit of gold or silver he'd picked.

Whilst he waited for him to finish, something caught his eyes.

A pair of necklaces sitting side by side. One was a simple, fine golden chain with a bright red jewel hanging from it. The other was practically identical, except the chain was silver, and the jewel ice blue.

Compaired to the rest of the jewelry in this place, these two were rather basic, and yet, something about them drew Yami's attention, nagged at something in his memory...

"Yo! Pharoah! Viewing hours are over!"

Yami blinked around in suprise at Malik's sarcasm.

His friend just chuckled and shook his head as he now stood next to him, before walking out, and Yami quickly followed, sparing a small glance back at the necklaces.

"Hey Yami..." Malik spoke, this time being the one to catch Yami's attention.

"Hm?"

"About earlier....are you alright?" Malik asked, the playful tone gone from his voice.

Yami looked down abit. He knew Malik was refering to when Ryou had practically insulted the sennen ring. He was still alittle upset about it, but looked up to meet Malik's eyes, knowing Malik had felt exactly the same, but quickly steered his thoughts away from that direction.

"Yeah....I'm ok." He answered, looking ahead, "...what about you?" He asked, slightly hesitantly.

"I can't say I didn't feel a stab from Ryou's remark....but yeah, I'm pretty much over it." Malik replied quietly, Though Yami wasn't so sure he was.

****

The two said goodbye to each other at the bus station, as Malik had to ride to the other side of town. Yami watched as the Bus drove away, grinning as Malik winked and actually blew a playful kiss at him through the window. Yami pretended to catch the kiss and held it against his cheek, smirking as he saw Malik beginning to laugh, just as the bus disappeared around the corner, before he himself turned to leave.

The sharp intake of breath actually hurt his throat, as his eyes met one of the signs by the bus stop. It was merly one of those signs telling cars not to stop there, since it was a bus stop. However, there was a slight bend in it, somewhere between halfway and the top. It looked like something had been shoved against it hard, making it cave in backwards.

Yami growled and stormed away. He was going to find out who was incharge of street signs, call them, and ask why the hell this sign hadn't been replaced!?

The anger only lasted a short time...pain took its place, and he began to run.

Home was suddenly the only place he wanted to be.

****

"YAMI!!! Why is there rice missing from the cooker again!?"

Yami hastily shoved the last of his rice ball in his mouth, hitting his chest as he nearly choked on it. He wiped away any evidence from his mouth, and brushed his hands off, just as Solomon walked in the room, his face full of accusation. Well, Yami couldn't blame him...how many times now had he stolen rice meant for dinner just cause he wanted a snack?

He calmly held up his hands, showing they were clean, whilst solomon stared him down like he was watching a suspect for any signs of truth.

"And the mouth." He ordered.

Yami frowned, but opened his mouth, feeling like an idiot as solomon checked for any hidden rice, But yami had already made sure to remove any from his teeth. When Solomon finally had to admit defeat, he just gave a loud 'hpmh', and walked back to the kitchen.

Yami sighed heavily, and slumped back onto the couch, and just laid there staring at the ceiling, feeling like the exhaustion of the day had finally caught up with him, and was like a heavy blanket covering him.

Well, atleast it was a comfortable blanket, and thus, Yami allowed his eyes to close, and drifted into a light but peaceful sleep, only to be disturbed moments later (or so it felt), as Yugi woke him for dinner.

O'well....tommorrow was the weekend...atleast Yami had an excuse to kill Yugi if he dared wake him up then.

Alittle longer than expected, but I hope it was worth it.

Warning that it may take me even longer to update the next chapter, as I've hit one of those dreaded mind blocks. However, I have small hints in mind, and so hopefully they will get me through the next chapter quickly enough.

As before, reviews aren't neccessary, but will be dearly loved if recieved ^-^