Hey all! Here's another chapter, just for you! Special thanks to DAU, Shiroiketsueki, yamiyugifanadic and Misura for their reviews!

The four friends, now dried out from their games in the river, sat in the middle of their circle of tents, eating a late lunch and enjoying the sun on their faces. For some reason – with the exception of Yami's love of spam – food was one of the few subjects that all four boys could agree on. Or, more importantly, the necessity of enjoying it. There had even been a few occasions, in days past, when Bakura and Yami had managed a civil conversation while enjoying one of their hikaris' finer dishes.

Right now, the conversation focussed mostly around the few clouds that were in the sky. Yugi and Ryou were having fun finding shapes in them – their current debate being whether one particular cloud looked more like Kuriboh or Shining Friendship – and Yami and Bakura were reminiscing about 'the good old days in Egypt' when there was never a cloud in the sky. They both chose to tactfully overlook the fact that neither of them could actually remember their days in Egypt, instead both having a little contest to see who could make up the most fantastic but believable story.

"I'm telling you Yugi, those are wings!" Ryou insisted, gesturing to two protruding patches of cloud coming from the main ball shape.

"They're feet!" Yugi replied equally vehemently around his mouthful of cheese sandwich. "They're far too thin to be wings!"

"They're too big to be feet," Ryou retorted firmly. "A Kuriboh with feet that big would trip over itself every time it tried to move."

Both boys laughed a little at the mental image this brought to them, before silently agreeing to move on to another cloud, peering up into the bright blue sky to try to spot one. "What about that?" Yugi asked. "It looks a bit like a palm tree..."

Ryou nodded slightly, opening his mouth to comment before glancing across to Bakura. He'd caught a very familiar smirk out of the corner of his eye, and wondered what was so amusing.

"Hey, Pharaoh," the thief began almost politely – or politely by his standards, at any rate. "Why are you spreading mayonnaise on your face?"

"It's not mayonnaise," Yami replied with a heavy sigh as he began massaging it in, as if it should have been patently obvious. "It's sun tan lotion. Yugi insists I wear it, even if I do have Egyptian skin."

"That's funny," Bakura remarked, shuffling a little closer and peering over Yami's shoulder. "I've never heard of 'Low Calorie Sun Tan Lotion' before..."

"What?" Yami frowned a little, glancing inquisitively down at the bottle. Sure enough, Bakura was right. "Oh shit!" he exclaimed, grabbing at some nearby napkins and wiping them over his face. "Shit shit shit!" With a look of abject horror, he turned to face Bakura, a couple of small patches of mayo left behind. "Why didn't you tell me?!"

Bakura's initial reflex was to inform the Pharaoh that it was because he didn't really like him very much. For some reason, though, he let the opportunity to rile him up pass. Perhaps it was something in the food – Ryou's homemade bread was among Bakura's favoured substances, after all. "Only just noticed," he replied.

Yami kept rubbing at his face, almost as if he'd been driven to paranoia. "Well what happened to the sun tan lotion?"

Bakura took a bite out of his ham and pickle sandwich, gesturing toward Yami's empty paper plate. "You put that in the sandwiches."

By now, Yami was utterly aghast. "But I ate them!" he almost shrieked, scraping his tongue against his teeth as if the taste had suddenly come back.

"I know!" Bakura replied with a small chuckle, returning to his original space. "I was gonna say something, but... you know."

Yami shot Bakura a glare, settling for making quiet little 'ugh' noises as he stood up, looking rather ill. The boy hurried to his and Yugi's tent to fetch a drink and his toothbrush, eager to clean his mouth until he was sure nothing was left there.

"...Bakura..." Yugi quietly called once he was sure Yami was out of hearing range. His face was concerned as he waved to catch the thief's attention. "...did Yami really eat the sun lotion...?" he enquired, picking up the bottle to read it over to make sure it wouldn't kill him.

Bakura shrugged nonchalantly. "Wasn't watching. It'd be quite funny if he had though, wouldn't it?"

A stunned silence fell over the group for a moment, unable to believe Bakura's cruel mind-games, before Ryou let out a stifled snigger. This set Bakura off into a laughing fit, who was quickly joined by his hikari, the two boys ending up doubled up on the floor clutching at their midriffs. Even Yugi couldn't help giggling quietly to himself.

The look on Yami's face had been priceless.

"Jerk," Yami huffed, glowering at Bakura as he picked a pole up.

"Wimp," Bakura retorted with a smirk.

Bakura had eventually told Yami that he hadn't eaten the sun lotion – after much persuasion from both Yugi and Ryou – and the former Pharaoh hadn't taken it at all well. Within a matter of moments, the two had been rolling round on the floor, both trying to swipe at each other as they fought for superiority. Fortunately, they'd both fought so many times before that each knew the other's moves by heart, and so very few blows were actually landed. The pair had eventually been separated by a couple of well-aimed cucumber sandwiches, the surprise of said food slapping them in the face being enough for them to pause momentarily.

Unfortunately, the scuffle had resulted in Yugi and Yami's tent being knocked down, one of the main poles having been caught by a stray limb. Now, under the watchful eye of the hikaris, the two boys – very grudgingly – were working together to reassemble it. The threat of withdrawing all food but for Spam, in Bakura's case, and pickle for Yami, was incentive enough for the pair to actually behave long enough to complete the task at hand.

"It's your fault," Yami muttered. "If you hadn't been so childish..."

Bakura snorted through his nose as he picked up the tent cover. "You're the one who can't tell the difference between mayonnaise and sun lotion. If you hadn't been that moronic, I wouldn't have had the chance to do that to you. And besides, I don't recall me being the one that dived at me." Bakura gave a short, scornful laugh as he shook the fabric out, trying to work out which way round it went. "Sore loser, that's what you are."

Yami opened his mouth to give an equally derisive reply, but was cut off by a warning yell from Yugi. Deciding that food was more important than his rivalry, Yami settled for merely glowering at Bakura again as he jabbed a pole into the adjacent support.

Somehow, the two managed to remain silent long enough for the main structure of the tent to be erected. All that was needed now was to bang the tent pegs in, and it'd all be set again.

"Ne, Bakura," Yami beckoned as he knelt down at one of the corners, hammer and peg in hand. "Couldn't just grab a few more pegs from over there, could you?" Yami's politeness was forced – almost tense – and he was sure Bakura could tell that. In all honesty, though, he just wanted to be done with this tiresome job, and he was fairly sure Bakura felt the same.

"Yes Pharaoh," Bakura sneeringly replied, giving a little mock-curtsy. "I'll be sure to polish the marble flooring once we're done too."

The thief walked away, rolling his eyes, and picked up the pile they'd gotten together, muttering about how the habit of a lifetime never changes. Striding back, he stood beside Yami, offering the pegs forward. "Where would you like them, sire?"

Yami looked up mid-swing to glare at Bakura, not watching what he was doing. "No need for that," he growled. "At least try to act like you're-"

Yami was cut off as Bakura gave a yell of pain, throwing the pegs up in the air and grabbing his left foot, hopping away. "You stupid bastard!" he roared. "That hurt! That was deliberate!" Bakura settled for cursing to himself as he moved further away. "Fuck fuck fuck!"

Yami covered his head as the pegs rained down around him, leaping up to his defence. "I didn't touch you!"

"No, but that stupid bloody fucking hammer did!" Bakura bellowed, totally forgetting about behaving civilly now. "Watch what you're doing for fuck's sake!"

"You watch where you drop those pegs!"

"Yami!" came Yugi's angry voice.

"Bakura!" Ryou shrieked. "What're you two doing?"

The two yamis pointed at each other defiantly, speaking simultaneously. "He did that on purpose!"

The two hikaris visibly grimaced at this, their hopes for a nice quiet holiday already dashed. "Both of you be quiet and fix the tent," Yugi stated. "Bakura, pick those pegs up, Yami, start hammering. I don't want to hear another word from either of you til it's done!"

"But-"

"Bakura!" Ryou yelled warningly. "Just... don't!"

The thief actually looked almost hurt at this outburst. For once in his life, he wasn't going out of his way to get Yami in trouble, yet he was still being incriminated. Limping almost mournfully, Bakura silently made his way back to the tent to get on with the task. He'd make Ryou and Yugi – and that kuso Pharaoh – pay for this later, but for now he wanted to ensure his food wouldn't be taken away. Come to think of it, he still owed those two spike-heads for their mockery of him in the river too.

Oh yes, they'd pay dear-

Bakura's vengeful thoughts were cut off as he tripped and sprawled, his ankle hooked and swiped out by the hammer currently back in Yami's hand. Yami had only been picking it up – he hadn't meant to trip Bakura at all – but the two had crossed paths at precisely the worst time.

"Hey, Bakura," Yami began, turning to look at him. "Are you-"

"Yami!" both hikaris chorused at once. "We saw that!"

As Bakura pushed himself up, mentally laughing at Yami's feeble protests, he smirked to himself. Maybe – just maybe – those two had just gotten themselves off the hook, at least for now...

Much of the rest of the day passed without incident. Yami had actually agreed to sit aside and allow Bakura to light the campfire, with the promise that Yugi would cook for them that night. While Ryou was far better at cooking more exotic dishes, Yugi cooked the more simple foods – pasta, chicken, sausages etc – better. Yugi stuck with what he knew, whereas Ryou was happy to experiment with new dishes. It was a winning combination for the two yamis.

The evening meal had simply been bacon, sausages, eggs and mushrooms served up with buttered bread, with instructions for everyone to just help themselves to whatever they fancied – Yugi wanted an easy task that evening. As a result, Bakura and Yami had ended up in an unofficial eating contest, both trying to out-eat each other, neither boy caring about the inevitable consequence.

"I can't move..." Yami groaned, laying flat across the grass. He made a feeble attempt at sitting up, before flopping back down again with a long moan. "So full..."

Bakura, with an audible effort, rolled onto his side momentarily, prodding Yami's stomach with one finger before dropping onto his back again, cackling at Yami's indignant protest. "Baka Pharaoh," he snorted, stretching slightly. Although Yami had managed half a sandwich more than Bakura, the overall winner of the contest was yet to be seen – after all, Bakura reasoned to himself, if he was the first to walk away, he could claim clear superiority in handling his food. That would mean that, over a longer time scale, he'd leave Yami in the dust.

Ryou and Yugi both stared at their bloated yamis, shaking their heads slightly. "They're gonna suffer for that in the morning, aren't they?" Yugi commented quietly.

Ryou nodded in return. "Remember the last time this happened? The toilet was out of commission for three days..."

Yugi closed his eyes, shuddering at the memory. The two yamis' digestive systems hadn't quite gotten used to handling greasier food yet. "You'd think they'd learn, wouldn't you?"

Ryou sighed in defeat, taking a bite out of the double-layer sandwich he'd made for himself. "You know those two," he replied after swallowing. "Their personal space is half a mile wide, and their egos could deflect bullets. As long as they win, the cost doesn't matter."

Both boys stared in disbelief as Yami eventually rolled over to try to swing at Bakura, the rivals engaging in a very sluggish fight.

"I guess they can move after all..."

Several hours later, all four boys had made it into their respective tents, having put the campfire out and packed their things away. Yugi and Yami, given the gentle snores coming from their tent, had already dropped off to sleep, and Ryou could feel over their mind-link that Bakura wasn't far from it either. He, on the other hand, was wide-awake. Something didn't feel quite right.

'Bakura...' he softly sent out over their link. 'Bakura... are you awake?'

Ryou felt a sense of irritation come over the link, and was sure he actually heard Bakura's growl from his tent. 'I am now, hikari,' came the sleepy response. 'This had better be good.'

Ryou swallowed, somewhat concerned about what the morning might bring. He knew how much Bakura hated being woken before he was ready. Right now, though, he was more worried about what was nagging at him. 'Bakura...' he continued. 'I... I think there's something outside...'

A pause followed, and Ryou could feel Bakura listening. '...no shit, Sherlock' he eventually responded. 'You can't expect the universe and everything in it to be confined solely within the four walls of your tent, can you?'

Ryou frowned in surprise at this remark. 'You're oddly philosophical for the time of night, Bakura...'

A vague grunt was all Ryou got in reply, Bakura's way of stating that the conversation was over. With a sigh, Ryou slipped further down into his sleeping bag, drawing it up close and trying to get comfortable, his fears not even partially alleviated. Suddenly, though, an odd noise came to his ears. It sounded like something hooting.

'Bakura!' he hissed over their link, sitting up with wide eyes. 'There's someone outside doing owl impressions!' The hooting sound came to Ryou's ears again. '...really bad ones!'

'Hikari...'

'...yes?'

'If you don't shut up and let me sleep, I'll break both your legs and leave you on a hill somewhere, okay? Whatever's out there won't even begin to compare to me.'

Ryou contemplated this response, and nodded to himself. Regardless of Bakura's often hostile attitude, he'd look after Ryou if anything did come. What was still unnerving Ryou, though, was that the hooting seemed familiar, almost as if he should recognise it from somewhere. Trying to shrug it off, Ryou settled down once more, eventually dropping off into an uneasy sleep.

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