Why didn't anyone tell me there was a typo in the first sentence of the story:P Eh, well. I couldn't figure out what to do next, so I decided that the second chapter was as good as any to introduce side plots. Thanks for all your reviews. Here, I shall rip up a Yugi plushie and gives its stuffing to the reviewers. Eh… he he he… Sorry about that. I do own a Yugi plushie, but Kat has it… in New Jersey. O.0 If you don't like what you're seeing in this chapter, this side pairing gets pretty screwy pretty quickly so just hang tight. :D Anyway, if you guys can, will you please go read and review my newest ficcie, "Mistrals and Siroccos"? It's a birthday giftfic for my friend, MAIDEN OF TIME AND SPACE. I think we'd both appreciate it!

Killian- Yeah, Mokie's a meanie and he's still going to be a butthead for a little bit. Maybe he'll lighten up, maybe he won't. Who's to spoil it for you? Also, if Seto Kaiba was Michael Jackson, rest assured I would not be writing a fic where he was Yami's beau. X.X

Living on Dreams- Ah, more Mokuba abuse. How much can the little guy take? (Mokuba: Save me!) Lots more, I am sure. How could I? Easily. I hope that this does actually turn out to be a good fic… Not really sure where I'm going with it yet.

ttSerenity- Hey, you reviewed twice! Well, yeah, they are cousins, but technically they don't have any recollection of that. It's those Priest Set x Pharaoh Atem fics you gotta look out for. Incestuous! O! But in those days the Pharaoh might marry his sister for the sake of keeping the royal blood line pure, so I doubt that two gay guys would have cared. Though I doubt they were together anyway. -# Anyway! See! I did update for you! And this wasn't going to be a revenge story, but you've given me ideas. :)

Hakudoshi-chan- Thanks, I have. :)

Kat-chan - I hope you like your birthday ficcie! It's going to have lots of slapstick comedy and random, romantic moments:D And BAKURA'S GONNA GROW A TAIL! ….. . I must hush. I've said too much.

The exodus of students was chaos. Students were running frantically, their tongues hanging out of their mouths and dragging across the floor as they panted. Then there were the people whose tongues were being stepped on. It was all pretty weird. Malik Ishtar was trying his best not to get caught up in anybody's saliva or anything like that. Of course, the only person whose saliva he would want to swap was frowning at him at that very moment. He had had morning detention, and he had tried to avoid telling her that. But she was, after all, a girl. They had "grapevines," or something of that sort.

As she started her cant, he sweat dropped. There had to be some way he could get out of this. I mean, Martha Stewart almost got out of jail! So there had to be someway that he could get out of her talks. But he was about as in control of his own destiny as the Pharaoh was of his.

Which is why the media is screwing him over right now, Malik thought with a smirk. Even though the Pharaoh and him were on a friendly basis now, a little public, national embarrassment never did any ruler any harm… much. Right? Besides, Yami was still kind of arrogant in a sense. As if it wasn't bad enough that he defeated all of his adversaries 90 percent of the time, he would then go on canting and pontificating on their immorality or how their judgment was wrong until they swore they were having a life-changing event just then and he would let them go. That was the worst part, by far.

"Téa," Malik said quietly, "could you just… shut up?"

"What did you say to me?" Téa vociferated. Her azure eyes were trained on him, almost on fire. Malik sighed.

"I guess not," he said. And then he mumbled, "Sorry for not telling you and all that shit." He didn't want her to jettison him, after all. Téa was pretty, but he didn't particularly love her all that more than a friend. He was just with her for the sake of being with her, and Téa had never seemed to mind much. Malik didn't think that Téa loved him, either. But still, whatever. They were teenagers. They had about seventy years to sort it all out.

Téa smiled at him. "I accept your apology," she said dignifiedly. "So, what do you want to do today?" Téa had pretty much been dumped by the rest of the group after Yami had publicly dumped and disgraced her. Apparently he said Téa had been cheating on him, or something, whatever. Malik didn't remember. Maybe Yugi found Téa's porn stash! Now there was an amusing thought…

"Earth to Malik? Come in, Malik?" He shook his head, and immediately her bright and shining face was shoved into it. "Where are we going today?" she demanded, poking his cheek with her nose. Malik pushed her away lightly.

"I have to take care of my nephew," he asseverated. Téa looked more hopeful than disappointed.

"Ooh, can I come and help?"

"No."

"Oh, puh-leeeeeeease…"

"Why you would want to be around Shadi and my sister all day is beyond me, Tay. But if you insist, Ishizu would probably enjoy your company anyway."

Téa cheered. Malik shook his head and sighed. It hadn't even been six months after his sister and Shadi had gotten married that the baby had been born. Despite Malik's bad guy theme, he actually had a huge soft spot for babies. Of course, after they could talk he'd complain about them until they were dead. Kateb couldn't talk yet, though, so he was pretty happy.

Of course, he still hated Shadi, though. Shadi was just a dickhead. He, like the Pharaoh, pontificated on every last detail of Malik's quintessence. It was pretty sad, really.

Other than that, Malik was a pretty happy teenager. He lived with Odion, Shadi, his sister and Kateb. He dated Téa. Kaiba was, as he had always joked, extremely gay, and the Pharaoh had been publicly humiliated. Life was sweet.

Plus, there was the little factor of his other self. His other self was gone. Kaputs. He hadn't come back. Life was sweeter than sugar.

"Maybe we could go to Ryou's and ditch my sister altogether," Malik suggested without really thinking about it. Ryou passed by, smiling weakly.

"That sounds nice," he said. His gentle British accent was like music to Malik's ears. Malik found his rejoinder an equally as weak smile.

"So it's decided then!" Téa shouted a bit too loudly. People turned to stare at them. Malik cringed.

"Téa… Can you hush just a little bit?" His girlfriend placed her hands on her hips and glared at him. Malik glared right back. This was not one of their better days. He'd actually prefer that he spend a little time without her today, as she was still pretty upset with him for not being direct with her. She was trying to hide it, though, and that was one of Téa's specialties. "Actually, Ryou, I do have to take care of Kateb today. Um, I just remember Ishizu has the flu, so, she probably won't want to be seeing anyone. She'll just want rest."

"Oh… I'm sorry. Tell Ishizu to get well for me!" Téa gave him a sympathetic smile before finding one of her friends and running towards her. "Hey Miho!"

Ryou looked at Malik curiously. "Is your sister really sick?"

"Why?" Malik growled. "You have a crush on her or something?"

"Personally I wouldn't want to have a crush on anyone who had been 'inside' Shadi."

"Awwwwwwww man!" Malik clutched his head in despair. "Mental images!"

Ryou laughed. "Anyway, so is she sick? 'Cause if she isn't, then I do have that video game you wanted to borrow. It's kind of complicated, so I was thinking I could teach you to play it."

"Doesn't it come with an instruction manual?"

"Bakura burned it up." Ryou sweat dropped. Living with a former tomb robber was a fight for your life every single day, and that was no exaggeration. Sure, he was a lot better than before, but he still had fun conducting his little "experiments". Which frequented dead squirrels. And explosions. And the occasional imploding microwave. And ruined dinners, and ripped shirts, and broken printers, and bathrooms without fresh rolls of toilet paper just when you need them, and books with pages ripped out, and ruined video cassettes, and many, many other annoying things. Oh, and the occasional crazy "let's pretend it's Halloween today Ryou!" scheme. Those never worked. (Although Ryou would never admit it though, that didn't make them any less funny. God, it was hilarious to see Bakura dressed as a werewolf, hounding the annoying neighbors four houses down who owed six dogs that were always howling at night, screaming "Give me candy!")

Malik rolled his eyes. "Well, in that case, sure, come along! The more the merrier, right?"