Note: Italics equals thoughts, bold equals emphasis, and underline is a language other than English. Ok?

Warnings: This has some spoilers/references for the plot of 'TAT' and 'CTWS?' and Yu Yu Hakusho which I don't own. (Some of this chapter was written just after my Yu Yu Hakusho phase and the beginning of my .Hack/SIGN phase.)

A/N: Not sure how long this story is going to be but surprisingly, I'm actually having fun writing it. Maybe because there is no romance yet. Hope you enjoy this chapter.

Disclaimer for this chapter: All I own is the plot, Agape, Bakari, Baraka, Jean, anything that has to do with the Prodigiums, and Wizard-Theif.

When Masika makes a simple mistake she knew that there was going to be trouble. What she didn't picture was a man telling her to help him destroy the world, another man telling her that she was pretty, and being in Paris. So who are these guys anyways?

Chapter 4

Damn: the word you use to when you thought things couldn't get any worse and they did

The next morning Wizard-Theif awoke actually feeling fine with no headache or nausea. That was before she noticed how big her bed was and how big her pj's were. After a moment, she wondered if she was still dreaming and was about to pinch herself when she realized she didn't have any hands. It was at that moment that she noticed she no longer had her human looking body anymore. The wings that were usually on her back had now replaced her arms and her small body was covered with navy blue fur. Somehow she had been turned into a bat. Desperately trying not to panic, Wizard-Theif tried to figure out what was going on.

"Don't panic! Whatever you do, don't panic," she thought to herself. Suddenly she remembered as children Bakura and she had found a spell book. After using one spell so many times the magic merged with her thus giving her a very useful ability.

"Idiot! I'm such an idiot! I must have transformed in my sleep, unless this is a dream. In any case I can transform back. And if this is a nightmare where I can't transform Mossnose and Agape will wake me up. Might as well pinch myself to figure out if this is a dream or not." Wizard-Theif thought. She went to pinch herself again when she remembered she didn't have fingers anymore. "Okay. No problem, I'll just transform then." Closing her eyes, she concentrated. She felt her magic start to work and then suddenly fade. Thinking that the transformation took less time than usual, Wizard-Theif opened her eyes to see that she was still a bat.

"… Okay. Don't panic. Mossnose will be here any second now to wake me up… right?"

As if on cue, there was a knock on the door and Wizard-Theif sighed. "Thank you, Mossnose. I should be human now." The bat girl looked down to see that she was still a bat girl.

"Eep!"

"Wizard-Theif! Get up!" Mossnose shouted through the door.

"Think! Think!" "I'll be out in a second." "Eep! I sound like a mouse on helium! This must be what Zorc was talking about! OH! When I get my hands on him! He is going t-"

"Wizard-Theif? You okay?"

"Maybe pretending to be okay will make her go away." "I'm fine."

"You sound like a chipmunk with a head cold."

"So mice on helium and chipmunks with head colds sound the same?" "I have a bit of a cold but I'll be fine. I'll be out in a minute."

"No. Stay in bed. You're plane is leaving tomorrow, and we can't have you being sick."

Wizard-Theif sighed. "Fine. I'll go back to bed." "Later that is." The bat girl didn't move from her bed until she heard Mossnose walk away. Once she was sure that the cat demon wouldn't hear anything, Wizard-Theif tried to get down to the floor without killing herself. Luckily, her pillows had also fallen off the bed when she did, and they managed to land on the floor first.

Wizard-Theif looked up at the bed and then at the time, 3:50 pm. Mossnose was being nice it seemed. That or Wizard-Theif had managed to sleep through all her other attempts. Most of her past was spent being a thief and hunted so she was a light sleeper. Then the new millennium hit (2000) and Wizard-Theif had turned into a deep sleeper. When Mossnose and Spidey found out they started trying to prank her, but even in a deep sleep, Wizard-Theif was a force to be reckoned with.

The bat girl looked over to the window to see that the sun was already starting to set. Suddenly her body started glowing gold. Fearing that Mossnose might see the glow from under the door Wizard-Theif tried to get back onto the bed so that she could hide in the covers. The result was that the covers joined Wizard-Theif and the pillows on the floor, but to Wizard-Theif's relief they blocked out the glowing.

Suddenly Wizard-Theif felt very tired, and she closed her eyes. She could feel her small bat body being lifted but didn't try to do anything. The covers that surrounded her were wiped around her by some mythical wind. Through her closed eye lids Wizard-Theif was aware of a gold sparkle and a black glowing. Then, just as suddenly as it had started, the wind disappeared, and Wizard-Theif fell to the floor with a bang. The covers that were wiping around her fell neatly on top of her.

She heard Mossnose and Agape rush into the room and slowly opened her eyes to look at them. Both girls were staring down at Wizard-Theif, and the girl slowly realized that she was a human looking Prodigium again. She looked over to her back and saw that her wings were back where they belonged. A thought hit Wizard-Theif as she realized this. If her pj's were still on the bed and she was on the floor, what was covering her up? She looked down and breathed a sigh of relief. Her covers covered her and her wings completely.

"Wizard-Theif?" Agape asked. "You okay?"

Wizard-Theif avoided eye contact with the girl as she thought over how she could reply. "I'm just a bit stress," she decided to say. "I missed the bed when I went to sit down on it. I'm fine though. Just go back to doing whatever you were doing."

The younger girls nodded and left the room and Wizard-Theif to her thoughts. Wizard-Theif sighed as she stood up. She pulled the covers close and went over to the window to close it. Once it was closed she debated whether to lock it or not. In the end she decided to, and then she sat down on her bed. She hadn't really thought about it until now but now as she looked at her pj's, she wondered. In some movies, animes, and stuff, whenever you transformed you magically kept your clothes or got new ones. Slowly she managed to gather her courage and was just about to learn the answer to her unasked question when she heard a small chuckle from the darkest corner of her room.

At once, she pulled the covers closer and grabbed a knife from her desk which she kept in case of an emergency. She turned and threw it where she heard the chuckling. The knife hit the wall. There was nothing there. Wizard-Theif felt her knees give way, and she sank to the floor. It was just her imagination.

"Is that really what you think I am?"

The voice made Wizard-Theif jump up and turn around. That was Zorc's voice. She knew it! But when she looked to where she heard the voice there was nothing there.

"Oh Hell! Now I know how Kurama felt when that sicko, Karasu, was playing with him."

As if to prove her metaphor truer a voice said, "I know you fear what my touch could do you to you. And yet maybe you also want to know it."

Wizard-Theif couldn't help but scream, "Get the hell away from-"

"Wizard-Theif! Stop that! Yelling at Karasu to get away from Kurama isn't going to change the story line! If you are going to do that every time you see that clip then don't watch it! And turn down the volume on your computer! And go to bed!" Mossnose yelled through the door.

Wizard-Theif turned to look at her computer in numb shock as she saw that her computer was on, and the volume was at full blast. At the moment she noticed it, Karasu was just telling Kurama that when he liked something he liked to take it away. Still in shock, she walked over to her computer and stopped the clip. She just sat there for a moment trying to make sense of what had just happened. After a moment she realized that her MSN was active. One of her contacts had sent her a link to that clip, and her computer had started to play it just as it was programmed to do.

For a moment Wizard-Theif almost wondered how the computer had turned on by itself when she remembered that she had been using it last night. Just before she was to go to bed, she decided not to shut it down and left her an anime episode on pause. The villain sounded just like Zorc. That explained where Zorc's chuckle had come from since she had put speakers all around her room. Also her computer had a mind of its own and tended to start playing videos when it was left unused. Wizard-Theif didn't really mind that little effect until now. Giving the computer a death glare she said, "If you ever do that again. I will personally take you apart and smack you into tiny little pieces." To her amusement, the computer's screen went black, and she lay down on the bed.

She let out a sigh and thought over what had just happened. Her eyes narrowed at the thought of Zorc's threat. If he thought that a transformation into a bat was enough to make her beg, he was pathetically mistaken. Then again, she had just threatened a supposedly inanimate object.

After another moment of thought she came to a very useful conclusion. Her life was so screwed up!

His life was so screwed up!

Bakura came to this conclusion as he sat waiting for his plane. For some reason, Bakari and Ryou had decided that it would be a good idea for Bakura to learn another language besides Egyptian, Japanese, the language of the Prodigiums, and English. At first Bakura thought it would be a good idea since it would give him something to do, and he would be able to tell if Wizard-Theif was swearing at him in another language. When Bakura found out that he would be going on a trip to learn, he thought it was no problem since he wasn't paying. His views changed when he learned what language they wanted him to learn.

"French? Why French?" he raged.

"More people speak French now and besides, since you know English it will be easier to learn," Ryou pointed out.

"But I can only be away for three days! That isn't enough time for me to learn it."

"Well that's a shame."

Bakura looked at Ryou. Why was the young man looking so smug and passive?

"I guess I'll just have to think up some other form of punishment."

Bakura glared at his reincarnation and quickly text messaged Malik behind his back. If he was lucky the blond Egyptian would text back quickly so that he would have an excuse to leave the house. "Atemu was asking for it and you know he started it!"

"All he did was insult Wizard-Theif. That's nothing to start a Yami no Game over."

Bakura glared."But…" He fell silent when he couldn't think of a way to end the sentence without stabbing himself in the back. "Fine. But how come he doesn't have to do any form of punishment?"

Ryou sighed. "He does. He has to work for Kaiba for a week, remember?"

"Oh yeah," Bakura almost snickered, "sucker."

"Now about your punishment."

Bakura frowned. "Damn it," he thought. "Malik! Hurry up and text back before Ryou gives me my punishment!" "What about it? I'm not learning French and that is that."

Ryou got an evil glint in his eye. Luckily, it wasn't the Yami Bakura glint. It was more the 'you're going to regret that' glint he got from Bakura. "I suppose I could always just tell Spidey. I hear that she needs a new punishment for Wizard-Theif. Maybe forcing you two to go on a date will wor-"

"Damn you Malik." "Fine! I'll learn French! You happy now?"

The glint didn't leave Ryou's eyes. "Who says you get to choose your punishment?"

Bakura's jaw dropped. What happened to the sweet and innocent Ryou? "How can you to this to me!?" Bakura demanded.

"Could you do it to me?" Ryou asked.

That made Bakura pause. "As long as you don't use puppy eyes."

"Then since I'm you, I can do it to you. Oh and you're learning French."

He then left the room leaving Bakura with a headache.

Even as he sat at the airport Bakura felt the headache reappear. Before he could dwell on it his flight was called. Gathering his stuff, and with a glare in the direction of Ryou's house, Bakura got on the flight.

Wizard-Theif looked out of her hotel room to see that the moon was disappearing. She wasn't worried though; she still had hours before dawn came so she was still a Prodigium. The day that she had first learned about her curse was spent learning about her curse since she couldn't afford to get caught while she was away. One thing that she learned was that whenever she transformed there was a flash of light. Another thing she learned was that she was a bat from dawn until dusk and human from dusk until dawn. "Just like that Ra-damned Swan Princess," Wizard-Theif thought as she looked out her window again.

The view was of the snow covered Eiffel Tower, but she wasn't impressed. The only thing the tower did was make her homesick for the pyramids in Egypt and Big Ben in England. She wasn't sure why she felt so attached to those structures, but she guessed it was because they were familiar. "If I was still at home with this curse, I might not feel this stressed," she thought. "Still, this room is nice."

She looked around the room again as she thought that. There were two beds with a night table on each side and one in-between. On the middle night table there was a vase of flowers, a phone book, and a phone. The walls were a light cream colour with the bed's being a nice blue. Wizard-Theif didn't look at the room the same way tourist did though. When she looked at the room, she looked at it as a reporter would. She was pleased to see that everything looked neat and clean. She frowned though when she thought about having to ask Kaiba about how much the hotel cost since he was paying for the trip. The jerk would probably annoy the hell out of her before he gave her the answer.

After a moment, she moved from the window and stretched. She went over to the phone book and started looking up all the different spas. If the spas weren't open after dusk then she wouldn't be able to do her punishment which would be both a blessing and a curse. It would be a blessing because then she wouldn't have to go to any spas, but it would be a curse because she would get another punishment that was worse than the spa one. To both her relief and dismay all the spas were open after dusk. After a bit, she managed to get a schedule worked out so that she would be back home in about three days time. She fell back onto her bed.

"Thank Ra Spidey, Mossnose or Agape didn't come with me," Wizard-Theif thought as she lay on the bed closest to the window. "It would have been pandemonium if they had. Probably would have made me go back home and make me ask the guys for help. That on its own would be murder since Kaiba and Atemu would never let me live it down. That and my pride would kill me. Then after everything was back to normal they would give me another punishment."

She was about to fall asleep when she heard the phone ring. Reaching over she picked up.

"Hello?"

"Hello mademoiselle." Wizard-Theif recognized the heavy accented voice as the manager. "There was a problem at the airport with the flights. Many of the planes have stopped working due to the cold so many passengers found themselves without a room. Many hotels, including our own, have taken it upon themselves to room these passengers. "

Wizard-Theif nodded, forgetting that the manager couldn't see her.

"We only need to room one more person until the planes are fixed, which probably won't be for three days. Usually we would not ask such an outrageous thing but-"

"It will be perfectly fine if someone was to room with me," Wizard-Theif said before she could stop herself. As soon as the words left her mouth Wizard-Theif wondered if she was insane. How was she supposed to keep her batty little problem a secret if someone was sharing the room?

"You are an angel, mademoiselle. Merci. The monsieur will be arriving shortly."

Before Wizard-Theif could even think the line went dead. Slowly she thought over that last sentence, and most of the colour she had in her face disappeared. "Monsieur! Does he mean that...? A guy?! I'm sharing a room with a guy I don't even know! Oh Isis! Please help me out here! Okay, don't panic. Don't panic. As long as he isn't an early riser or in the room at dusk I won't get caught. Just breathe, just breathe… Wait. I'm rooming with a guy I don't know and the thing I'm most worried about is getting caught?! Ra. I need to sort out my priorities."

The door unlocked and opened to reveal a bellhop who walked in holding a suitcase.

"Hello mademoiselle. The monsieur already knows about the situation," the bellhop said in a friendly French accented voice.

Wizard-Theif could only nod as she watched the bellhop put down the suitcases.

The bellhop smiled at her as if trying to comfort her and said, "If anything is not to your liking just call for Jean."

She managed to give him a small smile before he turned to speak to the man who would be sharing a room with her.

"Bonne nuit."

"Goodnight," replied Wizard-Theif and the stranger who she was rooming with.

The man stepped into the room, and they looked at each other in shock.

"What the hell are you doing here!?" they demanded to know at the same time.

They paused and then said at the same time, "Punishment?"

Wizard-Theif groaned. "I knew that the spa thing wasn't a bad enough punishment."

"Spa punishment?" Bakura asked.

"I have to go to every single spa in Paris."

Bakura nodded sympathetically. "Harsh."

She nodded in agreement. "Yeah, you?"

"I was supposed to be flying to Lyon to learn French."

Wizard-Theif looked at Bakura oddly, "In three days?"

He shrugged as he removed his winter coat and lied down on the bed. "Ryou's idea, not mine."

The room was then silent as Bakura quickly fell asleep. Wizard-Theif noticed this and then remembered that Bakura was a light sleeper. The light from her transformation might wake him up and that was the last thing she wanted. She looked outside to see that she still had some time before dawn so she pulled out her notebook and made some notes about the hotel. When she was done with that, she started working on her new fan fiction. Once or twice she looked out the window to see how long she had until dawn.

Slowly, she began to feel tired so she focused all her energy into writing so that she wouldn't fall asleep. If she did there was a very good chance that Bakura would find out about her. She kept a careful eye on the movement of the moon, but if a snake entered the room she wouldn't have noticed since the door was on the other side of the room. In fact she missed seeing a small dark purple light that glowed for about thirty seconds behind her at 6:00am.

When the sun was about to appear she got up, grabbed some clothes and went into the washroom. She didn't even lock the door since she needed to make it look like she had left the room to go 'enjoy' Paris. Acting quickly, she removed her clothes and hid both pairs of clothes since she wouldn't be able to even move them in her bat form. The next second her body started glowing, and a freezing cold wind came from the unlocked window. A second after that Wizard-Theif was on the ground in her bat form.

She looked up at the window and then started flapping her wings. If she could make it to the window then she could hang upside down just outside it until just before dusk. Just before dusk she would fly through the window, transform back into a human, get dressed, and then go to her punishment. The plan was flawless except for two things. One, the plan wouldn't work if she froze to death first and two, she couldn't fly just yet.

After many hours of attempts she was just barely hovering above the floor but was too tired to get any higher. She cursed herself for never paying attention to how her wings usually worked. If she had, she might be able to fly now. After another hour of torture, she finally stopped to take a break. While she rested, she cursed. After a moment or two she realized that what she said and what she wanted to say were two different things.

"Damn it! Now I really sound like a bat! When I turn back into a Prodigium and get my hands on Zorc, he's going to wish that-" Her thoughts were cut off as Bakura walked over to the washroom.

He rubbed his right eye as he looked over at the window. "The baka must have left the window open." With a yawn, Bakura closed the window and then noticed Wizard-Theif. "So that was what was making all that noise." With catlike grace he carefully kneeled down and picked up Wizard-Theif. "So are you Masika's new pet?"

Wizard-Theif said nothing but glared at him.

He just laughed and said, "You have the same look as her so you must be. Weird though, I thought that she knew how to take care of animals." With a sigh he walked out of the bathroom.

While he walked, Wizard-Theif tried to stop the growing fear of falling that was flowing through her. Finally Bakura stopped walking and put her down on the night table closest to the window.

"Just don't fall off," he said when he saw her looking over the edge of the night table.

Wizard-Theif watched as he went over to his suitcase and pulled out some clothes. For a second, she was worried that he was going to change in front of her just like in fan fictions. To her relief, Bakura went into the washroom to change. When he came out, he walked over with a dish filled with water in hand.

"Just in case you get thirsty," he said as he stroked her wing. "I'm going out for a bit. If Masika comes back tell her that, okay?"

Wizard-Theif wasn't sure what to do so she squeaked. Bakura took this as an 'okay' and got dressed to face the chilly weather outside. Once he was prepared, he left the room leaving Wizard-Theif to die of boredom. He had been gone only two seconds, and she was bored out of her mind. She was too tired to try to fly so she just sat on the night table. After a moment or two she looked over at the clock, 12:30pm. She still had about four hours before she would be a Prodigium again. "Time flies when you're having fun," she thought sarcastically.

Slowly she began to feel sleepy. After a moment or two she decided that the bed would be more comfortable to sleep on vs. the hard surface of the night table. Since the drossiness and the fact she was a bat were messing up her mobility skills, she ended up falling on her face at least three times before she fell into the bed's soft blankets. Even though it was completely pointless to get under the covers she did, and she instantly fell asleep.

When she awoke a many hours later she noticed that she was a Prodigium again. She also noticed a man in the shadow of the curtains.

"Did you enjoy your nap, Masika?" he asked.

Gathering the covers closer, Wizard-Theif tried to cover herself the best that she could. She tried to calm her rapid heartbeat. "Calm down. He didn't see anything or else he would have commented on it," she thought as she said, "What the hell are you doing there?"

He stepped out of the shadows. "Just doing a routine check to make sure that the curse is doing its job," Zorc explained.

If Wizard-Theif didn't feel exposed, she sure did now. "So you've come into my room every night just to make sure that your curse is working?"

"No, just did it tonight so that I could ask you if you were willing to help me now."

Her glare intensified. "Burn in Hell."

Zorc just shrugged before opening the window. "Since you're hotel mate is coming up the stairs as we speak I might leave. I'll be back tomorrow to see if you've changed your mind."

"Don't bother! It won't have!"

"We'll see." The next moment Zorc jumped out of the window and disappeared into the night.

Wizard-Theif sat there for a few seconds before summoning her powers. Her intention was to use her darkness trick to merge with the shadows in the bedroom. Once merged she could transport herself to the shadows in the bathroom, that way she didn't have to risk getting spotted on her way over to the bathroom. Unfortunately her powers had other plans in mind and when she opened her eyes she saw that she was still in the bed.

Luckily she had a backup plan. No one had come to the door yet so she was able to grab a house coat, slip it on and run to the bathroom. Once inside the bathroom Wizard-Theif wet her hair down and then dried it to make it look like she just came out of the shower. She quickly slipped on the clothing she had hid before and mentally braced herself for the horrors of the spa she was soon to face.

Bakura felt a major headache coming on as he slowly made his way to his hotel room. "Note to self: Never EVER get on the wrong side of a French person, especially when you have no idea what they are saying," Bakura thought as he unlocked the door to his and Wizard-Theif's hotel room.

Not even bothering to take off his boots or coat, Bakura fell face down on his bed. He heard the bathroom door open and looked up to see Wizard-Theif looking at him in confusion.

"What happened to you?" she asked.

Trying not to make his headache worse, Bakura slowly sat up. "The French have it in for me, that's all," he explained.

"What did they do? Drug your drink?"

Bakura glared at her. "No, they just have a really hard left hook."

She shook her head. "Jeez Bakura. You haven't been here a full day and you're already getting into fights."

"He started it."

Wizard-Theif rolled her eyes as she grabbed her backpack with her journalist tools like notebook, camera and wallet. "Sure he did."

Bakura didn't even try to convince her but instead changed the subject. "What's the point of washing your hair if they are just going to do it at the spa?"

She didn't even turn to face him. "I like my shampoo better. I'll talk to you later."

Wizard-Theif was almost at the door when Bakura suddenly remembered something. "Hey Masika, are you afraid of cobras?"

"Bakura, this is France not Egypt they don't have cobras here unless you…" Her face suddenly paled. "Oh Ra no. Bakura please tell me you didn't."

He gave her a confused look. "Do what? I was just asking a simple question. Are you still afraid of cobras?"

She glared at him. "Bakura! You know perfectly well I am and you know why! One; my powers don't work when one is within ten feet of me. And two; those things are the only creatures on this planet that can kill me without trying. All it takes is four bites, poison or not to kill me. If you brought a cobra in here, I will personally kill you, powers or not."

"Note to self: avoid Masika from six am to twelve pm and from six pm to twelve am," Bakura thought as he replied, "I was just asking. What about other kinds of snakes?"

She glared at him, and he let out a nervous laugh. "So that's a no. Wow, you haven't changed much from Ancient Egypt."

Her eyes suddenly had a glint of evil appear. "What about you? Still afraid of cooties?"

Bakura went on the defensive and frowned. "I'm not afraid of girls I just don't like them like that."

"So you run from them?"

"It's better than talking to them and having them throw themselves at me." Bakura watched Wizard-Theif walk over to where her winter coat was and then another thought hit him. "Masika, why are spas open pass midnight?"

She gave him a confused look. "They aren't, why?"

Bakura pointed at the clock which read 1:23am. "Because it's past midnight."

It was hard to say whether Wizard-Theif was happy or annoyed by this information. All she did was put her backpack down and grab the phone. Bakura watched for a moment as she ordered room service, before turning on the TV. To his annoyance all the channels were in French. After a few seconds of trying to figure out what people were talking about, Bakura turned off the TV and just stared at the ceiling.

"Having trouble with your punishment?" Wizard-Theif asked.

Bakura didn't look away from the ceiling but said, "No more than you are."

"That's too bad," Wizard-Theif said in French with a smile.

Bakura gave her an odd look. "Huh?"

Her grin grew. "I said, 'that's too bad.'"

Bakura frowned. "Are you swearing at me in French?"

"Why would you ever think that?"

"Masika!"

"What? I'm helping you."

"Urgh!" Bakura fell back onto his bed with his hands over his face. "Why French? Why not Latin, or Chinese? Why Ra-damned French!? And why do I have to learn it here!? Why did my flight have to get screwed up!? And why does she have to be here too? Why?!" he thought to himself.

"Sink or swim Bakura. Sink or swim."

"All I got out of that was my name."

"I'll take that as a sink then," Wizard-Theif said before she called for some room service also in French. After she finished the call, they sat in silence for a while until Bakura spoke again.

"I hate you so much right now."

Wizard-Theif just shrugged and threw a book at him before going to the door to get her food. While she was at the door, Bakura looked over the book she had thrown to him. To his relief, it was a French-English dictionary.

After Wizard-Theif got her food, she sat down on her bed and started eating. She offered some to Bakura but wouldn't give it to him until he replied in French. After five minutes of attempting to pronounce the words right, Wizard-Theif finally gave Bakura the food she had offered him.

During those five minutes Bakura learned something very important. The dictionary would only give him an idea of what to say but not how to say it in a sentence. Also because of the speed French was spoken at, most of what Wizard-Theif said was forgotten before Bakura could translate. Bakura also learned that what Wizard-Theif said and what was in the book were to vastly different things. He assumed Wizard-Theif was using slang just to annoy him since slang wasn't in the dictionary.

Needless to say, Wizard-Theif enjoyed herself immensely during those five minutes. She enjoyed herself so much that she continued speaking in French. She didn't stop until it was almost two o'clock. "Okay, I think that completes today's lesson," she said in English at 1:59am.

Bakura glared at her before lying down on his bed and staring at the ceiling. After a moment, he sighed and went over to one of his suitcases. He dug around in it for a moment before he pulled out a black hard covered book. At first glance, the book appeared brand-new but when Wizard-Theif looked a second time, she noticed that only the cover that was new. The pages were yellow with age and made not from paper but from papyrus sheets. When Bakura opened the book, Wizard-Theif also saw that the pages were held together with a small piece of rope.

"Is that what I think it is?" she asked.

Bakura looked at her and with a small smile and said, "Yeah. It's the same book that we had when we were kids."

She stared. "But that was over 5000 years ago. How is it still in one piece?!"

Bakura shrugged. "Does it really matter if it still has all the spells?"

Wizard-Theif gave him a suspicious look. "How did you manage to find it again?"

"One way or another Ryou got it so when I got my body he gave it to me."

"And you brought it on this trip… why?"

Bakura stopped himself from shifting uncomfortably. "Remember the spell you used to make me able to understand your language when we went to your world to take on the Immortal Council?"

Wizard-Theif tried to ignore the memories that were threatening to hit her. "Yeah... why...?" Suddenly, just like lightening, it hit her. "Bakura that spell only works for making a person understand the language of the Prodigiums, not French."

Bakura's smirk widened. "That's true but what you didn't notice was that there was one for learning French."

"Does Ryou know about this?"

Bakura shook his head. "If he did, I wouldn't be able to use the spell. For some reason, he thinks that I would take the easy way out."

"Aren't you going to do that right now?"

"I wasn't going to use the spell originally. I only brought the book so that I could research… something else."

"What changed your mind?"

"Three things. One, annoying as Hell waiters and French menus and two, you."

She frowned. "I'm touched, but Bakura have you forgotten that you have no knowledge of French what so ever?"

"Point?"

"You only get one chance, remember? And if you mess up you can't try again."

Bakura stuck out his tongue at her. "I know that. And I also remember that I can't have any help. I managed to do the spell the first time; I'll be able to do it again."

Wizard-Theif looked at him, sure that he was going to fail. "And how to you plan to do that?"

Bakura smirked again. "Simple. By guessing."

Wizard-Theif looked at him for a full second in disbelief. "You're going to use your Prodigium power of randomly guessing and being correct to make you say the spell correctly?"

"I wasn't thinking of using that power but..." he thought as he smiled. "When I die, and stay dead, I'm really going to have to thank Baraka for this power."

Wizard-Theif shook her head. "Just because you are Baraka's reincarnation, doesn't mean that you can abuse your powers."

Bakura gave her a confused look. "Why do you care how I use my powers? I may be Baraka's reincarnation but I'm not Baraka."

"You sure act like him."

"Name one time."

"I'll name five." She held up her hand and pointed one finger. "One. Before the incident in the tomb, you were very protective of me, and you were constantly acting like you were my guardian. Before Baraka died, it was his job to protect me." She pointed another finger. "Two. Baraka helped my brother teach me magic. You had Baraka's spell book when I came to your world and with your help, we learned various spells."

"You were doing most of the teaching," Bakura pointed out.

Wizard-Theif ignored him and pointed another finger. "Three. Baraka was my brother's best friend but he always acted distant. Even Ryou can say you seem distant to him."

Bakura was silent.

"Four. If you think a figure of authority is doing something wrong you rebel. Baraka rebelled against his father when he told Bakari what was going to happen to me when I grew up. Five. When we met Howahkan, Baraka's father," Wizard-Theif seemed to spit out the word, "you didn't really like him but you trusted him and wanted to please him. Baraka was the same even if he hid his dislike amazing well," Wizard-Theif finished. "How he did that is beyond me. After all that pain… I probably would have left as soon as I was able," she thought as she waited for Bakura's reply.

Bakura tried to hide the shiver that ran down his back at the memory of the old Prodigium. Howahkan had acted nicer to him than he had to Baraka but whenever Bakura was around him, he sensed a threatening aura. As if the man was barely stopping himself from attacking Bakura. With an effort Bakura pulled his mind away from Howahkan and back to the present issue. "I'm not abusing my powers; I'm just using it to my advantage," he said.

"AKA abusing it."

Bakura glared at her. "You do the same thing all the time!"

She glared back. "Not on purpose!"

"Yeah right!"

"Bakura you are such a baka!"

The man smirked. "What's the matter? Couldn't come up with a better insult?"

Wizard-Theif glared at him and put a warm winter coat over the coat she was wearing to cover her wings. "I'm going out," she angrily answered Bakura's unasked question. "I'll be back later." Without waiting for a reply from Bakura, she closed the door and made her way down to the lobby. Once there she looked around for something to do. A sign for a twenty-four hour mall caught her eye.

"Might as well get my Christmas shopping done while I'm here," she decided. If she was lucky, Bakura would be asleep when she got back and she would be able to hide the presents in peace. With such happy thoughts in her head, she set out into the city of Paris to go Christmas shopping.

A/N: Another chapter come and gone. Looks like I was wrong about the chapters getting shorter, this one is 22 pages. Anyways, Happy Birthday Spidey and thanks to L.A for betaing. Please review before moving onto the next chapter.

-WT